godofthunder59
Life is short, buy the bass.
- Feb 19, 2006
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- 38,405
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- Endorsing Cataldo Basses, Whirlwind products, Thunderbucker pickups
Frankly it just warms my heart to see SLADE mentioned
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Darling be home soon
- Thread starter Reckless666
- Start date
I'm not in a band so my take is purely from my gut as an audience member. Play it at the beginning of the 2nd set and see how it goes. If you can nail it, I think it should be fine. I'm sure many won't have heard this before, in any variation. Who knows, this could be a signature song for your band. People may really dig it! Crazy things happen. Nothing ventured...
I couldn't finish watching the Slade version but the Tedeschi Trucks version I've watched several times thru.
With SO MANY songs available in your selected genre(s), why pick this hill to die on? It's clearly a divisive issue. Move along and pick any number of songs on which you all agree.
In short, it's just not worth it to start a fight over ANY one song. Let it go.
In short, it's just not worth it to start a fight over ANY one song. Let it go.
Had never heard the song. Listened to it. Seems like a real room clearer.
This is why I grew tired of the consensus model of band management. I did it for a long time, and it ended up with all the strong personalities, or the best musicians dictating the repertoire. I never got to play the stuff I wanted while being shouldered with all the admin and marketing.
Then, enter a veteran musician who told me to just hire people as needed on a short-term contract basis, and give them the repertoire. This is possible in jazz, but harder in rock bands. I did that. And for a few years, I got to play everything I wanted. To the point I got it out of my system and no longer needed the band to play to my musical interests.
Whether I would push for this, if I were you, depends on how many tunes YOU want to do are implemented by the band. If they NEVER give you what you want, then I would press harder, citing the imbalanced ratio and the need to incorporate your requests. If you have a decent percent of the repertoire, I'd take satisfaction in that and then move on to the next song you want the band to implement. All while balancing everyone else's requests.
I do think that good band members and leaders do some "repertoire accounting" in which they have a mental assessment of how much of the repertoire each member is getting -- at least, the members who care about it. Some people are happy to play what the other members suggest, but some are adamant about playing the songs THEY want. If the band is truly democratic, then the leaders (formal or informal) will try to balance everyone's interests. And if one song is a dud to the audience, the band agrees to nix it.
Then, enter a veteran musician who told me to just hire people as needed on a short-term contract basis, and give them the repertoire. This is possible in jazz, but harder in rock bands. I did that. And for a few years, I got to play everything I wanted. To the point I got it out of my system and no longer needed the band to play to my musical interests.
Whether I would push for this, if I were you, depends on how many tunes YOU want to do are implemented by the band. If they NEVER give you what you want, then I would press harder, citing the imbalanced ratio and the need to incorporate your requests. If you have a decent percent of the repertoire, I'd take satisfaction in that and then move on to the next song you want the band to implement. All while balancing everyone else's requests.
I do think that good band members and leaders do some "repertoire accounting" in which they have a mental assessment of how much of the repertoire each member is getting -- at least, the members who care about it. Some people are happy to play what the other members suggest, but some are adamant about playing the songs THEY want. If the band is truly democratic, then the leaders (formal or informal) will try to balance everyone's interests. And if one song is a dud to the audience, the band agrees to nix it.
“If you like it, try it out! Sure it's obscure, most musicians haven't even heard of it, and half are saying don't even try it, but hey, do it anyways, and if the audience doesn't like it, they'll let you know, then dump of it”.
Or...
Be smart, skip all that nonsense and go to a song that's a safe(r) bet.
Throwing crap at the audience to see what sticks just doesn't sound like a great formula.
In my most humble opinion.
Or...
Be smart, skip all that nonsense and go to a song that's a safe(r) bet.
Throwing crap at the audience to see what sticks just doesn't sound like a great formula.
In my most humble opinion.
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Sorry but I agree with them. Even The Lovin Spoonful rarely does it anymore.
I'd be in "too unknown" group, but I think this highlights that where there may be agreement on what level of song popularity/memorability, we can still have difficulty separating our personal sensibilities and experiences from ideas of what's "common." I also think that being a musician (so probably more closely connected to music than the average bear) can skew perspective.
I'm in a 70's era tribute band that's aimed more at concert/festival type gigs versus the bar/dance type, and one thing we try to do is have a certain number of songs by some groups; every choice doesn't have to be epic, recognizable and memorable for some part of the audience is good enough for some songs. We were talking about adding a Heart song, and I brought up Kick It Out, Love Alive and Little Queen...I couldn't believe that of five people in the the 50 +/- some age range who are all connected to music, I was the only one with more than passing familiarity with those songs. My perspective was skewed. I had to accept it and move on.
At the other end of the spectrum, I was in a band that went with the idea that we could get away with some number of songs choices that didn't have to be well known as long as they were energetic and had a decent hook (which is still subjective but allowed for indulgences). I don't know that I ever came to agree with the philosophy, but we covered an AC/DC song called Get It Hot as an indulgence, and as unknown as it was, it went over well every time we did it.
I thought I was the only person to know That Song ! Much less Slade. Seen them in '72 or 73 ?? I was a big fan of theirs.
Wow. I hadn't heard it done by the Tedeschi Trucks Band and wasn't prepared to dislike it so much. They basically do the Joe Cocker version, only less heartfelt.
I guess the question is, what's the point of this band? From half your band's response, I assume that the goal here is to be a working band that gets people dancing. If that's the case, then they're right, don't do this song, unless it's the sort of thing that's a local smash hit for your particular crowd. I had never heard of it before myself, and I don't think many others would have. Listening to it, it's no dance tune that's going to win them over with an infectious groove.
Of course, there are some cover bands where the point is to play music because they like it and actually getting gigs is not a priority, you'll pick up the occasional backyard party or town fair and that's all you want to do. In that case, go ahead and play what you want.
An in-between is what I've had in some bands, a "vanity song" rule - that in a three-hour set list, each band member is allowed one song that we'll play just because they want to, regardless of crowd response. It's a bit of a risk and you usually put those songs early in the first set before the crowd really gets going or at the end of the night when most of them have gone home anyway.
Of course, there are some cover bands where the point is to play music because they like it and actually getting gigs is not a priority, you'll pick up the occasional backyard party or town fair and that's all you want to do. In that case, go ahead and play what you want.
An in-between is what I've had in some bands, a "vanity song" rule - that in a three-hour set list, each band member is allowed one song that we'll play just because they want to, regardless of crowd response. It's a bit of a risk and you usually put those songs early in the first set before the crowd really gets going or at the end of the night when most of them have gone home anyway.
Yousah! That's a tough opinion to put aside. I think the only thing Joe has is "heartfelt" (he has that in spades).
True they are a brilliant band, though their version of this song is basically a Joe Cocker tribute, as it's the same in tempo etc. to Joe's version. (They also do a great version of Space Captain. They did it at Crossroads Guitar Festival, 2010, if memory serves, even had Chris Stainton, who played on it in Mad Dogs and Englishmen, guest on piano for the song.)
Even a rock, or fast-dance band needs to slow it down now and then to avoid listener fatigue, and the guys are more likely to slow dance than fast dance.
but it still has to be popular, probably more so.
but it still has to be popular, probably more so.
