What's wrong with Pink Floyd and The Who?

[mellowinman]

Bam—you nailed it. My jazz trio farts around with Beatles/Floyd/Zep, but we don't unleash it on the unsuspecting public until we're satisfied with our interpretation and the performance is polished. To date, we have done precisely zero unleashing. The unsuspecting public is pleased with this choice.

You are now on my list of "favorite talkbass posters."

That was awesome.

 

[mellowinman]

Off the top of my head, I can remember playing the following in cover bands:

"Dirty Woman," "Can't Explain," and The Who version of "Summertime Blues."

If you play stuff like "Substitute" or "Money" you may be appreciated by the classic rock fans in their seats, but I can almost guarantee no one's going to dance.

Oh come on.

Drunk white people trying to dance to 7/8 time?

Nothing could be more fun.

 

[mellowinman]

Yep because its cliche and your drummer doesn't want to be dipped in cheese.
Otherwise its no different then Led Zepp or Beatles covers.

Everyone has the right to play them, but its a good way to set yourself up for failure.

maybe your drummer knows he cant touch a WHO cover, and knows his band mates cant either.
Not saying you guys suck, but Some bands are legends and in the rock n roll hall of fame for a reason.........they are untouchable
music wise, and trying to emulate it, is a setup for losing interest from your audience. since their only comparison is the perfect radio version they have been hearing for 30 + years.

There is no rock band in history who can't be covered, and covered WELL. The biggest limitation is the vocals. If you don't have a singer who can cover it, fuhgeddaboudit. As for most rock instrument playing, just practice it hard, and you can play the greatest licks, solos and ensemble pieces ever done.

I'm not talking about if people have NO talent; I'm just saying practice can pay off with some surprising results.

 

[electracoyote]

Oh come on.

Drunk white people trying to dance to 7/8 time?

Nothing could be more fun.

It would be fun to watch. I guess even white people know their limits on the dance floor.

 

[Ayce]

In my first band, (Country rock, before it was cool) we played "Squeeze Box". The first time our guitarist pulled that one out (at a gig, no less), I just thought "what would Entwistle do", and winged it. Lucky me, I got close enough for the people there, they danced their butts off.
My feeling on covers is, do them in your own style, but don't screw them up totally. They should be at least close to recognizable.

 

[the clam]

One of the bands I'm in we know a bunch of Floyd but the ones that seem to go over best are Time (if your guitar player can play the solo) and Young Lust. The hard rock band I play in has a great singer so we are very Who and Zeppelin heavy and people love it. The places that band plays, all the other cover bands are playing Nickleback and 3 Doors Down so I guess we must be a welcome change. Even the Ronson era Bowie stuff goes over well.

 

[BurningSkies]

Exodus?????????????????

I've played Exodus on occasion in the distant past...its a good stepper, but there are plenty of good steppers out there... If you're ever on stage and find yourself doing Exodus, here's quick tip for you...you can do a really swinging walk on it and take it somewhere interesting if you can get the band to follow along.

 

[BurningSkies]

I don't play in a reggae band, but I was playing in a trio most of last year, and our singer/guitarist would pull out No Woman occasionally. I usually play organ with left hand bass for that one - it's such an awesomely beautiful song, I can't ever think of it as a cliche. If you can get past all the associations and connotations that a song might have, and play it for what it is, then there are no more cliches.

And we just did a slow blues version of Ice Ice Baby last night, so I know what I'm talking about!

Given the choice, I'd rather not. While in many cases, the Marley catalog is canon, there are many many other songs that people haven't heard a million times that hit harder and don't have people thinking that you're just copping a Marley track.

I've played in bands for a long time that aren't known as cover bands, we've done well with our own material and like to have one or two versions in the set that people might know. I'd much rather lay down a "How Can I get Over" by the Chantells, dub out Augustus Pablo's Java, or other great obscurities that might turn someone on to a great track. Although one of my favorites is Dreamland by way of Third World...this is us hitting it with some soul style in practice last week, for the first time with our new lineup...

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[onosson]

Although one of my favorites is Dreamland by way of Third World...this is us hitting it with some soul style in practice last week, for the first time with our new lineup...

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Such a great song! I know the Marcia Griffiths version...

Marcia Griffiths - Dreamland - YouTube

I've tried covering it in my trio act but we are not a reggae band by any means - I like to mix things up and take covers out of their element.

 

[tradernick]

Our drummer is so picky about what we play in front of people as it is, and flat out refuses The Who, even though They are one of his main influences and bands.
And our guitarist has a fit if I suggest sonething from The Wall (or any concept album, really) because "Nothing works with just one song"

What type of band is this? Are you guys strictly a cover band? Do you have original music aspirations?

I really don't know about the whole 'nothing works with just one song' thing. Run Like Hell or Young Lust work just fine, thanks. It is true, as has been mentioned, that if you're going to do these iconic tunes like the record, you'd better be doing them really well.

The problem with doing these mega-iconic rock hits is that you can't versionize them at all. If an original music band is going to do a cover, I'd much rather hear them try to do something different with it.

 

[MatticusMania]

The problem with doing these mega-iconic rock hits is that you can't versionize them at all. If an original music band is going to do a cover, I'd much rather hear them try to do something different with it.

I disagree. You can do you own versions of mega-iconic rock hits, its just that you have to have a really good version of it in order to go over well.

 

[bendy]

I refuse to play 99.9% of the Bob Marley songs out there.

The only one I will willingly play is Concrete Jungle...

Good choice.

99.9% of the time, I really dislike hearing Marley covered. If a band must cover Marley, I'd much rather hear some of the harder-edged material. I'd probably enjoy a well-played cover of "Burnin' and Lootin'". Ras Michael's "Numbered Days" (a chilling reworking of "Slave Driver") springs to mind as a rare example of a Marley Cover that worked.

 

[fourfinger]

I'm with you.

Your bandmates have a point, though. Most songs by The Who and Pink Floyd have very distinct stylings, both instrumentally (Moon's double-kick drum, Gilmour's tone etc.) and vocally (the Who's 3-part harmonies, Pink Floyd's effects-drenched lead vocals). All that would require extra rehearsal time for most cover bands to do well.

Also, some of the more popular ones are not dance-friendly songs (Money is in 7/4 time). Some of the more dance-friendly ones (including Substitute) were not huge hits, and being 40 years old those songs are completely unfamiliar to many audiences.

I like both those bands myself, very much, but the only song by either I have ever covered (without personally cringing in agony) is Pinball Wizard. And it took significant rehearsal time.

 

[Darth Handsome]

I've played Exodus on occasion in the distant past...its a good stepper, but there are plenty of good steppers out there... If you're ever on stage and find yourself doing Exodus, here's quick tip for you...you can do a really swinging walk on it and take it somewhere interesting if you can get the band to follow along.

The sky's the limit with that tune.

 

[Lazylion]

I really regret the one time we did While My Guitar Gently Weeps. It wasnt horrible, but certainly less than stellar.

Ooooh! Messin' with the Beatles AND Clapton, all in one shot! Ballsy, dude, ballsy...

 

[bendy]

one of my favorites is Dreamland by way of Third World...this is us hitting it with some soul style in practice last week, for the first time with our new lineup...

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Nice cover of a beautiful song.

I've always liked the Wailers' 1971 version produced by Lee Perry. Out of curiosity, I just now looked into the song's origins and learned it was originally written and recorded (in 1963) by a NY state soul group called the El Tempos. Here's their version: Invalid Link Removed

And now back to your regularly scheduled thread...

 

[john_g]

I think I am kind of the same way. My last two bands have been huge Rush fans just as I am, but I always feel weird playing their songs at gigs. In my last band we did Spirit of Radio and sometimes Tom Sawyer and it just weirded me out for some reason, and we had them down (musically...the vocals were nothing like Geddy's but still good). And people usually really responded well since me and the drummer really nailed them, but I still felt almost...embarrassed...?

 

[tradernick]

I disagree. You can do you own versions of mega-iconic rock hits, its just that you have to have a really good version of it in order to go over well.

Depends what type of room you're in. If you're in a small town rock room and you're doing Run Like Hell as a ballad, it doesn't matter how good it is. They're going to pan you.

Also, some of the more popular ones are not dance-friendly songs (Money is in 7/4 time).

Believe it or not, a jobbing band I play with has been doing Solsbury Hill and the people are dancing to that and apparently loving it. Everyone in the band is having a laugh about it. Mind you, that one has a much more '4 on the floor' feel to it than Money.

 

[BurningSkies]

Nice cover of a beautiful song.

I've always liked the Wailers' 1971 version produced by Lee Perry. Out of curiosity, I just now looked into the song's origins and learned it was originally written and recorded (in 1963) by a NY state soul group called the El Tempos. Here's their version: Invalid Link Removed

And now back to your regularly scheduled thread...

I've never heard that version...very interesting. As with many Jamaican standards, they started out here in America in some form or another. One of the few that sort of worked in reverse is the Staples singers I'll Take You There which is over the Jamaican riddim for Liquidator (We also used to do a killer rave up reggae version of ITYT that was a great set ender). These days we do a Motown-goes-to-Kingston version of Bill Withers "Use Me" with the same singer, and it's got that roots meets Booker T thing happening.

 

[JimmyThunder]

I have a friend who is always talking about starting up a band together (yet to happen) and every time he brings up how excited he is to play Comfortably Numb. And every time I groan.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the PF version as much as anybody. But I just can't envision an audience wanting to hear a coverband version. Not only is it an 'iconic' track so closely associated with that band, but it's really PF's delivery of the song - not the song itself - that sells it, in my opinion.

Plus, it's a real misfit of a song rhythmically. It's not an upbeat rocker, it's not sultry downtempo, it's not a slow-danceable ballad. What's the audience gonna do? Drunks will throw a fist in the air as they sway unsteadily (I'm numb too! YEAHH!) but otherwise I'd expect, at best, respectful silence.

Does anybody pull this off to a great audience reaction? And doing it as tongue-in-cheek ska or some other genre mashup doesn't count as this is for a straight coverband I'm talking about.