The Stupid Song Request Thread

Stinsok · #1 02-12-2011, 12:10 PM

Last Friday-While setting up, a drunk and his drunkier girlfriend stroll up and asked me "hey maaaaannnn, you know "Alice in (burp) Chains?" I told him sorry, but we don't do any AIC. He looks at the guitarist standing next to me and says "Hey maaaaannnn, you know "Alice In Chains?"

faulknersj · #2 02-12-2011, 12:18 PM

I love when after 3 sets of Old School Funk, Motown, Soul, Disco, and RnB a patron asks us if we know any 1) country 2) metal 3) Journey. It's like asking for Moo Goo Gai Pan at McDonalds!

oniman7 · #3 02-12-2011, 10:30 PM

inb4 Mustang Sally, Brown Eyed Girl, and Don't Stop Believing.

Johnston · #4 02-13-2011, 04:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oniman7

inb4 Mustang Sally, Brown Eyed Girl, and Don't Stop Believing.

I really would like to do the version of that from the Glee Parody

theduke1 · #5 02-13-2011, 04:28 AM

What always gets me is when you say sorry we don't know that or don't do that they always say just play it you can just pllay it. Like we learn this stuff by asmosis(forgive the spelling) you know that thing were you learn while you sleep! LMAO

Nev375 · #6 02-13-2011, 05:00 AM

the theory of Skynardtivity:

band + bar
---------- x people = some drunk guy shouting "play <insert skynrd song here> man!"
time

Probability of request: (in this area)

27% anything by Skynrd
25% freebird
21% sweet home alabama*
16% simple man
11% other specific song

* note lately there is a phenonmena of people mistakenly meaning to request all summer long by kid rock. The effect of this upon the statistics is unknow at this time.

Obe · #7 02-13-2011, 07:48 PM

We have copies of our songlist that we hand out and tell people to request any of them and we'll try to fit it in the set. The heaviest stuff we do is AC/DC and Billy Idol. We've had people request Pantera, Slayer, etc. repeatedly and annoyingly. It's useless to tell them "only what's on the list", they hear it as "request it louder, more frequently and more annoyingly and that will magically make us know it".

And theduke1, yes, it's like they expect that the band can do any obscure song that is requested by simply simultaneously and ceremoniously retrieving it from their rectum. That's a scary image, hope nobody was eating.

MadDogM · #8 02-13-2011, 11:50 PM

Isn't any request a stupid one?

pie_man_25 · #9 02-14-2011, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Obe

It's useless to tell them "only what's on the list", they hear it as "request it louder, more frequently and more annoyingly and that will magically make us know it".

And theduke1, yes, it's like they expect that the band can do any obscure song that is requested by simply simultaneously and ceremoniously retrieving it from their rectum. That's a scary image, hope nobody was eating.

Everybody gets heckled with annoying requests - when we played on the 4th we kept getting told to play songs by ACDC, Rage against the Machine, and of course - Freebird. We're not gonna learn any ACDC, Rage just wasn't on the list that night, but we ARE going to learn Freebird JUST ENOUGH to awkwardly fumble through its 10 minutes or so and make them regret ever requesting that song. We might even invite a third guitarist to do nothing but awkward, out of key, shredding throughout %80 of that song.

Phalex · #10 02-14-2011, 08:27 AM

I get lots of requests for Journey. Usually while I'm playing something that's not Journey. If we had a keyboard player in the band, we might actually play some Journey.

I always tell them to talk to the Keyboard player. (They generally go bug the singer at that point.)

gjbassist · #11 02-14-2011, 08:30 AM

I play in a classic rock/blues band that covers stuff like Clapton and ZZ Top. At our New Years Eve gig a woman comes up during a song and hands the harmonica player a napkin with a request written on it. "Black Eyed Peas-Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night"

jive1 · #12 02-14-2011, 08:41 AM

I play in a band that does all requests, we get plenty of dumb ones and we actually play them. Some better than others, but as they say, "beggars can't be choosers".

Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. But that's where the magic lies, IMO. Once we got a request for Hotel California. The original key was too high for us, but we faked our way through the song until the part where the drums came in and instead of a Reggaeish beat, the drummer launches into a "Living After Midnight" beat. Guitarist and I both lost it, and then launched in to another song. On the other hand, we've killed audiences with a Black Sabbath medley of Paranoid, NIB, and War Pigs, and had a crowd singing along dramatically to My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion. For me, these kinds of things make a bar band gig less boring.

We got a request for Brown Eyed Girl once, and the guitarist replied with "I used to sing that song everyday to my ex-wife who died in a horrible car accident, and can't do that one anymore". The requestor walked off peacefully. I asked the guitarist if the story was true, and he said no. I then told him that he was the wind beneath my wings.

mophead · #13 02-14-2011, 08:47 AM

We played a gig on Saturday night and it was the first time in a LOOOOOOONg time we didn't get a request for:

Amarillo By Morning

Felt so good to not have to play that song. I'll play Mustang Sally all night if it keeps someone from asking for Amarillo By Morning.

pie_man_25 · #14 02-14-2011, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gjbassist

I play in a classic rock/blues band that covers stuff like Clapton and ZZ Top. At our New Years Eve gig a woman comes up during a song and hands the harmonica player a napkin with a request written on it. "Black Eyed Peas-Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night"

[sarcasm]man, that song just fits PERFECTLY with what you guys do, I can't see why you wouldn't have played that song!!![/sarcasm]

rtslinger · #15 02-14-2011, 11:39 AM

Classic Rock band 60-90, Woman comes up and asked us if we do Baby Come Back by Player AHHHH no!

HeadyVan Halen · #16 02-14-2011, 11:43 AM

"R-E-S-P-E-C-T" by Aretha...

Response:
"Um, maam, I'm 6'2 249 lbs....and white. I don't think we can wing that one.."

bassteban · #17 02-14-2011, 11:45 AM

Who here thinks being able to play w/e the drunks(read *paying bar patrons*

)request wins out over sneeringly turning said drunk(s)down & posting clever comments on TB? Just a thought...

Medford Bassman · #18 02-14-2011, 11:51 AM

I used to play in a guitar, bass, drum trio.

At a wedding drunk best man asked if we could do some Miami Sound Machine.

I told him, "as soon as the horn section comes off of break, I'll see what we can do"

gjbassist · #19 02-14-2011, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassteban

Who here thinks being able to play w/e the drunks(read *paying bar patrons*

)request wins out over sneeringly turning said drunk(s)down & posting clever comments on TB? Just a thought...

Not me!

I don't think it is right to sneer at them and be rude. However, if they persist and get obnoxious in their request making it does get old fast. Also we are bands, not juke boxes! Most bands only have time to learn a certain number of songs. Sure you can wing a song it the members are somewhat familiar. But when someone asks for a request that is totally out of the genre of the type of music the band is playing then they are probably going to get at least a funny look from someone in the band!

BigOldHarry · #20 02-14-2011, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nev375

the theory of Skynardtivity:

band + bar
---------- x people = some drunk guy shouting "play <insert skynrd song here> man!"
time

Probability of request: (in this area)

27% anything by Skynrd
25% freebird
21% sweet home alabama*
16% simple man
11% other specific song

* note lately there is a phenonmena of people mistakenly meaning to request all summer long by kid rock. The effect of this upon the statistics is unknow at this time.

Sad but true. Perhaps it is because the only time Skynard is tolerable is when inebriated.