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Cover bands...

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dr. nervioso:
So recently, I did a blog post/review of an acoustic cover band. I will quoe some of it here:


--- Quote ---Altogether, the concert was pretty good, excellent guitar playing. However, the songs themselves seemed repetitive. This is somewhat common in most acoustic cover bands. The defintion of what is good in music can be described as specifically broad. While a band can be excellent musicians, when they are doing a cover, they are being compared to the original (or the most popular artist, as in the case of the Dixie Chicks’s “Landslide”). Also, consider the people who are going to listen to a Blink 182 cover, Britney Spears fans? I think not.

So, cover bands are hard to review because you have to ignore your reservations about the original song and judge based on questions like “Does this song fit the band’s capabilities and style?” or “Is this band in tune or are they butchering the song?” This criteria is very limiting because it only covers the surface of their musical potential. To be honest, whenever I see a band like this, my main reaction is “meh.” I want to like them, I really, really do. But cover bands  hinder themselves. They restrict the part of music that makes it art. Creativity. Now, cover bands do have their use. They serve as excellent practice for being in a band and learning what you can do with your voice or an instrument. However, without the songwriting, the presentation, or the experimentation, the music seems empty.
--- End quote ---

So you all being music-y people must have some sort of opinion on cover bands, what is it?

Patrick:
I'm pretty black-and-white on this, cover bands are for when you can't get the real thing. But there's two different kinds. The kind that artistically re-interprets every song, and the kind that tries to stay as faithful as possible to the original/most popular version/whatever. The former is rarer (it's a big risk; if you don't do it well, people will think you're just a bunch of pretentious idiots), the latter is in overwhelming abundance (less risk, but usually the members are less talented).

Melodic:
Agreed with Patrick. There's a great band in Vancouver called Creaking Planks, and they do phenomenal covers of all kinds of stuff, but very much in their own style. It's these kind of tributes that I soak up with a grin. If you're doing your best so sound like the source material, I'd rather just go listen to the source's albums.

Patrick:
Walk Off The Earth are the best thing ever

Theyis:
Cover bands are mostly just fun for a while in my opinion. Especially if they stick closely to the original or do eveything in a particular style like Me first and the gimme gimmes p[unk covers of  varied songs. Fun, but not for long...

And then every once in a while something absolutely brilliant comes along like Johnny Cash's version of Hurt, which in my opinion is much better than the original NIN version...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prDoGmY5kj8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go

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