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

#541
fhm555 said:
I almost quit over a song. Not because I hated it, I hated how bad it sounded when we did it.
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There is huge difference between the two. I would never refuse to play a song because I didn't like it, but if the way we played it sucked, I might.

On the other hand, I was playing in an old school hard rock/metal band and started playing the bass line to Low Rider for a joke. The singer starts singing it in a Jesse Dupree from Jackyl voice and the guitar player was using an over the top, metal crunchie sound. It worked for us and went over like gang-busters. You just never know how the audience will react.
 
#543
I have an opposite problem. Whenever I audition for a band, I go through their set list at the audition, then ask them if they're averse to playing anything by the Who or the Band. If they say yes, I politely say "sorry we wasted each others' time."

Only ever happened once...
 
#544
A year later, I still had to go look this up on Youtube. Turns out it's one of those "I've heard this on the radio but would never have been able to name it or tell you who sings it."

Not the worst song ever, but I'm certainly not picking it. If asked to play it, I'd probably play the "How would Geddy Lee have written the bass part to this?" game.

TheOxRocks said:
I have an opposite problem. Whenever I audition for a band, I go through their set list at the audition, then ask them if they're averse to playing anything by the Who or the Band. If they say yes, I politely say "sorry we wasted each others' time."

Only ever happened once...
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Pink Floyd for me. Given my preference for death and thrash, I doubt it will ever come up.
 
#545
The song is terrible but if every musician quit or was fired from a band for refusing to play a song they didn't like, there would be no bands. Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad. When the bad out weighs the good, it's time to move on.
 
#546
TheOxRocks said:
I have an opposite problem. Whenever I audition for a band, I go through their set list at the audition, then ask them if they're averse to playing anything by the Who or the Band. If they say yes, I politely say "sorry we wasted each others' time."

Only ever happened once...
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I'm that way with Shakira. I'd play death metal as long as there were Shakira covers.
 
#548
I am the earle shibe of rock n roll: he'd paint any car any color for $59.99 and i will do any set of music for $100.
I used to be a music snob. Now I do not care. I will do any song. What ever the tune is i will do it. I have set myself free.

Now I just get off on the crowd reaction.
 
#549
I guess I'm still where I started this thread. If the parties that are paying us ask for a specific song, they'll get it (unless it's offensive). If we are being paid to entertain and we are expected to bring the set list, there are a number of songs that will not be on the set list. If they are requested, some might get played....others (CMM) will not.

There will be more than an adequate number of songs on the set list to entertain the crowds we draw, so there is no stress involved in NOT doing any one particular song.

And finally (the real issue underlying the OP) if we agree before a gig that we are not doing a particular song, don't try and slide it in because one person keeps asking for it. We as a band are a team and collective decisions need to be respected.
 
#550
DWBass said:
Had that happen many times and the tunes became regular setlist tunes! We'd play it and all of a sudden everybody got up to dance! I looked at the BL like ;)
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We've had a couple of those, too. We have a Prince B-sider (I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man) that has been one of our signature songs since our second gig. Nobody else in this area does it. That and "Fire" by the Pointer Sisters have been solid crowd pleasers that my bandmates were not too keen on when I suggested them. On the flip side, "Thank Ewe (Faletinme Be Mice Elf)" either flies or bombs. And it's very difficult to predict which side of the coin it's gonna land on from night to night.
 
#551
I know this song (Call Me Maybe) because its part of Just Dance 4 on the Xbox360, which all my kids play. Yes, I've danced to it under duress as well.

So if I can stand listening to it while they jump around laughing and dancing, and even join in once in a while, I can sure cover it while a BL is putting $'s in my hand to do so. YMMV.
 
#553
I just joined a band recently which has a Creed song in the set. I must admit I found myself entertaining similar thoughts when this appeared in my weekly "new songs to learn" email.

Everyone else already knew it, and seeing as how I just joined a month ago, I figured I didn't have much choice. So I went ahead and learned it (the song was "One").... and it really wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. There's actually other songs in the set I've decided I hate more.

I try to tell myself over and over in these situations.... if I'm being paid to play a song, then I owe it my best shot.

Of course, at rehearsal this week, I overhear the words "Nickel" and "Back" in the same sentence and am pretty sure it wasn't a conversation about football.... now that might be something else altogether.
 
#554
Creed or Nickelback never had any huge hits on the scale of "Call Me Maybe" or "Blurred Lines", though. Not wanting to play songs that aren't popular enough is the complete opposite of not wanting to play very popular mainstream songs.
 
#555
music is music.... money = gear. if it doesn't take up all your time and lets you do what u want to then go for it. i once shouted at some street musicians for waking me up.. (they were not proficient at all, playing the crappiest of bollywood tunes) and i regret it very much till date.
 
#558
Funny this song was mentioned. I quit a band in June due to the unwillingness of the BL to play any current hot Top40 music. We are a cover band for "xrist" sakes! This song was one of them. I heard last week that they actually played the damn song and lo and behold.......everybody got out of their seats and started dancing! EVERYBODY!!!

SMDH!!

I'm a certified cover band musician. It just boggles my mind the refusal to play hot tunes and that bands are more willing to play obscure stuff just to be different. Yeah, some may go over well but more times than not, folks will be wondering what the hell are you playing. I'm just not that guy. If it didn't chart top40, it shouldn't be played. But that's just me! It's a shame that one of the bands I was in (before it imploded due to outside interferrence) did nothing but the best of top40 and we were good at it! Too bad the mental stability of the BL doomed the band! It was a Philipino based band and those folks know what the hell they're doing. They get it!
 
#559
You won't play anything that doesn't make the top 40? What about albums? People listen to those too. Not quite as much nowadays, but it's strange that a musician only sees the value in top selling music. I would never in a million years play in a band who only plays top 40 songs. I don't participate in music for a dose of the mundane. We have the rest of day to day life for that.
 
#560
You could always have an iPod or other music player connected to your board, and when it was time to play that tune, press "play" and do a lip sync to it. Probably would be just as entertaining, or more entertaining, and 1)audience gets the requested song and 2)band doesn't really have to play it.
 

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