In 1997, the British journalist
Tony Barrell wrote a feature for
The Sunday Times about the UK tribute-band scene, which mentioned bands including Pink Fraud, the Pretend Pretenders and Clouded House. In the article, Barrell asserted that "the main cradle of the tribute band...is
Australia. Starved of big names, owing to their reluctance to put Oz on their tour itineraries, Australians were quite unembarrassed about creating home-grown versions. Then, like an airborne seed, one of these bands just happened to drift to Britain." The band in question was the ABBA tribute
Björn Again, who staged a successful publicity stunt in the early 1990s, arriving at
Heathrow Airport in white one-piece outfits similar to the ones worn by ABBA on the cover of their 1976 album,
Arrival. Other tribute acts such as The Beatnix (Beatles), Zeppelin Live, and The
Australian Pink Floyd Show have experienced continued popularity for over a decade. Lead singer
Rob Halford left
Judas Priest in 1992 and was replaced by
Tim "Ripper" Owens from the tribute band British Steel in 1996. This was the first publicised example of a tribute performer joining the band they were paying tribute to and was the inspiration for the 2001 film
Rock Star. Owens eventually left Judas Priest in 2003 when Halford rejoined the band. Later occurrences of this same phenomenon include
Tommy Thayer replacing
Ace Frehley in
Kiss in 2002 and
Benoît David replacing
Jon Anderson in
Yes after performing with a Yes tribute band called Close to the Edge. Similarly, Martin Jakubski, vocalist of
Marillion tribute act
StillMarillion, regularly appears in Marillion guitarist
Steve Rothery's solo shows. In 2000, filmmakers Jeff Economy and Darren Hacker produced the documentary film
...An Incredible Simulation, which examined the tribute band phenomenon. The title was taken from the promotion of
Beatlemania advertised as "Not the Beatles, but an incredible simulation." ==See also==