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Songs to Get the Audience Moving

#21
jmattbassplaya said:
Man, you older cats need to stop thinking that younger kids don't know the classics. They do, and they probably know them better than your old foggy memories know them ;)
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There's some truth to this, and there is certainly a segment of young people who prefer classic rock to contemporary pop. My kids know the words to more Led Zeppelin and Beatles songs than I do.

However, for most young people, classic rock is a novelty and you'd be gambling to make it the staple of the evening.

Work a few killer classic rock tunes in, but the majority of parties I play where we're expected to keep young people entertained and out on the floor, we aim at the middle and play the hits from their era.
 
#24
Catbuster said:
"We Win" by Duff McKagan's loaded seems to be along those lines. "My Hero" and "Learn to Fly" by the Foo Fighters might also fit the bill. Both are short, high energy songs. They're personally some of favorites to play, and usually have gotten the crowd moving. If you don't mind punk, "Tomorrow's Industry" by Dropkick Murphys will usually wake up a crowd.
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+1 for Dropkick. :D
 
#25
electracoyote said:
There's some truth to this, and there is certainly a segment of young people who prefer classic rock to contemporary pop. My kids know the words to more Led Zeppelin and Beatles songs than I do.

However, for most young people, classic rock is a novelty and you'd be gambling to make it the staple of the evening.

Work a few killer classic rock tunes in, but the majority of parties I play where we're expected to keep young people entertained and out on the floor, we aim at the middle and play the hits from their era.
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Just to give you an idea of some songs we do that work very well with the younger bar going crowd (20-25 yr olds):

Whole lot of Love - Led Zep
Bring it on Home - Lep Zep
After Midnight - Clapton
Cocain - Clapton
Cissy Strut - The Meters
Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf
Chameleon - Herbie Hancock
Jessica - The Allman Bros
Ophelia - The Band
The Weight - The band
Boogie on Reggae Woman - Stevie Wonder
Give me one Reason - Tracy Chapman
Fire - Hendrix
Voodoo Child - Hendrix
Foxy Lady - Hendrix
Baba O'Reilly - The Who
Sweet Child o Mine - GNR
Running Down a Dream - Tom Petty

All those songs kill and most people either know the words to the songs or know the songs well enough to dance to them and have fun.

Actually, it's really funny when we play at a bar. There will almost always be some older people in our crowd because of UT game days, and as soon as we start one of these classics you'll instantly see their heads turn from the bar and look our way. We actually got a $20 tip from a guy who thought it was incredible that a bunch of 21 year olds knew all of those songs and did them justice.
 
#29
jmattbassplaya said:
Man, you older cats need to stop thinking that younger kids don't know the classics. They do, and they probably know them better than your old foggy memories know them ;)
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+1.

Observation from a friend's gig:

Older crowd dances to older songs.

Younger crowd dances to everything.

They would play, say, "Satisfaction" or other 60s-70s tunes, and you get both the 20-somethings and the 40-somethings on the dance floor. Then switch to "Paralyzer" or whatever; the 40-somethings leave the floor and the 20-somethings keep on going.
 
#30
Some of the old classic is new old classic. Some of us oldsters knew Sweet Caroline as Neil Diamond. My recent band did the dot dot dot version, not really different but all of the 20 somethings sang alongand went wild. Same with Boys of Summer, the 20's crowd knew the Atari's version. Again not very different but very popular.
 
#31
hrodbert696 said:
Observation from a friend's gig:
Older crowd dances to older songs.
Younger crowd dances to everything.
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This

For us the constants are:

Honky Tonk Women
Mustang Sally
I Feel Good
Play that Funky Music White Boy
Gimme Three Steps
Knock on Wood

Essentially just drop a good backbeat groove with a driving bass line at around 120 bpm and watch the floor fill up.

Some slower ones that seem to pull them out as well:
Moondance
Up on Cripple Creek
The Weight
Soul Shine
 
#32
As for Beatles, "Back In The USSR" works for us, but that's the only Beatles we perform like the original. We also do a bluesy version of "Ticket To Ride" that goes over very well (I mean, folks get out and slow dance to it, if you can believe that).

Other songs that folks tend to get on their feet for:
I Want You To Want Me - Cheap Trick
Takin' Care of Business - BTO
The Middle - Jimmy Eat World
Bohemian Like You - Dandy Warhols
Jenny/867-5309 - Tommy TuTone
Twilight Zone - Golden Earring (yep..all 8 minutes of it)
White Wedding - Billy Idol
 
#35
jmattbassplaya said:
Just to give you an idea of some songs we do that work very well with the younger bar going crowd (20-25 yr olds):

Whole lot of Love - Led Zep
Bring it on Home - Lep Zep
After Midnight - Clapton
Cocain - Clapton
Cissy Strut - The Meters
Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf
Chameleon - Herbie Hancock
Jessica - The Allman Bros
Ophelia - The Band
The Weight - The band
Boogie on Reggae Woman - Stevie Wonder
Give me one Reason - Tracy Chapman
Fire - Hendrix
Voodoo Child - Hendrix
Foxy Lady - Hendrix
Baba O'Reilly - The Who
Sweet Child o Mine - GNR
Running Down a Dream - Tom Petty

All those songs kill and most people either know the words to the songs or know the songs well enough to dance to them and have fun.

Actually, it's really funny when we play at a bar. There will almost always be some older people in our crowd because of UT game days, and as soon as we start one of these classics you'll instantly see their heads turn from the bar and look our way. We actually got a $20 tip from a guy who thought it was incredible that a bunch of 21 year olds knew all of those songs and did them justice.
Click to expand...

It never ceases to amaze me how much kids in their 20s like classic and 80s rock. We string together something like 45 minutes of 80s rock tunes and it never fails to get kids dancing. Amazing.

And I can't tell you how many 20 year olds have asked for "Sweet Home Alabama". Again, amazing.
 
#36
Go for repetitive choruses, easy to sing along, fun to dance even if you can't dance kind of songs. So, Twist and Shout would be great if you play it uptempo. for example. My band seems to have good luck with the current college crowd with Ray Charles's "What'd I Say". We stretched it out some, added in some call and response - it gets them up and going every time.
 
#38
Gaius46 said:
It never ceases to amaze me how much kids in their 20s like classic and 80s rock. We string together something like 45 minutes of 80s rock tunes and it never fails to get kids dancing. Amazing.

And I can't tell you how many 20 year olds have asked for "Sweet Home Alabama". Again, amazing.
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Definitely Sweet Home Alabama, except in Dawson City. The first time I played that there everyone got long looks on their faces. Turned out that one of the local bars there puts it on the bar sound system to signal last call. :eek:

A couple songs that I have a hard time hearing myself sing over the audience singing along are Jenny, Jenny (at least on the chorus) and Don't Stop Believin'.
 

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