Bushwallas: Or, 21 of the most unfortunate imaginary cover bands we could think of

Published Feb 25 2010, 05:51 PM by Shaula Clark

^{Bushwalla concept art}

A little backstory: Last week, we stumbled across a particularly intriguing event listing for tonight's show at Mohegan Sun's Wolf Den. (Always a trusty goldmine of mind-blowing line-ups -- Sophie B. Hawkins and Alien Ant Farm in the same week? Goddamn.) What caught our eye this time, though, was a band called "Bushwalla." Given the Den's normal predilection toward '90s-alt-rock-corpse-resuscitation, we naturally assumed that this was a tribute band devoted to Bush and Dishwalla covers.

Never before had we been so excited. Over the years, we've crossed paths with many, many unfortunate cover bands, but nothing quite this ... niche. It was like discovering an entirely new species of bad music. We wondered: Could we come up with an even more grotesque grunge-era chimera? OF COURSE WE COULD. And so we proceeded to hork up a whole mess of our own horrible tribute band ideas. At some point during our brainstorming frenzy, we found out that Bushwalla is in fact not a cover band, but rather a singer/songwriter/rapper from Ohio (whoops) -- but we still didn't care. That's how much fun this was. Anyway, here's our list, in no particular order.

1. Harvey Danger + Marcy Playground: Danger Playground

2. Alien Ant Farm + Powerman 5000: Powerman Ant Farm

3. Goo Goo Dolls + Hoobastank: GooGoobastank

4. Puddle of Mudd + Mudvayne: Puddle of Muddvayne

5. Eve 6 + Sixpence None the Richer: Eve 6pence None the Richer

6. Collective Soul + pretty much anything: Collective Soul Asylum ... Collective Box ... Collective Hole

7. Seven Mary Three + 3 Doors Down: Seven Mary 3 Doors Down

8. Sponge + Spin Doctors: Sponge Doctors

9. Bush + Reel Big Fish: Reel Big Bush

10. Hootie and the Blowfish + Reel Big Fish + Phish: Hootie and the Reel Big BlowPhish (the trifecta!)

11. Better than Ezra + Less Than Jake: Less Than Ezra

12. Ben Folds Five + Five for Fighting: Ben Folds Five For Fighting

13. Cake + Smash Mouth: Smash Cake into Mouth (yeah, it's not perfect)

14. Wilco + Weezer: "Remember When These Bands Used To Be Awesome?"

15. Primus + Incubus: Primubus

16. Bare Naked Ladies + Jane's Addiction: Jane's Naked Ladies

17. Fatboy Slim + Alice in Chains: Fatboy in Chains

18. Soundgarden + Garbage: Soundgarbage

19. The Shins + Gin Blossoms: Shin Blossoms

20. Mighty Mighty Bosstones + Stone Temple Pilots: Mighty Mighty BosStone Temple Pilots

21. Blur + Verve Pipe: Blurvepipe