We simply can't cover current hits

[pbassjbass]

Whats a radio?

 

[leesbrushes]

Wow..
I thumbed through some replies and I have to say that I am so glad that I am not currently playing out.
I could not stomach to play most of today's pop music.
I used to play out and I used to paint large format murals.
I have a hard time enjoying my work in either if I don't feel it.
I don't paint much anymore unless someone calls with something that I can get into..i guess I'm lucky.
I have other things to keep me occupied.
Musically I'm happy entertaining myself but I am a bit older than the try to make it crowd..
I wish you luck brother.

 

[MCF]

Check Paul Wolfe's How to Play Bass site some ideas of more modern hits.

 

[Ant Illington]

Disclaimer: I pretty much can't stand any current hit that's on the Billboard Hot 100.

My band so far covers 90s punkish rock (No Doubt, Offspring, etc.), classic bar-fun standards (Summer of '69, Jessie's girl, etc.) and some older upbeat dancy stuff (Saw Her Standing There, Burning Love, etc.).

We have received a few critiques that we don't play any current music.

So... I went through the whole damn Billboard Top 100. I have come to conclusion that modern hits fall into two categories: Hip Hop, and Slow Jams. I can't cover either of those.

I found some slightly older ones that might work.
Hands - Fitz and the Tantrums
Little Talks - Of Monsters and Men
Wake Me Up - Avicii

Does anyone else have any ideas. Like I said, I listen to basically none of this type of music. If we find a bar that wants to hear Godsmack or Disturbed, I'm good to go!

I was going to tell you that if you live in a hick town then you need to get on the internet and listen to some bigger city stations. Then I noticed that you live in Chicago (some may argue that it is the world's biggest hick town and I may be one of them). WXRT. A lot of the current stuff they play, amongst much garbage (remember when it WAS chicago's FINEST rock?), is very bass/groove heavy stuff, even if it is a little synthy. You can do it without it being overly synthy, though. People love it and as a bass player, you should dig it, if you dig grooving. Or go on pandora and plug in "little talks" and it will lead you to some good, comparable stuff. I don't even know the names of this other stuff but it is there and it's pretty tasty for the masses these days. Arctic Monkeys, the latest by Beck (well, the single from a year or so ago (Ah, Dreams is the name") which sounds a lot like Arctic Monkeys, not in a bad way. the Black Keys (not my fave but people eat that stuff up).

 

[JMacBass65]

Two recent top ten hit songs that would fit in with your given songs are Exes and Ohs by Elle King and Shut Up and Dance With Me by Walk The Moon

The Elle King song is cool, but ugh I HATE that Shut Up and Dance one........

However, I just found S.O.B. from Nathaniel Ratliff. That's going in the list.

Yeah - that's a good one. His other stuff is good as well.

My fifteen-year-old daughter turned me on to these guys, me likey:

My daughter (16) saw them a couple of years ago when the opened a Fall Out Boy show. She really likes them, I think they are pretty cool, different. They have really taken off since. She saw them in a 5,000 seat club a year ago (they sold out two nights), and then this summer they headlined an outdoor 15,000 seat venue. They put on a hell of a show. Their recent stuff would be good for the OP purposes, but go back a bit if you just want to explore their work. I like 'em.

Over half the college age crowd I meet have no idea who Kurt Cobain is.

I find this disturbing. My daughter had Nirvana on her iPod (thanks to me) by age 12. What is wrong with parents these days.

 

[direwolf333]

Nothing stands out today. Either it's good or it aint.
The minute I Sturgill Simpson I knew they had that certain something. Then I saw the guitar player was using a red Tone Tubby speaker ( the one I like). Not my genre of choice but they can just flat out drop your jaw. Put on a nice head buzz and watch them on Austin City Limits.

 

[JMacBass65]

I'll take this opportunity to plug a "new" band I think are great.

Not sure enough people know these guys yet for the purposes of the OP, but it might not be long.

The Struts from the UK.

They get a fair bit of "alternative rock" radio play where I am, but their fan base is growing considerably. They have a new song that will be featured somehow in college football TV broadcasts, so that will help.

Production is pretty big on these, but they are bass/drums/guitar/vox live, and pull it all off just fine.

If I were in a cover band, I'd do this one (my daughter and I are actually in this vid about six times, BTW ):



This was their first US radio hit, but the audience would need to know the chorus and sing along, IMHO:



And last (sorry for being such a fanboy), I'd cover this now, but my band wouldn't go for it. Their first UK single, from three years ago:



OK - that's all. Hope it wasn't too much of a derail..........

 

[JMacBass65]

What about Alabama Shakes?

 

[Geekydad]

Whats a radio?

Absolutely zero of the songs I like get any radio play. If you know of a station that plays Slough Feg and Hammers of Misfortune, please let me know. I'll figure out a way to stream it and might find some cool new tunes.

 

[Noshtero]

Just want to say thanks for all the ideas! I've got some free time coming up and I'm going to dig through all of this.

 

[Downunderwonder]

Uptown Funk.

 

[Frenchy-Lefty]

We actually play Ex's and Oh's right now. It does go over rather well.

We have a lot of soccer moms that I think are forced to listen to this stuff because their kids play it. So it sort of grows on them.

Not bass relevant but horny soccer moms are the best

 

[someguyfromNC]

When we get a young crowd we always get Kings of Leon requests. I'd rather kick myself in the nuts.

 

[Arion]

You can do some Twenty One Pilots, DNCE, Ed Sheeran, Bastille.Also Avicii's new album Stories has a lot of good coverable songs. My favourites are Sunset Jesus, Trouble, For A Better Day and Can't Catch Me.
I love Avicii
EDIT:
Totally forgot about Coldplay. AHFOD is probably their worst album, but it'll appeal to the teens.

 

[Mattrill]

One Dance by Drake is my guilty pleasure.

 

[Mark McClelland]

Absolutely true. I was at a bar a few weeks ago pitching us - a two piece acoustic duo of bass, guitar and two vocals - and said my usual, that we play all through the decades including up to date hits. The person I was speaking to said, 'I hope you don't go too up to date. Nobody knows them.' However we do play I Can't Feel My Face and Hotline Bling. I absolutely do not understand the popularity of the latter but people go mad for it. And yeah. I've done exactly the same thing, going through the Billboard 100 and thinking, I would do none of these.

I also recently saw two cover bands in a hugely popular tourist venue - O'Neills, Chinatown - I don't think either of them played anything that was less than ten years old. A few Killers tracks might have been the most recent.

And sorry Aztec but you are slightly missing the point. With cover bands of this type you really have to play what people know. Cool doesn't cut it. If anything it's actually anti-cool. You can play different versions of a song and make them, well, cool, but if you play a song no-one knows, it just doesn't fly no matter how great your version of it is. Pipe passed over to you for a smoke.

 

[EastCoastThump]

Sometimes it depresses me because Brown Eyed Girl is still pretty high on that list. Oddly, from looking at the list, only about 60% of the tunes are current. You can play pretty much oldies, and still cover many songs on that list.

The DJ top 200 list skews way more to weddings than to clubs/parties, so it probably tells you more about the culture of weddings—the expected inclusion of standard ceremonial elements, and the emphasis on connecting present to past—than about current musical tastes. But even playing weddings, you won't get many glowing referrals if your band can *only* play the DJ top 200's oldies. And the list's "modern hits" entries make the current DJ top 200 pretty distinct from the 2012 DJ top 200.

So I guess that's *some* solace if your musical phobias include pushing the light rock of "Brown Eyed Girl" across the sisyphean dance floors of wedding after wedding.

 

[RickyWoo]

Nothing stands out today. Either it's good or it aint.
The minute I Sturgill Simpson I knew they had that certain something. Then I saw the guitar player was using a red Tone Tubby speaker ( the one I like). Not my genre of choice but they can just flat out drop your jaw. Put on a nice head buzz and watch them on Austin City Limits.

The only problem with covering Sturgill, that I see, is it will NEVER sound as GREAT as Sturgill. Jaw dropping indeed. My neighbour turned me on to his music last Winter. That voice.... Incredible artist. This is what Country is, to me. It takes away the stigma of "modern country" as soon as you press play.

 

[Nev375]

Our parents hated our music and we thought theirs was kinda lame too.
What made you think it would be any different for our generation and the next?


You learn to like most of what you expose yourself to over time.
That's why you like what you do, because it was everywhere when you were growing up.
Our music isn't everywhere anymore. Though it might seem like it if thats what you tune in to.
If you want to learn to like today's music you gotta start listening without the idea that it's all crap.


The general idea that good music isn't made anymore is logically absurd.

 

[Stdjazz4]

The beauty in covering today's pop songs is making them your own. It's really fun and we have pretty good feedback in doing so.

As true now as it was in the Hit Parade days.

Even more so, as the material today isn't as good as the Standards.

Blue Moon when from Big Band ballad to doo-wop!!

There are many examples...