It's amazing what big business it is today! Growing up I really don't recall too many full fledged tribute bands. In the 70's when I was a kid I recall seeing TV commercials for Beatlmania which was being advertised like it was a broadway show or something but it was a band that dressed and played a whole Beatles show as if they were the real deal. I believe some of the guys played on the KISS solo albums and the Paul Mcartney guy later in the mid 80's, was in a hard rock band called Z-Toyz whose claim to fame was being runner ups in MTV's old "Basement Tapes" show.
In the 80's there was a lot of cover bands playing high school dances and parties. Most bands are cover bands before evolving in to originals when they start out. One of the things I hated about that crappy "Rock Star" film with Mark Wahlberg was they made it look like there was a lot of tribute bands in the 80's but of there were it would have looked ridiculous. Most bands of that time were not yet nostalgic.
By 1989 here in San Francisco there was a band called Ted Zeppelin who did all Nuget & Led Zep tunes then in 1990 was Detroit Rock City who were a Kiss tribute/parody and that's where the ball began rolling as far as my experience goes.
Most tribute bands like the Maidens try to look like and emulate and put on a definitive recreation of the band they're paying tribute to which is to be expected but then there's some who just get up there and play the tunes but don't dress or look the part. My roommate Stacy plays bass in Tooth & Nail which is a Dokken cover band. I wouldn't call it a tribute but a band playing covers of a more famous band. Tooth & Nail has a girl singer and 2 dudes and they don't have any kind of look or image that coincides with the 80's glam thing.
But it's quite the phenomenon today with so many tribute bands. I'm just glad most are Metal tributes. Here in SF there is a Tom Petty,U2,Cure, & Police tribute bands but Metal seems to dominate and the Iron Maidens are the BEST!!!
notworthy
In the 80's there was a lot of cover bands playing high school dances and parties. Most bands are cover bands before evolving in to originals when they start out. One of the things I hated about that crappy "Rock Star" film with Mark Wahlberg was they made it look like there was a lot of tribute bands in the 80's but of there were it would have looked ridiculous. Most bands of that time were not yet nostalgic.
By 1989 here in San Francisco there was a band called Ted Zeppelin who did all Nuget & Led Zep tunes then in 1990 was Detroit Rock City who were a Kiss tribute/parody and that's where the ball began rolling as far as my experience goes.
Most tribute bands like the Maidens try to look like and emulate and put on a definitive recreation of the band they're paying tribute to which is to be expected but then there's some who just get up there and play the tunes but don't dress or look the part. My roommate Stacy plays bass in Tooth & Nail which is a Dokken cover band. I wouldn't call it a tribute but a band playing covers of a more famous band. Tooth & Nail has a girl singer and 2 dudes and they don't have any kind of look or image that coincides with the 80's glam thing.
But it's quite the phenomenon today with so many tribute bands. I'm just glad most are Metal tributes. Here in SF there is a Tom Petty,U2,Cure, & Police tribute bands but Metal seems to dominate and the Iron Maidens are the BEST!!!
notworthy
