Songs where the Remix becomes the standard

Elvis Presley - A Little Less Conversation (Junkie XL remix)

 

Here are some remixes I can immediately think of:

Rock With You - Michael Jackson
Get On The Floor - Michael Jackson
The Way You Make Me Feel - Michael Jackson
Hang On Sloopy - The McCoys
When I Need You - Leo Sayer

 

Moloko - Sing it Back: the Boris Dlugosch radio mix is the only one anyone’s ever heard.

The original does NOT sound like a hit single

 

Duran Duran’s Rio album fits the bill. The entire first side was remixed several months after its initial release, and that version (with David Kershenbaum mixes) became the standard issue of the album for US audiences.

I did not know that about Tori and Talula!
Of course, I’m a huge Tori fan and bought Pele on the day of release. Also have the maxi singles. Interesting that the Tornado mix is now on the album, I had no idea.

 

My first thought was 'Living on my own' by Freddie Mercury. The 1985 original was a single, but it was the 1993 remix that became a big hit and the version that most people remember.

 

Thank God

 

The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever (remixed 1971)

And of course the Help! and Rubber Soul albums.

The entire Genesis catalogue!

 

I seem to remember that when "She Blinded Me With Science" was on the radio in the 80's, the first version I heard had the weird voice saying "science!" in each chorus, but later I always heard a different mix where they tweaked one of those to sound like "sci-yi-yi-yi-yience."

 

Climie Fisher ~ "Rise To The Occasion" (the hip hop mix)

 

I get angry whenever I hear that version of La Grange on the radio.

 

To me the Steven Wilson remixes of Jethro Tull's catalog are the gold standard.

 

Not sure it’s a remix, or rather a completely different take, but the album version of Eddy Money’s Two Tickets to Paradise is now the standard version, as opposed to the single with all the cool extra guitar bits.

 

Isn't the main version of "December 1963 (Oh What A Night)" that's played on the radio and at countless weddings the remixed version from the early 90s with the added technoesque beats, etc...?

 

The newer mixes of the VU's 1969 'lost' album sounded astonishing when I first heard them (esp I Can't Stand It).

Also love the newly remixed Sweet Jane from the 45th Anniversay set of Loaded. It was great at last to hear a clear sounding version of the full take (the 1995 version sounds like a Frankenstein job with the drop in SQ making the flown-in bits stick out like a sore thumb). I'm guessing they must have found the multi-tracks recently to get this right and even do a great 5.1 mix too!

 

Aside from the rare Japan mini-LP remaser of Inner Secrets, the Disco Single remix of Santana's One Chain (Don't Make No Prison) is prettt much the only version of the song availabe on CD. I'm not even sure if it's on YouTube. I think there's a shorter single edit on one of the band's comps, but it might just be the Disco remix again. If you want the original album mix, then you may have to go the vinyl route.

 

Paul Oakenfold's remix of U2's "Even Better Than The Real Thing" immediately springs to mind. The only U2 single I ever bought!

 

I have heard a different version on a few occasions in the grocery store, in restaurants etc. and I assumed it was re-recorded. I wonder if that’s what you’re referring to? Could be a topic for a new thread: when re-recorded versions become the main ones. Journey is another act that has newly recorded versions out there getting lots of air time. I find this trend intriguing and disturbing too. Kind of revisionist pop music history.

 

Aerosmith's "Dream On" was remixed when the album was remixed in '75.

 

George Martin remixed "Horse With No Name" and other early America songs for the History greatest hits album. Not positive but I'm guessing the History versions have been common on radio since.

 

Blondie too: they re-recorded an entire greatest hits album, but I believe this was an attempt at a better deal for licensing or something to prevent Peter Leeds making any more money out of them.

And then there's the whole "Being Boiled" debate - crunchy, or non-crunchy?

 

Motorcycle - As the Rush Comes (Gabriel & Dresden Chill Remix)

"One of the rare times when a remix just destroys the original"

 

Brooce purists will scoff, but Arthur Baker's "blaster mix" of Dancing in the Dark has been my go-to DITD ever since its release.

This was also the first appearance of the "whoa-oh-oh" backing vocals which have been a crowd staple at every Brooce show of the past three decades.



Baker's remixes of BITUSA (the song) and Cover Me were less successful, IMHO.

 

Using the artist used by the OP as the example.

Certainly in the UK & Europe another of her songs is more well known via its UK #1 Armand Van Helden Remix of Professional Widow:


Of this original:
Professional Widow (2016 Remaster)

 

Thank goodness the original mix is finally being reissued this year. I have never heard it! Very much looking forward to it.

 

Good one, that is a classic.