I've given up on playing music that would be personally satisfying. It actually is enough to have the crowd enjoy it, and being in a couple cover bands, some of the members notice what songs rinse the dance floor, and act to get rid of them, and others are too busy soloing for 5min. to look up and see everyone is gone. I've got nothing against it, but classic rock doesn't fly much for either of the bands I'm in. One band I'm in has the chops to do whitney houston, madonna, and other more dance oriented 80's tunes, and they go over really well compared to say, tom petty refugee, or magic carpet ride. I understand that because I've been done with guitar leads for a long time. Either they are melodic and take the song somewhere, or I'm out. The only butt rock song we do that goes over well is summer of 69. I think it's due to the absence of a guitar solo, the "sing along" aspect, and the fact it actually has kind of a cool groove, somehow. I don't know if the why matters, you just have to pay attention to how it goes over and act accordingly, but it's apparently hard not to be biased, but what good is showing off if everyone hates it?
