新闻周刊:裸体淑女合唱团Stunt专辑成功背后的故事(2)

Question and Answer

问答环节

Question: You're releasing a deluxe¹ 20th anniversary edition of Stunt². How did this album became so huge in the late '90s?

问：你们要发行《惊人之举》20周年特辑。这张专辑是如何在90年代末变得如此流行的？

Answer: The momentum³ had just been building. Our live record had done really well, and for the first time we had a single chart—"The Old Apartment" broke into the Top 40.

答：势头刚刚形成。我们的现场录音做得很好，我们第一次进了排行榜——《旧公寓》进入前40名。

The other important thing: We had one-by-one won over everybody in the record company. All of them were skeptical⁴ at first. When we came to America, the story was, "This band is huge in Canada." People approached the band like, "Oh, they're huge in Canada, but that doesn't mean it'll work here." What we did was, we just kept playing! We won the record company over one person at a time. They were all on our side when it came to Stunt. We had this weird⁵ single in "One Week"; we had this hot new director with McG, who did this ridiculous video. It was kind of a perfect storm.

另一件重要的事情是：我们一个一个在唱片公司赢得了人心。起初他们都持怀疑态度。当我们来到美国时，故事是这样的:“这支乐队在加拿大很强大。” 人们这样看待乐队，“哦，他们在加拿大很有名气，但这并不意味着在这里也行得通。” 我们所做的只是继续做音乐！我们每次都会在唱片公司赢得一个人的支持。在发行《惊人之举》之时已经获得了所有人的支持。我们在《一周》里就有了这首奇怪的单曲；我们有一个很火的新导演McG，他做了这个可笑的视频。这是一场完美的风暴。

Question: When you wrote "One Week," were you like, This song is gonna hit No. 1, this is going to be our biggest hit ever?

问：当你们创作《一周》时，你们有没有想过这首歌会排到第一，成为最热门歌曲？

Answer: No! "One Week" was the last song I submitted for the record, and I didn't even think it would be on the record proper. I thought it might be a bonus track or a B-side.

答：没有！《一周》是我提交的最后一首歌，我甚至不认为它会被正式记录下来。我想这可能是一个额外的轨道或B面。

Question: Isn't that the story behind every band's biggest hit?

问：这不是乐队成功背后的故事吗？

Answer: I know!

答：我知道！

Question: Bon Jovi almost didn't put "Livin' on a Prayer" on Slippery When Wet.

问：邦乔维乐队几乎没有把《以祈祷为生》放进《难以捉摸》专辑中。

Answer: Now, had he played me "Livin' on a Prayer," I'd know immediately that song was a hit.

答：现在，如果他给我弹《以祈祷为生》，我马上就知道这首歌很受欢迎。

Question: Tell me about the moment you wrote "One Week."

问：讲讲关于创作《一周》的故事。

Answer: I improvised⁶ it, because I couldn't finish it. I had the structure of the choruses and the idea of this relationship break-up. I kept trying to write these rap verses, and they were always crappy. Steven (Page) suggested, "Why don't you just freestyle them? The stuff you freestyle every night onstage is better than the stuff you're trying to write." I improvised four verses, literally⁷ in a minute and a half. Then I edited the four verses into two. Then I sent in the demo.

答：我即兴创作的，因为我做不完。我虽然呆在乐团，但我有脱离乐团的想法。我一直想写这些说唱歌词，但它们总是很蹩脚。史蒂芬·佩奇建议道:“你为什么不自由地表达呢？你每晚在舞台上即兴表演的东西比你努力写的东西要好。” 我在一分半钟内即兴创作了四首歌。然后我把这四首歌剪辑成两首。然后我发送了样本唱片。

The demo was just an acoustic⁸ guitar, a drum loop and me singing the song. Sue Drew, from our record company, called back right away and said, "We're going with this as the lead single." I laughed. I thought she was making fun of me. I thought she was saying, "This is the stupidest song I ever heard in my life." And there you go—No.1!

样本唱片只有原声吉他、鼓循环和我的歌声。我们唱片公司的苏·德鲁马上回电话说，“我们要将它作为主打歌曲。” 我笑了。我以为她在取笑我。我以为她在说，“这是我一生中听到的最愚蠢的歌。”后来的事情你就知道了——这首歌排行第一！

1 deluxe   

adj.华美的，豪华的，高级的

参考例句：

• This system puts the top hotels in a special deluxe category.这种分类法把最高级的旅馆列为特殊豪华级。
• I liked the deluxe edition,but I could afford only a second best.我喜欢精装版，但我只买得起一本稍差一点的。

2 stunt   

n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长

参考例句：

• Lack of the right food may stunt growth.缺乏适当的食物会阻碍发育。
• Right up there is where the big stunt is taking place.那边将会有惊人的表演。

3 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

4 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

5 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

6 improvised   

a.即席而作的,即兴的

参考例句：

• He improvised a song about the football team's victory. 他即席创作了一首足球队胜利之歌。
• We improvised a tent out of two blankets and some long poles. 我们用两条毛毯和几根长竿搭成一个临时帐蓬。

7 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

8 acoustic   

adj.听觉的，声音的；(乐器)原声的

参考例句：

• The hall has a fine acoustic.这个大厅的传音效果很好。
• Animals use a whole rang of acoustic, visual,and chemical signals in their systems of communication.动物利用各种各样的听觉、视觉和化学信号来进行交流。