Tribute Albums

[Ksyrup]

Excuse the rant, but....

I am getting so freaking sick of seeing tribute albums. Once, they were cool, an earnest attempt to pay "tribute" to a legitimately influential artist who had been around for decades. Now, these things are everywhere. And I have two special categories of tribute albums to which I direct my wrath:

1. The Tribute to an Artist who doesn't deserve one yet (or at all)

So I'm in Best Buy the other day, and I see a tribute album to The Darkness. You know, the band that has 1 friggin album! A row over, it's Disturbed with a tribute album. Huh?! A quick look online nets these tribute albums to such long-standing and influential artists:

Alicia Keys
N'Sync
Limp Bizkit
Queens of the Stone Age (I like these guys, but c'mon, not even Kyuss deserves a tribute, and they were QOTSA before QOTSA)
Good Charlotte
Cold
White Zombie (ever heard of Alice Cooper?)
The Strokes (!)
Train
John Mayer
Britney (of course)
Puddle of Mudd
Reben Studdard (!)

Outrageous!


Then, there's...

2. The Alternative Style Tribute

I admit, hearing some heavy metal song done by a string quartet was different and kinda cool 10 years ago. It was also only cool for 1 or 2 songs before the novelty wore off. Then it became an epidemic. I mean, who buys these things?! Not only are these out of control for bands who probably deserve a tribute, you've also got a growing number of alternative style tributes to bands who don't deserve a tribute to begin with.

Here is a sample of what you can find...

String Quartet tributes to:

Metallica
REM
Led Zeppelin
Fleetwood Mac
Alan Morrisette
Tool
Cure
Incubus
Linkin Park
AC/DC
No Doubt
Iron Maiden
311
3 Doors Down
Evanescence
Creed
Garbage
Offspring
NIN

Bluegrass tributes to:

Metallica
Pink Floyd
Led Zeppelin

Hillbilly tributes to:

AC/DC
Kiss

Hip Hop Tribute to:

Metallica



At Best Buy, I found more tribute albums for Nine Inch Nails than I found NIN albums. Unacceptable.

I understand the purpose of the tribute album these days - it's a quick, cheap, and easy way to expose people to bands they might not otherwise hear, by forcing them to cover songs the record companies know a lot of people already like. Whatever. I've got a suggestion for the record companies, though - why not promote your unknown artists on radio and in mags, on TV, etc. A revolutionary thought, I know. As for the Mr. Big and Lillian Axe tribute albums...please, spare us.

[sachmo71]

This is not the greatest song in the world,
This is just a tribute.
Couldn't remember the greatest song in the world,
No, this is a tribute!
To the greatest song in the world, alright,
To the greatest song in the world, alright,
And it was the best motherfucking song, the greatest song in the world, alright.

[sachmo71]

Dola...

I don't have too much of a problem with a tribute album to Alicia Keys. I think there will be more to come.