Battle of the bogus Beatle bands

WFMU has a third post (part one, part two) about bands that made songs that sounded like (or attempted to sound like) The Beatles. This time it's The Manchesters versus The Beatle Buddies. Even though these songs are much worse than anything The Beatles did, I still enjoy listening to them.

We have a second skirmish prepared, in which, once again, you can listen and choose between two related Fab Four deception records tooled to cash in on that whole British Invasion "fad," this time released on the cheapjack Diplomat label. (You may be familiar with what these rip-off albums look like: The cover either sports four – or sometimes three or five [!] – disenscalped wigs, or else a similar number of guys imitating the iconic Robert Freeman Meet the Beatles! half-shadow cover pic.)

This second Fake Fabs Fight, unlike the preceding one, draws its combatants exclusively from the human species, yet with a Battle of the Sexes twist: The featured clash is between the Manchesters and the Beatle Buddies; in other words, Fake Beatles vs. Fake Lady Beatles!

Link

• [MrsBug]

  @ #2. Another Beatle non-lover checking. Hold the tomatoes please.

• [Jake0748]

  Ditto #3 and #4. I was wondering how you’re supposed to pronounce the name of the album on the right. Is it Beatle-rama, or Beat-ler-ama?

• [Mr Pickles]

  I’m just waiting for Uruguay’s Los Shakers to be declared the winner. The Beatles are the English Shakers, after all.

• [vastleft]

  A charming band with legitimate Beatles cred: Stackridge.

• [Cupcake Faerie]

  You might like the Resident’s take on the Beatles:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AidJbgfGU_4

  or their take er deconstruction of the Stones:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHWf74kg2cc&feature=related

  On the other hand, you might not like it at all

• [JG]

  Of course no discussion of Bogus Beatles is complete without a viewing of Bollywood Beatles videos

  If imitation is a form of flattery than someone needs to revise a few copy write laws along the way!

  Enjoy:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5ky5ClIjL8&mode=related&search=

• [oscar7g]

  What? No mention of Oasis?

• [boigaz]

  no beatles cover band discussion would be complete without a mention of the amazing beatle barkers. here’s a link:

  http://franklarosa.com/vinyl/Exhibit.jsp?AlbumID=67

• [Anonymous]

  What about The About? http://www.cdbaby.com/TheAbout

• [Beanolini]

  #2: A googlefight for “love the beatles” vs “hate the beatles” just gave 429000 for and 84000 against. You should be proud to be a member of that 16% minority.

• [Outtacontext]

  I was taken to see Rain, supposedly one of the best of the Beatles imitators (http://www.rainthebeatlesexperience.com/). And I have to tell you, they were pretty good.

  But what was really strange is that they have their own groupies who sat in the first row. Looking at Rain’s forum, apparently they have a large fandom. Very postmodern. ;-)

• [Yankadian]

  Am I the only person in the world who hates the Beatles?

• [Takuan]

  why yes, yes you are

• [Simon Greenwood]

  BBC Radio 2 did a series last year about tribute acts, with one episode about the most enduring Beatles tribute band, the Bootleg Beatles, who have been playing for 25 years and play songs that the Beatles never played live. They have a Paul McCartney lookalike, or at least would be lookalike if Paul still looked like he did in 1970, but older. The series was splendidly called ‘Earth, Wind for Hire’ and can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/musicclub/doc_earthwindehire.shtml

• [Ian70]

  I agree with #6, The Rutles -nailed- the Beatles’ sound, through all stages of their career, and were a wonderful insight into the whole oeuvre. Much praise for Eric Idle’s timeless genius, along with the timeless genius of The Beatles.

• [Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator]

  What Takuan said.

• [Halloween Jack]

  Beatlerama looks as if it might be composed of Half-Life headcrabs.