I won’t even bother listing all the musicians mentioned in this one:
Dexys Midnight Runners did Geno about Geno Washington. Here is a curtailed and poor resolution quality version of a song I like a lot
Dexys also did a version of Jackie Wilson Said.
The song has been mentioned previously in this thread but the Dexys version was the biggest hit in the UK (to me, anyway) plus some famous UK trivia.
In the poor quality video I have posted here from famous UK music show Top of the Pops the screens behind the band are showing John ‘JOCKY’ Wilson, a famous at the time professional darts player. For years it was claimed this was a dreadful embarrassing error but it was later confirmed as a deliberate joke.
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Ian Dury - Sweet Gene Vincent.
Sweet Gene Vincent…
…and the most famous singer that you’ve never heard of, Asha Bhosle
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ETA: Goddam - not only did @pjd ninja me, he chose the same Youtube video!
Don’t think All The Young Dudes written by David Bowie, made famous by Mott the Hoople and referencing T Rex (but also the Beatles and the Stones) has been mentioned but I’ll post a version by Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden fame to make it more original.
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Spooky !!
The pretty awful I’d Rather Jack by The Reynolds Girls has a chorus of “I’d rather Jack. Than Fleetwood Mac” and also references The Rolling Stones, Yazz (a female singer of the era) Pink Floyd and Dire Straits.
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Now I’m Here by Queen inspired by Queen touring with Mott the Hoople and containing the line “Down in the city, just Hoople and me”
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British Ska heroes Madness with their first hit Prince, a tribute to Prince Buster
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Life In A Northern Town by Dream Academy references Sinatra and the Beatles in the lyrics
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And there’s this, by John Cale:
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But Kevin Rowland was seemingly less keen on Frank Sinatra.
Keep quoting Cabaret, Berlin, Burroughs, J.G. Ballard, Duchamp, Beauvoir,
Kerouac, Kierkegaard, Michael Rennie, and I don’t believe you really like Frank Sinatra.
j
Briish pop star Alvin Stardust singing I Feel Like Buddy Holly which obviously references Buddy Holly and also references Paul McCartney, Paul Simon and there is an Elvis reference with the mention of Heartbreak Hotel.
The unrelated Weezer song Buddy Holly
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Speaking of Buddy Holly, there’s “Buddy Holly’s Brille” (Buddy Holly’s glasses) by die Ärzte:
And this.
Righteous Brothers - Rock And Roll Heaven (1974)
Speaking of Buddy Holly, didn’t the group behind Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress name themselves after him?
But I came back in to mention a song that references no other artists lyrically. The 1985 video by David Lee Roth covering the Louis Prima number Just A Gigolo does have celebrity impersonators representing quite a few artists of the time. The tribute seems to be visual rather than lyrical.
And one about soul music, celebrating all the stars of that genre of the time:
I think Scouting For Girls are under rated so let’s mention Elvis Ain’t Dead
And I’ll throw in Kirsty McCall’s There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis as a bonus
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The Who and You Better, You Bet referencing T Rex
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