It's only 4 minutes in a cover band....

I'm not going to sing any song I highly dislike. I will play bass on anything. Keys, guitars, you name it.

But I won't sing it because I can't own it, and if I don't own it, I can't sell it.

 

For me it's not about the song so much as what the song choices indicate about the likely caliber of musicianship and overall commitment to doing the work between rehearsals. A setlist chock full of the same old standards tends to point toward a group of people who are interested in playing what they already know and not being challenged. That's the definition of fun for some people but not necessarily what I'm interested in. So I look at those sorts of lists and tend to pass on those bands, unless they're paying well, and then I don't care.

 

Some songs make for a long four minutes and are the musical equivalent of somebody smacking their gum in your ear for four minutes. If the rest of the band wants to do it (because the audience wants to hear it), then I'll play it, but hate every minute of it while pretending to like it for the sake of the audience. I am 100% with @mellowinman though when it comes to the ones I have to sing.

 

Or they just like to get paid. I've been with the same band for 8 or 9 years now, and I'm sick, sick, sick of the repertoire (must be at least 150 songs in rotation). But that band nets me somewhere around 50 fairly good-paying, easy, no hassle gigs a year. I have other projects to satisfy my artistic side.

 

For me it's not about "one or two songs". But if the majority of the serlist is worn out oldies. ..... and make no mistake, Skynard is oldies...... count me out.


And I think that's part of the issues. For many of us, out pride won't let us get our heads around the fact that "our music" is worn out oldies.

The music that was popular when we were teenagers SHALL NEVER DIE!!!! IT IS THE BEST EVER MADE BEFORE OR SINCE!!!!

Meh. I came of age in the 80s. Most of the music I grew up has long sonce fallen out of favor. Michael Jackson is played on the oldies stations around here..... cuz that's what it is..... the music of thirty plus years ago..... aka oldies. Poison is classic rock. Devo is bubblegum pop.

Here's the Top 100 singles from1982. Every one of them may as well be The Carpenters or Wings or Gladys Knight and the Pipps to young adults today. Heck, some young adults see Weezer as classic rock.

If you want to relive your youth on stage, fine. But mix in something that isn't oldies. And, again, 80s is oldies.

 

Heck, most of the 90s music is oldies (more than 20 years old).

 

We've been lucky that our brewpub gigs have a mixed age group. The older ones hear us do a Rascals song (no not that one) that they haven't heard in decades, and the young ones don't mind a retro pull because it's got a unique vibe and is clearly rockin.'

Not all audiences are that forgiving. The band likes Bruno Mars, but that's not our niche, and we can't sing it believably. Certain riffs are just going to hook anyone, and if it's not been beaten to death it will probably work OK.

 

I have to say that I'm in quite a unique band situation. The age range is 16-54, no lie, our lead guitarist is a young phenom in much the same way a 17 year old Zakk Wylde was when he got the Ozzy gig (and I'm 100% convinced this kid is on the same trajectory).

That being said, our set list, as we are 95% a covers band, spans from 80's metal/hard rock (which our guitarist LOVES) to the 00's, and the cool part is we all get a say in what we play. Sure, not all 4 of us are going to 100% LOVE every song on the list, but they're all in our taste range and in the end are great songs that not EVERY other band out there will play (sure, once some of our local friends hear our set they may cop a few tunes... lol).

I've played in other bands where I hated 75% of the music, but it was a gig, so, whatever right? Nah, i couldn't put my heart into a band like that for long so eventually the other guys, who are more or less friends of mine decided we should part ways. Sucks, but thats band life aint it?

In the end, if you can find 3-4 other guys who you can throw down with and you all get along and are of the same head, count your blessings and play on. Or, find those other 4-5 guys, because we ain't in this to get famous anymore (yep, I'm the 54 year old), we're here to keep 'em drinking and paying tabs, and have FUN while doing it!

But hey, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong...

 

I too care more about musicianship and being tight as a band more than the set list. But that being said, there are songs that I simply don't wish to play ever again because they are so overdone. and there is SO much out there to choose from. Why do what everyone seems to do ? so boring. but in the end, a lot is dictated by a) what the singer can sing and wants to sing, b) do you have the skillset and lineup to pull off a particular song?

but yes, having to play some songs does make me cringe

 

Poison is classic rock?????

I no longer like classic rock.

 

Dude, Pearl Jam is classic rock.

 

I have socks older than that. *Sigh*

 

No.

 

Uh. Yes. That's what I'm trying to explain. "Classic rock" doesn't just mean "good rock". It simply means "old" rock.

Pearl Jam hit the scene in 1990. That was nearly thirty years ago.

Let's back up to when we were younger..... say 1985. Twenty eight years prior to that was 1957. Everly Brothers "Wake Up Little Susie" was a Top 20 hit in 1957. You telling me that "Wake Up Little Susie", or "You Send Me" by Sam Cooke, or Del-Viking "Come Go With Me" wasn't already oldies by 1985? Of course they were. No self-respecting 80s band would have been caught DEAD playing those songs.

Yeah, the train keep 'uh rollin' even after we are no longer in our prime.

And Pearl Jam is classic rock. People old enough to serve in the military overseas weren't born until ten years after Pearl Jam hit the scene. Get your head around THAT.

 

...and now, they're classics. Classic socks rock!

 

If a patron requests a song, and the band knows it, you play it. Keep the patrons happy,and it keeps the venue owner happy .

 

not in my opinion. i agree with your point.

this is TB. more pampered hobbyists here than "grizzled vets." what you are hearing/reading is not 'protest'. it's whining. and who doesn't like to whine a little now and then?

 

One man's cover is an other man's hit.