The Cover Band Game
Before I dive into this, complete and total credit goes to the amazingly awesome Paul and Storm. This strange thing comes out of a bit they do during live concerts.
Said bit is, whenever one of them makes an off-hand comment that includes an interesting turn of phrase, the other says “[Clever Turn of Phrase] is the name of my [Insert Band Here] cover band.” For example, if one person said something about the fickle finger of fate, the other one could say “’Fickle Finger of Fate’ is the name of my Cinderella cover band.”
Over the past few weeks, an informal game has evolved around the house. We never settled on rules or made any official declaration – it just kind of happened one day. Looking back on how things played out, I can reverse-engineer some of the implied rules:
- During conversation, someone takes another speaker’s turn of phrase, and works it into a cover band name.
- The cover band name has to, in some way, relate to the band referenced.
- You have to do this before someone else does it.
- Once “called,” no one else can use that turn of phrase for their band.
- Ideally, you should do this after everyone has forgotten about the game, for maximum effect.
Today alone I managed to use “Ghoul Vagina” and “Archdick” in the game. So if you were wondering what the hell I was babbling about on Twitter or Facebook, now you know.
The inestimable Jeff Tidball has spread around a similar game, which he calls “Band or Album”. When someone utters a clever turn of phrase, preferably unintentionally, you repeat it and ask them if it is a band or an album. “Ghoul Vagina: band or album?” There is no wrong way to answer, though “self-titled album” is usually considered a cop out. To save time, you can always just declare which you think it is without asking the question. It floats around the Twitters under the tag #bandoralbum.