Some are blatant parodies, tributes, or ripoffs. Others are more vaguely reminiscent of each other in comparison. Let's check some out:
Wow, looka all that. I think it all started with Elvis and his debut album. Personally I think Elvis is severely overrated and not even close to being the 'King of Rock and Roll'. Yet his influence and part played in rock history cannot be denied. A partial testament to that fact is these ripoff album covers. The ones shown above are only a FEW of the many out there. Who are some of these others? Hasil Adkins was probably born around the same time as Elvis, give or take a few years. His style was very rockabilly too. Yet he was backwoods and did not shake his pelvis or wear fancy outfits, and sang songs about mutilating chickens. He was usually a one man band, playing many instruments at the same time! You could say he was from the weirder darker side of early rock and roll, and nowhere near as commercial. The Haze (as he is sometimes known) helped pave the way for some of the future punks and psychobilly folks.
Speaking of punk, let's move along to The Clash and Sylvain Sylvain (of the New York Dolls). WHY would these punkers be influenced by Elvis? As tame as he seems now, he was seen as rebellious then, since people were a bunch of super squares back in that day. When you listen to the Clash or New York Dolls, you'll hear that early boogie-woogie rock and roll sound in a lot of their tunes, I mean they grew up at least partially listening to Elvis. Joe Strummer (lead singer of the Clash) was known to be a big Elvis fan, his favorite song being "Crawfish". It wasn't just the Clash's London Calling that the 'Elvis visual theme' was used, it was also used for the Train In Vain single.
Strummer even styled his hair sorta like Elvis! But I digress...
Let's talk about some divas now. In 1988 Madonna was all the rage and Sonic Youth and alternative/punk legend Mike Watt (see my earlier post of him at :http://fox-actors.blogspot.com/2011/08/high-wattage.html) did a sort of fun side project called the Whitey Album, under the name Ciccone Youth. Ciccone is Madonna's original surname and the album was a sort of avant garde 'Madonna tribute' poking fun weirdo fest that included corny drum machine beats and even two Madonna cover songs. I always thought the album image was SY bassist Kim Gordon pretending to be Madonna herself, but the pic is actually OF Madonna. A couple of years later, Madonna released her Erotica album with a strangely similar cover. Check out the two:
Just as I find Elvis overrated, but love the Clash and many others influenced by him, I think Madonna is overrated but love Sonic Youth/Ciccone Youth! Speaking of diva, Annie Lennox's Diva reminds me quite a bit of the Stone Temple Pilots album Shangri La Dee Da. I'm not so sure about influence visually or musically between the two at ALL, it could just be sheer coincidence the covers remind me of each other. Either way it's not as obvious of a resemblance as others:
What next? The Japanese experimental genre-jumping group Boris have an album called Akuma No Uta, which is a total parody of English folksinger Nick Drake's Bryter Layter:
Boris also have an album (featuring the Doomriders as well) called 'Long Hair and Tights'..which is loosely stylized after classic British metal band Judas Priest's 'Screaming For Vengeance' :
Then there's yet another album cover influenced by Screaming For Vengeance. It's by a band called Hatebeak, which is death metal whose 'singer' is a 19 year old Congo African Grey Parrot. That's right, a parrot singing death metal. Pig Destroyer fans should note the band also includes Blake Harrison.
There's a really great retro revival garage-psych group called the Lyres who were around since the late 70's practically. They did a total ripoff of The Rolling Stones' 'Some Girls'. At least their music is very original:
Hasil Atkins (who I mentioned earlier) seems to have something in common with Social Distortion here:
Dig it. The band Ladytron (named after the Roxy Music song) recently released an album called 'Gravity the Seducer'. I haven't really heard much Ladytron and I'm not sure I'd be that into them, but the name of this album is so awesome, as well as the cover art. It seemed curiously similar to Tangerine Dream's 'Stratosfear' :
Not so sure if I'm so down with the Bedouin Soundclash either, though I've noticed their 'Sounding a Mosaic' album cover reminds me a ton of the Stooges 'Funhouse'...one of the best punk albums EVER:
I mean, is it just me or is there a lot of similarity there?
Then there's Brand New's album 'The Devil & God Are Raging Inside Of Me'...which reminds me of the Violent Femmes' 1983 self titled debut, which is another really classic album from the vaults of quirky alternative rock:
I love the surrealism of it all. Little girls and paint flaking off seems so ordinary yet at the same time you say- 'what's the story behind this?'
I'll finish this post with some Beatles and some funny parodies of their covers. There's Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention doing 'We're Only In It For The Money'...which was a parody of the Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' :
Both are must have albums! For some more obscure Sgt. Pepper's knock-offs,check this:
The first depicts 'St. Captain Freak Out and the Magic Bamboo Request' by Acid Mothers Temple, a crazy experimental psychedelic Japanese group. The second is the Rutles' 'Sgt. Rutters Only Darts Club Band.' The Rutles are a hilarious Beatles spoof group. The third is the Easy Star All Stars' 'Easy Stars Lonely Hearts Dub Band.' If you hadn't guessed by the picture, they a bunch rasta dub ganga rascals. There are SO many Sgt. Peppers ripoff covers out there.
The Residents are one of the weirdest groups out there, preferring to wear masks (usually giant eyeballs) and remain anonymous. Their music is strange too. I love their 1974 debut, 'Meet the Residents'..which features a defaced cover of 'Meet the Beatles'. They might've got in some shit for it I think, not sure.
Another real laugh is the 'Abbey Road EP' by the Red Hot Chili Peppers...taking inspiration from the Abbey Road of the Beatles-->
HAhaha. Now that's probably enough for now. I'll post some others sometime in the future....
