Popular bands that are rarely covered

Axe_meister

I was thinking about your average pub covers band, they usually play very similar sets,  Hendrix cover, some cream, some rock'n'n roll, some blues, some punk but there are some bands that are very rarely touched.
Some I was thinking of are.
The Who
Queen 
Pink Floyd
Deep Purple (other than Smoke on the water)

Are these bands sacred or just too hard for the average pub band.
Can you think of other bands that are not covered.

boogieman

Some if not all of those bands you’ve mentioned aren’t that difficult to cover for a guitarist. I’m a pretty average player and even I can do a range of Who and Floyd numbers. I’d definitely struggle with Queen because Brian’s playing style and tone is pretty complex to cover well. IMO it’s the vocals from those bands that are more difficult and you need someone with a very decent set of pipes to cover Queen and Who numbers well.  

Poboy

I've seen many pub bands do a rehashing of 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love', much to my dismay.

stickyfiddle

I’ve done Crazy Little Thing in pubs (a bit dull tbh) and my originals band used to do a version of Shine on you Crazy Diamond on special occasions. 

For The Who I suspect it’s that most basic cover bands don’t have a singer, bassist AND drummer who are up to it. For Queen it’ll be mostly vocals and guitar. For 

For pink floyd, do people actually want to hear it? Can you imagine showing up to a party and someone’s out Mother in the set??

p90fool

I can't believe that many pub covers bands are playing Hendrix and Cream, what on earth for?

I mean they're great records and all that,  but that would empty a pub around here, or at the very least clear the dancefloor. 

CaseOfAce

AC/DC I very rarely hear covered...I'm guessing it's cos most male singers cannot sing in that register...
Roger Daltrey is suprisingly high - try singing Substitute and much like Bon Jovi most of us realise..oh.. no way...

Crazy Little Thing Called Love  we do in the band - and whatever the naysayers say, it works. Every. Single. Time. Do I care I'm not using a red special, treble booster thru dimed AC30s to get the "tone" ?! nope. And neither does Sharon from the local estate agents in the audience.

I'm guessing Floyd isn't covered for the same reason Radiohead isn't... let's be honest - it's a massive downer - who wants that in a pub on a Friday night?

HerbieTheRadDorklift

Rush

Stratavarious

XTC, Kate Bush, Annie Lennox.. we do lots of Queen too.     It is really down to having an exceptional singer to carry them.  Don’t Stop Me Now is a big crowd pleaser that even the youngest kids sing along with

Cols

Nickelback…

FarleyUK

We do I Want to Break Free - but only as I'm able to use my AXE FX3 for the synth parts, the solo effect and a lot of other stuff in it.

Always goes down really well, and I think it sounds awesome (especially as there's only three of us).

Strangefan

I have to agree with p90fool these days I rarely hear (gran)dad rock Covers bands it's all the killers, kasabian,  Kings of Leon for cover hands here in the Midlands. But maybe that's a regional thing. 

maltingsaudio

In our acoustic duo we do Don’t stop me now but in the style of that singer on Doctor Who

bertie

maltingsaudio said:

In our acoustic duo we do Don’t stop me now but in the style of that singer on Doctor Who

EricTheWeary

I don't see that many pub covers bands but Queen seem well covered (although I wish they wouldn't) and the others on that list too rock and too ancient for anyone trying to fill the dancefloor. Kings of Leon, the Killers, whoever did Chelsea Dagger, Oasis, a few random sixties hits. I'd cheerfully never hear another cover of Crazy Little Thing ever again. 
I have an old friend I follow on Facebook who plays in a punk covers band. They and their audience are getting to be a group of pensioners now. When I was doing The 2Tone Automatics the song recognition for anyone under 50 was probably three numbers at most. 

StefB

Def Leppard.  I've seen the occasional band attempt Animal, but nothing else.

fretmeister

HerbieTheRadDorklift said:

Rush

When Neil died I remember someone on twitter saying

"Really enjoying the thought of all the pop guys looking for an easy Rush song to play tonight"

fretmeister

Axe_meister said:

I was thinking about your average pub covers band, they usually play very similar sets,  Hendrix cover, some cream, some rock'n'n roll, some blues, some punk but there are some bands that are very rarely touched.
Some I was thinking of are.
The Who
Queen 
Pink Floyd
Deep Purple (other than Smoke on the water)

Are these bands sacred or just too hard for the average pub band.
Can you think of other bands that are not covered.

It's not that. You are showing your age.

The average 18-35 pub gig drinker just doesn't care about them and often won't have even heard of them...









The same happened when One Direction were accused of copying The Who's Baba O'Reilly.... with the 1D fans saying they had never heard of The Who and with a name like that they won't have a career like 1Ds....



Youtube is full of "Reaction" videos of teenagers to mid 20s listening to classic songs they have never heard before. Songs that our generation could write out from memory.

hollywoodrox

I once did a gig that included  2 or 3 Who Covers and  2 or 3 Kinks  Billy Idol  ,stones etc  I was filling in for someone else  but only had to play rhythm 

hollywoodrox

StefB said:

Def Leppard.  I've seen the occasional band attempt Animal, but nothing else.

I’d like to do that  Steve Clarke wrote some brilliant pieces and I like to play in that style ,especially the staccato type stuff, Phil Collen does a good job on that stuff 

TheOtherDennis

fretmeister said:

Axe_meister said:

I was thinking about your average pub covers band, they usually play very similar sets,  Hendrix cover, some cream, some rock'n'n roll, some blues, some punk but there are some bands that are very rarely touched.
Some I was thinking of are.
The Who
Queen 
Pink Floyd
Deep Purple (other than Smoke on the water)

Are these bands sacred or just too hard for the average pub band.
Can you think of other bands that are not covered.

It's not that. You are showing your age.

The average 18-35 pub gig drinker just doesn't care about them and often won't have even heard of them...









The same happened when One Direction were accused of copying The Who's Baba O'Reilly.... with the 1D fans saying they had never heard of The Who and with a name like that they won't have a career like 1Ds....



Youtube is full of "Reaction" videos of teenagers to mid 20s listening to classic songs they have never heard before. Songs that our generation could write out from memory.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jun/30/annie-lennox-scouted-by-us-radio

Dominic

FarleyUK said:

We do I Want to Break Free - but only as I'm able to use my AXE FX3 for the synth parts, the solo effect and a lot of other stuff in it.

Always goes down really well, and I think it sounds awesome (especially as there's only three of us).

I heard it on the radio yesterday and thought what a great cover to do if you could get a decent synth type sound
well done you