No matter what subgenre of rock you find yourself playing – indie, emo, pop-punk, post-hardcore, electro, anything – as long as you’re performing original songs, the discussion will come up between you and your bandmates about covers. Maybe your live show isn’t really turning heads like you want it to, or maybe you just want something different to spice up the setlist. It’s a perfectly reasonable idea: a well-chosen and well-executed cover song has many advantages. You can introduce your core audience to an artist or a song with which they may or may not be familiar, you can attract a different audience to your material by playing something they may want to hear, you can learn the ins and outs of another’s material as a way of critically scrutinizing your own…on top of all this, you can have fun and pay homage to an artist or song you admire.
Too often, however, the cover song is abused by bands. They consciously decide not to take the high road, instead rearranging a lowest-common-denominator bit of music for a cheap thrill. We’ve all heard it and we’re all tired of it…
PLEASE STOP COVERING TOP 40 GARBAGE.
Many fail to understand that 80-90% of current Top 40 singles are more product than art, if they can be considered art at all. Sure, there’s plenty of genuine talent involved – the songwriters, producers and, yes, the performers themselves – but the well-oiled “hit machine” runs on money, and the marketing department is hitting the switches. Music is more than an industry, and every time your shitty band covers Ke$ha or the Black Eyed Peas, you’re doing it a disservice. I don’t care how “ironic” or “hilarious” your rendition of the latest Lil Wayne track is. I don’t care if Justin Bieber is one of your “guilty pleasures.” I don’t care if your Jason DeRulo cover ends up on the next Punk Goes… disgrace. The simple truth is that every time you and your bros cover a Top 40 single, you’re perpetuating the industrialization, commercialization and homogenization of music – and setting the rest of us back.
Yours,
Mike Moschetto
Concerned musician and music lover
As abhorrent as this practice is, I must make myself clear – I’m talking specifically about bands who are trying to achieve success playing original songs, even if they’re trying to write the next big, formulaic, accessible Top 40 hit – not so “original” after all, are they? Full-time cover bands don’t bother me as much, because they exist for the sole purpose of playing others’ songs, whether they’re emulating that style or doing their own thing. Their audiences are expecting to hear this kind of music, so they’re not necessarily propagating Top 40 music or expanding its range of influence. It should be noted that I’m also covering my own ass, because I’ve been known to play drums in a cover band.
