That one random song your cover band does that nobody else does.

[Richland123]

Back in 2014 and 2015, I had a different lineup of my current band and we did several songs that other bands did not play including "I'll Be Around" by The Spinners and a twofer of "Young Girl" and "Over You" by Gary Puckett & The Union Gap. The guitarist (who has since passed) had played, toured, and recorded with many very famous acts starting in the 1960s until a couple years ago.

 

[Michedelic]

Really, Cowboy Song by Thin LIzzy "obscure"? Man, I was there. This tune was on constant airplay repeat in '76. Takes me right back to the skatepark where this was pretty much one of about 8 tunes constantly wailing over the PA.

I guess they didn't license their back catalog to the oldies conglomerates, so they don't get heard all the time.

It has nothing to do with licensing; "Classic Rock" programming only concentrates on the biggest hits, only the most familiar. They don't want you to be thrown off, challenged, to have to actually think about anything. Hearing a lesser known/deep cut might do that, might cause you to change the station, and then you will miss out on the only thing that matters…hearing the comercials. To be fair, "Cowboy Song" was an album track that was played while "Jailbreak" was hot(it might have been a single in the UK, but it failed in the US). Once "Boys" and the album faded, so did the secondary tunes, including the title track, which you might hear once in a blue moon, and I always loved hearing and playing that one. Same with a band like Mountain, all you'll hear is "Mississipi Queen", not even "Never In My Life", which got tracked a lot back in the day, let alone "Don't Look Around" or "Nantucket Sleighride".

 

[Holdsg]

Hurricane by Band of Heathens

Love that song. Love playing the organ solo on that song. No longer in the band that played it. (bummer).

 

[Basvarken]

My last band used to do Sin's A Good Man's Brother

 

[Michedelic]

No niche bands, Eh?..Well that leaves me out. But I'll give you a good one if you have good backup singers. "Hitchhike" by Smokey Robinson. This thing can rock.

You mean Marvin Gaye?

Then the Stones did a not 'arf-bad take on it..

My oldies band does that, as well as a similarly structured tune, Don Covay's "Mercy Mercy", which the Stones also had a go at. The Covay original had some guitarist named Jimi playing on it…

 

[wallawallabob]

We also do the Beatles No Reply. Other than a tribute band, I haven't heard this by anyone recently.

 

[Michedelic]

My last band used to do Sin's A Good Man's Brother

You know the Grand Funk original?

Monster Magnet tackled it as well…

 

[gtmalone]

I played in a blues group in the mid-90s. We did this one and usually announced this is not a blues tune but we're doing it anyway.

The group playing "Treat Her Right"
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[MrBass617]

Been in bar bands for over 35 years. One of my current bands plays some eclectic stuff, at least in my experience. Haven't heard other bands playing these.
Ride Captain Ride - Blues Messenger
Summer Rain - Johnny Rivers
Take it Easy On Me - Little River Band (I sing this)^^
Temptation Eyes - Grass Roots
Hot, Blue and Righteous -ZZ Top
(Dusty Hill tribute).
Roll Me Away - Bob Seger

Another guy I play with occasionally (when he calls me) does Chevy Van - Sammy Johns. Great vocals tune by a 1 hit wonder.

 

[JRA]

this is for standard issue bar bands, not tributes or niche bands...........Does your regular bar band play one or two "out there" songs?

i'm thinking that "random" and "out there" tunes are contextual, per a specific band.

my take on "random" or "out there" would be: pick a tune(s) that your audience doesn't expect you to play, arrange it your way for your band, kill it = win new friends, and influence people! in other words: it's only "random" because your band is playing it! the idea of an "obscure" tune is a little different for me --- too much of that and it starts to get vague, IMO.

but no way out is a cool tune --- a band could entertain with that one! anyway, good luck with your random song(s) choices!

I was working with a guitar player building up a couple of sets of all songs nobody plays.........until he moved away.....

cruel irony? i apologize that i rolled on this one....

It's kind of my thing to polish up the old, forgotten gems and make people happy by playing them.

same/similar. i love doing arrangements, though in my case i'm usually looking for "shock and awe" --- i played "subtle" for so many years that i guess i'm now into its opposite: "betcha didn't expect this one!"

 

[LBS-bass]

same/similar. i love doing arrangements, though in my case i'm usually looking for "shock and awe" --- i played "subtle" for so many years that i guess i'm now into its opposite: "betcha didn't expect this one!"

Yep, same here. I want to see the joy on someone's face when you play those forgotten gems. So many bands won't take that chance and it's a shame, because those are the things that keep people coming back, at least for us. Not know what you're going to get next, but knowing it's going to be good is what keeps certain clubs asking us back.

 

[Richland123]

Been in bar bands for over 35 years. One of my current bands plays some eclectic stuff, at least in my experience. Haven't heard other bands playing these.
Ride Captain Ride - Blues Messenger
Summer Rain - Johnny Rivers
Take it Easy On Me - Little River Band (I sing this)^^
Temptation Eyes - Grass Roots
Hot, Blue and Righteous -ZZ Top
(Dusty Hill tribute).
Roll Me Away - Bob Seger

Another guy I play with occasionally (when he calls me) does Chevy Van - Sammy Johns. Great vocals tune by a 1 hit wonder.

Ride Captain Ride was by Blues Image

 

[two fingers]

Really, Cowboy Song by Thin LIzzy "obscure"? Man, I was there. This tune was on constant airplay repeat in '76. Takes me right back to the skatepark where this was pretty much one of about 8 tunes constantly wailing over the PA.

I guess they didn't license their back catalog to the oldies conglomerates, so they don't get heard all the time.

By the mid 80s that song was played on the radio exactly never. A song that was on a chart of some kind for about twenty minutes only to never be heard from again can, in fact, become obscure....relatively speaking, of course.

 

[DblG]

When my band was just starting out in 1988, we did a B-side Abbey Road Medley: Mean Mr. Mustard -Polythene Pam - She Came In Through the Bathroom Window - Golden Slumbers - Carry That Weight - The End. I was maybe a year or two into playing bass at that time, and learning all that McCartney by ear was a huge leap for me.

 

[Richland123]

I had a band called The Conniptions for 12 years and we did a really wide variety of songs that were very well known along with some obscure songs and tunes that nobody else played and people liked them such as:

 

[Richland123]

Some more obscure and not played often songs I did with The Conniptions.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

Back in 2014 and 2015, I had a different lineup of my current band and we did several songs that other bands did not play including "I'll Be Around" by The Spinners and a twofer of "Young Girl" and "Over You" by Gary Puckett & The Union Gap. The guitarist (who has since passed) had played, toured, and recorded with many very famous acts starting in the 1960s until a couple years ago.

Those are great cover versions. Impressive ability on the drummer to play keys and keep the beat.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your guitarist friend and band mate.

 

[wallawallabob]

And then there is "She", Gram Parsons - Of course, we do it differently...

 

[Basvarken]

You know the Grand Funk original?

Of course. Otherwise we wouldn't have covered it ;-)
We did change the main riff slightly.

 

[rojo412]

"No More Lies" from the Dirty Harry Soundtrack. It's a sweet song by Lalo Schifrin. What a composer!