Why do cover bands attempt to cover Heart?

[JRNYMAN]

One of the reasons Ann Wilson's voice is so respected and immediately recognizable is because it's unique. If every female could deliver the kind of vox Ann has for decades, she wouldn't be as awesome as she is. The fact is, I have YET to hear anyone cover Ann's vocals at any respectable level. And yet there are some female singers out there who believe their attempt at the impossible is good enough to perform in public and do so with a huge smile and lots of pride.
apparently they aren't able to hear what the accidence hears.
Here's on of those failures on a biblical level. Not only are they covering a Heart song, they're covering perhaps the most difficult song from their catalog: Fallen From Grace. Saw them on the Brigade tour and they opened with this one and knocked it completely out of the park - even better than the studio cut. Perfect harmonies. These guys, however, not so much.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS36nX0tht8

Second try at it, and it's even worse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... ht8#t=119s

Third attempt and the paint starts to peel off the walls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... ht8#t=203s

This is the way it's supposed top sound:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npc2yyveOQ8

[Andrew]

One of their great tunes.

Sammy Hagar's writers demo kicks ass.

[JRNYMAN]

One of their great tunes.

Sammy Hagar's writers demo kicks ass.

Definitely in my top 5 fav Heart tunes. As for Hagar's version.... I didn't know it existed. Link?

Just found it. Listening now. So far it does indeed kick ass! And definitely has him reaching the limits of his higher register - but, he does it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FitJBBvYutU

[AR]

Not a cover band, but Lizzy Hale from Halestorm does this Heart song well

All I Wanna Do (acoustic)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q1I7uyuCuI

[Andrew]

One of their great tunes.

Sammy Hagar's writers demo kicks ass.

Definitely in my top 5 fav Heart tunes. As for Hagar's version.... I didn't know it existed. Link?

Pay attention! http://www.melodicrock.com/mrcd9.html

[JRNYMAN]

One of their great tunes.

Sammy Hagar's writers demo kicks ass.

Definitely in my top 5 fav Heart tunes. As for Hagar's version.... I didn't know it existed. Link?

Pay attention! http://www.melodicrock.com/mrcd9.html

Uhh.... thanks?

[Hollywood]

One of the reasons Ann Wilson's voice is so respected and immediately recognizable is because it's unique. If every female could deliver the kind of vox Ann has for decades, she wouldn't be as awesome as she is. The fact is, I have YET to hear anyone cover Ann's vocals at any respectable level. And yet there are some female singers out there who believe their attempt at the impossible is good enough to perform in public and do so with a huge smile and lots of pride.
apparently they aren't able to hear what the accidence hears.
Here's on of those failures on a biblical level. Not only are they covering a Heart song, they're covering perhaps the most difficult song from their catalog: Fallen From Grace. Saw them on the Brigade tour and they opened with this one and knocked it completely out of the park - even better than the studio cut. Perfect harmonies. These guys, however, not so much.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS36nX0tht8

Second try at it, and it's even worse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... ht8#t=119s

Third attempt and the paint starts to peel off the walls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... ht8#t=203s

This is the way it's supposed top sound:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npc2yyveOQ8

The show I saw and all setlists for the Brigade tour I have seen have them opening with Wild Child.

The worst part of these videos is the lead voice.

[MartyMoffatt]

Not a cover band, but Lizzy Hale from Halestorm does this Heart song well

All I Wanna Do (acoustic)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q1I7uyuCuI

When I saw this thread I though the same thing. Lzzy Hale is probably the only current female singer who could do Heart justice, and she does nail it on that song. The officially recorded version on the Halestorm EP is even better.

[G.I.Jim]

You went out and found the worst tribute band you could find to make your point. I typed in Heart tribute band and this is the first one I saw. They DO sound good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9oMUMGwyCU

Here's the next one I found (the fourth one posted on Youtube). They even LOOK the part (big cans included! ).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McgGZB_uWmg


Now stop saying there aren't any decent tribute bands for Heart mister!

[G.I.Jim]

These guys don't sound too bad either...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjn8HO7DtuE

[The Sushi Hunter]

One of the reasons Ann Wilson's voice is so respected and immediately recognizable is because it's unique. If every female could deliver the kind of vox Ann has for decades, she wouldn't be as awesome as she is. The fact is, I have YET to hear anyone cover Ann's vocals at any respectable level. And yet there are some female singers out there who believe their attempt at the impossible is good enough to perform in public and do so with a huge smile and lots of pride.
apparently they aren't able to hear what the accidence hears.
Here's on of those failures on a biblical level. Not only are they covering a Heart song, they're covering perhaps the most difficult song from their catalog: Fallen From Grace. Saw them on the Brigade tour and they opened with this one and knocked it completely out of the park - even better than the studio cut. Perfect harmonies. These guys, however, not so much.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS36nX0tht8

Second try at it, and it's even worse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... ht8#t=119s

Third attempt and the paint starts to peel off the walls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... ht8#t=203s

This is the way it's supposed top sound:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npc2yyveOQ8

There are some factors to consider with this band doing the Heart covers. Some of what she lacks could be equipment related. Also we don’t know the full story of that performance and why she’s singing a Heart cover which it’s obvious it’s not her type of voice. Was it a request from someone in the audience? Does she usually sings a different style of music that better fits her voice? Lastly she probably doesn’t know what she’s singing since she’s singing in English but she’s Japanese. Watching those videos though, god she sucks like Yoko Ono.

From my personal experiences, I’ve heard Japanese vocalists sing great in their own language but suck big time when singing in English. The Japanese all female rock band Show-Ya is one such band that has demonstrated this.

Here’s Show-Ya doing a song that is completely in English. You may understand the chorus but that’s about all, unless you’re really good with understanding how the Japanese pronounce words in English.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWc8NTdzcNs

[RPM]

It is not just Ann's incredible Range & power, her tone is Amazing.
My wife calls her the Female Steve Perry, pretty accurate statement .

[JRNYMAN]

You went out and found the worst tribute band you could find to make your point. I typed in Heart tribute band and this is the first one I saw. They DO sound good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9oMUMGwyCU

Here's the next one I found (the fourth one posted on Youtube). They even LOOK the part (big cans included! ).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McgGZB_uWmg


Now stop saying there aren't any decent tribute bands for Heart mister!

Okay smartass, let's do this!
Did I say there aren't any decent Heart tribute bands? I never said there aren't any decent Heart tribute bands. And, I wasn't looking for anything when I stumbled on this video. In fact, I was actually watching videos completely unrelated to music altogether. But, when I glanced over at the "related videos" in the sidebar, I saw this one and surprised to see a cover band doing a Heart song. And, since I had YET to hear/see a cover band ever do a remarkable job on a Heart song - any Heart song, I decided to check it out. What I saw only served to solidify my statement and my own personal experience about cover bands and Heart songs.

Now, had I searched I probably would have found the same ones you posted and would have been pleasantly surprised. I can only speak from my own experience of seeing bar/cover bands who have all failed miserably in their attempts.

Are my expectations too high with regard to this subject? Maybe... but then again, we're talking about Ann Wilson. If you're going to cover something recorded with her on lead vox, you'd better be able to at least do the song justice because the bar is set so friggin' high by her amazing voice and the control she has over it.

Lemme aks ya dis Jimmy-Boy.... Have YOU ever personally seen a cover band cover a Heart song and do it well? I would imagine if you had you'd remember it because any band who's singer can pull off a good Ann Wilson replication would make an impression on you. I know it certainly would on me.

It is not just Ann's incredible Range & power, her tone is Amazing.
My wife calls her the Female Steve Perry, pretty accurate statement .

That's one way to put it. When I'm discussing female singers and someone says such-and-such is an "amazing" singer or they're "incredible", I always stop them to clarify exactly what they mean by "amazing" and "incredible". When I think about singers using those adjectives, I think Barbara Streisand, Karen Carpenter, Ann Wilson, Etta James, Judy Garland, and so on. Ann has one of those voices that only come along a few times in a lifetime.

[AR]

It is not just Ann's incredible Range & power, her tone is Amazing.
My wife calls her the Female Steve Perry, pretty accurate statement .

Except that Ann has been doing it for much, much longer therefore > than Perry

[steveo777]

It is not just Ann's incredible Range & power, her tone is Amazing.
My wife calls her the Female Steve Perry, pretty accurate statement .

Except that Ann has been doing it for much, much longer therefore > than Perry

And she still hasn't taken the piss on their name. She also still has her voice, which is absolutely commendable for the length of time she has been singing. Once people got over all the fat jokes and took her seriously, she has become a legendary vocalist. Yes, she is the female Steve Perry, except she's not a quitter. She has more rock-n-roll balls than Perry ever had in his entire career. The only thing Steve Perry has on his resume' that tops hers is that he probably got more pussy, unless you want to count the lesbian sister incest rumors.

[JRNYMAN]

The show I saw and all setlists for the Brigade tour I have seen have them opening with Wild Child.

The worst part of these videos is the lead voice.

They definitely opened with it here. My wife and I were both surprised they chose that song to open with since it hadn't received any airplay here and it was our fav song off that album.

The worst part of these videos is the lead voice.

And isn't that the point.... honestly? It's the lead singer that punctuates a band's sound. If you're going to cover Heart, the lead singer better be able to bring it and then some.

[JRNYMAN]

You went out and found the worst tribute band you could find to make your point. I typed in Heart tribute band and this is the first one I saw. They DO sound good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9oMUMGwyCU

Here's the next one I found (the fourth one posted on Youtube). They even LOOK the part (big cans included! ).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McgGZB_uWmg


Now stop saying there aren't any decent tribute bands for Heart mister!

I think you've confused "tribute band" with "cover band". A tribute band's sole purpose and focus is to sound as much like the band they're attributing as humanly possible - even if it takes a little help from ProTools. A cover band, which is what I'm talking about, by the way, is what Arnel used to be in. Many artists' material, diverse catalog of songs. So with that in mind, I reiterate my original question: Why do cover bands attempt to cover Heart? The singer has to have ability to replicate Ms. Wilson's voice spot on because anything less is going to result in a failure.
This cover band is one of the rare ones that actually pull it off pretty damn well - and the lead singer is a dude!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLImE-AXyps

[RPM]

It is not just Ann's incredible Range & power, her tone is Amazing.
My wife calls her the Female Steve Perry, pretty accurate statement .

Except that Ann has been doing it for much, much longer therefore > than Perry

Very True!

[YoungJRNY]

You went out and found the worst tribute band you could find to make your point. I typed in Heart tribute band and this is the first one I saw. They DO sound good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9oMUMGwyCU

Here's the next one I found (the fourth one posted on Youtube). They even LOOK the part (big cans included! ).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McgGZB_uWmg


Now stop saying there aren't any decent tribute bands for Heart mister!

You had me at "big cans"

[RPM]

Not a cover band, but Lizzy Hale from Halestorm does this Heart song well

All I Wanna Do (acoustic)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q1I7uyuCuI

Man she can bring it! what a voice........

[conversationpc]

Not a cover band, but Lizzy Hale from Halestorm does this Heart song well

All I Wanna Do (acoustic)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q1I7uyuCuI

Man she can bring it! what a voice........

I absolutely loathe that song...And I believe both of the Wilson sisters hate it as well.

[JRNYMAN]

Not a cover band, but Lizzy Hale from Halestorm does this Heart song well

All I Wanna Do (acoustic)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q1I7uyuCuI

Okay, so.... at the risk of appearing as though I've been living under a rock, I must confess I'd never heard of Lizzy or her band prior to this thread. HOWEVER..... having said that, I'm now a fan and have watched nearly every vid posted on YT - and the full concert of them in Philly twice! They're really good! I can see so many diverse influences in her: Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Courtney Love, Chrissy Hynde, etc. She's got a Helluva voice and she plays pretty well too. Now, her brother is just a freakin' monster on the drums! He's extremely talented. I can't believe I'd never heard of them.

[Gin and Tonic Sky]

Not a cover band, but Lizzy Hale from Halestorm does this Heart song well

All I Wanna Do (acoustic)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q1I7uyuCuI

Okay, so.... at the risk of appearing as though I've been living under a rock, I must confess I'd never heard of Lizzy or her band prior to this thread. HOWEVER..... having said that, I'm now a fan and have watched nearly every vid posted on YT - and the full concert of them in Philly twice! They're really good! I can see so many diverse influences in her: Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Courtney Love, Chrissy Hynde, etc. She's got a Helluva voice and she plays pretty well too. Now, her brother is just a freakin' monster on the drums! He's extremely talented. I can't believe I'd never heard of them.

You are missing something great if you've never listened to Halestorm. Best new band out in the last fifteen years easily.

[JRNYMAN]

Not a cover band, but Lizzy Hale from Halestorm does this Heart song well

All I Wanna Do (acoustic)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q1I7uyuCuI

Okay, so.... at the risk of appearing as though I've been living under a rock, I must confess I'd never heard of Lizzy or her band prior to this thread. HOWEVER..... having said that, I'm now a fan and have watched nearly every vid posted on YT - and the full concert of them in Philly twice! They're really good! I can see so many diverse influences in her: Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Courtney Love, Chrissy Hynde, etc. She's got a Helluva voice and she plays pretty well too. Now, her brother is just a freakin' monster on the drums! He's extremely talented. I can't believe I'd never heard of them.

You are missing something great if you've never listened to Halestorm. Best new band out in the last fifteen years easily.

Well, I'm not missing out anymore. They really are talented and bring a fresh new sound to the table. Edgy but at the same time very melodic - if that makes sense. and their lyric structure... you can tell right away these kids are pretty sharp.
What blew me away as I was "discovering them this past weekend is that they've even won a Grammy and I STILL hadn't hear of them.
Then again, it's not uncommon for me to be the last person on the planet to learn about something everyone else has known forever. For instance... When Johnny Carson died, I somehow completely missed the news about it. 2 weeks later I'm standing in line at the grocery store and I'm glancing at the magazines and there's a special edition of People (I think.... might have been Time.... whichever...) and on the cover it says something like "Remembering Johnny Carson 1928 - 1999" or whatever the dates were and I'm stunned at what I'm reading and actually say out loud, "Johnny Carson died?!" Everyone in line turned and looked at me like I must have just come out of a coma or something.

[MartyMoffatt]

She's got a Helluva voice and she plays pretty well too. Now, her brother is just a freakin' monster on the drums! He's extremely talented. I can't believe I'd never heard of them.

If Lzzy wasn't so good to look at, I'd happily stand and stare at her brother AreJay all night. He's the most entertaining drummer I think I've ever seen. How he manages to juggle his sticks and throw them in the air 20 times during a song without missing a single beat is amazing.

[MartyMoffatt]

You are missing something great if you've never listened to Halestorm. Best new band out in the last fifteen years easily.

I think my friends The Union might run them pretty close for songwriting and musicianship, but I can't say I'd disagree with you. When I first saw Halestorm, supporting Disturbed, I got the same kind of feeling of 'Wow!' that I had when I saw a very young support band called Van Halen completely destroy Black Sabbath on stage in 1978. It's not really fair to compare them like that, but I certainly think they are destined to be very big.

[Jonny B]

I was lucky enough to have a brief discussion with Lzzy during a meet & greet where we talked about the ladies of rock of the past. I was very disappointed she did the cliche thing and covered Heart. There are better, harder rocking women in the 80's that virtually everyone has forgotten about and would've preferred to see one of them see the light of day again.

It's the big debate of cover tracks. The philosophy is you cover the groups people know because they'll recognize it. My philosophy: If the unknowns are never covered, they remain unknown. I'd like to hear Lzzy belt out some Doro/Warlock tracks, or something from Chrissy Steele.

[brywool]

The old guys from Heart actually play up here with a local gal that sings the crap outta the Ann stuff. Fossen, Derosier and sometimes Fisher are part of the band. Good peeps too.

[JrnyScarab]

Here's a local NH singer, Lisa Guyer singing Straight On. Very good. Sully from Godsmack on drums. She sings on his solo album "Avalon" also. She has a great voice and can sing all sorts of stuff.

http://youtu.be/DD_FRAP8m5g

Another great job on this one:

http://youtu.be/gqEp1lrn94U

[Starrider]

Here's a local NH singer, Lisa Guyer singing Straight On. Very good. Sully from Godsmack on drums. She sings on his solo album "Avalon" also. She has a great voice and can sing all sorts of stuff.

http://youtu.be/DD_FRAP8m5g

Another great job on this one:

http://youtu.be/gqEp1lrn94U

I saw Lisa Guyer play with RTZ and Godsmack at the Brad Delp tribute concert in 2007. She is definitely a talented woman.