Talk:Imitation of Life (song)

Citations

I tried checking the REMhq.com link cited as reference No. 1, but the link just goes some general page and not something specifically related to the song. Shouldn't there be something more specific cited regarding the writing credits of the song? The "REMhq" site appears to be some kind of official page of the band, but there's no "About" section to the page so it's hard to tell either way. If it is and it is only being used to cite a straightforward descriptive statement of fact (i.e., the writing credits of the song), it should be OK per both WP:PSTS and WP:BLPPRIMARY; It should, however, actually directly cite that information it's claiming to cite without asking the reader to scroll through all of the albums until they come to "Reveal".

Other than the above, the article has no other cited sources. Nothing in "Background and history", etc. is cited by a reliable source. Direct quotes from band members are given, but they are not cited. Chart listings are given, but they too aren't cited. Even a claim regarding the origin of the song's name is given, but again nothing it is not cited. Without reliable sources to verify any of this, it is pretty much nothing but original research or synthesis, isn't it?

For what it's worth, would this link to "All Music.com" be something that is considered a reliable source for the song's writing credits and chart positions? It seems to be according to both WP:ALBUM/SOURCES#Online only and WP:ALBUM/SOURCES#Sources to avoid. It doesn't do anything about the origin of the name or the quotes given, but it might be a start in the right direction to improving this article a little bit at a time. I am interested in hearing what others might have to say. Thanks in advance. - Marchjuly (talk) 05:35, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

REMhq is the official band web site.

I don't own this single myself. As far as I know, in WikiProject Albums, there is no need specifically to cite the recorded media when adding factual information from it (that is, track names, times and songwriters and production credits). I have never cited the media when doing articles in this project.

Billboard Charts are frequently cited from allmusic. If you wish you can put in a cite needed tag. I cleared the chart and sales cite needed tags from all R.E.M. albums earlier this year. Fantailfan (talk) 13:44, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply Fantailfan. Sorry for not responding sooner, but I actually didn't see your post until yesterday for some strange reason (probably just missed it when you first posted it). Anyway, I get what you're saying about adding factual information, especially when it's obvious stuff. I have have the "Reveal" CD, so I can look at the liner notes and see who is credited with writing the song. Anyone else can do the same too. Is that good enough or can you cite the liner notes? Should you even bother? The link cited in the article leads to an R.E.M. album page, but it's not a direct link to info about "Reveal". If you scroll through the albums you'll eventually get to "Reveal", but I can't figure out how to directly link to it. There is this All Music page that I can use I guess if All Music is considered reliable for that kind of thing, but not sure if it is. - Marchjuly (talk) 06:54, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Allmusic is mostly reliable. I do not use it as a sole source, however. I have found too many factual errors there to trust it implicitly. Same goes for crowdsourced projects such as Discogs, which suffers from missing data more than inaccuracies.

I don't think you need to cite the album's liner notes in the Album Infobox or track listing. Most (but not all) of my articles were created with the CD in hand, so to speak, and I never have done so. When creating or modifying existing articles for which I do not own the media, regarding credits I relied on several online sources, and usually without citing them, which is probably a WikiSin. On the other hand I have cited the liner notes in the body copy when necessary. Fantailfan (talk) 18:09, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Thanks Fantailfan for the added info. . - Marchjuly (talk) 11:48, 4 October 2014 (UTC)

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GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Imitation of Life (song)/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: GhostRiver (talk · contribs) 21:33, 31 January 2022 (UTC)

Hello! I'll be taking a look at this article for the January 2022 GAN backlog drive. If you haven't already signed up, please feel free to join in! Although QPQ is not required, if you're feeling generous, I also have a list of GA nominations of my own right here.

Good Article review progress box Criteria: 1a. prose () 1b. MoS () 2a. ref layout () 2b. cites WP:RS () 2c. no WP:OR () 2d. no WP:CV () 3a. broadness () 3b. focus () 4. neutral () 5. stable () 6a. free or tagged images () 6b. pics relevant () Note: this represents where the article stands relative to the Good Article criteria. Criteria marked are unassessed

Infobox and lede

• Link R.E.M. in the first sentence
• "The song was written by band members" → "It was written by band members"
• Direct quote in lede should have an attached citation
• "Since" → "Because"
• Link first use of "Single" (in the second paragraph) to Single (music)
• "complimentary towards"

Background and release

• "the band states that the song's title comes from Douglas Sirk's 1959 film Imitation of Life," → "the band states that the title of "Imitation of Life" was derived from Douglas Sirk's 1959 film of the same name,"
• "since it was" → "because it was"
• Bill Berry leaving the band is not mentioned at all here and it really should be, as it informs the remaining content

Composition

• "both by the band and by music critics"
• "for the drums" → "for percussion"

Critical reception

• Music critics praised "Imitation of Life". This is inconsistent with the lede, which says it received mixed to positive reviews
• and noted that the transition to adult pop music which would hurt the chances cut either "that" or "which"
• an undeniable R.E.M. track comes off as POV as a paraphrase
• "losing to" → "where it lost to"
• whose cousin appears in the video trivia

Commercial performance

• "after "Electrolite"" → "following "Electrolite""

Music video

• "The single's music video" → "The music video for "Imitation of Life""

Accolades

• Please specify who the director was for the "Best Direction" nomination, since he was the one really nominated

Track listings

• Fine

Credits and personnel

• Fine

Charts

• Fine

Release history

• Fine

References

• Fine

General comments

• Images are properly licensed and relevant
• No stability concerns in the revision history
• Copyvio score looks good

Thank you for your patience; putting on hold to allow nominator to address comments. Feel free to ping me with questions, and please let me know when you're finished. — GhostRiver 22:19, 7 February 2022 (UTC)

@GhostRiver: Okay, I've taken care of everything. Regarding your POV comment from the Critical reception section, I realized that I accidentally removed the source for the review, so I've added it back in. The source uses the word "unmistakably", so that's why I used "undeniable". If something else needs tending to, please let me know, but otherwise, thank you for the review. ResPM (T🔈🎵C) 22:43, 7 February 2022 (UTC)

I've made some additional minor changes in the composition section and now believe this is up to caliber. Passing now. — GhostRiver 17:19, 11 February 2022 (UTC)

Garth Jennings Music Video

A source is needed for the claim that one of the Super-8 reels that Garth Jennings used in the video (the one on the upper left, depicting a boy in swim trunks jumping into the water) actually is home movie footage of the young, “Critters 3” era Leonardo DiCaprio, who was the inspiration for the song. 66.74.129.186 (talk) 09:09, 17 May 2023 (UTC)

I'm not seeing such a claim. Seasider53 (talk) 10:22, 17 May 2023 (UTC)