Cover bands - good or bad?

mike65

Once upon a time 'cover' bands meant hideous "Dick 'n Mick in the Bar" acts on a Friday night down your local, now its a million dollar business for groups like The Australian Pink Floyd and ABBA-esque. Is it a good thing or not? Obviously acts which trade on bands that no longer exist or bearly tour I guess bring some of the magic to the masses but, well is not the real thing is it? Can an artful fake satisfy the listener?

Mike.

Setun

Well a good cover band is the closest I'm ever going to get to the Doors, so I'll say they're good, and can be great. It really depends on a few things - what band they're covering, and how well they do it (shudders @ thought of a bad Abba cover band).

They'll probably not go much further, cover people all you like for a bit of fun/whatever, but original music is the way fwd.

Heisenberg.

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Karl Hungus

I'd make a distinction between cover bands and "Tribute" bands; the ones who try to recreate a specific band's show. I think they both have their place, but I find it total a waste of talent when some amazing musicians are just playing some covers.

byrner88

well for the likes of the austrailian pink floyd there the nearest were gonna get to the real pink floyd becuase we all know pink floyd will never preform together again so the austrailian pink floyd are a great "cover/tribute" band . well then again does a cover band mean the likes of people having a part time bit on the side of a job by playing in a pub every week? or is that the best they can do ?

Wertz

If you've ever had the pleasure to hear the Stoned Roses, you'll know that they almost surpass the original band and have the blessing of them too.
Heard good things about that Doors cover band also.

I dislike Abba immensely so no amount of talent in a tribute band is going to impress...

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Setun

Wertz wrote:

If you've ever had the pleasure to hear the Stoned Roses, you'll know that they almost surpass the original band and have the blessing of them too.
Heard good things about that Doors cover band also.

I dislike Abba immensely so no amount of talent in a tribute band is going to impress...

The Back Doors were an amazing tribute band, really sounded great and when they played a gig everyone just went mental. But as I said above, you can't really be playing covers forever.

r3nu4l

Karl Hungus wrote:

I'd make a distinction between cover bands and "Tribute" bands; the ones who try to recreate a specific band's show. I think they both have their place, but I find it total a waste of talent when some amazing musicians are just playing some covers.

Well two tribute albums I can think of offhand that were pretty good were - 'Metallica by four Cellos - Apocalyptica' and 'Fade to Bluegrass - by Iron Horse'

The first is exactly as stated and not bad at all but the latter was truly amazing! Iron Horse are a Kentucky Bluegrass band and appear to specialize in tributes to other bands via bluegrass, I've only heard (and own) the Fade to Bluegrass album so can't comment on the rest

mikedragon32

I've seen some great tribute bands and some truely awful ones.

Monster (an REM tribute) and the Naked Lunch (Steely Dan) were absolutely terrible. They ruined my weekly "Midnight at the Olympia" routine.