If you looked up "tribute bands" in the dictionary, it would probably read: "Two words that immediately evoke a chuckle or an eye roll."

They have names like Head Zeppelin, Shania's Twin and Blue Oyster Culture Club. Some of them take pride in looking almost identical to Bret Michaels and C.C. Deville of Poison. Did you know there's a KISS tribute band from New York that consists of only little people? They're called Mini-KISS. I mean, come on. It's hard to take these guys seriously.

That is, until you see one.

Tribute bands may not play original music, but they should be recognized for their skills, their recent explosion of popularity, and most importantly, their commitment. Because a lot goes into the art of the tribute.

Uncovered

Let's get this straight first. Many, many people confuse the term "cover band" with "tribute band." While both play cover versions of songs, there is a big difference.

Bob Horner is a booker of tribute and cover bands for Omni Entertainment in Kansas City. He's also the drummer for the Led Zeppelin tribute Stairway to Zeppelin and a cover band called Nervous Rex. He explains that tribute bands are specialized.

"Cover bands play a more comprehensive spectrum, from the '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s and so on," Horner says. "But a tribute focuses on one group or one segment."

For example: KC/DC is a tribute because it plays only the music of AC/DC, and the 90 Minutes tribute plays only songs from the '90s.

Let's move on.

Sights and Sounds

If you ask HammerJacks owner Chad Vann or Room 107 manager Mike "Sumo" Bransfield who's the best tribute band in the St. Joseph-Kansas City area, the answer would be the U2 tribute Rattle and Hum (named after U2's 1988 classic album). And it's not because the lead singer looks like Bono or the band uses guitars that shoot bottle rockets. It's based on the selling point that if you shut your eyes, you'll swear you're listening to U2.

"We really wanted to be sonically true to U2," says Rattle and Hum lead singer Mike Jackson. "We feel we're the best in the country at recreating U2's sound. Some tributes only go for the look, but we don't try to be a parody of U2. None of us wear wigs or try to look like them."

That's the tribute's everlasting struggle. What's more important - replicating the look or the music? While Rattle and Hum concentrates more on the tunes and less on the threads, Kansas City's Beatles tribute Liverpool sometimes makes two or three costume changes during a show. Horner and his Stairway cohorts dress in full Zeppelin attire. For Horner, that means showing off the John Bonham bucket hat and full beard.

He says the look is important because the crowd wants the most authentic Led Zeppelin experience as possible, but ideally, you go for both the look and the sound, even if one's harder to attain than the other.

"Sometimes you don't have the convenience of looking like them. So you put on a particular shirt and pants and all that," Horner explains. "But the sound is more difficult to copy because you can't fake that."

Tribute-Mania!

The Beatles split in 1970 and John Lennon tragically died 10 years later. The split happened 39 years ago. So it's safe to say that anyone 45 or younger has never seen the original Beatles lineup in person or remembers it if they did. For those people, seeing Liverpool will be the closest they will ever come to seeing The Beatles.

The same goes for fans of Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd. In the same vein, some fans of bands still touring today like U2 and AC/DC can't afford the triple-digit ticket prices.

This is what makes tributes so appealing. Everyone is penny-pinching these days. Seeing KC/DC at the Power and Light District might not be as awe-inspiring as seeing AC/DC at the Sprint Center, but tribute-goers get to save a hundred bucks and still hear "Back and Black."

"It's a safe bet that they'll hear good songs for a good price," says Chris Clark, singer/bassist for the super-popular '80s tribute Blue Oyster Culture Club. "If you want to see U2 and you only have five bucks, go see Rattle and Hum."

Another reason tributes have become popular in bars and other St. Joe establishments is that they get the crowds excited. Again, when people are trying to save money, they don't want to take chances. And a band that plays original music is always a risk. The band might stink up the joint and the bar-goers will probably leave if it happens. But when a tribute band is playing, people know what they're getting.

"Sometimes an original band becomes background music," Vann says. "While I love and support original bands, you can't really sing along with them. Tribute bands are comfort bands."

Encore

After seeing the success Poison Overdose had at HammerJacks, Vann is bringing more tributes to the bar this summer including KC/DC, Rattle and Hum, Almost Kissed (KISS) and True to Crue (Motley Crue).

And for those of you clamoring for another B.O.C.C. show, Clark says there's one planned for July, and they're practicing quite a few new songs.

Stay tuned.