General Music Chat

suck, but whose songs you won't play in your cover band.

I had this epiphany a while ago.

There's a handful of bands with some songs that are very popular among their fans, but which are a really bad idea to do in a cover band. It's a little counterintuitive, though, because when you play them the first time at a gig, you'll invariably get a loud, boisterous response.

It's around the fourth or fifth time, IME, that things start to go wrong.

I think I've worked out why, as well. The fans of these bands love these songs and make a lot of noise. Nobody else is impressed. That would be great, except that sooner or later those hard-core fans start to notice you don't actually sound like the original. Then their hard-core fandom starts to work against you.

So, this was an easy thing for me when I noticed it with bands I'm not particularly crazy about. Journey, REO Speedwagon, Sammy Hagar. But then I noticed it was true of some of may favorites, like Led Zeppelin and Santana.

It's not necessarily the kiss of death to do songs by these bands, but I've noticed it's really easy for bands to start to rely on them and ignore the obvious signs that it's time to branch out a bit. Or maybe even get rid of the songs.

I dunno if I really have a point here, I'm just sort of ruminating and rambling.

It is difficult enough to determine which of our own songs to drop from a play-list.

For me, deciding which songs to play is a simple matter of enjoyment. If I don't enjoy playing the song, or someone else in the band really hates playing it, then it's out.

I know some people on this board thing we're just juke boxes and we should play whatever the "customer" wants to hear. But I'm against that. If you're going to invest the time to put together a band and woodshed your instrument and deal with rehearsals and egos and keeping your band together, then at least have some fun and play songs you like.

There's a million songs out there. There has to be enough songs that you can enjoy playing that customers also enjoy listening to, and so you have the best of both worlds. Just find those songs.

If you're a cover band you are bound to do some songs you just don't like. Comes with the territory. An original act can be much more selective.

That said, bands I hated to cover back in the day:

Eddie Money
Journey
The Babies

aiki, You named all of my favorite bands. I love Journey, Sammy Hagar, Reo, Zep and especially Santana. You guys don't like Journey? Wow!

I have always loved Almost all of the music from the 60's, 70's and 80's the only songs I don't want to play are the ones that I used to like untill I played them 10 Trillion times.

Just What I Needed
Best Freinds Girl
My Sharona
FREEBIRD (I can still hear that guy PLAY SOME SKYNARD!)
Love Shack
Freinds In Low Places
Spooky
Road House Blues
This One Goes Out To The One I Love
New Orleans Is Sinking

I still LOVE all these songs just don't want to play them.

When people request Freebird I just tell them to write that request on a $100.00 bill and bring it up to the stage. That always works except one time a guy actually Frickin DID IT NOOOOoooooo! I can play that song Note for Note slide and all and I couldn't beleive how that song brought down the house so then we added it back to the set list and played it for about a year and I just couldn't take it anymore!

I have never tried to sound like someone else's original band. Why should I, when I have a good sound of my own? I've never had the complaint that I don't play a song right, or sound like so & so.

In fact, I get requests for those songs that I've changed up a bit, quite often, & been told that I sound as god or better than the original.

When a song doesn't work for me, I toss it. I hafta pick my songs carefully, too, cuz I'm not a guy with that high range that a lot of songs require, & my tone doesn't necessarily lend itself to certain tunes.

That's what makes a band good, imo. When they play songs that sound good when they play them. I've heard a lot of bands try to do things out of the singer's range, or the guitarist's, & they just don't make it for me. I've heard a lot of the note-for-note guys, too, & that bores me. I'd just as soon pop a dollar in the juke box.

When you play, I wanna hear YOU.

Thats what they want you to be down here Philby a jukebox LMAO!

In a word (or two)

Culture Club

I think I might not have been clear.

It isn't so much that I don't like the song as that these are songs that musicians often think are popular with crowds that I've observed are less popular than we think they are.

My thing about Journey, etc., is that those songs were the first ones where I noticed the phenomenon. And, sure, I was okay with it when they were bands I didn't particularly like. Hey, it's an excuse to say "no" when someone wants to play - for example - "Lights". And, yes, I think that's why I noticed it first with those songs.

But then...

...I noticed some of my favorite bands belonged on that same list. Then, well, it sort of bummed me out. But there it was. Huge response on night one. Stony silence around night four.

I suspect, BTW, that this "list" is both temporal and regional. I'm pretty sure, for example, that Journey would not have been on that list in the early nineties. I'm also fairly certain that the list is different in the Central Valley (where I live) and the Bay Area (where I work).

In a word (or two)

Culture Club

I'd go even further with this. Kharma Chameleon, in particular, is a song people are in love with the idea of. I've watched this with certain songs and - when it's someone else's band playing it - it's amusing.

They all rush to the dance floor. Then around a minute and half in they all look at each other like, "This song isn't as cool as I remember it being" and go sit down. Okay, there's a bit if hyperbole in that statement, but I'm sure you all know what I mean and can point to songs like that.

I would have to assume that a lot of this is due to the various reasons people like music.

Ask a guy why he like a song he'll say something like "It Rocks"
Ask a woman she'll likely say "because so n so is hot".
If she likes the song only because the pretty boy makes her panties moist I doubt she wants to see an ugly mug like me perform it.

I think a lot of it has to do with the way ppl dance, too. It's changed quite a bit over the years.

I've become somewhat of a nazi about the songs being danceable in any act I work with, & modern dancers dan't seem to handle a simple walking tempo, or a medium beat. They want things either very fast, or very slow.

It's certainly a conundrum for the band to choose what works, but you hafta keep your eye on what makes ppl move.

"Karma Chameleon" is one of those that encourages the "white guy bad dancing" (think Carlton on the Fresh Prince Of BelAire) & ppl aren't into that anymore.

@ Aiki.
Yeah I know I was just fooling around, it is a cool song there is no doubt about it.
Music is varied and wonderful isn't it.

My last band used to play the old jazz standard "Summertime" (which has been covered by everyone-lol). When we first started playing it, our audiences would immediately start bobbing and clapping along. I thought "Wow. This song really gets 'em going!" That lasted for about two shows. After that, it was dead silence. I can't begin to tell what the audience wants to hear. Sometimes I'm right on, and other times, it seems like nothing is going to move them.
My point is that, regardless of the band or song, sometimes the audience wants to hear it, and sometimes they just don't. The job, I guess, is to convince them that it is exactly what they want.

Friday night my gf and I went out and saw a group called Dr Zharr and the Funk Monsters. These guys wear wigs, platform shoes, bellbottoms and play basically disco music. Me and my gf danced the whole time, every song they did was a winner as far as dancing goes. I tlaked to one of the guys and they dont play for less than $2000 a night, whereas most band sin my area settle for 2-400. These guys have been around for a few years and have changed members over the years, but are still going strong. They do lots of corporate type gigs, wedding receptions and still the occasional club gig if they will pay for them. They keep people on the dance floor and were even doing choreographed dance steps.

Whats my point, none I dont guess, but these guys came up with an idea followed thru and are making a lot better money than the average band in my area and they are playing stuff that most of us would laugh at.

Once again if you are going to play covers for money, i think you have to forget about what you want as a musicians and think about the audience. I know even in my gorup we paly stuff that I dont really want to play anymore, but when someone that comes to see us over and over requests Stranglehold for instance, what am I supposed to say, screw that song cause I hate it. Do you think they will come back to see us if I start cutting songs.

Anyway good luck.