tricky one this
usually it's your sound the people want
but it has to fit into the framework of their label
ie my remix for vicious circle
not what i would normally do perhaps but i like it and it works for them
you have to work out what the defining features of the original are and work around them somehow which can be hard if there isn't much you like about the original.
plenty of remixes have been better than the originals
check "age of love" a classic case where everyone thinks the remix IS the original.
there's usually something you can do to most things the worst one is when you like the original so much
ie " hardfloors acperience" which i remixed once with kris needs which was ****ing impossible so we just re-wrote the 303 parts and sped it up so it could be played again by more modern acid fans it was my onlt critisism of the original was that it was too slow ( although it does sound fantastic at that speed)