For example:
Oasis really just wanted to be The Beatles
or
Oingo Boingo really just wanted to be Talking Heads

My Morning Jacket/Band of Horses/Fleet Foxes should all just meld into one band to make it easier on the yuppie WHIKE folks BBQ/grill-outs and dinner parties

I really hope that Oasis weren't really trying to be The Beatles because Good God did they completely miss the point.

I agree, but I used that as an example strictly based upon what the common word was at the time in the 90's.

But yeah, I never thought that they sounded anything like The Beatles.

But the Oingo Boingo one is mine.
And, I think that this one will be agreed upon:

Robyn Hitchcock really wants to be Syd Barrett

I don't know whether you mean it this way but I think it's a pretty big insult to any artist to say that they just want to be another artist.

Syd Barrett was an obvious influence on Hitchcock but I have far too much respect for him to make that sort of statement. I don't think Oingo Boingo sound anything like the talking heads and have no reason to think that they wanted to.

If Bowie's doin Lou - and Lou's doin Bowie - Lou's still doin Lou.

Oh sure, get me all defensive and back on my heels and all...
Yeah. I see your point. I agree with you, and, as a musician, I can empathize.

I am thinking as strictly knee-jerk reaction to listening to their music; where you hear a band and go, "Holy crap these guys really sound like XYZ!" And maybe you have that reaction a few times.
I do hear that when I listen to Dead Man's Party. I think that I'm hearing some T. Heads-type band or whatever. And, yes, I have a ton of respect for Robyn Hitchcock too. I am a big fan. But from the sound of his records, to a lot of the lyrical content, a lot of it is reminiscent of who he would admit to being his biggest influence.

This is just a message board. And, if ever there were a place for knee-jerk, hyperbolic statements of "fact", this is it.
Just having fun.

I ain't buyin' it. Danny Elfman had his own vision of what he wanted Oingo Boingo to be and I don't think it was copped at all from the Talking Heads.

I don't really agree with this (I'm sure he wants to be Dylan far more than Barrett), but since you brought up Hitchcock, that made me think of one.

I'm not a Destroyer/Dan Bejar fan, but I find I enjoy him far more when I pretend like he's trying to be Robyn Hitchcock. It works in a weird way, and who knows, maybe he is.

I agree with Todd that there's a strong Barrett influence that RH would openly profess to but there's also a Dylan influence and a Beatles influence and many others that aren't quite as strong.

I was pretty sure that Todd didn't mean it as an insult and clearly he doesn't but when I think of the X wanted to be Y statement, the most obvious ones to me would be a whole slew of recent indie pop bands/artists that want to be Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson or Ray Davies and emulate them without a fraction of the talent or much creativity to add anything else to the mix to make you want to listen to them.

To go with what I think Todd's intent is though, I think Billy Bragg would feel honored by any comparison to Woody Guthrie and the Deadstring Brothers openly wear their Stones influence on their sleeves. Also, I hear a whole lot of Robyn Hitchcock influence in the Green Pajamas/Jeff Kelly.

I've mentioned elsewhere that I hear a lot of Gram Parsons in Daniel Romano but I think it comes more from similar vocal style and shared influences than him aping him in conscious way. He covered the Louvin Brothers' The Christian Life on a radio show and knew that GP had covered it but guessed wrong that it was with the FBB rather than the Byrds so he probably isn't even that big a GP fan.

Not sure Oasis wanted to be the Beatles but it's certainly not a stretch to say that everything they did musically was informed and influenced by them.

Their lyrics drop Beatles references, they played Casino guitars (among others), they talked about them in tons of interviews, and even some of their songs are straight ripoffs ("Don't Look Back In Anger" being the most blatant).

Shit, maybe they did want to be them. They ceratinly wanted their success.

Of course they aren't the first band to want to be them, nor will they be the last. Hell, thousands of bands wanted to be The Stones.

TO BG's point about Brian Wilson:
The High Llamas ----> Brian Wilson

a lot of modern country wants to be Huey Lewis and the News, but I don't know any of their names.

Silversun Pickups obviously wanna be the Smashing Pumpkins, right down to the "SP"

it's hip to be square...dancing?

Rancid really wanted to be The Clash.

Ozma wanted to be Weezer.

i made this point before but i still think wilco wants to be beulah

although it sounds a little ridiculous five years later

i remember thinking it was ridiculous when you said it before, but i'm not much of a beulah fan.

Springsteen is always doing a pretty mean Elvis interpretation, even if it's filtered through Dylan style lyrics.

There's a reason a kid from Jersey sings with a southern accent, and not always clear enunciation.

Blonde Redhead were heavily criticized early in their career for trying to sound like Sonic Youth.

I saw the title of this thread earlier in the week and thought what a great idea for a thread and clicked in today... obner obtuse diffraction.

Jason Mollina, Wil Oldham, Will Johnson, Mark Koselak, J Mascis, Cris/Curt Kirkwood, Damian Jurado and Jim James have always wanted to be Neil Young.

I would add Matt Vasquez to that list.

I also don't agree with much of anything posted in this thread.