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Ever hate a song so much you'd risk being fired?

#201
If playing bass was how I put food on the table then I would play whatever I was being paid to play. Since it is not however how I put food on the table then I play what me and my band mates want to play.

However I have let a guy on stage to sing Twist & Shout for his significant other because he paid us a $100. So I guess I'm a maybe?
 
#202
For me, that song is Rocky Raccoon. I will walk off stage.

There's one person I'll play it with, but that's an exception. In any other band, please go ahead and fire me. Go ahead. I'll be over there taking a break--when you're done playing Rocky Raccoon without me, we can talk about whether you want me to finish out the gigs we've already booked.
 
#203
jamzilla said:
I've been doing the Gun for Hire thing this past year and I really love it. No band politics or drama to worry about, I just show up, play and get paid.

Ironically, my mental attitude toward the music is different now. You wanna hear Lady GaGa? Sure, pay me. Justin Bieber? ok, whatever, pay me, Mustang Sally? Yup I'll love that song for 5 minutes, no problem, cash only please.

I've placed a premium on the entertainment factor and as a paid side man, I provide a service to the bands that I work with. It's a great relief actually.

I now gladly play songs that I used to hate and refuse to play.

That being said, if I were to join a band again, hump gear, attend countless unpaid rehearsals, put up with passive-aggressive bandmates, compromise my song selection integrity and deal with the same players for a LONG period of time,

I would expect some veto power over the song selection.
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That's the point I've reached as well.

Whether as a hired gun or as a band member, the condition that will make me stay or quit is "can the players play?". I've let bands/side gigs go, regardless of dollar amount, if the band has serious tempo or tonal issues.

If you can play the song to the tempo and key of your choice, then I'll play anything and expect to be paid for it.
 
#204
malthumb said:
I like playing cover bands for two reasons:
  1. The songs I suggest are songs that I DO like and DO like to play
  2. The songs my other bandmates bring in are often songs I've never heard of before, and that introduces me to new artists and genres and expands my playing palette

The money is not the object at all to me. Beer, gas, and strings money at best. Being in this band has introduced me to Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Ingrid Michealsson, Zak Brown Band and a couple other artists not on the top of my mind yet. And it's introduced my band members to The Gap Band, Rose Royce, Sly & The Family Stone and others.
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Cool, I suspected as much. Much of my confusion actually stemmed from the thoughts of some of the other posters in the thread.
 
#206
capnsandwich said:
Since I do this to feed 3 kids and an amazing wife, I'll play anything from Mustang Sally to Baby Baby. I'll even wear skin tight spandex in an 80's hair band tribute band, although that won't get us any extra money.
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You know, even if I didn't do music full-time, I'd still play whatever it took to get and hold the attention and participation of an audience. I feed off of audience and venue approval, being in-demand, playing better venues for better money, getting upscale gigs like weddings and corporate events, acceptance, appreciation, and all the other perks and intangibles. I can understand that's not the case for everyone, but it floats my boat just fine. And it's not like everything I play sucks ass, constitutes a sellout, or makes me a whore. I play some great music in the course of a typical evening as well.

But I do understand how that's not for everyone.
 
#207
electracoyote said:
You know, even if I didn't do music full-time, I'd still play whatever it took to get and hold the attention and participation of an audience. I feed off of audience and venue approval, being in-demand, playing better venues for better money, getting upscale gigs like weddings and corporate events, acceptance, appreciation, and all the other perks and intangibles. I can understand that's not the case for everyone, but it floats my boat just fine. And it's not like everything I play sucks ass, constitutes a sellout, or makes me a whore. I play some great music in the course of a typical evening as well.

But I do understand how that's not for everyone.
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Most songs are only 5 minutes long. What's 5 minutes?
 
#208
electracoyote said:
You know, even if I didn't do music full-time, I'd still play whatever it took to get and hold the attention and participation of an audience. I feed off of audience and venue approval, being in-demand, playing better venues for better money, getting upscale gigs like weddings and corporate events, acceptance, appreciation, and all the other perks and intangibles. I can understand that's not the case for everyone, but it floats my boat just fine. And it's not like everything I play sucks ass, constitutes a sellout, or makes me a whore. I play some great music in the course of a typical evening as well.

But I do understand how that's not for everyone.
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Ditto.
 
#209
electracoyote said:
You know, even if I didn't do music full-time, I'd still play whatever it took to get and hold the attention and participation of an audience. I feed off of audience and venue approval, being in-demand, playing better venues for better money, getting upscale gigs like weddings and corporate events, acceptance, appreciation, and all the other perks and intangibles. I can understand that's not the case for everyone, but it floats my boat just fine. And it's not like everything I play sucks ass, constitutes a sellout, or makes me a whore. I play some great music in the course of a typical evening as well.

But I do understand how that's not for everyone.
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I've never been a fulltime musician except for about a year when I found myself unemployed and managed to survive playing in three bands. One band was a hair metal tribute we started as a joke and ended up being the biggest money making band I've ever been in. I absolutely detest hair metal but it was a blast dressing up and putting on a big stage show. I can understand how playing even the song in question here could be fun if you put the right twist on it and the crowd response was good.

As a part-timer who doesn't put food on the table with music I prefer to be more selective with what I will play. My time is limited and 5 min. playing Mustang Sally even if the yokels love it is too much for me. I was a flyfishing guide for ten years in CO. After I finally decided to "retire" I didn't go near a river for several years. What I once loved had become a chore to me. I would hate to have that happen with music. I've played for weddings and corporate gigs before and if they are the pinnacle of coverband gigs then I would rather play music I like for people I like in the lowliest dive bars for much less money.
 
#210
There's definitely songs on my "no play" list that I'll strongly voice my dissent over, but at the end of the day, a song is just a song. It's not going to kill me to play one tune. My two top criteria for playing a song live are 1). Can we do a respectable job with it, and 2). Will the audience be receptive to it.

The only time I can see myself flat out refusing to play a song is if it's really repugnant to my values or philosophy. Like, I wouldn't ever play a Skrewdriver cover...but then again, I wouldn't associate in a band with people into Skrewdriver anyways.
 
#211
If you have to learn a song, then it is not just "3 minutes" of your life, it's hours. There are two songs that not only will I not play, I won't listen to anyone else play them either. "Mustang Sally" and "Brown Eyed Girl". Really to be fair, any Van Morrison gets the thumbs down from me. But being in a blues band, I don't have to worry about those right now. We play a lot of obscure music, and a little bluesified-rock, so our audience is unlikely to ask for anything that any one of us would find objectionable. But everyone holds veto power in our group; so much music out there to choose from that no one should have to suffer through learning and performing music that they don't care for.
 
#212
Misty Mountain said:
If you have to learn a song, then it is not just "3 minutes" of your life, it's hours. There are two songs that not only will I not play, I won't listen to anyone else play them either. "Mustang Sally" and "Brown Eyed Girl". Really to be fair, any Van Morrison gets the thumbs down from me. But being in a blues band, I don't have to worry about those right now. We play a lot of obscure music, and a little bluesified-rock, so our audience is unlikely to ask for anything that any one of us would find objectionable. But everyone holds veto power in our group; so much music out there to choose from that no one should have to suffer through learning and performing music that they don't care for.
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Hmmm I happen to love both of those songs.
 
#213
Misty Mountain said:
If you have to learn a song, then it is not just "3 minutes" of your life, it's hours. There are two songs that not only will I not play, I won't listen to anyone else play them either. "Mustang Sally" and "Brown Eyed Girl". Really to be fair, any Van Morrison gets the thumbs down from me. But being in a blues band, I don't have to worry about those right now. We play a lot of obscure music, and a little bluesified-rock, so our audience is unlikely to ask for anything that any one of us would find objectionable. But everyone holds veto power in our group; so much music out there to choose from that no one should have to suffer through learning and performing music that they don't care for.
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does it really take hours to learn the op's song? brown eyed girl? mustang sally? there are songs that take hours to learn, most bar bands don't play them.
 
#215
the yeti said:
does it really take hours to learn the op's song? brown eyed girl? mustang sally? there are songs that take hours to learn, most bar bands don't play them.
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My band plays Pink Floyd "Pigs". Not an easy feat for a three-piece. The guitarist plays the keyboard part during the bass solos and I play the rythym guitar part during his solos. As with all our covers we don't play them just like the record but put our own spin on them. Even the most die hard Floyd fans are impressed that we can pull it off. It took quite a few rehearsals to get the arrangement right.

But Mustang Sally? Brown-eyed Girl? The abomination that will remain unnamed that the OP is being forced to play? If you can't get a solid working framework in three run throughs you need to hit the woodshed.
 
#219
The bandleader in a band I was in a couple years ago liked The Breakup Song by Greg Kihn so much that we'd do it twice a night. Yes, I almost quit over it.

LOL ! OP, I just youtubed the song you're talking about ! Don't feel too bad. My singer is a 23 year old female who suggested last week that we play Love You Like A Love Song by Selena Gomez. There's a couple we do that I'm not going to mention for fear of being BBQ'd by you guys. Lol !
 
#220
Session1969 said:
The bandleader liked The Breakup Song by Greg Kihn so much that we'd do it twice a night. Yes, I almost quit over it.
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I used to have a ball with that song (guitar at the time)! Although twice in one night is pushing anything...

It would take me hours to learn those songs, because every time I hear them I completely tune out, so I would have to learn the arrangements from the ground up. I played in a group that did "Mustang Sally", but that was my break time (I was one of three guitar players). We play a lot of music in my band that I had never even heard before, so that took some time as I am neither fast nor able to any longer sight read. Now I could probably learn an AC/DC or Def Lep tune pretty quickly, and Dead stuff seems to come naturally. The tune the OP mentioned? Listened to the first 45 seconds and had to stop. Glad I don't do modern pop covers!
 

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