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

#462
pedro said:
My integrity comes from entertaining the audience. I don't much like playing Buddy Holly songs but if the audience wants to hear 'That'll Be the Day' why shouldn't I play it?
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Because your musical performance should not be based primarily on what other people want. It should be based on how much you enjoy what you are doing.

It is called "playing" music for a reason. It is supposed to be fun.:)
 
#464
jive1 said:
Same with the 80s. I play more 80s pop music now than I did during the 80s. I'd never play Jessie's Girl or 867-5309 back then, and most bar crowds would have thrown you out if you played that stuff. Now, they eat this stuff up, including the folks who hated it back in the day.

It's nostalgia, but it's also something familiar to you in a world that is becoming unfamiliar as you get older. It's like living in another country: the stuff that was banal and taken for granted is now a welcome breath of fresh air because it reminds you of home and gives you a sense of familiarity in an otherwise foreign place.
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I was in the bars a LOT in the eighties. Unless the band was all-out hair metal, (and sometimes even then,) you were virtually GUARANTEED to hear those songs. They were garbage then, and they still are. You want me to leave a bar? Play 867-5309, Jessie's Girl, or any of that eighties light pop stuff. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!

PLEASE GOD, SOMEBODY MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!
 
#465
jive1 said:
So I'm curious because I was just a kid during the 70s......
Did everyone hate Disco as much as they did in Chicago during that time? There were lots of public displays for the hatred of Disco, culminating in the fracas known as Disco Demolition Night. If I even played a Disco record during that time, I would have probably been tarred and feathered. But now, every wedding band knows "I Will Survive", and it's no big deal if a band does "Hot Stuff" or "Freak Out". I think there are more Disco tributes out now than Disco bands back then.
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I discovered girls and sex during the disco craze. "Everyone" did not hate disco. It was hugely popular, and if you wanted to "get any," you went where the disco ball shined brightest.

That was true in any town. (in America, that is)
 
#466
mellowinman said:
I was in the bars a LOT in the eighties. Unless the band was all-out hair metal, (and sometimes even then,) you were virtually GUARANTEED to hear those songs. They were garbage then, and they still are. You want me to leave a bar? Play 867-5309, Jessie's Girl, or any of that eighties light pop stuff. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!

PLEASE GOD, SOMEBODY MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!
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Insert eye roll.
 
#468
mellowinman said:
I was in the bars a LOT in the eighties. Unless the band was all-out hair metal, (and sometimes even then,) you were virtually GUARANTEED to hear those songs. They were garbage then, and they still are. You want me to leave a bar? Play 867-5309, Jessie's Girl, or any of that eighties light pop stuff. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!

PLEASE GOD, SOMEBODY MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!
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Or..............stay out of clubs where bands play light pop stuff?
 
#469
pklima said:
Then instead of eternal inner conflict about what songs to play you'll have eternal external conflict with your bandmates about what songs to play, LOL.
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That's a rather extreme pov. In my band we talk about every add, every drop. We rarely unanimously say " Oooooh yeah! Gotta do that one". But still, there are about 90 songs in our rotation, 45 songs performed every show. And no conflict about what gets dropped, until.........


And even that died down almost as quickly as it flared up. It's so over that this thread is the only evidence it ever happened. :bassist:
 
#470
jive1 said:
It's nostalgia, but it's also something familiar to you in a world that is becoming unfamiliar as you get older. It's like living in another country: the stuff that was banal and taken for granted is now a welcome breath of fresh air because it reminds you of home and gives you a sense of familiarity in an otherwise foreign place.
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This is exact feeling that a lot of cover bands tap into when they play old familiar numbers. Mark my words, in about 15 years there will very likely be folks wanting to relive memories of listening and dancing to that song that was so popular back in the summer of 2012.
 
#471
Thinking you have to love everything you have to play as a PROFESSIONAL MUSICIAN is pure folly. Only as a hobbyist do you get to play only what you like.

I'm sure there are symphony players that hate Beethoven, but guess what...
 
#473
Edward G. said:
Thinking you have to love everything you have to play as a PROFESSIONAL MUSICIAN is pure folly. Only as a hobbyist do you get to play only what you like.

I'm sure there are symphony players that hate Beethoven, but guess what...
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Agree that you don't have to love everything. I play a lot of songs I don't care for on a regular basis. But isn't playing every suggestion shouted out from every corner of the bar also pure folly?

(if not, I'm gonna show up at one of your gigs and demand to hear "Double Dutch Bus")
 
#475
malthumb said:
But isn't playing every suggestion shouted out from every corner of the bar also pure folly?
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You don't play EVERY one of those anyway. Sometimes the song isn't ready to play out. That's usually a convenient out. But you CAN use a crowd's song suggestions to build excitement. Sometimes it can be fun to let it turn into a train wreck, as in "Stump the Band". At the end of the game, it's all about the showbiz. Go with the flow. Resistance is not only futile, it's counter-productive.
 
#476
What I've learned in this thread is a lot of guys play in a band with a band leader. Perhaps that's the better way to do it, but I've personally never been in a working band that did not have an equal say from every member on song selection and gigs. We still played songs I wasn't crazy about but every member had one or two songs they just did not want to play, and that was respected.

One of the guitarists and I were always together on one thing: no REO. None. "Roll With the Changes" can kiss my ass!
 
#477
^^
From my own humble experience, a band where everybody has to fully approve new songs is rewarded with a very slow-growing and unresponsive repertoire. Been there, done that. It's not ideal in practice, though it sounds good in theory.
 
#478
You said......

Edward G. said:
You don't play EVERY one of those anyway. Sometimes the song isn't ready to play out. That's usually a convenient out. But you CAN use a crowd's song suggestions to build excitement. Sometimes it can be fun to let it turn into a train wreck, as in "Stump the Band". At the end of the game, it's all about the showbiz. Go with the flow. Resistance is not only futile, it's counter-productive.
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And earlier on in the thread I said........

malthumb said:
......

We really didn't work on CMM, but recognized it's a piece o' cake musically. Funny thing is, after my H-F'ing No declaration Saturday, I found out our singer hadn't even looked at the lyrics yet, so there was no way we were gonna do it anyway :p .

...
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Not that far apart when ya think about it.
 
#479
bunkaroo said:
What I've learned in this thread is a lot of guys play in a band with a band leader. Perhaps that's the better way to do it, but I've personally never been in a working band that did not have an equal say from every member on song selection and gigs. We still played songs I wasn't crazy about but every member had one or two songs they just did not want to play, and that was respected.

.....l.
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Describes my band to a T. Since our guitarist is the guy who organized the group and he schleps the PA, he gets bonus consideration, but we are not a "whatever BL says, goes" type of group. I don't want to be a part of a group like that, even if I am the BL. UNLESS the BL is some musical savant whom I can learn from on a continuous basis. But even then.......
 
#480
Try playing in a band with a 23 year old female singer who's going on 16 in terms of musical taste. I feel bad sometimes about how often we have to shoot down some of her suggestions but that's life for the time being. As it is, we play Katy Perry , Lady Gaga and Adam Lambert just to give examples. The upside is that it helps us to stay plugged into current music and she has alot of good looking friends.
 

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