Re: [Harp-L] Cover Songs

[Fernando Toral <ftoral@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> >Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Cover Songs
> >Chris Michalek wrote:
> >>
> >>>What are the "cheesiest" or not so cheesy cover songs you guys play?
> >>>
> >>>Lately we've been doing:
> >>>
> >>>(...)
>

I asked

>

> >>I like this thread, but -sorry for my ignorance- why are these songs so
> >>called "cheesy"?
> >>Fer from Argentina

Chris answered:

Cheesy because they are part of American Pop culture.How many
instrumentalists cover Michael Jackson tunes? Some would say where
the soul in that?  We do it because it's a hot topic right now. Last
night we played Billie Jean into Messing with the Kid.  Only a couple
of people got the joke but we thought it was funny.

Rooty added

American pop culture does not translate to cheesy and cheesy does not
translate to American Pop Culture (tm).  George Gershwin, Bruce
Springsteen, and The Ramones (just to name 3 examples) do not deliver the
cheese and yet they are quintessential American Pop Culture
(tm).  Conversely, Aqua, Nena and Freddie and the Dreamers are little but
fromage, yet they are not American Pop Cultural artifacts.

Cheese is a quality that transcends borders, cultures and genres.  In other
words: The cheese stands alone!!!

What defines cheese is the unmistakable whiff of kitsch, camp, or irony ---
or all three at once.


Sorry, but I still can't get the concept of "cheesy".

>From what I read here, I can approach to what we call in Argentina as "greasy"
("grasa")
a term used when something sucks or smells awful,
but also for some music tunes that are very popular but repetitive,
quite familiar but unbearable when listened more that twice. Am I close to
understand?

Fer from Argentina --where a lot of music is greasy nowadays--