# Sound-alike bands and singers (classic rock) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 17, 2008, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903 "2008-01-17T18:36:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pine\_Fresh\_Scent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/43a26b/32.png) [@Pine\_Fresh\_Scent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pine_Fresh_Scent)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903/1 "2008-01-17T18:36:46Z")
I ripped a CD at home which answered one question and spawned this post. The CD was Rolling Stone’s Noismakers of the 70’s and included the song “Never Been Any Reason” by Head East. One of the singers sounds really close to Geddy Lee of Rush, so much that for years (this was pre-internet) I believed he was a guest vocalist on the track. Turns out Lee did not sing with them, but I will always picture him doing so when I hear the song. [Amazon Link (track one)](http://www.amazon.com/Flat-as-Pancake-Head-East/dp/B000002GAP/ref=pd_bxgy_m_img_b) There’s at least two other exapmles I can think of like this: Jamiroquai as Stevie Wonder (pick any track) and the “Dylan-esque” “Stuck in the Middle With You” by Stealers Wheel. [Amazon Link (track two)](http://www.amazon.com/Stealers-Wheel/dp/B0001AEVGI/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1200594373&sr=1-1) Can and do singers alter their deliveries to sound like other, more popular singers, or is just a natural coincidence? Any other examples? I like to collect things and this might make a good “target”: Guest vocalists who aren’t really. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903/2 "2008-01-17T19:16:55Z")
There’s a song I hear every so often on the radio, _On the Darkside_ might be its name, that sounds just like a Bruce Springsteen cover band. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903/3 "2008-01-17T19:30:56Z")
[QUOTE=Pine Fresh Scent] Any other examples? I like to collect things and this might make a good “target”: Guest vocalists who aren’t really. [/QUOTE] Led Zeppelin has a few, most notably (at least from when I paid attention to such things) Whitesnake. There was also a Led Zep-esque band that charted in the late 1980s, early 1990s with a song that pretty much lifted its guitar riff from _Whole Lotta Love_, but I can’t remember the name of the band or the song. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903/4 "2008-01-17T19:41:57Z")
I always thought that Bono sounded a bit like Robert Plant. It was only recently that I found out about Roy Harper, who sounds amazingly like David Gilmour. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903/5 "2008-01-17T19:43:06Z")
[QUOTE=Eonwe] There’s a song I hear every so often on the radio, _On the Darkside_ might be its name, that sounds just like a Bruce Springsteen cover band. [/QUOTE] It’s from the movie _Eddie And The Cruisers_. The band is John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903/6 "2008-01-17T19:51:15Z")
Until a couple years ago I thought that Aimee was by the Eagles, not Pure Prairie League. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903/7 "2008-01-17T19:54:37Z")
America’s “A Horse With No Name” sounds like Neil Young ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903/8 "2008-01-17T20:09:11Z")
Lots of people thought the Knickerbockers’s “Lies” was by the Beatles. And Klaatu had a whole PR campaign that hinted that they were the Beatles. Their “Sub-Rosa Subway” sounds a lot like the Fab Four. Finally, completing the Beatle soundalike trifecta, there was Neil Innes’s “Piggy in the Middle,” which can easily be mistaken for “I Am the Walrus.” But that was a deliberate parody (for the Rutles). ---
**Author:** ![Screaming\_Amoeba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Screaming\_Amoeba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Screaming_Amoeba)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903/9 "2008-01-17T21:37:17Z")
[QUOTE=JohnT] Led Zeppelin has a few, most notably (at least from when I paid attention to such things) Whitesnake. There was also a Led Zep-esque band that charted in the late 1980s, early 1990s with a song that pretty much lifted its guitar riff from _Whole Lotta Love_, but I can’t remember the name of the band or the song. [/QUOTE] Kingdom Come, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2008, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903/10 "2008-01-18T00:02:16Z")
Don’t get me started on all the bands whose lead singers sound exactly like the guy in Creed. Or the rappers/hip-hoppers who all have identical vocal inflections. Read my mind, I actually was going to start a topic on this. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903/11 "2008-01-18T00:09:27Z")
For years, I thought that “Crazy On You” by Heart was by Jefferson Starship. Not only does Nancy Wilson sound just like Grace Slick, but the song lyrics themselves sound like something Slick would’ve written. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2008, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903/12 "2008-01-18T00:29:12Z")
Billy Joel’s “The Entertainer” evokes Styx. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903/13 "2008-01-18T03:41:52Z")
I’ve always thought thought the [New Radicals](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91WgM6dNLTE) sounded like Todd Rundgren. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2008, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903/14 "2008-01-18T03:56:28Z")
[QUOTE=Pine Fresh Scent] IOne of the singers sounds really close to Geddy Lee of Rush, so much that for years (this was pre-internet) I believed he was a guest vocalist on the track. [/QUOTE] The first time I heard “A Favor House Atlantic” by Coheed and Cambria I thought it was some new Rush song. Just that song, though, he doesn’t sound that much like Geddy Lee normally I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2008, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903/15 "2008-01-18T03:56:57Z")
[QUOTE=Eonwe] There’s a song I hear every so often on the radio, _On the Darkside_ might be its name, that sounds just like a Bruce Springsteen cover band. [/QUOTE] Yup–I always think it’s Bruce when I hear it. I used to think “Thru and Thru” (the “Rolling Stones” song with Keith Richards on vocals) was Bruce when I first heard it. It’s used in the episode of the “Sopranos” called “Fun House.” ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2008, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903/16 "2008-01-18T04:49:31Z")
First time I heard “Mr. Blue Sky”, I could have swore it was **The Beatles**. I heard later that the **Electric Light Orchestra** was sometimes considered a **Beatles** wanna-be band, and that made me feel a little better. _El Dorado_ still rocked, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2008, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903/17 "2008-01-18T05:27:54Z")
[QUOTE=John DiFool] Don’t get me started on all the bands whose lead singers sound exactly like the guy in Creed. [/QUOTE] In a few years they probably will be considered Classic Rock ☹ \* \*Sad face due to having to hear them on radio at all in any format. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2008, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903/18 "2008-01-18T05:38:34Z")
I heard a Coldplay song in the grocery store and I thought it was a new U2 song. It didn’t occur to me that it was anyone else until I looked it up. ---
**Author:** ![Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2008, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903/19 "2008-01-18T05:58:00Z")
There’s a band that’s currently getting a lot of FM airplay which goes by the name of Airborne. This band seems to me to be such a blatant ripoff of AC/DC that I almost question how they can get away with it. If any band ever deserved to lose a lawsuit on the basis of sounding too much like another band, this is that band. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2008, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903/20 "2008-01-18T06:14:16Z")
Thought of another one… For the longest time, I thought that first big Coldplay hit [Clocks](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9j_RZDqYc4) was a new Sting single. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sound-alike-bands-and-singers-classic-rock/433903.md?page=2)