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Classic Rock "dead"?
- Thread starter RoadRanger
- Start date
You poor soul.
Your sympathy is misplaced. I like those songs just fine and would gladly play them twice a night if I could get my guys to drop Francine, House is Rockin', T.R.O.U.B.L.E, and Pride & Joy. GAKK!!!
I can only speak for NC. The problem here seems to be that the market is saturated with really bad "Classic Rock" cover bands. The first thing a lot of club owners are saying even before they hear you is "No Classic Rock"
There is nothing like classic rock tunes when they are played correctly/accurately. The last several CR bands I have listened to were just plan awful. They sounded like bad tab amateurs. I mean really horrible. Kind of like walking into a Guitar Center.
There is nothing like classic rock tunes when they are played correctly/accurately. The last several CR bands I have listened to were just plan awful. They sounded like bad tab amateurs. I mean really horrible. Kind of like walking into a Guitar Center.
I'm moving up there in a couple months and was thinking about starting a Neil Young tribute band so thats excellent news.
Unfortunately, the entire genre has become riddled with bad taste, and bad aesthetic choices - as well as bad playing.
If I were up for playing in another classic rock cover band (which I definitely am NOT), I would take a very particular approach that most bands are not taking. For example:
1) Choose one - or at the most two - closely-related sub-genres of CR, and stick to it/them (i.e. hard rock, glam rock, art rock, roots rock, etc.).
2) Very carefully select from among some of the very best bands - and the very best material from those bands - regardless of whether it is well known.
3) Learn & rehearse the original arrangements until the band can virtually play them in their sleep - then develop some unique, stylish arrangements of the same.
4) Cultivate a very distinct image for the band.
5) Polish the stage performance to a super-high gloss - highly-professional; not a single note out of place. Really knock 'em dead - every night.
Fortunately, if you want to go back to the late 60s and early 70s, there is a real wealth of great bands with great material that never achieved the success they deserved back in the day. Great material is still great material - IF you've got the chops and the panache to pull it off...
Some favorite examples (from the "art rock" category): Be Bop Deluxe, Japan, Crack The Sky, etc.
Mainstream rock: Head East, Badfinger, etc.
Hard rock: UFO, etc.
MM
We are definitely a classic rock band. Our newer "hipper" songs are from the 80s
For one gig we played to a younger, almost entirely female, audience. We usually provide prerecorded music between sets. One of the audience members comes up and asks if they can use their ipod into the PA. I never have a problem with this, and away we went.
During breaks, we played LMFAO, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Blacked Eyed Peas, etc. During the sets; classic rock. The dance floor never cleared! Although it was slightly more packed when we played.
Classic rock may be dying, but it is going down swinging!
For one gig we played to a younger, almost entirely female, audience. We usually provide prerecorded music between sets. One of the audience members comes up and asks if they can use their ipod into the PA. I never have a problem with this, and away we went.
During breaks, we played LMFAO, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Blacked Eyed Peas, etc. During the sets; classic rock. The dance floor never cleared! Although it was slightly more packed when we played.
Classic rock may be dying, but it is going down swinging!
Unfortunately, I've seen that trend as well. i.e., a lot of players who know a few open chords and how to play a barre chord who then throw together really loose sounding songs with pedestrian vocals and drumming. They might hit some of the signature riffs if they're lucky, but you're not going to hear intricate fills or any musical dynamics. The actual arrangements of the tunes are almost always butchered.
Thats exactly right. I would much rather play Cortez The Killer, Red Hot Mama and And It Stoned Me than Twist & Shout and Brown Eyed Girl. I think audiences respond not just to what youre playing but how youre selling it. If Im into the song it will be obvious and if Im not, its hard to hide it.
It's called classic rock for a reason. Because it's music. I really haven't heard a band since 89 that had the chops or spirit of the old bands. At work, a lot of the young folks listen to 80's music. When i asked them they said because modern rock sucks.... so, if 80's is classic, it's alive and well here....
We are definitely a classic rock band. Our newer "hipper" songs are from the 80s
For one gig we played to a younger, almost entirely female, audience. We usually provide prerecorded music between sets. One of the audience members comes up and asks if they can use their ipod into the PA. I never have a problem with this, and away we went.
During breaks, we played LMFAO, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Blacked Eyed Peas, etc. During the sets; classic rock. The dance floor never cleared! Although it was slightly more packed when we played.
Classic rock may be dying, but it is going down swinging!
The girls are smart... they know good music to dance to!
jive1
Commercial User
Obscure deep cuts? Poison Whiskey and Railroad Song are deep cuts, not Saturday Night Special or Working for MCA. But, I totally get what you are saying. Bands like Skynyrd have a large library of hits, yet bands only do about 2-3 of them. To consider platinum selling hits like What's Your Name, I Know a Little, That Smell, etc. to be obscure says that we really lack variety and imagination as listeners and musicians. For the right audience, I've seen the Ballad of Curtis Lowe go over better than Sweet Drone Alabama. But, most often we'll take the safe bet and play Alabama.
Sure, you can talk about audience apathy, cluelessness, laziness, etc., but we musicians are part of the problem as well. When I get asked to do a fill-in gig for a band, if it's Modern Country, Classic Rock, Top 40, Blues, or CCM, I can pretty confidently say that I already know about 1/2 of their set list. So far, I'm batting 1.000 on this. It's not because I'm a great player, it's because so many bands do the same songs. Why do we do the same songs? Because we know that guys in the band know the tunes and people will dig it, even if you are using a sub for the gig or whether it's even played well or not.
In some ways, I think we are short changing our audiences by doing this. I've seen "deep" and "obscure" songs do well for an audience. I've seen "Stone In Love" rock a place more than "Don't Stop Believing". People might have dug "You Shook Me All Night Long", but I've seen that same crowd go absolutely nuts over Bon Scott classics like "TNT" and "Long Way To the Top". Sure, those "obsure" tunes might flop, but sometimes it's really worth it to take that risk. But, often we don't.
In some ways, the decreasing demand for Classic Rock acts may be due to the fact that so many bands play the same songs. It turns the music and the band into a commodity. Who cares about seeing your band doing "Don't Stop Believing" when they can see a band closer to home doing the same thing. Maybe, they'll just wait till next week to check out the band across the street play at the bar with the cheaper beer play that tune. That may be the reason why the tribute acts are doing better on the payscale. They aren't as easily replaceable and they do deeper cuts for folks who really appreciate that artist or style.
It may require a little more practice or homework by the band to do those "deep cuts" of tunes that might be a little harder to execute or only made double platinum instead of triple platinum. And I think this is what would keep this genre alive. There's so many great Rock tunes from that era that bands don't touch that could provide some fresh material to cover and interpret instead of the same 40 songs that every band plays. You just have to be willing to learn them and be willing to take a risk.
Actually, that's what I mean - just some miscommunication on the Interwebs.
I was saying that those aren't deep cuts, but stuff that is accessible enough to a mainstream audience but isn't the cliche stuff.You make a good point about musicians building up a songlist of standards and then sticking to them when forming new bands. When you're putting together a cover band, you want to be good, but you also want to hit the scene ASAP. It makes sense to call upon stuff that everybody collectively knows.
I'm starting to give some serious thought to being the BL to the next project whenever I'm done with my current band. If that's the case, I may push to spend a little bit longer in the rehearsal room to learn some tunes that we haven't been playing our entire musical careers. Hmm...
jive1
Commercial User
I'm starting to give some serious thought to being the BL to the next project whenever I'm done with my current band. If that's the case, I may push to spend a little bit longer in the rehearsal room to learn some tunes that we haven't been playing our entire musical careers. Hmm...
That's what I'm doing with my latest cover band. I thought I'd never want to be a BL again, but had a vision of doing something a little different, saw an opportunity, found some great players who are interested in doing it, and here I am.
It's definitely a somewhat of a challenge to get guys to practice, since we're all used to just jumping in and doing the gig. But, the opportunity to do something different has helped pique some interest in rehearsing. The thing is respecting everyone's time, and the willingness to learn the material and creating things to facilitate that such as charts and recordings.
I don't get the hate for brown eyed girl. It's a fun song, the crowd loves it, and it has a bass solo.
My band's set list is heavy on classic rock, primarily because we started out playing what we already knew to help us get up and gigging as fast as possible. We were gigging within 2 months of forming because of this.
The BL and I are not happy with our progress of gaining fans, so we have decided to take some chances and do some much newer tunes and even re-arranging some popular pop and hip-hop tunes so a guitar driven band can do it. We're going to experiment to see what kind of reception it gets.
I was recently talking to a booking agent and he told me (in my market) that the classic rock genre is flooded with bands. While you can get gigs, they are not good paying because there's another band around the corner who plays the same stuff that you play and does it just as well if not better.
He told me if I wanted really good paying gigs, get a black suit and a keyboard player and start playing Motown. He has been having to go out of state to find bands to fill this need.
Well, we can't find a keys player. So we're at least going to try to start playing stuff that others are not playing and outside the classic rock genre.
My personal opinion is that you need to target the 20-40 year old female market. Bring the women, the men will follow. I'm ready to learn "Stacey's Mom"!!
The BL and I are not happy with our progress of gaining fans, so we have decided to take some chances and do some much newer tunes and even re-arranging some popular pop and hip-hop tunes so a guitar driven band can do it. We're going to experiment to see what kind of reception it gets.
I was recently talking to a booking agent and he told me (in my market) that the classic rock genre is flooded with bands. While you can get gigs, they are not good paying because there's another band around the corner who plays the same stuff that you play and does it just as well if not better.
He told me if I wanted really good paying gigs, get a black suit and a keyboard player and start playing Motown. He has been having to go out of state to find bands to fill this need.
Well, we can't find a keys player. So we're at least going to try to start playing stuff that others are not playing and outside the classic rock genre.
My personal opinion is that you need to target the 20-40 year old female market. Bring the women, the men will follow. I'm ready to learn "Stacey's Mom"!!
jive1
Commercial User
We had a request for BEG, and the guitarist told the person that he used to sing that song to his wife, who died in a car accident, and it's too emotional for him. Afterwards, I told him he was the wind beneath my wings.
Some bass solo. It seems like it goes on for years even though it only takes a couple of seconds. Our drummer always makes me play it twice. I'm 10 years older by that time.
We play Brown Eyed Girl, even though our drummer makes a bit of a joke intro as we start playing it. People like it....enough said. We play Wild Night as well. 'Cause people like that one too.
