Cover version in the context of "Rolling Stones"

Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers such as Bob Dylan and the Byrds—several of whose members had earlier played in folk ensembles—attempted to blend the sounds of rock with their pre-existing folk repertoire, adopting the use of electric instrumentation and drums in a way previously discouraged in the U.S. folk community. The term "folk rock" was initially used in the U.S. music press in June 1965 to describe the Byrds' music.

The commercial success of the Byrds' cover version of Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" and their debut album of the same name, along with Dylan's own recordings with rock instrumentation—on the albums Bringing It All Back Home (1965), Highway 61 Revisited (1965), and Blonde on Blonde (1966)—encouraged other folk acts, such as Simon & Garfunkel, to use electric backing on their records and new groups, such as Buffalo Springfield, to form. Dylan's controversial appearance at the Newport Folk Festival on 25 July 1965, where he was backed by an electric band, was also a pivotal moment in the development of the genre.

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pioneered the gritty, rhythmically driven sound that came to define hard rock. Their first stable line-up consisted of vocalist Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts, after pianist Ian Stewart was side-lined by their manager Andrew Loog Oldham. During their early years, Jones was the primary leader. Oldham encouraged them to write their own songs. The Jagger–Richards partnership soon became the band's primary songwriting and creative force.

Rooted in blues and early rock and roll, the Rolling Stones started out playing cover versions and were at the forefront of the British Invasion in 1964, becoming identified with the youthful counterculture of the 1960s. They then found greater success with their own compositions: "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", "Get Off of My Cloud" (both 1965) and "Paint It Black" (1966) became international number-one hits. Aftermath (1966), their first album to be entirely of original material, is often considered to be the most important of their early albums. In 1967, they had the double-sided hit "Ruby Tuesday"/"Let's Spend the Night Together" and experimented with psychedelic rock on Their Satanic Majesties Request. By the end of the 1960s, they had returned to their rhythm and blues-based rock sound, with hit singles "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (1968) and "Honky Tonk Women" (1969), and albums Beggars Banquet (1968), featuring "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Street Fighting Man", and Let It Bleed (1969), featuring "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Gimme Shelter".

Mr. Tambourine Man is the debut studio album by the American rock band the Byrds, released on June 21, 1965, by Columbia Records. The album is characterized by the Byrds' signature sound of Jim McGuinn's 12-string Rickenbacker guitar and the band's complex harmony singing. The material on the album consists of cover versions of folk songs, primarily composed by Bob Dylan, and originals written or co-written by singer Gene Clark. Along with the Dylan-penned single of the same name, Mr. Tambourine Man established the band as an internationally successful act and is widely regarded by critics as representing the first effective American challenge to the chart dominance of the Beatles and other British Invasion bands during the mid-1960s.

The album was influential in popularizing the musical subgenre known as folk rock, by melding sophisticated lyrical content with electric guitars and a rock backbeat. The term "folk rock" was first coined by the American music press to describe the Byrds' sound in mid-1965, around the same time that the album was released. The band's hybrid of a British Invasion beat, jangly guitar playing, and poetic or socially conscious lyrics influenced a number of acts in the mid-1960s and has also been influential on later musicians.

A sound-alike is a recording intended to imitate the sound of a popular record, the style of a popular recording artist, or a current musical trend; the term also refers to the artists who perform on such recordings. In the voice-over world, it may also refer to those who recreate the voice and vocal mannerisms of a given celebrity's vocal performance (see also impersonator).

Sound-alikes are usually made as budget copies or "knockoffs" of popular recordings. The cost of writing and recording a new song that sounds similar to a popular song is usually negligible compared to the cost of music licensing for playing the original recording or the royalty fees to record a cover version. If the sound-alike recording is dissimilar enough to avoid infringing the original writer's copyright, the user of a sound-alike can evoke the spirit of a song, or sometimes make listeners believe that the work being played has been recorded by a particular artist, without the expense of engaging a highly paid artist.

Crossover is a term applied to musical works or performers who appeal to different types of audiences. This can be seen, for example, when a song appears on two or more of the record charts, which track differing musical styles or genres.

In some contexts, the term "crossover" can have negative connotations associated with cultural appropriation, implying the dilution of a music's distinctive qualities to appeal to mass tastes. For example, in the early years of rock and roll, many songs originally recorded by African-American musicians were re-recorded by white artists such as Pat Boone in a more toned-down style, often with changed lyrics, that lacked the hard edge of the original versions. These covers were popular with a much broader audience.

"Sunday Bloody Sunday" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the opening track from their 1983 album War and was released as the album's third single on 21 March 1983 in the Netherlands and West Germany. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is noted for its military drumbeat, harsh guitar, and melodic harmonies. One of U2's most overtly political songs, its lyrics describe the horror felt by an observer of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, mainly focusing on the 1972 Bloody Sunday incident in Derry where British troops shot and killed 14 unarmed civil rights protesters. Along with "New Year's Day", the song helped U2 reach a wider listening audience. It was generally well received by critics on the album's release.

The song has remained a staple of U2's live concerts. During its earliest performances, the song created controversy. Lead singer Bono reasserted the song's anti-sectarian-violence message to his audience for many years. Today, it is considered one of U2's signature songs, and is one of the band's most performed tracks. Critics rate it among the best political protest songs, and it has been covered by over a dozen artists. In 2004, it was ranked 268th on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

Sarah Asher Tua Geronimo-Guidicelli (/hɛˈrɒnɪmoʊ/ herr-ON-ih-moh; born July 25, 1988) is a Filipina singer and actress. Geronimo rose to prominence after winning the television talent show Star for a Night (2002). In 2003, she was signed to Viva Records, and released her debut studio album Popstar: A Dream Come True, supported by the singles "Forever's Not Enough" and "Sa Iyo".

Geronimo reinvented her image and style with Becoming (2006) and Taking Flight (2007), gaining praise for her growth and maturity. She recorded covers on Music and Me (2009) and One Heart (2011), the latter of which also included original material and was supported by the singles "Sino Nga Ba Siya" and "Kung Siya ang Mahal". Geronimo produced her tenth studio album Expressions (2013), which featured the lead single "Ikot-Ikot". Her twelfth studio album, The Great Unknown (2015), contained the lead single "Tala", which sparked a trend between 2019 and 2020. In 2025, she launched her independent record label, G Music.

Guitar Hero is a series of rhythm games first released in 2005, in which players use a guitar-shaped game controller to simulate playing primarily lead, bass, and rhythm guitar across numerous songs. Players match notes that scroll on-screen to colored fret buttons on the controller, strumming the controller in time to the music in order to score points, and keep the virtual audience excited. The games attempt to mimic many features of playing a real guitar, including the use of fast-fingering hammer-ons and pull-offs and the use of the whammy bar to alter the pitch of notes. Most games support single player modes, typically a Career mode to play through all the songs in the game, as well as competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes. With the introduction of Guitar Hero World Tour in 2008, the game includes support for a four-player band including vocals and drums. The series initially used mostly cover versions of songs created by WaveGroup Sound, but most recent titles feature soundtracks that are fully master recordings, and in some cases, special re-recordings, of the songs. Later titles in the series feature support for downloadable content in the form of new songs.

In 2005, RedOctane, a company specializing in the manufacture of unique game controllers, was inspired to create Guitar Hero based on its experience creating hardware for Konami's GuitarFreaks arcade game. It enlisted Harmonix, which had previously developed several music video games, for development assistance. The first game in the series was made on a budget of US$1 million. The series became extremely successful, leading to the acquisition of RedOctane by Activision in 2007. Harmonix was acquired by MTV Games and went on to create the Rock Band series of music games in the same vein as Guitar Hero. Activision brought Neversoft (primarily known for their Tony Hawk series of skateboarding games) on board for future development duties. Additional companies, such as Budcat Creations and Vicarious Visions, have assisted in the adaptation of the games for other systems.

Vanilla Fudge is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1967 and originally active until 1970, during which time they released five albums. They became known for their hard rock arrangements of contemporary pop songs, particularly with their cover of "You Keep Me Hangin' On", a Motown song originally recorded by the Supremes, which became a hit single in 1968. After occasional reunions during the 1980s and early 1990s, the band reformed full time in 1999.

The group's foundational lineup remained consistent during 1967–1970, comprising vocalist/organist Mark Stein, bassist/vocalist Tim Bogert, guitarist/vocalist Vince Martell, and drummer/vocalist Carmine Appice. Bogert retired from live music in 2009, whereafter Pete Bremy joined on bass; Bogert died from cancer in 2021. "The Fudge", as members call the group, is currently touring with Stein, Martell, Appice, and Bremy, with concert dates scheduled through 2026.

Los del Mar (Spanish for those from the sea, referring to Marbella) was a short-lived Canadian music duo, best known for their 1995 cover version of the Los del Río 1993 song "Macarena", which was included on their album Macarena: The Hit Album.

Their version peaked at No. 2 in Australia and No. 4 in France, and just missed the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 43 while the Los Del Río version reached number 2.

"Light My Fire" is a song by the American rock band the Doors. Although it was principally written by the band's guitarist, Robby Krieger, songwriting was credited to the entire band. Recognized as one of the earliest examples of psychedelic rock, it was recorded in August 1966 and released in January 1967 on their eponymous debut album. Due to its erotic lyrics and innovative structure, the track is widely regarded as an anthem of the 1960s psychedelia and counterculture movements.

Issued as an edited single on April 24, 1967, the song spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart; it re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968 following the success of José Feliciano's cover version (which charted at number three), peaking at number 87. The song also spent one week on the Cash Box Top 100, nearly a year after its recording. At the 11th Annual Grammy Awards in 1969, the cover by Feliciano won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Male Pop Vocal Performance. Feliciano also won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist.