Which version was better of "Every Breath you Take"? PDiddy or The Police?

[fujiyama]

Who's version do you like? The remake by P. Diddy or the Police?

[saltpoint]

1. The Police, for Christ's sake.

They own the song totally.

[Guaranteed]

2. LOL come on. nt

[fujiyama]

12. LOL

You're discussion with CO Dem prompted this! :P

[Jack_Dawson]

3. Sorry Racists - P Diddy was better

Err...I mean old-schoolers. But seriously...P-Diddy's was great esp. during the MTV awards when he sang it with Sting.

[Blue-Jay]

5. Better?!?! It was exactly THE SAME!

He didn't do anything but add some lame-ass rhymes and change the words of the chorus. I don't mind "sampling" (read: I don't have an original idea in my head), but Sean Combs', Puff Daddy's, P Doodie's version added nothing to a wonderful about.....well...surveilance.

Sorry if that makes me a racist in your eyes, kid.

[billyskank]

7. Not the same

The police version is a song. A very good song at that. The Puff Daddy (as he was then) version is a sample of the riff, slowed down a little and looped over and over again. The Puff Daddy "remix" made me angry.

[mark414]

10. whoa dude

go listen to some paul's boutique or public enemy or eric b and rakim or epmd or de la soul or wu tang or a ton of other groups and try to tell me that sampling equals no original ideas

[Blue-Jay]

11. You misunderstand me. Probably my fault.

"Sampling" has been going on for ages. Mozart "borrowed" many ideas from the composers that he respected. Jazz soloists have always "quoted" other songs in their solos as kind of an inside joke to the educated listener. My point was that PDaddyDiddy didn't even try to do anything NEW with the song. I was surprised that Sting didn't tell him to write his own song to honor Biggie.

P DiddyDuddy is a wonderful businessman and an above-average self-producer. He'll be forgotten in 50 years, and the Police will not be.

EDIT: I'm a huge fan of Public Enemy, De La Soul AND Wu Tang. The difference is that those guys cared more about the MUSIC than the image.

[mark414]

13. ahhh makes sense now

yes, p diddy definitely did not try to do anything new with the song. all is understood. jam on brother.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. I'm With Both Of You Now

Doing something sonically interesting and original with samples can be brilliant music. The Musique Concrete guys did it with tape loops in the Bauhaus back in the 20's. Extremely intricate and very original.

What Coombes did on that song was neither. So, it's not a matter of the technique. It's the execution.
The Professor

[ThorsHammer]

23. Police; and well said on Sean Combs

I respect him as a businessman, but find him to be a mediocre musician. I really like the guys like Tupac, Kanye, Wu-Tang, Eminemn, etc, but am not a fan of the new bling bling Ja Rule/Nelly type crowd.

[msgadget]

8. I disagree,

the original version was much better. P Diddy is a stylist but Sting has a voice.

[Jesus H. Christ]

18. I thing Sting mentioned he preferred the singing...

in P. Diddy's version.

[msgadget]

20. I'm glad he liked that version

but I still prefer the original. It takes nothing from P Diddy's success to say it. He's a phenomenal business man and promoter and not too shameful as a fledgling actor but I wince just seeing him with a mike.

[Wat_Tyler]

14. Racists?

What the hell?

[flygal]

4. The Police

Diddy's grates on me for some reason

[jdots]

6. I go with the P.Diddy version too

only because Sting has become such a humorless putz over the years........How come you didn't mention the Ashcroft and Keyes version ?

[njdemocrat106]

9. The Police

The Singing Cops rock!

[Schema Thing]

15. Either version, it's a kinda creepy song

[ChickMagic]

16. Creepy, indeed.

It's a little stalkery (don't know if that's a word, but it should be).

[Kellanved]

17. other:

The USer Friendly/ Quake variant:
http://home.tiscali.be/walkie/quake.mp3

;-)

[dean_dem]

19. The Police, obviously.

Because Sting sucks less.

[ProfessorGAC]

21. Don't Be Ridiculous

The current poll responses indicate that this is, officially, a silly question.
The Professor

[bobbobbins]

24. I think it says alot...

that P Diddy can't even write an original song to commemorate the death of Biggie...musically P Diddy is totally irrelevant...the Police on the other hand had something to contribute