OUTSTANDING!

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

It is because it sounds better "tribute"...

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http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/fuego- ... d490937974
Fender Strat Highway 1, Fender Telecaster MIM 60 Anniversary Edition, Fender Squire Telecaster, Boss GT-10, Marshall VS100
http://www.youtube.com/user/jcpalphachannel

Whos Led ZEPPLIN?? I know they arent talking about Led ZEPPELIN are they

now that's funny!

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Well it is all they ever did, steal songs from old blues players they thought no one had ever heard of. Put some stupid line about witches or elves on it and sell it to thick hippies.

Nah I know thats not true of every song they did, just lots of them.

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No no and no

+1 niki. and you can add the Rolling Stones to the blues tribute school ( at least, apparently, offered a how to lesson ) of Rock and Roll.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

SBLS

I'm only joking mate but yeah you can add the stones, kinks, hendrix, the who, cream, john mayall and the beatles to that list of cover bands. Infact just about every band that ever there was started out playing someone elses music. Even all them old blues players can be traced back to Robbie Johnson, who no doubt drew his influence from somewhere. I dont for one second believe that someone in a cotton field invented blues music without ever hearing anything ever before. Even gospel has a direct link to the psalms of the bible.

I cant think of one half successful band that didnt start that way. Certainly every band I've been in did. Start out playing covers, then as you write start to dribble in some of your own stuff as you build up a fan base. That starts at around 2 original songs in a setlist. Then just keep adding more until your playing about 2 covers in a setlist. Anything else just alienates audiences for a new band.

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No no and no

Yes, I am...
http://www.coversproject.com/artist/led%20zeppelin/

http://earfarm.com/features/daily-feature/monday/1820

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RAMA LAMA FA FA FA

31 cover songs

Thats a setlist for a pub band.

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Heehee!

After all the strong opinions expressed on this thread I'm far too ashamed to admit that some of the best enjoyment I've had was playing covers. That was after I'd privately admitted to myself that chart topping music career was not likely to come my way, so I could give up playing the "original" material and move over to, frankly, better numbers.

But I'm to ashamed to admit all of that - so I won't.

I wouldn't want to get hunted down in a supermarket car park by some vengeful type on horseback wielding a golf club, after all...

- C

As i said theres nothing wrong with playing covers. New bands need to do it, and its a good part of a old established bands stageshow. Clapton and Winwoods take on voodoo chile was superb. Whenever I pay to see a band and they throw a cover in, I feel like I'm getting more for my money. Even Joe Bonemassa and his cover of zztops just got paid today is great. I've gotten a few JB albums to give him a try. I dont particularly like or dislike any of them. I do like that cover he does though.

Covers are a point of contact between band and audience. Like making the statement, "we like this band and hope you do too".

Tribute bands are a whole bad affair though. Those are the ones deserving public flogging. On the LP's (to those who may have listened to them) I recently uploaded theres plenty of covers. Abba (Ash nicked the idea for that one off us. Cheers infectious records), Joan Jett, Ramones, UkSubs. You'd never tell they were covers unless you knew the original. We took them and made them our own, thats what a good cover is. A song you love playing but put your own spin on. Thats what keeps it intresting for the audience too. Shamelessly acting like your favourite band down to facial expressions and underwear colour is a whole different thing.

Its a bit like stalking without ever being in the vicinity of the person.

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No no and no

Hey fellow Fenderistas it's me again.

My spin on this is that Cover Bands aren't all bad (at least they are honest in what they do) nor is playing covers bad, everyone does it at one point or another.

But call it what it is dang it, euphemisms in general annoy me and calling something a "Tribute Band" in my eyes demeans the work of the original artist. It's not any kind of tribute, it's just copycatting for a buck. Not only do these characters not have their own music, they don't even have their own LOOK.

If you want to see a good cover band, check out "The Chelsea Girls" they cover all sorts of great rock n roll, play it well, and look darned good doing it.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

Yeah - though what we did way back in the day was go the opposite direction. From original material to more and more covers. What a relief - you can't imagine how dreary that early '80s mod revival stuff was (right down to matching red Harringtons ) and what a pleasure to leave it behind.

"Guys, face facts: doesn't look like we're ever going to be successful. Thank goodness! Now we can play what we like!"

Mind you, "classic" covers - mostly not chart. And I have definitely never felt the urge to dress up as anyone else - that's a bit creepy!!

On covers: do you remember an early '90s pop track called Sunshine On A Rainy Day by a one hit wonder called Zoe? We used to do that - but turn it into a sort of "building" number, like Hey Jude or Magic Bus. Man, that was loads of fun.

Never crossed my mind to try to look like Zoe though...

Cheers - C

there are some covers done to sound as close as possible to the originals that i really appreciate:
frank zappa's stairway to heaven and i'm the walrus blew me away when i saw him in boston on one of his last tours. the whole band played jimmy's guitar solo note for note on stairway.
dweezil's making a living out of playing his dad's music and making it sound just like it did on the original recordings. awesome musicianship - and a real tribute to his dad... and absolutely nothing wrong with that.
SRV's voodoo child slight return.
Pearl Jam's love reign o'er me.
peter gabriel's strawberry fields

then there's the many from excellent musicians who put their own spin on things:
jeff beck's she's a woman
the majority of led zeppelin's covers as well as the stones.

no disrespect to music imo anywhere above... but if you're gonna do it, do it well, and do it justice. roseanne barr's star spangled banner i could have done without.

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Another non-issue... It is very simple. A cover band plays songs by many different artists. A Tribute band plays songs from one artist. Not that hard... And yes, everyone has been a cover band at one point... The Beatles, The Stones, Eric Clapton still is... The Yardbirds... The only time it is lame is when you're playing to an empty house.

And as for how it looks through someone else's eyes... guess what, no one cares, mate.

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"...The final truth is, there is no truth..." - (from "Nice n' Neat" by the Boomtown Rats)