Songs that "sound" like covers of another band or group, but aren't

Cafe Society
41

Listen to Krokus “Long Stick Goes Boom” and tell me that’s not AC/DC. It’s better AC/DC than the band itself.

Pretty much every ELO song other than their hits is pure Beatles. People used to say that ELO was the new Beatles, and I couldn’t hear it, until I got past their hits. It’s true.

There was a song in the 80s, I sure wish I could remember, I think a one hit wonder. Anyway, it sounded exactly like what the Beatles would sound like, if they has stayed together and cut an album at the time. I hope it comes to me.

42

A song currently on the charts, when I first heard “Bad Decisions” by The Strokes, I thought it was a Cheap Trick cover.

43

For a long time I thought that Journey to the Center of the Mind was the Moody Blues. Probably conflating the title with Legend of a Mind but the sound isn’t too far off either.

44

The link explains it well: a pastiche is like a parody, but while a parody pokes fun at something, a pastiche celebrates it.

In music, it deliberately sound like someone/something, but doesn’t make it seem ridiculous.

An example in literature are August Derleth’s Solar Pons stories, which are pastiches of Sherlock Holmes, where everything is played straight.

45

I’ve always thought that Daydream Believer sounds like a cover of a Turtles song.

46

I thought you were nuts when I read this, but then I took a listen. You’re spot-on. It’s really only the intro, but boy is that Who-y.

Greta Van Fleet is pretty much a direct Zep rip-off. When the Curtain Falls is another good example. The drummer seems like he’s trying very hard to channel John Bonham in that one. I rather like Greta Van Fleet, but it’s a little hard to respect them.

47

Remember You’re A Womble (by Mike Batt) is definitely supposed to be a Status Quo song.

48

“Forever Young” by Alphaville is usually mistaken for a Cure song.

49

For years I thought Toy Matinee’s “Ballad of Jenny Ledge” was Steely Dan. I don’t know any of their other stuff but if it all sounds like that one they could be a SD tribute band.

50

“Lies” by The Knickerbockers was a fairly good sound-alike for the Fab Four era Beatles. They were an American band, but on the song the lead singer is singing with a definite John Lennon impression, right down to the Liverpool-ish accent. It came out almost exactly at the time The Beatles were starting to move away from that sound.

51

Is it? I mean, yeah, I get it, but is that a thing?

Again, one of the many possible ‘different nations/different cultural awareness’ mistakes.

52

This Rolling Stones song starts like it’s going to be a ZZ Top “La Grange” cover.

Hip Shake

53

I was sure “Roses Are Free” by Ween was a Prince cover the first time i heard it.

54

A few years later, Big Bang Baby sounded like STP was channeling their recent tour mates Redd Kross.

A big chunk of Rancid’s catalog sounds like it could be Clash covers.

55

And to bring it back to the OP, throw in Queen’s The Invisible Man

56

I had Spotify playing me some Counting Crows type stuff this afternoon, and it did as you’d imagine: Ben Folds, Sheryl Crow, Better Than Ezra, Wallflowers, the odd bit of Tom Petty, Barenaked Ladies, Third Eye Blind, etc. Then it put on something I’d never heard before but which made me think “Bon Jovi? That’s a bit off-piste for a Crows playlist, isn’t it?”

I was dismantling a fridge at the time and couldn’t immediately check. Looked it up later: turns out the mystery ‘Bon Jovi’ track was Save Me San Francisco by Train.

57

When I first heard “Make Me Feel” by Janelle Monae I was sure it was cover of a Prince song I had not heard.

58

I heard that song on the radio today and thought of this thread:

I think everybody thought they were listening to Depeche Mode when this came out in 1989:

Camouflage - Love Is A Shield

Might as well post this:

Camouflage - The Great Commandment

59

Lunatic Fringe by Red Rider sounds like a Fleetwood Mac song.

Walk of Life by Dire Straits sounds just like a Bruce Springsteen song.

And pretty much every Bruno Mars song sounds like funk/R&B from the 70’s to 90’s.

60

I always thought “There She Goes” by The La’s was a cover of something. Turns out it was not.