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Most effective dance tunes

N

Nvr2old

Guest
Dec 27, 2012
75
6
Minneapolis
#1
We've been gigging as a group for about a year now, played some nice venues and we've opened for a couple B-circuit national acts, and we started talking after last nights gig that we really need to do a better job of playing danceable tunes.

We're a cover band that thinks it's a jam band (or vice versa), and have been covering a lot of ground on primarily blues and rock genres (Van Morrison, Robert Cray, Joe Cocker, Stones, Santana, James Brown, Doors, ZZ Top, Kinks, The Who, etc) and we've tried to shy away from playing the same old, same old that every dance/jam band plays - though Mustang Sally and Brown Eyed Girl keep finding their way into the set lists.

So I'm reaching out for inspiration. What have any of you found that gets people on the dance floor, and keeps them on the dance floor? Any songs that people have come up after and said, "I can't believe you covered ____, that was AWESOME!"?

Thanks!
 
#6
We do all the usuals too, Mustang Sally, Brown Eyed Girl...

I never would have believed it beforehand, but the CCR-Fogarty stuff gets them going everytime, Lodi, Born On The Bayou, Have You Ever Seen the Rain, Centerfield. We did Centerfield at the wedding and we use it on our live demo as the crowd sings loudly on the "Put me in coach" parts and the chorus (plus the Giants had just won the World Series). Very cool. We even throw in a jam on Born On The Bayou so it's a first set ender for us.

Although we only did it once for a private party, Bad Leroy Brown got a great response.
 
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#7
My current and last band both play dance tunes. Here are some that always got them dancing.

Down On The Corner
Roadhouse Blues
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)
Gimme All Your Lovin'
Sharp Dressed Man
Another Brick In The Wall
Wooly Bully
But, It's Alright
Mustang Sally
Brown Eyed Girl
Too Late To Turn Back Now
The Break Up Song
Fast As You
Come And Get Your Love
Play That Funky Music
I'll Be Around
Keep Your Hands To Yourself
Hurt So Good
My Girl
Cracklin' Rosie
Sweet Caroline
Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress
Can't Get Enough
Sherry
Kryptonite
Takin' Care Of Business
Rock & Roll Music
Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy
White Wedding
Old Time Rock And Roll
I Fought The Law
Time Is Tight
Pink Cadillac
Summer Of '69
Should I Stay Or Should I Go
Whip It
All Right Now
Twilight Zone
Some Kind Of Wonderful
Last Kiss
The Middle
All Day And All Of The Night
My Sharona
Gimme Three Steps
Sweet Home Alabama
Rockin' In The Free World
Your Love
Jessie's Girl
Bad Case Of Loving You
What I Like About You
Born To Be Wild
Abracadabra
The House Is Rockin'
Life Is A Highway
Runnin' Down A Dream
Hanky Panky
867-5309 Jenny, Jenny
Oh, Pretty Woman
Gloria
Seven Nation Army
La Grange
Tube Snake Boogie
 
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#9
Depends a lot on your market, age of the crowd, all that stuff. Tunes that go over with 20-something hipsters will be sink like a lead balloon with 40-something NASCAR fans. On the whole, the most reliable dance-floor tunes are the classic faves, Gimme Three Steps and Mustang Sally and all that.

A couple that have worked that were a little more out of the box for groups I've been in - Black Keys/Gold on the Ceiling (pretty huge hit anyway) and Talking Heads/Take Me to the River. Both have turned around gigs where the crowd was staying off the dance floor and then suddenly flooded it.
 
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#10
hrodbert696 said:
Depends a lot on your market, age of the crowd, all that stuff. Tunes that go over with 20-something hipsters will be sink like a lead balloon with 40-something NASCAR fans. On the whole, the most reliable dance-floor tunes are the classic faves, Gimme Three Steps and Mustang Sally and all that.
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+1

I know that musicians love to complain about Mustang Sally, but in every genre band I've played in it has gone over. I played in a country band and when we started Mustang Sally, everyone was dancing and singing along.

Elvis really crosses genres too. Jailhouse Rock, All Shook Up, Love Me Tender. It doesn't seem to matter what you are playing, people love Elvis. Played Jailhouse Rock in a country band and looked out there was some 80+ year old woman in a wheelchair rocking her head in time to the music.

I don't fight what people want to hear, I play it.
 
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#11
Yeah, with the standards, it's the kind of thing that I wouldn't put on a set list to play deliberately, but you've got to be ready to pull them out if the crowd wants them - which they often do. I play in two cover bands, and in both of them we've had people in the crowd request Mustang Sally. In one, our singer just said blankly, "Sorry, we don't know that one," which shocked me. We've never practiced it, but I sure know it, and I'm 100% positive everyone could jump in on it just fine. The people who asked for it left pretty soon after. In my other band, it's routine - I lean over to the guitarist and say, "we just got a Mustang Sally request," he nods, and off we go. He'll give a little pushback if it's early in the night - figures it's better to have everyone good and lubricated for dancing before playing it - but he plays it.

Oh, also, I've noticed that people respond to country too - Folsom Prison, etc. Even if you're not a country band and it's not a country crowd, people will start skipping around automatically when they hear that 1-5 bass kick in. Can't do it all night if it isn't a country crowd, but if you need to kick-start people a little to get moving, it usually works.
 
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#16
lfmn16 said:
I don't fight what people want to hear, I play it.
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Absolutely! It's amazing how many people in cover bands refuse to play what the crowd wants to hear. I even had a bassist tell me the songs were beneath them and cheapened them as musicians. Funny, I always thought we were there for the crowd, not the other way around...
 
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#17
Gorn said:
I cringe every time the guitarist looks over at me and mouths "Mony Mony", but drunken bar crowds love it.
Click to expand...

It always gets em out on the dance floor... we use it as our "introduce the band" song. The drummer starts the beat at his intro, I pull in with the bass thumping at mine, and the lead comes in at his. It's a fun build up, the regulars are already hitting the floor bringing others with em, and we take an old song and give it our own twist. :)
 

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