No, I am NOT starting a Carpenters Tribute.
As some of you may know Christian has recently been playing in a tribute band called Led Zepagain.
When he first got this opportunity I have to admit the thought was not so pleasing, see my blog McTribute Paradox.
But recently talking with Swan Montgomery, who plays the part of Robert Plant in Led Zepagain, I got a different perspective.
The perspective is one that tribute bands can potentially turn on new audiences to great music (I know, duh), especially if the band is a good one, like Led Zepagain.
And that tribute bands are inspiring new generations of musicians left cold by the homogenized stuffing on the airwaves today. In my sour grapedeness over the demise of audiences pursuing new original music, I missed this very interesting and important aspect of our culture. And although I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the Wigstock of it all I can see some of the value tribute bands have to offer.
Looking back in my mind over the last few years I recall having seen an increase of mostly adolescent boys, skulking around the city streets in Rush, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin T-shirts. These aspiring almost long hairs who have graduated from pretending to perform on RockBand to really wanting to be musicians are naturally looking for more, and seeing tribute bands are the next logical step in their education.
Interestingly enough, many of the songs licensed for RockBand, which is a video game where the players kinda play along on game controllers, are classic rock songs, from back when songs had actual parts to play. Songs where a guitar solo for instance is so essential to the make up of the song and it’s memorability that it just would not be the same without out it, such as The Eagles Hotel California, Steely Dan‘s Reelin’ in The Years, or Pink Floyd‘s Comfortably Numb to name a few.
A study I read recently called Measuring the Evolution of Contemporary Western Popular Music took a sampling of thousands of songs from 1960-2000 comparing many of the common characteristics and discovered that music really has started to all sound the same. Simplistic and repetitive chord progressions, lack of varied melodic structure, vocal timbre, and the overall increase of sheer volume etc suggests … “Much of the gathered evidence points towards an important degree of conventionalism, in the sense of blockage or no-evolution, in the creation and production of contemporary western popular music.” Ouch. Perhaps these are some of the elements in the perfect storm making way for the rise of the tribute band.
Obviously not all new music sucks, but you have to admit that study rings a bell of truth.
Some things I think may have contributed to this ascent into the Plateau of Poop are: the decimation of arts funding in both support and education, bean counters running the music business, and the overall societal valuing of facade over content. (As in look pretty sound shitty, get a record deal.)
I’m told if you watch The Voice for instance you’ll notice that all the singers under the guidance of BIG NAME CELEBRITY SINGER sound just like that BIG NAME CELEBRITY SINGER, so why do we need another one? And the same kind of self cloning happens with bands too.
Today you might have four guys in Green Day T-shirts all saying “Hey I see you like Green Day, so do I, let’s start a band and write Green Day type songs.”
(Note: While I don’t own any Green Day I can appreciate them as artists, not afraid to occasionally piss off their fans by growing, which is always a good sign no?)
To paraphrase my brilliant friend Robbie Rist “What made The Beatles great was that you had a Country guy, a Rhythm & Blues guy, a Pop guy and a Whatever guy all coming together to form a band, and that diversity made them better musicians and writers.”
So while the little shredders are at home running scales, practicing paradiddles or getting in line to buy tickets to see Led Zepagain I anxiously wait. I wait as these potential explorers grow under the noses of a calcified minority experiencing the last gasp of their vapid culture while tribute bands are doing a better job at reseeding the ground than I had ever guessed.
January 17, 2013 at 5:58 pm
You said it, Circe. Every day a new Zep fan is born … and that means every day a Muddy Waters or Willie Dixon fan is also born. It is all about their entree and music is a spirit connector. Want proof? Here I am!
January 19, 2013 at 11:12 am
I’m so glad you are!
January 20, 2013 at 2:27 pm
i don’t know much about tribute bands but the thing i think is hurting today’s music industry is that both the record company and the artists will take a successful formula and run it into the ground milking it for every dollar they can. but what made bands like Zeppelin, the Beatles, The Stones,, and many others is they were not afraid to take chances and grow, and when the record companies got in their way the created their own with Swan Song, Apple, and Rolling Stones Records. another thing is the demise of radio and mtv. remember when the disc jockey’s actually listened to the music they played and would tell you stories about artists and the sessions. they loved the music and picked their selections to play for their shift. instead of it being pre taped.
January 20, 2013 at 3:15 pm
Circe it makes sense. The radio station my nine year-old granddaughter wants to hear is horrible. Sounds like techno garbage.
And the comment about the Beatles and their individual backgrounds, is that why that other almost all U.S. Band who’s remaining members just went on a tour (November and their songwriters,) was successful and remains so today?
Hopefully you will come to Texas this year. I’d love to hear you in person. Take care of yourself and Christian. Happy Sunday Janellle
January 20, 2013 at 3:55 pm
Circe that’s terrific doing a tribute band there is nothing wrong with that . Your right you and Christian do a fantastic job of doing that.
January 20, 2013 at 4:01 pm
I have friends in a Beatle tribute band called the Fab Four ultimate beatles tribute band and they are amazing they play there own instruments and they sing. I agree with you circe I’m disappointed with so many of the new artist out there thats why I’m glad there are still great musicians out there giving us great music like you circe
January 20, 2013 at 4:31 pm
Circe, you are right, of course. When I was a teenager – many moons ago – I was introduced to tribute bands that actually existed while the bands they paid tribute to were still touring/recording. At that time, in the northern Midwest they were popular because we didn’t get headliner bands often. But the tribute band served a great purpose then, as well – We usually knew the singles, and the tribute band would introduce us to deeper cuts. I can remember going out and buying albums by Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin after hearing tribute bands play songs that I’d never heard before.
Today, tribute bands are not only encouraging deeper listening to the band in question, they are exposing kids to original music. Once they learn about the songwriters’ influences, they’ll go out and listen to THOSE musicians, and in some cases, want to try their own hands at songwriting. And it will be music worth listening to – Not regurgitated pap distorted by electronics and sung by a 15-year-old who thinks interpretation is for the U.N.
Why is it all of the aspiring talent-show singers have the same enthusiasm level of the voice at the drive-through asking me if I want fries with that? No motivation – Only ambition.
January 20, 2013 at 5:43 pm
Nothing wrong at all with “Tribute” bands as long as they are good enough at sounding very close to the original band that they are paying tribute to. I don’ t mind covers or different interpretations of songs, in fact like hearing someone doing it different. It does not always work out, but oh well. A tribute band is different though in my opinion. A tribute to a band, I think, has to sound as close as possible to the original. I’ve seen many tribute bands that have you wondering what song it is that they are playing let alone why they say they are a tribute band. I’ve also seen many great ones. One that comes to mind is Rain, a Beatles tribute band. Having seen videos of Zepagain, I think the fall into a great cover band.
January 20, 2013 at 5:56 pm
A friend of mine, when he runs into one of these guys in a tribute band, has been heard to say, “So what band do you pretend to be in?”
January 22, 2013 at 5:21 pm
I would also note that Zappa Plays Zappa is another awesome example of a ‘tribute’ band that goes to GREAT pains to do it to FVZ’s standards. You could almost say that Brian Wilson’s band — with Darian at the helm — is a Beach Boys tribute band. Just so happens that Brian is there too … To me, whatever it takes to get the sounds to the people’s ears.