The Upside & Downside of "Tribute" Bands

I have to agree with the lady on this I dont care to much for bands or artists who use this "tribute" crutch to mask there own inability to be unique or original and some vicariously live there lives thru there idols gaining identity with false "tributes" these people are no better then sick bed lawyers waiting for the patient to die to profit from there demise the only one worthy of tribute is God Almighty the rest of these clones will inherit nothing more then mediocrity.

Perhaps a short story will give my opinion.  I was at a local guitar shop testing out some guitars I apsire to purchase.  There was a young man - very young - in there playing on a nice Taylor.  He did an absolutely perfect rendition of some Led Zeppelin song or other (I've never been a big fan of theirs).  He looked up at me with a look on his face as young men will sometimes have when they are appealing to their elders for acceptance.  I said, "That was absolutely fantastic.  You played it perfectly.  Now, give it a try the way YOU think it should sound."  He did - and it was a marked improvement.  Not because the song or the music was better, but because for a moment the music and the musician were one and the same thing.  The musician expressed forth from his own essence something beautiful - and it was music.  His young friend with him said, "That wasn't the right way to play it."  I said, "Perhaps not, but it was beautiful."   

We need to keep alive these songs, but we need to express them as parts of ourselves.  Where musicians blend and the notes express something more than wavelengths of sound.  They express blended spirits, and essence of where the song came from at first and how it has changed through the telling from other hands and voice. 

Sometimes, we are lucky enough to hear a song we do not care for done by someone else and it is magic.  Jose Feliciano's version of The Doors "Light My Fire" is such an experience for me.  Some of All1Song's versions on YouTube are like this.  Mekidsmom shared a song from her bathroom recently via Facebook (I do not hang out in bathrooms hoping for songs) - and it took a song that has always left me flat on the radio, stripped it down, and gave voice to something beautiful and transcendant. 

THAT is how musicians give tribute, meager as it may be in some of our cases.  Precise replication is the realm of technicians.  It is also tributary, no question.  The effort and learning and practice that goes into something like that is significant and deserves our attention and appreciation.  It is more than I can do, and I am jealous of the talent.  But that does not change its technical nature.  Musicians MUST express music from within themselves.  And when it comes from within themself, even if it was first expressed by another it cannot help but change and morph and become something new. 

- Zurf

I like cover bands but not tribute bands. I don't mind the bands that cover songs especially if they have their own style. I like to see bands that do 50% original 50% covers. And if the covers are cleverly restyled even better. IMO

I am not too keen on tribute acts but having said that i went to see the Australian Pink Floyd not that long ago and they played "The Wall" in its entirety. It was a good gig. Obviously not and will never be the real thing but a good 25 quid well spent.

ps  i have a mate whose alter ego is Elvis Prestwick (not to serious but a lot of fun).

cheers

sinkybhoy

There's a guy standing in the general election here who is a Freddy Mercury impersonator for his day job. I would love to have been a fly on the wall when they asked - "Harry, can you tell us how your prior experience fits you for this post?"

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/politics/UU … 5855137.jp

>>>>My husband gets terribly flustered with songs because they just aren't "perfect" compared to the original<<<<

Talk about eloquent...that little statement says it all!  With creating the "perfect" copies as their primary goal, it seems there is little incentive for musicians to try to create perfect ORIGINALS any more.

A downside to tribute bands is when they peter out so does your money.
My best buddy had a Jimmy Buffet show he played on the college circuit ten years ago. He wowed 'em with a huge sound system, great backing tracks, launching T-shirts into the crowd with a rubber band ballon launcher - he even hauled in his own palm trees and island scenery.
He quickly ran his income up to well over a hundred grand a year.
The problem was, Jimmy Buffet got old and rich and slowed down his producion of C.D's and live shows. My friend's income decreased as college students moved on to other music heros.

Toots - From the interviews I've read and heard, Jimmy Buffett still digs doing shows as much as he ever did, but his sixty(ish) year old voice isn't holding up to doing concerts Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night every week for thirteen or sixteen weeks in a row any more. 

PapaTom - You said a mouthful, and every syllable true.

- Zurf