I think Bill might have been aiming for a synergy with the Freddy Krueger flick of the same name... Anyway, I do agree with you on the fact that the film becomes a different beast when it is altered after the fact. This gets back to the point that we need both versions to be available, which is the overall point of this site.
It's funny that you should mention the alteration of music as an analogy. I don't know if you heard anything about this, but back in the late 80s, Frank Zappa made remasters of some early albums where he went back and rerecorded the drums and bass because the original tape had deteriorated and the oxide had fallen off. Fans (much like us) were outraged and it wasn't long before he released remasters with the original backing tracks intact. We can only hope that GL follows the advice and example of Spielberg and releases both.