Listen To Your Heart by DHT

There are few bands from the 80s and early 90s whose music stands the test of time. U2 comes to mind, Bon Jovi never went out of style, and, in my opinion, there’s still Roxette.

While the age of putting keyboards and guitar side-by-side in the mix has disappeared like hypercolor t-shirts, nobody can deny that for pure catchiness, Roxette had the formula nailed. And so, while I appreciate the fact that people see fit to do tribute to Roxette by covering their tunes, I have to admit that I’m disappointed in how Roxette is being translated into the new millennium.

DHT has recently put out a cover of “Listen to Your Heart”, and every time I hear it, I can’t help but yearn for the early 90s again. What makes things confusing is the fact that “Listen To Your Heart” can be found on multiple radio stations in multiple remixes. I heard one of the dance mixes recently, which seemed to take the good points of the original and dumb them down to the point where all the emotion is replaced by driving bass and electronic “flavour bursts”. They also slowed down the tempo of the original, which seems strange for a dance track that’s supposed to be upbeat.

Even worse is the mix being played by the “light rock” stations, which features only the female vocalist and a piano. At some points, the piano seems to have some “strings” effect added to it, but that’s about the full extend of the production level of this track. It sounds like a performance that you’d hear at a highschool graduation, sung by that pretty popular girl who dreams of growing up to be an actress or journalist, but who will actually end up being a secretary for a small insurance agency.

The original had so much dynamic – Drums which would give you that rock n’ roll rush when they came back in after a break; The swelling of the background vocals going into the bridge; The extra vocal lines sung over the final chorus after the keychange, which are absent from any of the recent covers…

Maybe I’m just a sucker for the good old days, just before grunge came into style, and it seemed like the music of the 80s had finally been perfected for the 90s. Or maybe the DHT version(s) of “Listen To Your Heart” is (are) crap. Either way, me and my hypercolor t-shirt are sticking with the original.