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Post your HIT Covers at the gig!

Jimmy4string

Jimmy4string

Sep 6, 2006
3,936
9,910
Austin Texas
#1
I am sure there are 4 threads on this someplace but heres mine!
Over the many bar gigs -i noticed a few songs that went over well. Some surprised me! Usually these were offered by our guitarist -much to my chagrin! I determine a successful song by crowd response -dancing, singing along, jumping up and down like they wons the lottery! This was in the genre of harder rock but i would like to know your experience in any genre.
I am hoping you share with me your hidden gems.
Born to be wild: Steppenwolf -gah really i didnt want to do this song but guitarist said try it. Seems to always get some kind of response.
Should I stay or should I go: The clash -another guitarist add. Girls got out there dancing. Who knew?!
Plush: Stone Temple Pilots -was kind of hit and miss. We kept it in the list.
Working for the weekend: Loverboy -maybe its the message or the epic chorus. Hits pretty good. All the small things: Blink 182 -the crowd at St Pat's went crazy! Proving alcohol and overplayed hit songs make happy bedfellows. Now, Here is the best for last. *drum roll*
Crazy Train: Ozzy -can you believe it?! Works across all ages all the time! This song stands the test and delivers every time. *shrugs*
We played this one time when a crowd of 20 something bachelorettes came in and they lost their minds! IT was a thing of greatness!
The old guard:
Wagonwheel: Darius R. -i have done this live a couple of times and never seemed to get the response everyone claims. Perhaps was my band at the time?! Unkown.
Mustang Sally (the old girl): Wilson Picket -i have never played this song, but seen other pretty good blues bands play it and again never really saw the response peeps on the TalkBass claim.
 
#2
Here for the last couple months
Rebel yell
Hate myself for loving you
Santeria
Folsom prison
Brown eyed girl
Sweet Caroline
Just what I needed
jail house rock

Most of these are a hit every time.
It seems like anything that makes girls dance, everyone likes.
 
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#4
Jimmy4string said:
@flojob
Sweet Caroline! Absolutley. I have seen this one done right and the drunks celebrate like "YEAH ITS MAH SONG"!! lol
Click to expand...
Yeah folks like stuff to which they can sing along. I don't listen to radio much, but I get the impression that although these were hits back in the day, they don't get much radio play. I figure that helps.
 
#7
Guaranteed Hits-Every time-
Jessie's Girl
You Shook me all night Long
Highway to Hell
Blister in the Sun
Sweet Child O Mine
Thunderstruck
Living on a Prayer
Let's Go Crazy
Don't Stop Believing
Play That Funky Music
Pour Some Sugar on Me

Honorable Mention:
Hit Me With Your Best Shot
Fat Bottomed Girls/We Will Rock You
Mony Mony
You Give Love a Bad Name
I Love Rock N Roll
Celebration
Love Shack
Juke Box Hero
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)
Rebel Yell
Kiss
Tainted Love
Jump
Separate Ways
 
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#15
LBS-bass said:
Holy carp, I used to play there a lot way back in the stone age.
Click to expand...

Oh, yeah? You were on the right coast? Fager's Island still has it goin' on...really fun gig with great views. Did you play the Purple Moose Saloon? Although I guess depending on how far back you go, I think that was more of a hard-core biker bar...different scene now.
 
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#17
flojob said:
Here for the last couple months
Rebel yell
Hate myself for loving you
Santeria
Folsom prison
Brown eyed girl
Sweet Caroline
Just what I needed
jail house rock

Most of these are a hit every time.
It seems like anything that makes girls dance, everyone likes.
Click to expand...

"Just What I Needed" is a sleeper. I kind of balked when my last band brought it up, but agreed to give it a try. It killed every single time. Filled the dance floor every time.

Another not-so-obvious one is Hewey Lewis "Power of Love" (from Back to the Future). Nobody hates that song it seems.

A crazy outlier that somehow gets it done in Thin Lizzy "Cowboy Song". Once you start the depressing intro you'll get some sideways looks. But as soon as it kicks in I've never seen am audience that didn't respond.
 
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#18
drpepper said:
Oh, yeah? You were on the right coast? Fager's Island still has it goin' on...really fun gig with great views. Did you play the Purple Moose Saloon? Although I guess depending on how far back you go, I think that was more of a hard-core biker bar...different scene now.
Click to expand...
Yep, I started out on the east coast and came here in 2005.

I never played the Purple Moose, but went there on more than one occasion! Fager's was my jam for a couple of years; the band I was in played two-week stints there alternating with another band throughout the summer, so it was basically our band for two weeks, other band for two weeks, and then we'd be back again for two weeks. Early-mid 80's, so quite a long time ago. I have a lot of fond memories from those days :). There are way worse ways to spend your summer when you're in your 20's!
 
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#19
As crowds continue to age, just like the rest of us, I find considerably smaller reactions to many of the classics listed in previous posts. Hits are still hits but these days I find 90s through mid-00s pop and R&B tunes elicit the biggest response consistently from crowds. My GB group does some mashups and medleys of things like 24K Magic (Bruno Mars), Single Ladies (Beyoncé), This is How We Do It (Montell Jordan), Hot in Here (Nelly), Crazy In Love (Beyoncé and Jay-Z), etc. that go over WAY better than the typical classic rock material with modern audiences, many of whom were coming of age in the 90s when much of what we still consider classic rock was already old.
 
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