Weird Song suggestions that dont fit.

Jimmy4string

Jimmy4string

Sep 6, 2006
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Austin Texas
#1
So whenever the band gets together without me the guitarist takes advantage to try and push odd songs.
:)
Do you get that?!
We are a hard rock band and I get an email this morning they were trying out "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and Margaritaville?!! WHA??o_O
can you imagine Motley Crue busting out those soft pop hits?! :roflmao:
Anyway in other bands i have had this. A kind of country band someone suggested Iron Maiden
LOL
 
#2
Yeah, I guess it's "musical leakage" or something. We all have songs we'd like to do. I'd like to bust out some metal tunes, but I'm in a Motown R&B thing. It's not going to work.

In most bands there are 2 or 3other sub-bands that could do a different style as a side project. Those projects probably are going to be trios that hit an open mike or jam night to get it out of their system.

I think one of my side projects is going to end up called "Songs About Hookers."
 
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#3
I've run into this issue more than a few times and it's usually done by vocalists that aren't musicians, in that they only sing and don't play any instrument. They have no idea of the bands limits, what it takes to woodshed or any sense of the type of genre(s) the band is best at.

Recently at a gig, we took a break and the vocalist asked if we could play a specific song, I don't recall the song title.
Her friend was in the audience and she wanted to have the friend sing it with her.
Well, none of us in the band had ever heard of the song or even the artist and said as much to her.
No problem, she says and quickly pulls Spotify up on her phone and plays it for us. "There, got it?"
Uh, no. It was not some run of the mill 1-4-5 progression or a simple 3 to 4 chord song but a complex, multi chord, fast, country-pop ballad with lots of stops, tempo changes and modulations.
We respectfully declined to embarrass ourselves trying to wing a tune we didn't know.
 
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#4
Jimmy4string said:
So whenever the band gets together without me the guitarist takes advantage to try and push odd songs.
:)
Do you get that?!
We are a hard rock band and I get an email this morning they were trying out "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and Margaritaville?!! WHA??o_O
can you imagine Motley Crue busting out those soft pop hits?! :roflmao:
Anyway in other bands i have had this. A kind of country band someone suggested Iron Maiden
LOL
Click to expand...

You mean like this?



 
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#6
dtripoli said:
I've run into this issue more than a few times and it's usually done by vocalists that aren't musicians, in that they only sing and don't play any instrument. They have no idea of the bands limits, what it takes to woodshed or any sense of the type of genre(s) the band is best at.

Recently at a gig, we took a break and the vocalist asked if we could play a specific song, I don't recall the song title.
Her friend was in the audience and she wanted to have the friend sing it with her.
Well, none of us in the band had ever heard of the song or even the artist and said as much to her.
No problem, she says and quickly pulls Spotify up on her phone and plays it for us. "There, got it?"
Uh, no. It was not some run of the mill 1-4-5 progression or a simple 3 to 4 chord song but a complex, multi chord, fast, country-pop ballad with lots of stops, tempo changes and modulations.
We respectfully declined to embarrass ourselves trying to wing a tune we didn't know.
Click to expand...

Dude, you should have said "sure will" and then start off the set "we're going to do a song for Jill" and then you do a totally different song you do know and the singer doesn't.... Mwahahahahaha!
 
#8
I once saw a bar band playing songs like "Have you never been mellow" and "You light up my life" with a hard rock edge. I thought they sounded great. It was a unique spin on songs you'd never expect to hear out.
 
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#10
I think in some genres/bands - it's absolutely awesome to break genre a few times a night. The audience loves it. It really depends on the song though. A metal band doing Breakfast at Tiffany's in the original style? NO. My country band throws in songs like Love Shack, Wannabe (yes, the Spice Girls), Beat It, some Joan Jett, Journey, etc. That stuff KILLS - like 'put the bartenders on the dance floor'. Most people like the idea of not being fed the same style of music for hours on end - but you have to keep it in something of the same vein. Country and rock/pop tend to mesh well...
 
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#11
It can be really difficult to get a band together where everyone has compatible personalities, levels of commitment, availability, expertise, etc. When you do, it can lead some people to see it as a vehicle for all their musical projects - not just whatever brought you together in the first place. As jshinal said,
jshinal said:
Yeah, I guess it's "musical leakage" or something. We all have songs we'd like to do.
Click to expand...
In a non-dictatorship band, everyone has to get that songs are chosen based on something other than what one person enjoys performing. It may be an era, genre, dance style, stuff that's in the charts, or whatever - it's your group's musical identity. Ask everyone in the band what they normally say when people ask, "What kind of music do you play?". If the answers vary wildly, or you get something vague like "rock covers", you may have a problem. Your band members might not even have realised that they're pulling in different directions :laugh:
Establishing a "mission statement" is really helpful. It's also great for marketing & promoting yourselves, and you'll never baffle an audience with an incoherent setlist.

To avoid confusion: None of this has anything to do with taking songs from outside your "area" and adapting them to fit in with the rest of your songs - that's totally separate, and usually a good thing.
 
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