The problem I have with this is similar to something I said that caused Christelle to get offended.
I just find it hard to get my head round someone impersonating another vocalist, rather than letting their individuality, their own unique voice, shine through. That's what Cobain - the real one - did. He wasn't copying.
This guy is clearly talented and he does the song really well (one of my favourite nirvana tunes) - so why copy? Does he do Frank Spencer and Tommy Cooper as well? (sorry, probably a Brits only in-joke)
Unless you are making a living as a tribute act, why pretend to be someone else? I don't get it!
I grew up listening to punk bands from Northern Ireland - Undertones, SLF, Xdreamysts. I love those songs but I wouldn't dream of affecting a fake Ulster accent to sing them. I sing in a covers band, but we put our own spin on everything - otherwise it's just glorified karaoke.
Last Edited by on Mar 08, 2011 11:35 AM
I do one Nirvana cover where I try to sound like Kurt. It can be fun to try to see how close you get. It's just like trying to get any other sound and it's probably pretty useful for developing your own sound too. I wouldn't want to do all my songs that way though.
As 'unique' as Kurt's voice was it isn't actually that hard to cover. I've heard Weezer, Puddle of Mudd, The Offspring and a ton of other grunge bands pull it off. I particularly like this one by Seether.
Of course there are all sorts of bizarre covers too. Tori Amos does an amazing version of Teen Spirit and the Muzac version is pretty awesome too.
I know you're all already looking up tickets to Novosibirsk :D There's a slight difference between "trying to sound like ***" and "having a voice timbre identical to ***" - don't you think? Would you NOT sing Cobain's tunes if you had Cobain't timbre??
It's like - if you looked exactly like Salma Hayek's husband and got in the same room with her :D Of coooourse you would not try to copy him - as if I were to believe that! LOL ---------- Free Harp Learning Center
