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Covering the '90s

invader3k

invader3k

Feb 12, 2004
2,851
51
46
Fort Atkinson, WI
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#1
Hey everyone. Bass player in a three piece cover band, posting once again about a set list issue.

During practice this week, we talked about our current set list. We do a mix of everything...a lot of standard bar band rock, some newer stuff, and even some oldies. Literally some of everything.

Lately our bookings have slowed down so we're trying to add new material and re-tool a bit. One thing we've all noticed though is that whenever we do something recognizable from the '90s (stretching that to define from the very late '80s to very early '00s), it goes over REALLY well. Some of the songs we do right now:

- What I Got
- Hey Jealousy
- All the Small Things
- Two Princes
- Creep
- Santeria
- Hold My Hand
- Fall Down
- My Own Worst Enemy
- Hate Everything About You
etc.

I brought up the idea of trying to become more of a '90s cover band (while still keeping a small amount of other stuff), and they were both on board with it! I think we'll finally ditch some of the old tired stuff like Sweet Home Alabama, etc. (Thank God!)

Just wondering if anyone else has focused on the '90s as a cover band, and if you have any additional song ideas that tend to go over well with a typical bar crowd.
 
#8
Deadeye Dick - New Age Girl
Good Charlotte - The Anthem
PUSA - Lump
Wallflowers - One Headlight
Counting Crows - Mr. Jones
RHCP - Under the Bridge
Soul Asylum - Runaway Train
Smash Mouth - All Star
3 Doors Down - Kryptonite
OK Go - Here it Goes Again
Fountains of Wayne - Stacy's Mom
Matchbox Twenty - Bent/Unwell/3am/Long Day/etc
Jet - Are you Gonna be My Girl?
The Killers - Mr. Brightside
Eve 6 - Inside Out
FOB - Sugar We're Going Down
Foo Fighters - Learn to Fly/My Hero

There are plenty more out there, but here's a few.
 
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#9
a 90's cover band is the only type i am really interested in seeing nowadays. We are trying to work more 90's alt rock tunes into my jazz trio, played instrumentally of course. That's the music my generation grew up with and has a ton of nostalgic mojo. The classic rock cover band won't be as common before too long.
 
#11
That's what I'm thinking. A lot of the people that were really into the '70s and early-mid '80s stuff aren't going out to bars quite as much anymore. The places we play have a lot of 20's and 30's people in them these days.
sean_on_bass said:
a 90's cover band is the only type i am really interested in seeing nowadays. We are trying to work more 90's alt rock tunes into my jazz trio, played instrumentally of course. That's the music my generation grew up with and has a ton of nostalgic mojo. The classic rock cover band won't be as common before too long.
Click to expand...
 
#12
Yeah, 90s music would be a good style of music, because at least theoretically, the people who grew up on that music are at the point in their lives where they have a little bit of disposable outcome. I grew up in the 90s, so the music will always have a special place in my heart. Also, it's a lot easier to cover 90s music than a lot of the music that came about in the mid-to-late 2000s. Records were very well produced in the 90s, but you could still respectable pull off a lot of songs live with a three- or four-piece band. Records in the 2000s became overproduced, IMO, with tons of guitar and vocal layering, along with sampling, and bands started to take hired guns on the road due being unable to replicate what was on the record with just the official band members. When playing rock music in the late 2000s, I ended up shooting down a lot of song suggestions, because they would have been difficult to respectfully replicate with one guitarist.
 
#13
I've found four 90s songs consistently go over great. "Be My Lover" by La Bouche, "No Limit" by 2 Unlimited, "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred, and "Ojos asi" by Shakira. Actually that one's done so well we often ended up tacking the entire English version on at the end ("Eyes Like Yours") to make it longer. "Zombie" by the Cranberries does OK with less party-oriented crowds.
 

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