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

[DWBass]

Plus nothing says you can't be in a cover band and do something else that is more artistically satisfying too.

Yes and no. I'm a cover band whore! I'll play pretty much anything to get folks dancing. I am not a fan of playing obscure stuff just because someone in the band likes the tune. But I'll try it once. If folks ain't dancing......out it goes! I much prefer to stick to top40. In fact, I just joined a band and I was thrilled to see Blurred Lines on the list!

 

[Robus]

Actually most of us did.

Besides, you are COMPLETELY missing the point. The point is not that if you are in an all originals death meal band you should play mustang sally just like Wilson Pickett, the point is that if you are in a cover band trying to make money, you should play what people want to hear.

And if Sloth can get people to pay to hear his all-original death metal, more power to him. If not, he's a hobbyist. The bedrooms and basements of America are overflowing with sloths too proud to play what the audience wants and will pay to hear.

 

[thebates]

How about when your front man calls Helpless (Neil Young) to start the third set, when your trying to get people up on the floor. And it keeps happening. We have about 1/2 dozen what I consider to be real stinkers. I can't seem to get them purged.
I have tried to talk to this guy but it turns into a lecture about the intricacies of putting a set list together. What a joke...... if it carries into next season i'm gone.

 

[thebates]

I really hate Sympathy for the Devil (Rolling Stones) but played it in my last band and it was surprisingly more fun to play than to listen to. We put our little spin on it though and it is a crowd pleaser.

I find most Stones songs incredibly boring for bass.

 

[pedro]

How about when your front man calls Helpless (Neil Young) to start the third set, when your trying to get people up on the floor. And it keeps happening. We have about 1/2 dozen what I consider to be real stinkers. I can't seem to get them purged.
I have tried to talk to this guy but it turns into a lecture about the intricacies of putting a set list together. What a joke...... if it carries into next season i'm gone.

'Helpless'? LOL!

 

[interp]

I listened to about 40 seconds of it out of curiosity. Alas, I will never get that 40 seconds back, but neither will I ever again waste even 2 seconds listening to it, much less playing it.

 

[thebates]

Thats what a day job is for.... so you dont have to play music you hate. I'm pretty open minded about music in general but there are limits to what I'll do musically, surely wouldnt do the offending song in question nor will I ever play "gimme three steps" or most anything else by Lynrd Skynrd for that matter, there are a couple exceptions but only a few. No matter how hard I might pretend, I cant pull off being a redneck rock n roller, so I dont even try. My philosopy is, if it dont make you smile why waste your time. Life is short, dont play crappy music.

I agree. Now the Allman Bros. is a different story.......

 

[malthumb]

At Tuesday night's practice we were tossing out suggestions for new material. Someone floated "You Gotta Fight For Your Right To Party". I maintained a silent, deadpan expression.

We moved on.

I think I'm gettin' the hang of this!

 

[jtroska]

I'm the opposite. I would LOVE to have a band that played cheesy top 40 crowd pleasers. I'm always amazed and disheartened by how many bands don't get it. If any of you folks in working bands can't stomach playing the cheesy crowd pleasers, call me and I'll do it. I'm not all all above Carly Rae Jepsen or Katy Perry or Lady GaGa or whatever. Let's fill the dance floor and my pockets.

 

[pedro]

I'm the opposite. I would LOVE to have a band that played cheesy top 40 crowd pleasers. I'm always amazed and disheartened by how many bands don't get it. If any of you folks in working bands can't stomach playing the cheesy crowd pleasers, call me and I'll do it. I'm not all all above Carly Rae Jepsen or Katy Perry or Lady GaGa or whatever. Let's fill the dance floor and my pockets.

Yep I am all for filling the dance floor and keeping it filled.

 

[bassinplace]

And if Sloth can get people to pay to hear his all-original death metal, more power to him. If not, he's a hobbyist. The bedrooms and basements of America are overflowing with [DEL]sloths too proud to play[/DEL] people uninterested in playing what the audience wants and will pay to hear.

You say that like it's a bad thing. Those dirty hobbyists! We oughta ride 'em out of town on a rail!

 

[malthumb]

I'm the opposite. I would LOVE to have a band that played cheesy top 40 crowd pleasers. I'm always amazed and disheartened by how many bands don't get it. If any of you folks in working bands can't stomach playing the cheesy crowd pleasers, call me and I'll do it. I'm not all all above Carly Rae Jepsen or Katy Perry or Lady GaGa or whatever. Let's fill the dance floor and my pockets.

We have 2 GaGa songs, a Katy Perry song (may be adding another) 2 Bruno Mars songs, and "Margaritaville", for Christ's sake. We know how to do cheesy. We just had to draw the line somewhere.

 

[lfmn16]

You say that like it's a bad thing. Those dirty hobbyists! We oughta ride 'em out of town on a rail!

There's nothing wrong with hobbyists. It's the attitude some of them have that they are somehow superior because they won't play what the audience wants to hear.

 

[tbirdsp]

We have 2 GaGa songs, a Katy Perry song (may be adding another) 2 Bruno Mars songs, and "Margaritaville", for Christ's sake. We know how to do cheesy. We just had to draw the line somewhere.

So you'll play all of that stuff but balk at the Beastie Boys?!

 

[bassinplace]

There's nothing wrong with hobbyists. It's the attitude some of them have that they are somehow superior because they won't play what the audience wants to hear.

I don't believe hobbyists have much of an audience to speak of, just the occasional friend or family member. Perhaps the occasional YouTube viewer or passerby if busking. I believe the people you're referring to are called delusional.

 

[malthumb]

So you'll play all of that stuff but balk at the Beastie Boys?!

They don't balk....I do. I just never liked that song. On the other hand, we do a number of songs that I don't like, but at least they are fun to play.

 

[PauFerro]

I'm with the guys who think its wrong for a single band member to jettison songs because they don't like them. If the audience reacts poorly to the song, by all means, scratch it. But if the audience likes it, why hold the band back by dictating you won't do certain songs?

We just jettisoned a guitar player who was like that. We lost a whack of perfectly good songs because he refused to play them after he got comfortable with the band. He refused to wear these really cool copper ties everyone loved us in -- for upscale corporate gigs as well. And then, insisted I take down some of the songs from our history that marketed the band really well, replacing them with these terribly recorded videos that featured him, but did not typify our breadth or repertoire. I knew he was weakening our marketing effort, but he was so insistent that i finally took care of it.

After several years of this, I'm starting to develop the mindset that I just put everyone on a fixed price per gig and call the shots to get around this kind of hokus that stunts the band's progress.

 

[Crystalman85]

I think I almost got kicked out of the hard rock band I once played in for refusing to play talk dirty to me by poison. I really don't if the guys were serious about playing that song or not. but either way, I think that song is just lame. while they were playing that song a few times at rehearsals, I just stood there playing nothing and I pretty much give them an expression that makes it look like I'm about to say "Really?...that's lame, you guys.:scowl: after that, my brother(who was in the band), the lead singer and I think the drummer were looking at me like something is wrong with me. they look like they were about to say "C'mon man, don't ruin our fun". I did gave them my reason why I don't like playing that song and I think they understand. it was at that moment when they looked at me like something's wrong with me was when I was thinking that they were going to kick me out of the band, but they didn't. but I did think that I almost got kicked out of the band for refusing to play talk dirty to me because they were influenced by 80s rock and metal and they were thinking of playing that song and because of what I did, I spoiled their fun. thank goodness we didn't play bon jovi songs. otherwise I would of quit the band right away. speaking of bon jovi, this clip expresses how I feel about playing bon jovi songs.

 

[pondscum29]

Interstate Love Song for me. The song has a really laid back tempo, like 85bpm. We'd rehearse it in practice and it would go off well, but live the intro would be cool, but then guitarist always took off like a rocket, the drummer followed, and it was tough for me to keep up with that bass line. At the next rehearsal, I said I wanted to drop that song from the set if we either can't lay it back or at least hold off until I had it down at the faster speed. I told the guitarist that he's playing chords and I'm playing 16th notes. Three different bass players said they played it too fast, but still it went on. "Change the bass line." "The song's bass line is very distinct - I want to play it accurately." I was canned a week later.

 

[Crystalman85]

Interstate Love Song for me. The song has a really laid back tempo, like 85bpm. We'd rehearse it in practice and it would go off well, but live the intro would be cool, but then guitarist always took off like a rocket, the drummer followed, and it was tough for me to keep up with that bass line. At the next rehearsal, I said I wanted to drop that song from the set if we either can't lay it back or at least hold off until I had it down at the faster speed. I told the guitarist that he's playing chords and I'm playing 16th notes. Three different bass players said they played it too fast, but still it went on. "Change the bass line." "The song's bass line is very distinct - I want to play it accurately." I was canned a week later.

I can totally relate to your problem. I've had the same problem with the hard rock band I use to play in. we were playing bark at the moon by ozzy osbourne and the drummer was playing too fast. he kept raising the tempo on that song. I mean he was rushing on that song. it's was like if he was on crack or something. what's worst was the lead guitar player kept playing notes that are wrong. that always aggravates me and my brother(who also played in the band). even after we showed him what to play, he still keeps screwing up the songs. it was worst than the time we played girls, girls, girls by motley crue. of course that was after we did bark at the moon. even there the same problem continues and the cover became a total train-wreck. thank goodness my brother and I don't play in that band anymore. the drummer and the lead guitarist couldn't really keep up with their playing.