All Washed Up: Robert Nevin on Fake Beatle Bands
Robert Nevin doesn’t love the Apples In Stereo, doesn’t love Beatles soundalikes… read on:
I watched the video for “Energy” and the Apples In Stereo blatant attempt to copy The Beatles is not making the band better, it’s making pop music worse. The Beatles, predictably, remain unscathed.They are not the first to go down this rabbit hole. Barry Gibb did a track called “Have You Heard the Word” which many believed was an actual unreleased track by the Fabs, it sounded so dead on. And there have been others. The Rutles are only the best known of this genre.
There’s a wonderful overview of fake Beatles bands at: http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/fake_beatles/Explore the site to find “Have You Heard”. I sent you “Turkey So Fine” a 2:40 minute “Beatles” song created for a convenience store advertising campaign, and it’s EXCELLENT! From the feedback guitar to the harmonized vocals to the dollop of sitar, they nailed it perfectly!
Go ahead and scroll down the page referenced at the above link and listen to the other two songs WaWa commissioned including a takeoff of Yellow Submarine (complete with the John Lennon interjection in the middle!) But we all know it’s a parody. It would never be taken seriously if someone got the notion to release it commercially. So what’s all this about The Apples?
When it comes to The Beatles, I’ll take mine straight please…the better to wash down a hoagie with.
