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Modern cover songs.......

My covers band plays mostly funkier dance tunes with a bit of rock thrown in. With a bit of a loose interpretation on "modern", we've got songs in the set list like:

Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5
I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas
California Gurls - Katy Perry
Mercy - Duffy
Price Tag - Jessie J
I'm Outta Love - Anastasia
Sex On Fire - Kings of Leon
Lady Marmalade - Christina Aguilera version
Cosmic Girl - Jamiroquai
Moving On Up - M People

I'll use different combinations of Octave / Fuzz / Filter to cop some of the synthier tones on some of these tunes
 
Even though these two songs are from the late 80s, they always go over extremely well.

I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers (1988 in the UK and 1993 in the US)

Rockin' In The Free World - Neil Young (1989)
 
Not sure who’d be interested in this style of music, but we’re gonna put together “Beautiful People” by Chris Brown. Not much for guitar, but if you’ve got a keyboardist…

The drummer who’s gonna play this (I have two) is gonna jazz/funk it up, ‘cause that’s his style, so I think that’ll be good 'cause it's kinda dry imo.
 
Do people really hate Rockin' in the Free World? I know its basically 3 chords, played out and just about every cover band does it....but we always get a good response to that song. We "rock it up" a bit making it a little harder sounding but it still always seems to go over well as a 3rd/4th song of the set type song.
 
Some of the stuff we do....
  • F* You - Cee Lo Green
  • Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5
  • Papparazzi - GaGa
  • Paris - Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
  • Hey Ya - Outkast
  • I've Got A Feeling - BEP
  • The Way I Am - Ingrid Michaelsson
  • Rolling In The Deep - Adele
  • I'll Be Your Man - Black Keys
  • You & I - GaGa
 
couple other new crowd favorites for us are:

Alabama Shakes - Hold On

Interesting - we just learned that one. We have a female lead singer with a very bluesy voice. How are you playing it on bass? We don't have any keys (starts with that super low C organ bass note) so I actually tune to drop C and just kinda drone on the low C together with the octave above at 3rd fret on the A string.

Anybody doing "You Know I'm No Good" by Amy Winehouse?

We haven't played out yet, first pseudo-gig in about a month (one set at a Toys for Tots benefit).

We are gonna have a really oddball set list, everything from old Aretha, Janis, and Etta James to Adele and Lady Gaga. Stripping everything down musically with just guitar, bass, drums.

I've been getting some song ideas from commercials on TV and the internet. We aren't doing these but I'd like to. Need some horns though (or good keys)

'Love Letter" by Clairy Brown and the Bangin' Racketts"


Our singer won't do "Paris" by Grace Potter, we want to do "Nothing but the Water" though. Probably too obscure.

We do some Susan Tedeschi and Tedeschi/Trucks band stuff too, I doubt your average bar goer has heard them though.

I tried out for a more main stream cover band a few weeks ago and the set list looked a lot like the ones posted here - Paralyzer, Slither, Cumbersome, etc. They wanted me but I declined. Just not what I want to do anymore. I'm sure they will make good money though.
 
...
Alabama Shakes - Hold On
.....

We've done this our last three or four shows and it looks like it's gonna stick. People really like this.

Thing is, until this thread, I thought it was an older song. We added it the same time we added "Into The Mystic" (Van Morrison) and "Finest Lovin' Man (Bonnie Raitt). It has a similar vibe and the other two are both very old, so I figured it was from the same time frame.
 
Another place I've been getting ideas - shows on "Palladia" channel on cable TV. Mostly "Later with Jools Holland" (that's where I first saw Alabama Shakes) and "Live from Daryl's House". Daryl Hall (of Hall and Oates) invites artists to his house ad they jam.

From commercial ads:
"Love Letter" by Clairy Brown was in a Heineken beer commercial.

"Tonight Downtown" by Aloe Blacc was in a Tanqueray gin commercial.

I saw Nick Waterhouse on "Live from Daryl's House". Since then I have heard this song on a TV ad. "Say I Wanna Know"


Not saying these would play well to a bar crowd, just songs I like. Some are not "modern" but have been given new life in advertising.