Philosophy Faculty Publications

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2008

Publication Source

Popular Musicology Online

Abstract

The notion of a “cover song” is central to an understanding of contemporary popular music, and has certainly received its share of attention in writing about contemporary music, from the mainstream press to slightly more technical ethnomusicological studies such as “Cross-Cultural ‘Countries’: Covers, Conjuncture, and the Whiff of Nashville in Música Sertaneja (Brazilian Commercial Country Music)” (Dent, 2005). In many major U.S. cities, musicians make a living in “cover” bands, recreating the music of well-known groups such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, U 2, the Who, ABBA, the Dave Matthews Band, the Grateful Dead, and others. Consumers of popular music will easily identify a favorite “cover,” a favorite tribute album devoted to “covers” of a particular musician or group, and often even a favorite “cover” band. In short, the term “cover” song is used without the recognition that there are many different kinds of “covers,” and thus that the reference of the very term “cover song” is systematically ambiguous.

ISBN/ISSN

1357-0951

Document Version

Published Version

Comments

Document is made available in the repository with the permission of the author. Permission documentation is on file.

Publisher

Popular Musicology Online

Peer Reviewed

yes

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