They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but a really good copy also makes for some pretty humbling chuckles.

Case in point: two spot-on parodies of a pair of rock’s biggest names have been doing the rounds on the internet showing off the distinctive styles of their targets in hilarious fashion.

Specifically, a Red Hot Chili Peppers satire good enough that it fooled a clutch of music media and a Nine Inch Nails spoof that totally (wait for it…) nails it.

While Nine Inch Nails comeback album, Hesitation Marks, actually took a sharp turn away from the industrial rock group’s trademark sounds – particularly on the chirpy pop-rock of ‘Everything’ (which sounds like a lost Regurgitator track), it doesn’t take the most sharp-eared listener to pick Trent Reznor’s style from a mile away. 

Soundcloud user Frederick Scott has very sharp ears, posting a hilariously accurate mimicry of Nine Inch Nails online – as the folks at The Vine picked up – in a track titled ‘This Is A Trent Reznor Song’.

The fan parody is like an audio recipe for crafting the perfect NIN song. It features the requisite electronic throbbing and interspersed “weird guitar” riffs, all while Scott brilliantly emulates Reznor’s own breathy, vocal strains and building towards a chorus that borrows the main hook from Hesitation Marks single ‘Copy Of A’ (how fitting).

Scott says that the tune is a tribute to the “songwriting process of one of my musical heroes”, but that may not protect him from the NIN ringleader’s fury should he catch wind of the parody.

After all, Reznor has blasted fans for less in the past with his Soundwave-scathing tongue and takes his art very seriously; the latest exhibit being slamming Grammys producers with a “heartfelt Fuck You” after the awards ceremony cut a super-medley from Nine Inch Nails and forthcoming Australian tour buddies Queens Of The Stone Age short during the Grammys telecast earlier this week.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers however, would seem to have a better sense of humour over a well-done send-up (this is the band that rose to fame by posing naked with socks on their knobs after all).

Enter ‘Abracadabralifornia’, a seriously silly satire that manages to squeeze all the essential Chili elements into three and a bit minutes.

The track features a super-spot on take on Anthony Kiedes’ nonsense half-rap vocal style – rhyming llama, camera, Alabama, scammer etc. – as well as providing the rhythmic section oomph that could easily be mistaken for the real Chad Smith and Flea.

In fact, ‘Abracadabralifornia’ was good enough to fool the less-savvy into thinking the track was the legit new single from RHCP, as Consequence Of Sound reports; chiefly thanks to a fake website called rhcp2014.com using the caricature as the soundtrack to glitzy branding from the likes of Pepsi and Gatorade, as well as advertising the band’s upcoming halftime performance at the Super Bowl with Bruno Mars.

As it turns out, the song is really by actor-comedian Jon Daly and was recorded for an episode of the Comedy Bang Bang podcast last March.

The pitch-perfect Chilis parody isn’t the only thing that’s confusing fans, with various music media reporting the band would be covering Led Zeppelin’s ‘Dazed And Confused’ (how apt) for their upcoming Superbowl set.

But drummer Chad Smith confirmed in an interview with Radio.com that they would not be attempting the Zeppelin live epic and that the rumours had spread from a joke he made to reporters “at some Grammy thing” last week.  

“People in the media are so gullible sometimes,” Smith explained, adding another crack; “We will, however, be performing side one of Rush’s 2112.”

The bit about playing with soul pop star Bruno Mars however? Not a joke.

“We know of the Bruno Mars, but we’re not homies,” Smith said. “This is what I know: The NFL said to Bruno, ‘You can have a special guest, and choose whomever you like.’ Bruno chose the Red Hot Chili Peppers because he’s a big fan, unbeknownst to us. He called us and said ‘Hey, would you guys be my guest at the halftime show, come and do a jam?’ We said sure, sounds like fun.”

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