Bands That Had No Imitators/Descendants

[Jerjo]

You could build a road to the moon with the works all the bands that tried to duplicate the sound of certain bands: The Beatles, Stones, Sabbath, Zep, Floyd etc. Yes had Starcastle, Genesis had early Marillion. the PE Facebook page is littered with hundreds of band Dream Theater clones. But it occurs to me that no one ever attempted to duplicate Little Feat or Steely Dan, or at least not successfully enough for me to notice. And no, Michael McDonald's Doobie Brothers doesn't count for Steely. Can't think of any Tull clones either but I could be wrong. Can you think of any others that stand alone?

[klothos]

Parliament/ Funkadelic

[Scrotum Scissor]

Can you think of any others that stand alone?

Little Feat or Steely Dan probably wore too personal and individual imprints for anyone to even dare imitate them. Of course there were/are other such artists. Joni Mitchell and Randy Newman are both highly influential artists and voices, but no one sounds like them - they can't. For progressive rock, there's someone like Argentina's national music hero Luis Alberto Spinetta; his voice, mode of songwriting and sense of atmosphere and "presence" quite simply doesn't lend itself to imitation at all.

But certainly there have been wildly original and idiosyncratic artists who've either been imitated or have had their music form whole subgenres; Zappa, Beefheart, Magma, even The Residents.

[rcarlberg]

Tull has lots of clones.

Singular bands:
Early Faust
This Heat
Startled Insects
Group 87

[Twelfth Earl of Mar]

How about Queen?

[trurl]

How about Queen?

Arguably there were many elements of Queen in The Darkness, mixed with Chin/Chapman style glam ala The Sweet. Probably more Sweet than Queen actually, but the Queen is certainly there.

[tdotdo]

How about 10cc?

[klothos]

Arguably there were many elements of Queen in The Darkness, mixed with Chin/Chapman style glam ala The Sweet. Probably more Sweet than Queen actually, but the Queen is certainly there.

The Darkness is certainly more Sweet than Queen to my ears

On the other hand, I hear a LOT of Queen in the band Muse

[2steves]

with the exception of some early Marillion trying to sound like Genesis, specifically Banks and Hackett, because I don't think Fish sounded particularly like Peter nor was he trying to---bands that try to sound like other bands are horrible IMO---because they don't have the talent and vision to be like Yes for example --.

[Digital_Man]

[Can't think of any Tull clones either]


Ummm. Horslips?

I can't think of any bands who tried to duplicate Renaissance though but I suppose every major prog band has at least one.

[perpetual strange]

I suppose Marillion sounded a bit like Genesis, though I think Twin Age, Unifaun and The Watch did a bit better job of it. But I don't think classic era PFM had too many imitators, if any.

Honestly, I'd say the same of Hatfield & The North or National Health. No one has ever sounded like Dave Stewart to me.

[SteveSly]

The Darkness is certainly more Sweet than Queen to my ears

On the other hand, I hear a LOT of Queen in the band Muse

I hear lots of Queen in both The Darkness and Muse. Extreme was a another one that used a lot of Queen-isms. Even some Dream Theater seems to be almost a direct tribute to Queen.

[zombywoof]

Tull have a LOT of clones. Nu from Spain come to mind.

[Chain]

Justice Yeldham and the Dynamic Ribbon Device

[Oreb]

How about 10cc?

Assuming you mean the band that did the first 4 albums, I think that's a solid call.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Assuming you mean the band that did the first 4 albums, I think that's a solid call.

Yes, but then again if you listen to some of the more sophisticated Flaming Lips releases, there's a common sense of overt "melodic oddness" to those two.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Tull have a LOT of clones. Nu from Spain come to mind.

De De Lind from Italy probably came even closer. Or someone like Capitolo 6 from the same country (I think their album Frutti Per Kagua is great, though).

[Scrotum Scissor]

with the exception of some early Marillion trying to sound like Genesis, specifically Banks and Hackett, because I don't think Fish sounded particularly like Peter nor was he trying to---bands that try to sound like other bands are horrible IMO---because they don't have the talent and vision

I'm not sure I'd agree that Fish & co had any "vision" either. Talent at some level, yes - but "vision"?!

[Rune Blackwings]

Starland Vocal Band

[Plasmatopia]

Kanye West.

[Zeuhlmate]

Area

[Rarebird]

Grobschnitt
Hoelderlin

[Zeuhlmate]

Kraan

[Rarebird]

Kraan

Forgot that one

[No Pride]

You could build a road to the moon with the works all the bands that tried to duplicate the sound of certain bands: The Beatles, Stones, Sabbath, Zep, Floyd etc. Yes had Starcastle, Genesis had early Marillion. the PE Facebook page is littered with hundreds of band Dream Theater clones. But it occurs to me that no one ever attempted to duplicate Little Feat or Steely Dan, or at least not successfully enough for me to notice.

Little Feat or Steely Dan probably wore too personal and individual imprints for anyone to even dare imitate them. Of course there were/are other such artists. Joni Mitchell and Randy Newman are both highly influential artists and voices, but no one sounds like them - they can't.

Exactly.

Steve Lukather (Toto) probably wrote this song as a tribute to Steely Dan; maybe he just got tired of being the only studio guitar player that (to my knowledge) never played on a SD track and decided to make his own. But hell, it's just one song: