AATC Elaborations: Are Chipmunk Covers of Songs Bad? 

I think the reason why Alvin and the Chipmunks is so popular is because of their covers - they make any original song sound so much better (even with just instrumental alone). I also think that they balance out original songs and covers perfectly. Like having the 80s show with mostly covers and ALVINNN!!! with mostly originals just makes sense to me. Plus, the whole copyright thing has changed significantly from the 80s and it isn't as easy anymore. But imagine if they had decided to start of with originals in the 80s and not covers? I don't think the franchise would still be around because people wouldn't want to listen to an original chipmunk song (bar kids), but with covers, young and old like to hear the similarities and differences, gaining them more popularity. It can be quite embarrassing sometimes that the original songs they cover sound way better than the original themselves. (Eg. Hot N Cold, Uptown Funk, We'll Be Alright, 2011, and Livin' On A Prayer, as well as the 90s version of Venus to name a few). So yeah, i think they have been very successful in their covers and originals. The covers also lead people onto listening to their original songs...

I think about “Fill my cup, put some water in it” at least once a day

thanks for bringing up how the chipmunk songs are actually made, as there are some common misconceptions out there. i think one reason for the lack of 2015 series songs being released was due to budget (which Janice may have mentioned in the Cartoon Rewind interview, but i may be thinking about something else). but, i agree, more albums and covers will definitely be beneficial for the franchise.

The Munkcast voices are also recorded at half speed, a method i sware by. It takes quite a while to do and a lot of skill to master, as in the positioning of the breathing, emotional inflection, accent and timing. It's anything but simple, however the results are worth it. Singing is even more strenuous which is why we rarely do it xD (Not to mention each character has their own speed, and rate of speech making it rather complicated xD)

Both. Both is good. Personally I think having a balance of both covers and original songs is crucial to the success of this franchise. People tend to gravitate to what's familiar, hence why reboots and sequels do so well financially. So cover songs are likely what introduced most fans to the franchise itself (myself included). As fantastic as the original songs are, I feel like the ALVINNN gen albums would have sold a lot better if they had also included some cover songs. Especially given the fact that you don't actually need to get permission to release a cover song as part of an album or as a single (they've done this before with the Chipettes cover of "Call Me Maybe"). They only have to deal with song royalties when it comes to using them in movies and TV shows. It would have been rather simple to release albums with original songs from the TV show and included a few cover songs exclusive to the albums to draw more attention to them. I definitely think poor sales (and advertising, the advertising was atrocious) were what killed the ALVINNN gen albums. Though I still don't see any reason to remove them from the digital platforms they were sold on. Any money is better than no money. I also feel like the issue with the 80s show covers isn't quite as simple as they put it. Back in the 80s, they had to make contracts with the people who own the original masters of all these songs in order to come to an agreement for using them in the TV show. These contracts would have also covered releasing these songs OUTSIDE the TV show (like the Songs From Our TV Shows album). But the one thing that they likely would not have covered was home media release. Some episodes did get put on VHS back in the late 80s and through the 90s but for the most part the episodes didn't start getting put on home media until the 2000s and onward. Meaning they probably had to go through the process all over again to release episodes on DVD, and after poor sales, decided it wasn't worth the trouble. In the 80s and 90s it wasn't nearly as expensive, and so going back and getting the rights to put them on the VHS tapes wasn't really an issue. The contracts would have also covered syndication, reruns, and international broadcasts. Which is why the Teletoon Retro reruns from the early 2010s still have all the cover songs intact (even episodes that had their songs changed for DVD releases). If the syndicated episodes were to air on TV again (unlikely), they would still be able to use those songs. There are only 2 cases in the entire run of the 80s show where a cover song had to be replaced for reruns. "I Need That Gold Tonight" (a parody of Elvis' "I Need Your Love Tonight") was removed and replaced with "We're In The Money" in all syndicated reruns of The Gold Of My Dreams (however, international broadcasts kept the Elvis parody song). And "Good Thing" was replaced with an original song, "Good Grief", in the UK broadcast of Daytona Jones and the Pearl Of Wisdom. All other syndicated and international broadcasts that I know of remain intact (with some countries choosing to re record the cover songs in their own languages). So, long story short, they can still do cover songs, they just choose not to. If they wanted to, they could release albums full of cover songs without much trouble at all, but they simply don't. The fact that they aren't even trying to release their hundreds of original songs is proof of that. They have a youtube channel. They could easily dump songs on there and make money off the ad revenue.

Can you please do an Alvin and the chipmunks evolution of when Ross made them and an evolution of the show's movies and designs.

Think the Bagdasarian Productions company would do covers of modern Broadway songs. I'd love to imagine the Chipmunks singing "My Shot" from Hamilton, or the Chipettes singing "What is This Feeling?" from Wicked.

I have to admit, I enjoy all the cover songs in all the AATC live action movies. I also have to admit that making cover songs can be good sometimes but I have mix feelings for too about the chipmunks and/or the chipettes singing the original songs that is not really their original. You get the picture.

i think my biggest issue with fans try to munkify songs is they’ll pitch it so high it feels like nails to a chalkboard when in reality even the official songs aren’t that pitched up, their only pitched slightly so i kinda roll my eyes at most munkified covers i see

Cover songs should be a staple in the franchise. Every cover song from the live action movies are definitely my favorite cover songs, and a lot of them are better than the originals. I really think the chipmunks and chipettes should cover songs from the 2000s and 2010s. I think covers would be more likely if the franchise gets sold to a bigger company. Side note: I recall Matthew Gray Gubler, the voice of Simon in the movies, did explain in a video how the chipmunk voice is done.

Going slightly off topic here, I remember Ross Bagdasrian Jr mentioning in an interview that his father “inspired the Beatles into doing the music they did” Yet I can’t find a single mention from Paul, Ringo, John, or George ever talking about Ross or the Chipmunks. Also if Ross and Janice were really struggling to find somebody in the late 70s-early 80s to give them funding for their albums, why didn’t he look to one of the Beatles to promote them? Since they had huge influence in both the US and UK. Which brings me up to my opinion on your topic. I think most of the cover songs are bangers however I think the singers that they’ve covered don’t really like Ross and Janice since they never ever barely get a mention from them which makes me not really like their songs.

i really wish there was a full version of their cover of Iko Iko

I love the cover songs.

They have original songs?????? Since when?????????

13:22 Bad to The Bone but also Walking in a Winter Wonderland!!

I'd LOVE to hear a proper Chipmunk version of Limelight! Heck that song FITS the Chipmunks so perfectly. It is sad that we can't get cover songs, at least the good ones out there.

The first season of the Ruby-Spears cartoon had a mix of originals and covers. And speaking of Ross Sr., he used session singers for The Chipmunks Sing the Beatles Hits and all the albums that followed. Those albums were filled to the brim with cover songs.

Really good video mate and I agree with your takes, you probably have seen what I’ve said in the server, the fact I like the cover songs of the live action ones the most and think I a lot of them better than the originals one like Katy Perry and Lady Gagas music, also in chipwrecked they use a lot of party music too which I really like, they’re really good to me in general all the live action cover songs, there is maybe 15-20 songs I thought tho that I would love in future aatc movies whether it’s an other live action or more likely a reboot, and I’ve thought of scenarios for those if it was a continuation of the fox live action, not thought about songs for a reboot lol

I don’t think covers songs are that bad to be honest, i actually kind of like it even more then they original songs that they usually cover especially the 2015 covers arg! So horrible to me, but when you think about the 80s songs there’s just something about the 80s that captures the essence of the chipmunks in a way and some people like the 80s version of the character then say the 2015 show versions and the CGI versions, but even though i didn’t like the music taste from watching there movies, i actually grew up with ALOT old school music thanks to my mum and everytime i hear or listen to the songs from the 80s i am like oh my god, and then it search the song and start listening cause i love it so much, so i have to thank them for that. But I would love it like even today there are some really good music like Sabrina Carpenter and Dua Lipa i could imagine like the Chipettes covering that and other songs dosen’t have to be 80s based songs, but from the essence of there music genre i would of like that to, give me some rock n roll songs cause the chipmunks are a rock n roll band.

I love their cover songs and original. ❤ I think it would be a great idea if they did an album in acapella like Pentatonix. Or if they make more full versions of their 2015 songs, cause most of them are too short to me. Maybe even some covers from this era would sound pretty cool, being from 2010-2020 and in-between. It worked back then. And Broadway Musicals are fun, too. This is my opinion. ❤

They Use To Do It A lot Of 80s Music Covers In Alvin And The Chipmunks 1983 Series But Not Anymore In ALVINNN!!! And The Chipmunks CGI Series They Just Make There Own Songs.