Tribute acts crowding out cool new bands

[tater1977]

Tribute acts crowding out cool new bands

By Jed Gottlieb
Friday, June 8, 2012

http://news.bostonherald.com/entertainm ... ition=also


Originality has become a tough sell.

The big summer movies feature Batman and Spider-Man (again). Television execs are rebooting “Dallas,” “The Munsters” and Sherlock Holmes. The same few beach reads have been circulating for years — “The Hunger Games,” the Millennium series, even “The Great Gatsby.”

New music has also suffered from our love of the same old thing — “Don’t Stop Believin’” is awesome, but do we need it redone by “Glee,” the “Rock of Ages” cast, “American Idol” wannabes and Steve Perry stand-in Arnel Pineda?

This summer, tribute acts and substitutes will fill clubs, amphitheaters and stadiums (see the feature on Page E3 about the Queen Extravaganza tour).

Showcase Live has booked tributes to the Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, the Rolling Stones, Billy Joel, Chicago and Steely Dan. Rock On’s concert cruise series features Dead, Bob Marley, U2, Guns N’ Roses and Justin Timberlake cover bands. Other local venues host everything from complete imposters (Lez Zeppelin, Beatlejuice) to halfway impostors (Sublime with Rome, Zappa Plays Zappa).

Even monster venues are getting into the action with Roger Waters doing “The Wall” at Fenway Park [map] without his old band mates. Rather see the band’s ’70s classics? The Machine plays Pink Floyd in New England eight times this summer — the first gig is tonight at Blue Ocean Music Hall in Salisbury.

There are plenty of good reasons to fork over the dough to see Playin’ Dead or the Timberfakes (they’re fun, great at what they do and it’s impossible to see Jerry or Justin this summer). And, provided you’re flush with cash, who wouldn’t want to see the spectacle of Waters’ “Wall” at Fenway.

But it’s a bit much.

The death of MTV as a music channel and the demise of rock radio have already hurt bands’ ability to hit the mainstream. For every Black Keys that breaks big, there are dozens of Blitzen Trappers, Dr. Dogs and Free Energys (all cool bands you should check out!) stuck in the minors. Now many would rather spend their time with a Bruce Springsteen or an E Street tribute act than discover the next Springsteen (side note: the next Springsteen should be the Hold Steady).

I could never begrudge somebody the chance to see a cool Floyd laser light show or hear “Bohemian Rhapsody” with nine perfect voices. But if that’s all people want to see, that’s all we’ll have left. Go see some new music.

[Arkansas]

Maybe if new music was worth a crap, and there wasn't so much great music already made, then maybe new bands would be the mainstream. Today's music, while some of it is quite good, doesn't give the bang for the buck that 70s-80s generation did...and perhaps most importantly, today's musicians simply aren't on the same level as the older generation. We grew up when you had to learn the craft inside & out. Not so much of that going on today.


later~

[ebake02]

There's no originality in these "cool new bands". Once in awhile I'll turn on Octane on my Satellite Radio receiver and I've noticed that most of the new bands they play sound exactly the same, there really isn't anything that makes any of those acts stand out. Most of the truly good new bands are in Europe, which is why we never hear much about them.