Many artists living/dead have been influential, and some that came after had/have no problem admitting they were heavily influenced by singing and/or lyrical style, dance moves, etc.. But I'm sure there are some artists no one would dare to emulate, because it would come off silly. I'm guessing most candidates will be lead singers. I think most would laugh at someone trying to pretend to be Jim Morrison, for example.

I don't think there are too many Frank Zappa clones out there.He was pretty unique. 

That's how that video uploader titled it for fun, but it's hardly the only upload of the band's music. There was something of a conspiracy theory that it was a lost Jim Morrison album (definitely not), others say it barely sounds like him at all. It's actually ranked at #213 for 1974, and #8,874 at rateyourmusic overall, which is pretty good.
https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/phantoms_divine_comedy/phantoms_divine_comedy__part_1/

But yes, if you're just think of more commercial artists then that limits things. My listening tends to be rather obscure.

The Flying Eyes is hardly well-known but has a wikipedia page:



The imitators of course won't tend to achieve the success of that which they are imitating.

EDIT: Two more acts is bit excessive, and instead of adding an extra post, I'll edit this in:

I can't really think of anyone like Björk. I can think of music that people into Björk might like, but not really artists with quite the same approach, attitude, fashion sense (dead swan dresses are so passé), and vocal qualities. I know people have imitated Björk, but those weren't taken seriously.


Edited by Logan - December 13 2019 at 16:12

Icarium wrote: Though people have said they are but i have yet to see a modern confident band trying to do whaever Gentle Giant did. It is a difficult task

Icarium wrote: Though people have said they are but i have yet to see a modern confident band trying to do whaever Gentle Giant did. It is a difficult task

MortSahlFan wrote: BarryGlibb wrote: Carmen I think the vocals are pretty bad, and sound very very different from Jim.

WoW! I just watched The Doors 2004 reunion concert posted above, featuring original Doors members Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger. It was really spooky to watch because the singer looks AND sounds *exactly* like Jim Morrison resurrected 33 years after his death, and he doesn't even look any older either.

I agree with the Gentle Giant suggestion (though Advent do try), but I wanted to place Demetrio Stratos (AREA singer/keyboard player) into the fray. I haven't heard many singers dive so deeply into the extreme potentialities of the human voice.

Psychedelic Paul wrote: WoW! I just watched The Doors 2004 reunion concert posted above, featuring original Doors members Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger. It was really spooky to watch because the singer looks AND sounds *exactly* like Jim Morrison resurrected 33 years after his death, and he doesn't even look any older either.

Isn't the singer Ian Astbury of the Cult? He's pretty well known of being influence by Morrison.