I do agree a lot and yet have to disagree a little.

There is tribute vs. tribute. I never even have the chance to see Buddy Holly or Elvis or [put in the name of your favorite deceased stage person]. I enjoy a tribute show every once in a while and I can detect if there are robots or musicians on stage. Many are robots.

There is cover vs. cover. There are and were many out there that are musicians according to your definition, Eddie. And yet most of them did cover other musicians songs. Not too few covers are better than the original even though these are still and will remain the minority.

Many bands are booked because they do a good job playing covers of the great hits of today and yesterday and yesteryear. The songs, the crowd wants to hear. Yes, a DJ could play the originally published recording after the engineer has done his/her work, but: it is much more fun to dance to a live band. (And very often my critique is: The more I drink, the better they play.) But still, it is more fun to dance to them than to spun records; at least if the singer knows the words to the song.

Guido

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