Agreed. Most of the people being called “cowards” are risking pain and social disapproval that I’d never risk. They’re awful and deserve to be disembowled, but cowards? Maybe, but I’m not sure until I face them in a fistfight.
So then, my friend’s local band that plays “classic rock” and doesn’t do any original numbers, and advertises themselves as a “classic rock cover band” is wrong and worthy of censure?
Hmm. The columnist in the first link, at the end of the column, incorrectly identifies polka star, Frankie Yankovic, as ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic’s dad. The two aren’t related.
Well, since by definition, I don’t think there can be any new classic rock songs, why can’t they just be a “classic rock band”? Even if that weren’t an incorrect use of cover, it would be redundant. I’m not personally going to take them to task for it, because I don’t care that much about this one in particular, though.
My bold.
Exactly. What does the word “cover” add? If they’re playing “classic rock” songs today, then they’re obviously playing other people’s music. Nuttin’ wrong with that.
Well, to me it has a meaning. Maybe “classic rock” was a bad choice. There are blues bands that do their own work and there are blues band that just do covers. Same with every other genre I can think of.
Besides, the bands themselves use the term. And a “cover band” is different from a “tribute band”, even though tribute bands often describe themselves as “band name cover” bands.
Semantic drift happens, and there’s little you can do about it. The word “cover” has a specific meaning in the record industry and among music historians, but the public uses it to mean something else. That usage has become so common that any effort to get people to switch back to its original meaning is unlikely to get anywhere.
Maybe we need a poll. To me, a cover means an attempt to reproduce a song pretty much the way the original artist did it. A remake has some very significant change, like using a different set of instruments, or significantly changing the beat and tempo. Anything else is just “such and such band’s version” of a song.
Judy Collins covered Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides” now, but she has versions of a number of folksongs, like “Simple Gifts.” CCR remade “Susie Q,” and Ike and Tina Turner remade CCR’s “Proud Mary.”
You can argue with my definitions, but please don’t argue with my examples, because they’re off the top of my head, and I’m really not prepared to defend them. If you actually don’t understand what I mean, that’s one thing, but I’m just trying to explain how I use the words. The examples are throwaways.
Re: song covers… Is wikipédia wrong here?
Haven’t read the thread.
"I go, ‘and so you think you know better?’, then she goes ’ I know you be a slut!’, then I went,’ look who the skank is calling a slut’.
Anyone have a clue how many synonyms exist for the word ‘said’ already. The verb ‘to go’ needs to mean to leave.
"
Without actually answering the question, I’m going to interject that technically it would not be “Wikipedia” that is wrong; it would be whoever wrote that particular article. I could go edit it right now, and change “cover versions” to “notable recordings.” Or I could change it to “ball peen hammer.”
You are, indeed, correct.
Please do neither, however.
I love the expression “ball peen hammer,” and I hope it never goes away and never changes. In fact, I wish people would use it more. In fact, I’d like to see “ball peen hammer” substituted for every single one of the offensive words/expressions used in this thread.
For example, “My cousin plays in a classic rock ball peen hammer band.”
“Mary Lou is three months pregnant and her ball peen hammer is starting to show.”
“We can’t send *ball peen hammers *on the ground to Syria.”
:eek:
My favorite sexual euphemism is “punctuated equilibrium,” as in, “See that gorgeous guy by the dessert table? I’d totally let him punctuate my equilibrium.”
Not true. People do write original music in classic-rock styles.
I can write a novel in the style of Thomas Hardy, but that won’t make it a Victorian novel.
“Classic rock style” isn’t the same thing as actual classic rock that was written back when. See my quibble over classic above. I still think it’s pointless to include the word cover in the name of the band, but I’m not going to report them to the Band Naming Police.
The terms “cover band” or “tribute band” are very practical: they are (depending on your attitude) a warning, or a reassurance, that you will hear mostly/exclusively old, familiar material.