Off the wall songs for good times

bassplayingfool · #1 01-04-2005, 10:41 PM

Hey im in a rock band that went to see a fellow rock band play a while ago and In the middle of their heaviest set the, the guitar player whips out a banjo and they played Johnny Horton's "Battle of New Orleans." Not a rock cover, same as the actual version. The crowd went INSANE. They loved it. So my question is, does your band do anything like this? Or have you heard anyone do this? What songs did they play?

Microbass · #2 01-05-2005, 05:31 AM

im in a punkrock/pop band, and we've started to break out into our "country jam". its very basic, i-iv-v-iv-i structure (i think thats how to type it??). Ste does something he picked up a while ago that just gives a cheesy country feel.

then Ste drops out, me and keith continue playing while Ste introduces the next song, which is one of heaviest "punk" songs. mwuahaha.

briand · #3 01-05-2005, 05:56 AM

way back when, my old band did 60's and 70's rock, southern rock stuff, with occasional top 40 sprinkled about... we used to do a version of Alabama's Dixieland Delight (in 4-part harmony) in the middle of set 2, just to see how many country fans were in the audience...

Folmeister · #4 01-05-2005, 11:55 AM

We currently do Melanie's 70s hit "Brand New Key." The crowd loves it.

flea claypool · #5 01-05-2005, 12:15 PM

we played a gig new years and did ghost busters

the crowd loved it!!!

Joe P · #6 01-05-2005, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassplayingfool

Hey im in a rock band that went to see a fellow rock band play a while ago and In the middle of their heaviest set the, the guitar player whips out a banjo and they played Johnny Horton's "Battle of New Orleans." Not a rock cover, same as the actual version. The crowd went INSANE. They loved it. So my question is, does your band do anything like this? Or have you heard anyone do this? What songs did they play?

Hey, I saw the same scene once when a metal band did Afternoon Delight (and did it RIGHT - These guys could sing sweet!). I was amazed - and like microbass said, while everyone was still recovering from this unexpected blanket of warm-fuzzy sweetness, the singer's eyes rolled back in his head, and they unleashed an absolutely skull-crushing metal assault. It was powerful.

Joe

Esquillama · #7 01-05-2005, 03:30 PM

We are a show band that does mainly 50's, 60's, & 70's,
but we've also incorporated a duet by Willie Nelson and
Julio Iglesias, "To All The Girls We've Loved Before".
The twist is, our lead singer goes out with a cowboy hat
and long braids, and has a monkey puppet on his arm,
the monkey "sings" Julio's part (actually me on a hidden
wireless mic). The audiences always love it, and they're
always looking to see where the monkey's voice is coming from.

DaftCat · #8 01-06-2005, 05:18 PM

Hey MicroBass,

We have done that a few times(drummer and guitar player have played country for years) and we got people coming up and requesting country.

It can backfire is all I am saying.

soundoholic · #9 01-06-2005, 06:31 PM

My Band played this one gig and this table in the front kept on yelling "Christian Aguilera!". So they came the next night. We learned earlier that day "Beautiful". They freaked. They are now fans of ours. Pretty cool to freak people out with your set list.

cassanova · #10 01-06-2005, 10:09 PM

The 4 Horseman's - Rockin Is My Business

stingray69 · #11 01-06-2005, 10:30 PM

It's always very cool to hear a band break character and do something totally unexpected. It's also a great way to show your versatility and have a blast at the same time. It's especially more dramatic when you hear a rock band switch to something light or country, etc or vice-versa. I've been in hard rock bands over the years (not now), but we sometimes broke out stuff like Johnny Cash (Folsom Prison Blues) or the Peanuts Theme, or Rocky Top, and the crowd always goes nuts for stuff like that! What fun that is!

Only · #12 01-06-2005, 11:45 PM

When I saw Robert Randolph, mid-show the piano player stood up, grabbed a violin, and they jammed out the Beverly Hills Cop theme.

Which is, by the way, the ULTIMATE jam song. I've never seen a band launch into it live and not get a cheer.

The Nanny · #13 01-07-2005, 09:36 AM

We do an acoustic, tongue in cheek version of Brittany Spear's Oops I did it Again. People usually snort beer out their nose laughing. Good times...good times...

dodgy_ian · #14 01-09-2005, 08:54 AM

he he, yeah we do a phat dnb version of ghostbusters from time to time which blows people away!!

Also, our keyboard player often plays the beverly hills cop theme tune just totally out of the blue in the midle of one of his funk solos + the crowd love it!!!

Dodge

eric atkinson · #15 01-10-2005, 03:12 PM

Paul Simon

You can call me all

nicoli · #16 01-10-2005, 03:55 PM

We did Ghostbusters once to fits of laughter from the crowd. We did a Trans Siberian Orchestra type version of 'Carol of the Bells' a few years ago that blew people away. But the one we've done most often is Charlie Daniels' Band - 'Devil Went Down to Georgia'. It goes over huge most of the time.

DirtDog · #17 01-19-2005, 09:12 AM

BeeGee's "Stayin' Alive" in a blues cover band.

The Hayseed Dixie (or "AC/Dixie", if you will) cover of "Back in Black".

Anything to turn the crowd on its ear.

DD

odie · #18 01-24-2005, 11:52 AM

Cheech and Chongs- Earache My Eye.

Thedeadking · #19 01-24-2005, 01:10 PM

When i played death metal i got the band to bust out kiss-I was made for loving you. People would come up to me angry after the show cause the hook was still in their head.

Perfect-Tommy · #20 01-28-2005, 07:44 AM

Ahhhh....

I think the best was when I was working with one of my bluegrass bands and I did "I want to be Sedated". It was a thing of beauty.

Also, I've been known to bust out a bluegrass jam with my own band from time to time.