Top 40...anyone playing it?

[bucephylus]

“Top 40” may formally exist somewhere in someone’s mind. But, the reality is that no one listens to the same “hit” playlist in cars any longer. The iHeart radio stations approximate some kind of attempt to put out “hits;” but, try playing one of those in a standard club, and most dance floors will be vacated.

Non-musicians, who comprise most of our paying audiences, know whatever songs they hear the most frequently. In previous times where listening was done on the car radio, the audiences were essentially herds of lemmings, guided by whatever content the radio stations put out. Top 40 standardized that content.

Now, we have the Internet, with lots of options, but no center. Cars have Sirius or some other streaming service. Audiences have turned into herds of cats. Musically speaking. There may be some version of Top 40 somewhere. No one is listening to it, except a few random cats.

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

We just learned "Flowers" by Miley Cyrus in the variety band I'm in. Pretty simple. Actually it's essentially "I Will Survive" with different lyrics. Even same tempo and key. "Song Of The Year" 2023. It doesn't get much response. Most of the local live music venues seem to be frequented by older patrons mostly interested in older music, IME.

BBB

 

[Rib 13]

My band does classic and new Top40

We just learned "Flowers" by Miley Cyrus in the variety band I'm in. Pretty simple. Actually it's essentially "I Will Survive" with different lyrics. Even same tempo and key. "Song Of The Year" 2023. It doesn't get much response. Most of the local live music venues seem to be frequented by older patrons mostly interested in older music, IME.

BBB

....^and we do "Flowers" by Miley, too lol...I don't think it's "I Will Survive" though...to me, "I Will Survive" is "Europa" with a disco beat lol

 

[fishdude101101]

If you're in any form of GB group then some portion of your catalog has to be top 40 (or at least top 40 material from the last 3-5 years) if the crowd demographic of the event is younger than 50. If you don't you won't get hired to play subsequent events.

I agree but what's a GB group?

 

[fishdude101101]

“Top 40” may formally exist somewhere in someone’s mind. But, the reality is that no one listens to the same “hit” playlist in cars any longer. The iHeart radio stations approximate some kind of attempt to put out “hits;” but, try playing one of those in a standard club, and most dance floors will be vacated.

Non-musicians, who comprise most of our paying audiences, know whatever songs they hear the most frequently. In previous times where listening was done on the car radio, the audiences were essentially herds of lemmings, guided by whatever content the radio stations put out. Top 40 standardized that content.

Now, we have the Internet, with lots of options, but no center. Cars have Sirius or some other streaming service. Audiences have turned into herds of cats. Musically speaking. There may be some version of Top 40 somewhere. No one is listening to it, except a few random cats.

We just look around the Spotify top songs and pick stuff we can pull off. Today we just learned too sweet by holier and post malone I had some help.

When we started this band I told the other members that I wanted to do newer stuff.....we do a mix, but I have no interest in being a classic rock band.

We've also been learning a lot of country.

 

[bucephylus]

We just look around the Spotify top songs and pick stuff we can pull off. Today we just learned too sweet by holier and post malone I had some help.

When we started this band I told the other members that I wanted to do newer stuff.....we do a mix, but I have no interest in being a classic rock band.

We've also been learning a lot of country.

Don’t get me wrong; there is some GREAT material out there. My problem with most of it is that covering a lot of it clears the dance floor. And, not because the rendition is poor; folks just generally aren’t on the same page.

I would also prefer playing a wide variety of material from different eras. The more the better. But, my audiences generally prefer nothing close to that. They need to know the tunes. That generally means material you might not want to cover.

But, I’ll tell you this: Motown ALWAYS fills the dance floor up. Of course, I don’t consider Motown to be Classic Rock. It’s just Classic.

 

[bigboy_78]

I agree but what's a GB group?

I think its General Business group. Regional name for what I'd call call a Corporate/Wedding Band. Playing stuff (rich) people dance to....

 

[J Wilson]

If I had to start out today, I have no clue how I would get my head around a list of songs for a band, and from what I do hear, the tunes and styles would be all over the map.

 

[MuseChaser]

What about the material would make it impossible?

The fact that a great deal of it was never played...it's sequences of computer generated sounds without any real-time human involvement by musicians who play instruments. It's kind of like asking a four-piece acting troupe to reproduce scenes from "The Matrix" or other CGI spectacle live.

Ray Crisara, one of the top orchestral and studio trumpet players of all time, left the studio business due to disillusionment. He told a friend of mine who studied with him, "Pat, anything you hear on the radio never happened."

I feel his pain. When I was touring back in the early 80s, we covered all kinds of genres, but even then, as MIDI and sequencing became increasingly commonplace, there were some things that were tough to do live (meaning, play everything in real time, no sequenced tracks). Now, dependent upon genre, it's almost impossible.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Back when I was just starting out in bands all of the local bands, mostly guys that were a little older than me, were playing the top 40 hits of the day, so that's what we did, too. A lot of that was soul music and then it changed to blues rock and rock, but we still kept playing current songs. Is anyone still doing that? Is it even possible for a cover band to cover today's top 40 hits?

Great question.

 

[DoctorZee]

The fact that a great deal of it was never played...it's sequences of computer generated sounds without any real-time human involvement by musicians who play instruments. It's kind of like asking a four-piece acting troupe to reproduce scenes from "The Matrix" or other CGI spectacle live.

Ray Crisara, one of the top orchestral and studio trumpet players of all time, left the studio business due to disillusionment. He told a friend of mine who studied with him, "Pat, anything you hear on the radio never happened."

I feel his pain. When I was touring back in the early 80s, we covered all kinds of genres, but even then, as MIDI and sequencing became increasingly commonplace, there were some things that were tough to do live (meaning, play everything in real time, no sequenced tracks). Now, dependent upon genre, it's almost impossible.

But even still, it’s only “impossible” if you set the expectation that it will sound exactly like the original. The song can still be played. I’ve done Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Katy Perry and plenty of other modern music with 4-piece guitar-based bands. Doesn’t sound just like the original, but close enough to get people excited.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

The fact that a great deal of it was never played...it's sequences of computer generated sounds without any real-time human involvement by musicians who play instruments. It's kind of like asking a four-piece acting troupe to reproduce scenes from "The Matrix" or other CGI spectacle live.

Ray Crisara, one of the top orchestral and studio trumpet players of all time, left the studio business due to disillusionment. He told a friend of mine who studied with him, "Pat, anything you hear on the radio never happened."

I feel his pain. When I was touring back in the early 80s, we covered all kinds of genres, but even then, as MIDI and sequencing became increasingly commonplace, there were some things that were tough to do live (meaning, play everything in real time, no sequenced tracks). Now, dependent upon genre, it's almost impossible.

As I posted before, we are all dinosaurs trudging to the tar pits griping every step of the way. Our band’s unofficial slogan is “Real music written, arranged, and performed by real people”. If we can’t hold people’s attention with that, we need to pack it in. So far, in competition with the advances in technology, we are holding our own for the last 20 years. But there will be a day when it’s done, but as long as we can record and put it out on the internet, somebody somewhere will down load it and appreciate it.

Even if it just an anthropologist 400 years from now scratching his head yelling “Hey Charlie! Get a load of this!”

 

[klyph]

“Nothin’ but blues and Elvis, and somebody else’s favorite song…”

 

[bigboy_78]

... Our band’s unofficial slogan is “Real music written, arranged, and performed by real people”.

Our band slogan is "Playing the hits, for all the drunk chicks"......

 

[MD]

So you're not doing it now.

No, that was a long time ago.

 

[E2942]

Dance Covers for Drunks

It's a great band name, but people would pretend not to identify.

 

[younggun]

“Nothin’ but blues and Elvis, and somebody else’s favorite song…”

.....Give her some funked-up Muzak
She treats you nice.

 

[smurfco]

THESE DANG KIDS AND THEIR DANG COMPUTER MUSIC

 

[SLO Surfer]

Is anyone still doing that? Is it even possible for a cover band to cover today's top 40 hits?

Yes, and yes. Here we are doing Dua Lipa, Kool and the Gang, Bruno Mars, Lizzo, and who knows what else all wrapped up into one song. Crowds seem to like familiar tunes.

 

[Carl Hillman]

Top 40...anyone playing it?

DJs, mostly.