I went to see Hairspray last night.

Great fun, some good lines, bright and colourful - a great crowd (packed) with lots of young and mixed skin colours in the audience (it's an anti fattist and anti racist plot).

But there's not a sniff of a hit in it and what's the point of a musical without a hit?

Having said that I picked up The Rocky Horror Show in the early 70's without a hit (though Time Warp was almost there) since it was such fun.

Hairspray is quite similar in energy, spirit and stars (Michael Ball in drag is strangely reminiscent of Tim Curry). It's very well staged.

But so, so, so dated (for me). There's this 62 year old sitting there thinking "what's new about this?" whilst kids seemed to love it.

I didn't love it at all. In fact I left during the interval.

Like Awards Shows, musicals either need to be totally fresh and new or simple well done copies of shows gone by (like Kismet).

And they MUST have hits in them.

JK, nothings new. Just new to you.

Good point, NS, and you may have hit the nail on the head.

BUT... whilst I can be disappointed by "new" songs that are just copies of old songs, and whilst kids can enjoy them as fresh to an extent, I still think there's a million miles of difference between HITS and flops.

For example - there's a song in Hairspray called It Takes Two.

The original hit of that name (Marvin and Kim) is wonderful and a hit and the kids who didn't know it would have leaped from their seats and bought it.

This song was fine but not of the same quality.

And the division between those points is a massive one.

The kids may not realise it (because it is new to them) but it makes a huge difference.

I was at a wedding at the weekend, the couple must have been about 20, and they all wanted "Smoke On the Water".
It`s frightening how what was not even nostalgic, but tiring, comes around again.

Have you ever heard a song re-recorded for a new generation which you thought was better than the one you knew and loved?

When Atomic Kitten covered "The Tide Is High", a friend of mine who grew up idolising Blondie was cringing saying, "It's not a patch on the original!". I pointed out to him that actually Blondie covered it and the original was The Paragons (with John Holt, the writer) back in 1967. I played it to him, he found it rather amusing! Now, how many Jamaicans English/Jamaicans or simply fans of that original Reggae/Ska/Trojan sound heard Blondie's version and cringed saying, "It's not a patch on the original!"? All of them?!

Thats a thread in itself, but it brought to mind one of my fave recordings "Weak In the Prescence of Beauty", which was , Don Was original production was far superior.

Arguably, I wouldn`t mind betting that Macfly fans credit them with writing more originals than they do, it`s all new to them.

Covers? Fine - Joe Cocker's With A Little Help was arguably better than The Beatles - ditto his Letter (though I loved the Boxtops).

I always tried to do total reinterpretations of much loved songs - I still love my own version of my favourite Loving Feeling (though nobody else does).

But the above thread is about different songs (same titles in some cases) which are clearly inferior.

Hairspray's songs sound like they were written copying great originals by non musical people.

erratum; I meant to say was a hit for Alison Moyet(not good) and not for Floy Joy.(brill)

There are of course other tunes that fit into the thread by the same artist with different versions.
Johnny Nash" I Can see Clearly Now" has had two great hit versions by himself.

JK`s covers, I like "It Only Takes A Minute", or was that the original?
There you go, can`t tell, a fine example!
The first hit of "River Deep Mountain High" I knew was the Supremes and the Temptations.

OK - weekend list.

Which musicals provided the most chart hits?

South Pacific? The King And I? My Fair Lady? Oliver?

I truly don't know.

Ok, no googling at all.
We`ve gone for any Lloyd Webber/Rice and Godspell.
Godspell I reckon there were three genuine hits.
Jesus Christ Superstar , three as well.
Cats there are two.

I really couldnt say about Oliver and South Pacific as I heard the records so much as a kid they all sounded like hits to me.


Every musical has a showstopper or it doesnt work, I wouldnt mind betting the song begins the script idea, which is what I found interesting about the little Rocky Horror Show comment.
Whilst on musicals, Mario Lanza from the Student Prince`s, "Drink Drink Drink" is a classic, and I will play my copy in the morning.

You should hear my wonderful Cuban Boys version of Drink, Mart - still a potential giant hit one day.

You are showing your age you young thing - your musicals are all far too recent.

I remember the days when several cover versions of one song from a hit musical charted in the top ten! Stranger in Paradise? It had SIX top twenty hits at the same time in 1955. Now that's what I call a hit.

By the way, Googling is allowed (it doesn't help; Google is too young too).

The only song out of "South Pacific" I remember charting is "Happy Talk" by Captain Sensible (early 80s).

The phenomenon of many cover versions of one song has (I think) more to do with the structure of the music industry than with the quality of the music. Until the 60s publishers were the driving force in the music business. Labels copied hits on other labels with their artists to participate.

This changed with the advent of rock. Since the late 50s the specific interpretation, the "original" version, is much more important.

Ah but DJ, in 1949 Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific topped the charts by Perry Como.

Unfortunately there were no UK charts - that was in the USA, the year singles started (as opposed to 78 rpm shellack discs for windup players). Singles didn't really hit the UK until 8 years later.

It - and numerous other covers - sold millions and millions and millions.

Hits are not just a phenomenon of today or even yesterday.

They existed the day before yesterday too.

And give me one Some Enchanted Evening over all this year's Number Ones combined any day - both artistically and commercially.