The Real Reason Why Bands Play the Same Old Tired Covers

[Bass Viking]

Where I disagree is that you believe it is due to laziness. It doesn't take any more time to learn the same tired songs as it does a new one (unless you have been playing that song forever, but even then, the band has learn to play it together).

A big part of Jive's point is musicians not doing the homework to learn tunes.

I once saw a band do The Archies "Sugar Sugar". The dance floor was packed and they had the audience's attention all night.

I've jokingly suggested to my friends that someone should start a Bubblegum cover band. Or maybe play a set of Bubblegum tunes. It would probably go over well (although the musicians might require barf buckets offstage).

 

[buldog5151bass]

You all complain about doing the same tunes. I doubt the Stones have changed more than 50% of their set list in 40 years.

 

[Munjibunga]

All that, plus that's what the audiences want and expect to hear ...

 

[bigboy_78]

You all complain about doing the same tunes. I doubt the Stones have changed more than 50% of their set list in 40 years.

I haven't heard Keef moaning about DJs or "Dad Bands" stealing his gigs either..

 

[EddiePlaysBass]

You all complain about doing the same tunes. I doubt the Stones have changed more than 50% of their set list in 40 years.

Which is, of course, totally not comparing apples to oranges ... This adds about as much to the thread as those unwarranted snide remarks towards mellowinman did.

And yes, I realize this is a snide remark towards you, which (believe it or not) is unintentional. But seriously, the Stones wrote (a lot of) the songs which they are known for, so I guess you can bump them in with the "originals" lot. The OP was (IMHO) about cover band musicians.

 

[hdracer]

You all complain about doing the same tunes. I doubt the Stones have changed more than 50% of their set list in 40 years.

You haven't been to many Stones concerts in the past 40 years have you?

 

[lowfreq33]

I play between 7-10 gigs a week. We NEVER play Sweet Home unless someone gives us a $20 for it. And we play it at least once per gig. At least.

 

[pklima]

I'm not sure if people really want to hear what's familiar. If it's good and they can get into it, it doesn't necessarily have to be familiar. If you're playing nostalgic music like 70s funk or 90s rock then, yeah, they probably do want something that they've heard before. That doesn't necessarily mean stuff all the other bands play, but it does mean no obscurities, even if they're obscure gems that could have been big hits with a bit of better luck.

But if you're not going for nostalgia and you have a good feel for what your audience likes, then the right obscure song can do well. "Una Mas Cerveza" by Tommy Alverson is something lots of Spanish-speaking people in Poland instantly get into even though they haven't heard it before - it's fun, catchy, lets them have a good laugh at people mangling Spanish, but on another level they can identify with it being about being in a strange land with a strange language. And I always played it faster and more upbeat than Tommy does. The right song for the right crowd. For a less niche example, any of us who played "Wagon Wheel" years before Darius Rucker have also seen it consistently go over great.

Or take "Muevelo" by Sofia Reyes - totally obscure here, not even a million views on Youtube and just about all of those have to be in Latin America. I played it two days after it came out at a club here, it kept the dance floor full, and it's been a fixture of my DJ sets since. I even went to the trouble of making an edit with kick drum and intro added to make it easier to mix. As soon as I heard it I knew it would work, and in this case I was right.

Here's some thought. One of the places my old band used to play had a DJ who played before us, during our break and after us. 100% of the music he played had literally the entire place on the dance floor. I told the BL that he should be taking notes and incorporating some of the songs being played. He blew me off.

Yup, that happens a lot. I got so tired of band members resisting playing really popular songs that I finally listened to my friends who've been telling me for years that I should start DJing. I've done about twice as many DJ gigs as bass gigs this year. I can finally play all the songs I like without arguing with people who don't want to learn them. And I can also try out whether a song is worth covering without having to get 2-3 other people to learn it first.

 

[ChrisB2]

The problem with this thread is the use of the word "lazy." It isn't necessarily lazy to play standards, or to not add songs. It might be laziness, but it might not. Everyone prioritizes their time differently. I mow my grass one day sooner than you, therefore you're lazy.

Obviously, from the responses to this thread not everyone agrees that playing "standards" is bad, and lumping everyone who plays songs YOU view negatively into the "lazy" category is a little offensive. Judging by the amount of time some of you spend on here I can see you have loads of free time on your hands. You should already know 10,000 tunes... unless you're just lazy.

Personally I like playing different songs but my cover band has trouble getting new stuff in playing condition due to everyone's schedules. It would be great if we all had the time and synchronized schedules where we could spend more time rehearsing new songs together, but it just doesn't happen. And I can say that in my case it is NOT due to laziness.

In fact we're talking about some member changes for this very reason, we need a group with more-similar time availability so we can do more songs. But it has nothing to do with laziness.

 

[10cc]

The real reason why people play the same songs is because they worry people will not like the music they play if it's not something they know everybody already knows. Take a chance if your in a cover band play an entire night of songs that you think nobody knows. Better yet write your own songs, write good ones. Is everybody here at talkbass in a cover band? Jeezzz.

 

[mellowinman]

The problem with this thread is the use of the word "lazy." It isn't necessarily lazy to play standards, or to not add songs. It might be laziness, but it might not. Everyone prioritizes their time differently. I mow my grass one day sooner than you, therefore you're lazy.

Obviously, from the responses to this thread not everyone agrees that playing "standards" is bad, and lumping everyone who plays songs YOU view negatively into the "lazy" category is a little offensive. Judging by the amount of time some of you spend on here I can see you have loads of free time on your hands. You should already know 10,000 tunes... unless you're just lazy.

Personally I like playing different songs but my cover band has trouble getting new stuff in playing condition due to everyone's schedules. It would be great if we all had the time and synchronized schedules where we could spend more time rehearsing new songs together, but it just doesn't happen. And I can say that in my case it is NOT due to laziness.

In fact we're talking about some member changes for this very reason, we need a group with more-similar time availability so we can do more songs. But it has nothing to do with laziness.

About the last 5 songs we added, we changed our work habits quite a bit. Basically, our drummer is in a few bands, and he came to a rehearsal ready to play every song from beginning to end, and the two other band members besides me did not have their parts ready. All he had to do was express his disappointment, and suddenly, those two felt like they had really been called out. They both put a lot more time into learning their parts at home, and the next time we did a rehearsal, everybody was ready, and we put those songs together a lot more quickly than we had been doing.

Suddenly someone besides me was calling them out, and they realized what most of us already know: that if you woodshed something on your own, it's going to be very easy to put it together with your band.

We've been playing more shows lately, and haven't had a rehearsal together for at least a month and a half, but everybody just runs through their parts at home, and the last few times we've hit the stage, we've been tighter and more focused than ever.

 

[mellowinman]

The real reason why people play the same songs is because they worry people will not like the music they play if it's not something they know everybody already knows. Take a chance if your in a cover band play an entire night of songs that you think nobody knows. Better yet write your own songs, write good ones. Is everybody here at talkbass in a cover band? Jeezzz.

I think Jive1's OP hit a lot closer to the truth than this post.

We are more than aware of your disdain for cover bands.

 

[buldog5151bass]

I was trying to make a point. As I have said before, two points here:

1 nothing wrong with playing the standards if that will get the people up. The most popular bands do.
2 there is no excuse for not learning new songs continually, especially if BL names a song for the band.

And I saw the Stones on Steel Wheels tour, and read numerous articles that discussed their set lists on subsequent tours - Start Me Up, Brown Sugar, JJF, etc. Jagger talked about how it was hard to put a set list together, since there were so many songs they "had" to play.

 

[brianrost]

Wouldn't be great to see a band do "Rats In The Cellar" , "No More, No More" or something else that is well known. If they play Bad Co, its usually "Can't Get Enough". There are plenty of other great songs such as "Movin' On". Lynyrd Skynyrd cover is always "Sweet Home Alabama". Why not play "That Smell" or "Workin' For MCA".

None of those songs were radio hits. Most of them won't be found on a $7 greatest hits CD in WalMart either. Only actual fans of those bands know those tunes.

 

[jive1]

The problem with this thread is the use of the word "lazy." It isn't necessarily lazy to play standards, or to not add songs. It might be laziness, but it might not. Everyone prioritizes their time differently. I mow my grass one day sooner than you, therefore you're lazy.

Obviously, from the responses to this thread not everyone agrees that playing "standards" is bad, and lumping everyone who plays songs YOU view negatively into the "lazy" category is a little offensive. Judging by the amount of time some of you spend on here I can see you have loads of free time on your hands. You should already know 10,000 tunes... unless you're just lazy.

Personally I like playing different songs but my cover band has trouble getting new stuff in playing condition due to everyone's schedules. It would be great if we all had the time and synchronized schedules where we could spend more time rehearsing new songs together, but it just doesn't happen. And I can say that in my case it is NOT due to laziness.

In fact we're talking about some member changes for this very reason, we need a group with more-similar time availability so we can do more songs. But it has nothing to do with laziness.

I don't consider playing standards to be lazy or bad in and of itself, but when you revert to them due to not learning other material, then it is. For example, you plan out 2-3 new songs for your next gig that you know will go over well at the venue. But, when you get there, you realize the guitarist didn't learn the tunes, so you revert to the tunes everyone knows.

I have full time job in IT, own a business, have a family, am the guardian of my autistic brother, involved in my church, go to the bar on Sundays watch copious amounts of football in the fall, etc. but am still able to spare some time in a 1-2 week period to learn a few tunes. I know musicians who have a fraction of what's on my plate who can't put in the time to learn a tune on their own. If I can get the time to learn a few tunes, then anyone can. It's really not that hard. I don't know 10,000 tunes, but I have performed over 700 different tunes in the last 4 years.

Northern Virginia is a crazy busy place where it's hard to synchronize schedules so its important to learn the material on your own prior to rehearsal or gig. If you're not prepared, you are wasting others time. I really don't have time for rehearsals, so I don't do them often. I listen to material while working or in my car. I chart out a tune, and practice in the wee hours of the night after my other work is done. I can't tell you how many times someone has come in to rehearsal without having heard the song, which is utter laziness in this day and age, IMO.

 

[pklima]

I can't tell you how many times someone has come in to rehearsal without having heard the song, which is utter laziness in this day and age, IMO.

Often deliberate laziness bordering on sabotage. "If I don't listen to this song and don't learn it and keep playing it wrong they'll give up trying to make me play it, and we'll have no choice but to play something I like instead" - I suspect that's what's going on a lot of the time.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Jive, I agree - when the band says they are going to play a song, learn the !#@$%!~@#$%in' song. If the band is not important enough to do that, step out. Plenty of good musicians who would be happy to take your place in a good band.

 

[Kmonk]

None of those songs were radio hits. Most of them won't be found on a $7 greatest hits CD in WalMart either. Only actual fans of those bands know those tunes.

I actually hear them on the radio quite often. I'm sure if anyone is going to see a classic rock band, they are familiar with songs that were not major hits.

 

[ricknote]

Well said my friend.

 

[smogg]

Often deliberate laziness bordering on sabotage. "If I don't listen to this song and don't learn it and keep playing it wrong they'll give up trying to make me play it, and we'll have no choice but to play something I like instead" - I suspect that's what's going on a lot of the time.

Jive, I agree - when the band says they are going to play a song, learn the !#@$%!~@#$%in' song. If the band is not important enough to do that, step out. Plenty of good musicians who would be happy to take your place in a good band.

IMO you both have touched on the root of the matter. If the band is learning new/more/other material on some kind of regular and timely basis, the "standards" can be regulated to the "will call" list and used as needed/requested (or have alternatives to offer).
Why be a band in a box when it's not that difficult to be so much more.