Cover Bands And Why We Love Them

A cover band is a music group that performs songs originally produced by other famous bands. Sometimes, they dress like the original band, take on their persona, and rock out like the classics. Some of them name their group as a spoof to the original and come up with creative names like Odyssey instead of Journey. Cover bands are different than a band covering a song from an original artist. Cover bands strictly perform the band they are trying to emulate. Some bands that are trying to make their way into the music industry will do a cover of a song from a more famous band, but rerecord it to make it sound like their own.

Some cover bands choose the tops songs from a certain decade to perform. Rotel and the Hot Tomatoes is a cover band the goes through three decades during their performance and have costume changes for each decade. They play the top hits from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Another successful cover band that performs hits from a certain time era is the Three Dog Night band. They cover a variety of songs from the 60s and 70s. A fun place to go in Austin, TX is the Cedar Street courtyard where you can see the band called the Spazmatics perform 80s hits.

While some cover bands focus on a particular decade or decades, other bands that do covers focus on a single group. They are often called tribute cover bands. A popular tribute band that covers all the greatest hits from the original band called ABBA is called Gabba. A tribute band that performs only Beatle's hits is called the Egg Men, and they got their name from one of the Beatle's songs. Tribute bands are so fun for people who had loved the original band back when they were in their prime. Some bands don't tour anymore, so fans will watch tribute bands to hear their favorite music live.


Besides covering bands from a certain decade or specific band, some groups will perform a cover and change the genre of the original song. For example, Trans Siberian Orchestra performs traditional classical style Christmas songs and turns them into rock songs. Some jazz artists will take a famous rock song and play it on an instrument like a saxophone or a piano to change the genre of it.

On a different scale, there are also a lot of impersonators that act exactly like an iconic star. You have probably seen these folks in Las Vegas or Hollywood. Perhaps the most famous person to be impersonated is Elvis Presley. Other iconic stars are also impersonated like Cher or Madonna. Some impersonators just walk around the street acting like the original star, and others perform shows and concerts.

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