Comments on: Evoking fond memories or bad cover band

By: netbook review

netbook review — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:43:33 +0000

Hi, have you got a Twitter page that I could follow? Bless you

By: jd webb

jd webb — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:27:57 +0000

I like your style

By: Tommy

Tommy — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:49:04 +0000

I have been thinking about this topic for a while since everyttime one of these bands comes around my friends and i always joke about going to see them just for the fun of hearing bad music and making asses of ourselves. My comment is this: to us these are joke bands and some of them, in my opinion were joke bands to begin with. I have never considered America a real band or Foreigner or Styx. They have always been joke bands to me. However there is a large group of people who have been unable to adapt to new music. These are the people going to these shows, the people who still listen to classic rock stations and get excited when they play Low Rider. So if you go to one of these shows and pretend you are going to hear the original band then you have bigger problems than your taste in music. but if you go in thinking it is going to be bad or curbed expectations then you can enjoy yourself. I hate the Cars but i like the new Cars because they have Todd Rundgren and as my dad can attest to i will pay to see Todd do anything because hes great.

At some point the bands that informed my generation are going to doing the samething. When is the soundgarden reunion going to come, Alice and Chains has already tried this with another lead singer but how do your replace Layne Staley? You dont thats why no body went. tool reforms and breaks up every five years but tool is awesome so they are excused.

I vote for the Rolling Stones to call it a day. Was i the only one who thought Shine a Light made them look old a stupid. Just because Martin Scorsese put his name on it doesnt mean its good. its enough rolling stones your songs have been played so much even the good ones arent good anymore. I also think Paul McCartney should hang it up. All of your crowd pointing and standing might work on some people but they arent working on me. go play hey jude in your mansion, stop charging people 100 bones for to hear you play it excatly like you did on the album which we can hear for free on the same classic rock stations that are playing Low Rider.

By: gorky

gorky — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:42:11 +0000

You know, out here in the desert (at least in the countries that have alcohol) all the bar bands are Fillipino cover bands. And they are all pretty damn good. There is no shame in being a cover band. But if you have two of the remaining members of Creedence and neither are John Fogerty – you darn well better change your name.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:55:26 +0000

OK…I think I have this new technology figured out, but since I am going to golf spring training on Wednsday, I will just comment. There should be a law against calling yourself the original band name if you do not have at least half of the original members, and one has to be the lead singer unless said singer has ceased to be. Otherwise, you are just another sucky cover band. I also submit that a cover band cannot call themselves “the best” anything. Case in point: The band at the Playwright for the New Haven St. Patrick’s Day Parade called themselves “London’s hottest Celtic Rock Band”. Now, I knew right away that they were going to suck, because what does a f#@$ing Englishman know about Celtic Rock? But all they did was play cover songs, and poorly at that. And they also committed blasphemy by trying to do the Murphy’s version of Fields of Athenry (I know I spelled that wrong). Thankfully there were alot of police around so I didn’t attempt to physically stop the madness. So if you are going to be a cover band, just say “We are a cover band” and don’t take yourself too seriously. Then everyone will take you for what you are and not be disappointed when you don’t live up to your memories of the band.

By: terry

terry — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:58:56 +0000

Sometimes we do things for our spouses that we would not normally do…like going to certain concerts.

I’m sure you all have done that?!?

By: gorky

gorky — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 04:29:41 +0000

Terry – you should never admit to such things.

By: terry

terry — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:18:06 +0000

I asked myself this question in Paris when I saw a poster for an upcoming gig by America. Does anybody REALLY want to hear ‘Horse With No Name’?
One of the reunion tours we saw was America (don’t ask why) and it wasn’t good.

By: gorky

gorky — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 15:29:57 +0000

Interesting topic. With a whole lot of bands from the 70s and 80s, each tour should be called the “In It For The Money Tour”. The Rolling Stones are a prime example of this. They have recorded maybe ten decent new songs since 1985 – so I would consider them a Stones cover band at this point. And – as you say – if there’s no original lead singer, it’s not worth the ticket price. Even Van Halen only made sense with Dave singing. Three Dog Night stills plays gigs but with only two of the leads. Do they skip Chuck Negron’s songs? Are they then worth watching?

Let’s take the opening of the question: Do bands who are no longer relevant evoke fond memories or are they just bad cover bands? I asked myself this question in Paris when I saw a poster for an upcoming gig by America. Does anybody REALLY want to hear ‘Horse With No Name’? I can’t imagine it. I haven’t seen many bands reunite. However, The Raspberries actually worked for me. And not because of Eric Carmen, but because the rest of the band was much better than I remembered. Most of the bands you mentioned I wouldn’t have bothered to see when they big, so whether they trot their sorry butts back onstage or not wouldn’t excite me. However, individual artists doing a ‘greatest hits tour’ is not so bad. Joe Jackson can do it. Lou Reed can do it. Leonard Cohen can do it. But these guys never went away in the first place. I love the whole concept of touring by playing one of your best loved albums in its entirety. Saw Patti Smith perform ‘Horses’ a while back and would have KILLED to see the Sonic Youth and Built To Spill shows.

However, I think the best approach to the nostalgia tour is Ringo’s. His band is full of names and he plays his hits and they play their hits. It’s a pretty full meal of pop classics, you got to see one of the last remaining Beatles and you can’t help but leave with a smile on your face. I’d rather see that than the two remaining old farts who used to be the Who or Led Zepplin drag themselves across a stage.

By: terry

terry — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 00:20:17 +0000

Having experienced a few “reunion” tours that were less than stellar – I would agree with your points that having the original lead singer and having as many of the original players as possible is key. I’ve also decided that reading reviews before deciding to go helps too. I enjoyed the New Cars only because of Todd and I forgot how much I liked some of the songs (some not so much). I also really enjoyed Joe Jackson on the Volume 4 tour because I thought the music held up really well after all those years.