Not sure if this counts, but here is Bill Kirchen doing many “guitar impressions” during a long version of Hot Rod Lincoln.
He played on Commander Cody’s version years ago, and is a lot of fun to see live.
Here’s Burton Cummings doing a What If… Gordon Lightfoot’s favourite singer was Rod Stewart.
Flo and Eddie’s “Keep it Warm” riffs on the Beatles and the Beach Boys, but doesn’t really rise to the level of impression.
I suppose you could add Bobby Pickett’s “Monster Mash” to the list. The song isn’t a parody, but it’s sung in imitation of Boris Karloff. And the title song from the Sex Pistols film The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle features a procession of lead singers doing impressions of Johnny Rotten, who by that time had left the band.
Paul Stanley wrote Hard Luck Woman with the intention of giving it to Rod Stewart, who passed on it. KISS then recorded it with Peter Criss on vocals, since he had a raspy singing voice kind of like Rod’s.
…which John (as George admitted) had pretty much lifted from Bobby Parker’s Watch Your Step.
Three Dog Night’s Mama Told Me Not to Come, was done as an impression of song writer Randy Newman
Seems relevant today to mention Bowie’s nod to the Beatles from “Young Americans,” where his singers reference “I heard the news today, oh boy!”
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I’d call that one a quotation, not an impression. There’s absolutely no attempt made to sing that line in the style of the original.
Hmm. Fair enough — retracted.
The band Muse have their own sound, but sometimes appear to channel Queen, most strikingly on their song United States of Eurasia.
Not sure if this counts, since they are apparently primarily a comedy act, but I was impressed by the impressions in Eskimo by Corky & the Juice Pigs
Also the song Sy Borg on Joe’s Garage is musically pretty much an homage to Steely Dan.
It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t hold a candle to the way the late great Steve sang it. And for some reason, Coe left out some of the elements from the last verse (farms, a major holiday like Christmas, and dead dogs like Shep), turning the perfect country song into a less than perfect country song.
Not the Steely Dan that I like.
Sounds a little like Gaucho or Nightfly maybe but I wouldn’t make the leap myself.
A case within a group may be the Beatles “Why Don’t We Do it in the Road?” I recall in a couple of interviews (the 1980 playboy interview), John Lennon seemed to think it was Paul’s knock-off or parody of his vocal and lyrical style, and resented not being included in its sessions.
…and on a related note, on “Glass Onion,” Lennon seems to be making fun of his own group!
I recall an interview with John Lennon where he was talking about the Double Fantasy album. He said that he was deliberately imitating Elvis in (Just Like) Starting Over with the “It’s been too long since we took the time” bit.
That’s exactly true.