Cher – Believe

'Twas in the eleventh month of the year 1998 A.D. that the wicked Cheryl The Sarkisian sought to tear the world asunder, via the unleashing of the arcane practice known only as 'Autotune' unto an unsuspecting populace. Embodied within the incantation 'Believe', its fell bombast echoed forth throughout the land, corrupting all that it touched. The people cried out for mercy, and begged The Sarkisian to put an end to the misery, but no such mercy was forthcoming (and indeed the twisted, knurled visage of The Sarkisian showed naught but pleasure at all she had wrought). The prophecies of Nostradamus himself had warned of such a day, though were left unheeded, for even the most pessimistic of Men could not have conceived such a terrible fate could ever come to .

Fearing all would soon be lost, a group calling themselves the Wonsal Brothers did plot to contain the rot through the unknown medium of 'Seedies'. Once the dark din had been sealed inside a Seedy, it could be cast into the Abyss, never again to exact its evil infuence. But The Sarkisian had anticipated this, and a counter-invocation caused the Seedy to multiply, first into tens, then into hundreds, and on into countless thousands. These thousands of Seedies came to roost in the homes of the masses, inflicting constant torment with Believe incantating ad infinitum.

Thus, the thorny tendrils of Autotune took root in every nook and cranny of the craft of 'popular music', and never again were things to be the same (though two youths involved in the trade of animals for human companionship succeeded in taming the Beast somewhat, and composed numerous 'bangers' consequently).

I bought this after seeing go cheap on eBay. Didn't buy it from HMV as it was too expensive at the time. To be frank most of these remixes were dull and not worth the effort. Some did not even modulate properly and sound very amateurish as a result! In my honest opinion the original version and the Almighty Definitive Mix are the best tracks here.

The full-on, special-effect usage of Autotune was novel and interesting back when this was released. Combine that with Cher's star-power and talent and you've got a massive hit on your hands. For better or for worse, Believe was also an earworm....albeit, a robotic-voiced one that could eventually wear heavy on one's nerves, (some sooner than later.) Unfortunately, in the years following, multiple other artists decided they too wanted a turn playing with recording engineers' dials. The result was something close to a popular insurrection against Autotune and rightly so.

That said, by using it as a special-effect, Cher pushed Autotune out of the shadows and into the public consciousness so labels can't hide their off-key artists behind it so easily. That alone deserves our respect and thanks.

I'm sure I'll want to hear this recording again someday...if I live long enough. (Mea culpa Cher, I'd consider myself blessed to hear you sing this or anything else in-person.)

One of the first records to use autotune as an effect. An almost robotic effect. This devided the audience, some loved it - and other was not happy about it....

The 90's equivalent of "bad" dance music. "Disco Duck" might be a good example of Bad 70's dance music. (although I would take that song any day over "Believe")

A contrived, generic-sounding dance-pop song which gave us something that still has infected every other pop/rap song since—AUTOTUNE

FAR better things to explore in dance music than pop drivel like this IMO.

Can we check the CD, Single, CD1 UK and European release again for duplicate? both are shown two times above..

Prolly my least favorite song in the last 20 years.

This was allegedly the first release to feature the much-maligned autotune vocoder effect, a crime against humanity later committed by numerous other shameless bastards, including The Youngsters and Silicone Soul, to mention just two acts that should know better. Actually not surprised to see that sorry outfit Club 69 remixing this pile of offensive garbage. And why anyone would want to own a release with 10 mixes of this is a mystery.