This is a cover band, playing other people's music to a crowd, typically who are at a wedding, a corporate function or a bar.  Very few people envision a cover band when they think of playing music or listening to music.

AC/DShe, Sgt. Pepper's Only Dart Board Band, Gabba and Mini Kiss - me, I am partial to Dead Guise on a double bill with Zed-Leppelin.

Morphine Life taps into some really brilliant insights in this post entitled Coverband Theology - my fav section:

Resist dancing in step on your journey; question, argue and explore. Listen to new and different voices ? new and different songs.  Living a deeper life means leaving yourself open.  Yes, this can be scary.  Yes, this can be unsettling but there is no other way.   If you close yourself off to only a narrow view than all you hear or experience is funneled through the smallest of openings.   You close yourself off to hearing the Song in its entirety and hear only part of the music.

So much of what passes for modern churchianity is often simply cover band theology, folks trying to play the new Rick Warren or Catherine Keller, groups humming along to the latest sweet tunes from TD Jakes or David Yonggi Cho, even groupies playing tributes to Rene Girard or Tom Wright. 

We live in the age of The Long Tail (or even the fuzzy tail), an age where changes have rendered traditional "hit" economics outdated, where

products that are in low demand or have low sales volume can collectively make up a market share that rivals or exceeds the relatively few current bestsellers and blockbusters, if the store or distribution channel is large enough

It is ironic to me that churchianity stands as one of the last remaining opponents of this shift, clinging to the soft familiar sounds from bands that are anonymous but play as close to note-for-note songs from the Top 10 of their genre (be it Catholic, evangelical, youth ministry or the classic stylings of the the group formerly know as the mainline) -- at least they usually have pretty hair (or mullets).  We sit in our pews or comfy chairs and we basically say what Nirvana said:

here we are now, entertain us

No one gets into the work of preaching or teaching to simply parrot the words or ideas of someone else.  It is the weird vortex between the local xian bookstore, the pew, the collection plate and the pulpit (or the classroom) that seems to suck the originality out of the room and replaces it with the soul-less sounds of coverband theology.  In the place of the numbing drone, Trent is right when he says:

Our lives should be focused on playing the music never heard before. It should be about taking the path un-traveled and giving up the familiar for the chaos and beauty of living in the spirit. Spirituality should be spontaneous, a cacophony of rock, jazz, jam, reggae, ska, punk, classical and folk. It should rise up from the heart not dictated by books and lectures.  It should be alive and just as things that are living; constantly growing, changing, challenging, failing, and succeeding. (emphasis mine)

So the next time I find myself reacting to the pre-chewed (or warmed over) thoughts from the latest Rob or Amy Jill, the next time I react ?YA!  Alright!!!  I love this song!!! Weeeee.  Baaaaa!!!?  to some familiar, comforting oldie from Moltmann or early Joyce - I'll try to stop *, be quiet and listen for the sound of a drum jam with didgeridoo and percussion, or a piano gently playing, I'll take the invitation to "to dance to music that (I) have never heard".

* aw forget it, I'll get a Bic lighter (or a cell phone), stand on a chair and yell PLAY FREEBIRD or MORE COWBELL