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Who knew this song would go over?

two fingers

two fingers

Opinionated blowhard. But not mad about it.
Inactive
Feb 7, 2005
33,959
116,685
55
Eastern NC USA
#1
So we recently had a thread about "set killers" and that got me to thinking. What about songs you NEVER thought would go over and they KILLED (in a good way)? I played in a band a bunch of years ago and I had joined well after they were established. As I was learning the set, I came across a few songs that made me think that they had lost their minds. BUT after a few shows, they turned out to be the crowd pleasers.

Cowboy Song - Thin Lizzy (very cool bass and guitar harmonies)

Dreams I'll Never See - Molly Hatchet version (who knew?)

And Later....

Good Time - Arch Angels (which I LOVE)


How bout you? What are your dark horse crowd pleasers? What gets the crowd going more often than not even though you never thought it would?
 
#4
two fingers said:
So we recently had a thread about "set killers" and that got me to thinking. What about songs you NEVER thought would go over and they KILLED (in a good way)? I played in a band a bunch of years ago and I had joined well after they were established. As I was learning the set, I came across a few songs that made me think that they had lost their minds. BUT after a few shows, they turned out to be the crowd pleasers.

Cowboy Song - Thin Lizzy (very cool bass and guitar harmonies)

Dreams I'll Never See - Molly Hatchet version (who knew?)

And Later....

Good Time - Arch Angels (which I LOVE)


How bout you? What are your dark horse crowd pleasers? What gets the crowd going more often than not even though you never thought it would?
Click to expand...

Those songs are *always* hits down here. The Arc Angels are from here, so everyone knows "Good Time". We do "Cowboy Song" often at the jam, as well as "Jail Break". Anything by Molly Hatchet flies well in the South. "Dreams..." is a big favorite of mine, and I'm actually learning it so we can bring it into our set.

"Squeezebox" was my big surprise. The guys got me to sing and play it, but the first time I did it, no one got up. They just stared! I think they were stunned. LOL!

But it has become a big crowd hit, and everyone dances to it. I raunch the song up a bit, using vocal expression, and we put a lot of energy into it. They love it, and I really didn't they would!

Cherie :bassist:
 
#5
mpm32 said:
War Pigs, we initially played it for ourselves - but it's become a sing along. lol
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I've been trying to bring that tune in, 'cause I can sing/play it, and when we do it at the jam, the crowd goes nuts. Truly, a sing-a-long!

My guitarist thinks its too much of a "showcase song" (whatever that means) and won't let me do it with our band. He's not been there when we've done it at the jam, so I think I will have to make certain I do it next time he shows up. LOL!

I know for a fact the crowds in our venues would dig it a lot! I'd also like to do "Sweet Leaf", for the same reason. May have to road-test that at the jam, too.

Cherie
 
#7
two fingers said:
Squeezebox and War Pigs! NOYCE!
Click to expand...

Right? I love doing "War Pigs"...all those people singing along and pumping their fists, like so many Vikings in a meadhall. GOD, what a rush!!! I can't understand why Guitar thinks it won't fly. We could replace "Come To Papa" with it. :D

Really must finish working up Sweet Leaf over the weekend...we can use the two Sabbath songs like bookends!

I'm itching to do Joan Jett's cover of Iggy Pop's "I Wanna Be Your Dog", but Guitar thinks that won't fly, either. We shall see on jam night, soon.

Cherie :hyper:
 
#12
We do a cover of Jamiroquai's "High Times" that either packs the floor or clears the room, and I have not been able to determine why it goes in either direction.

We also do a long medley of Eb Oakland style funk tunes, always including Curtis Mayfield's "Check Out Your Mind" and varyingly including some old Headhunters tunes and occasionally "Pawn Shop" by Sublime. It clears the floor 90% of the time, and clears the whole place for an additional 5%. I do not know why we still play it, but I am not the music director in the band.
 
#15
We play an old Elvis song called "Mountain". Our singer just kills the vocal part (not in costume), and it's got good dynamics and harmonies that we do pretty well too.

I was really skeptical when we started playing it... #1 it's so old, #2 Elvis is dead, #3 it's a slow song and #4 it's in 6/8 (a la "I Can't Help Falling In Love With You"). But somehow it just works every time and is one of our go-to numbers.
 
#19
I was in a fairly heavy hard rock / metal band covering Megadeth, Metallica, Ozzy, Priest, etc., and I had to fight for this song but I had a feeling it would work well in our set if we metal-ified it, it REALLY worked and got the girls on the dance floor...and then they stayed there. Yup, "Little Willie" by Sweet.

The best I saw, was an extremely well known local METAL band (ALL GUYS) doing En Vogue's "Free Your Mind" big vox and all - it was a killer - in a good way.
 
#20
shadowmac said:
The best I saw, was an extremely well known local METAL band (ALL GUYS) doing En Vogue's "Free Your Mind" big vox and all - it was a killer - in a good way.
Click to expand...

"Never Gonna Get It" also another slammin' track by those ladies. Prolly not something you'd want a band of guys covering, though...

Re "Sultans of Swing" I've had really mixed success on that one. My current band used to do it back with our original lead guitarist who could play Knopfler style stuff all day. We played it really well but it only went over half the time at best. The other times you could practically hear the crowd checking-out.
 

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