Has a band experience ruined a song for you?

[nursers]

I always thought Tom Petty was one of the good ones; he stuck up for the underdog, famously didn't back down (no pun intended) to intimidation, but was willing to admit his mistakes, too. That strength and that vulnerability were present in his music. I miss him.

 

:yeahthat: :yeahthat: :yeahthat: :yeahthat: :yeahthat:

[AquilaRift]

Oh, gawd, I've read through these posts and between laughing and cringing because I've gone through the exact same stuff as most of you have, I just feel bad for every gigging musician who has to play covers they hate, or with people who don't know a song, etc. I don't gig anymore, not because of the horrors, but because I stopped enjoying it, and in my last 5 years of playing, I absolutely refused to do covers unless we completely reworked them. Loved playing for people, hated when band members showed up late or not at all for a gig.

 

But anyway, the most embarrassing thing that ever happened was when our drummer showed up really drunk for a gig. He was always a jerk, and we wanted to replace him, but that night... ugh. We were a cover band, doing mostly R&B, blues, rock and some 80s stuff, but we had some originals too. One original song had a sequenced intro that I somehow managed to program into my Korg M1. It was designed to play by itself and stop just as the band kicked in for the song, but for some daft reason, our drummer decided he was going to improvise some drums over it. And it was awful. Really awful. I stopped the sequence immediately. Apologized to the crowd and said we had to sort out some tech difficulties and said we would be right back. Off stage, we fired our drummer right there. Told him to get his kit off the stage, and he did. We finished our gig without a drummer, which isn't that easy to do, mind you, but we did it by changing to a more acoustic oriented set. But yeah, that night, just ruined being in cover bands for me.

[Delaware Dave]

Has a band experience ruined a song for you?

Yes, many ......

[Fuzzy1]

You just ain't right KuruPrionz just like Me!

[GRollins]

I do agree that there is a separation between music, lyrics, and cultural trappings, but I also feel that sometimes those things become inextricable depending on context. There's nothing inherently racist about "Gimme Three Steps," but if you play it with a Confederate flag draped behind you, it does send a different message, and speak to a different audience, than the racially-integrated Allmans playing a jazz-influenced 11-minute instrumental.

 

That.

 

Thank you.

 

I must say, it's been interesting watching the various interpretations of what I said go by.

 

Note that when Skynyrd sings, "Well, I hope Neil Young will remember...Southern Man don't need him around, anyhow..." in Sweet Home Alabama, it's a pretty blatantly racist statement, given the context of Neil Young's Southern Man.

 

For the record, I'm okay with Wagner (but prefer the Russian composers). Note that he died in 1883 and is hence completely innocent of any Nazi taint, unless you just want to condemn anything and everything that came from Germany, regardless of period. Now, if you want to blame films for his music, don't...blame the director.

 

I'll freely grant that the Allman Brothers seem to be decent folks, but again, it's the audience that has appropriated Southern rock as a genre. I saw the Allman Brothers at the August Jam back in 1974 and enjoyed them, but that was then and things have changed, culturally (and politically, but that strays beyond the boundaries of this forum).

 

Grey

[Ledbetter]

Brick Houseâtoo many repetitions of a repetitive song.

Eminence Frontâbass player refused to play a sustained note on the one, even with the drummer and me urging him to just listen to the record. Rant over, carry on.

[KuruPrionz]

You just ain't right KuruPrionz just like Me!

 

 

Cain't hep it none nohow!

[pinkfloydcramer]

Note that when Skynyrd sings, "Well, I hope Neil Young will remember...Southern Man don't need him around, anyhow..." in Sweet Home Alabama, it's a pretty blatantly racist statement, given the context of Neil Young's Southern Man.

Grey

 

?? Here's some context: Ronnie Van Zant loved Neil's music, this whole thing was one friend ragging on another. Neil said that SWA was a great song and even played it live a few times. Anyone that cares, google for more info and hopefully this thread can go back to being lighthearted stories of onstage train wrecks. If we can stay off our soap boxes.

 

I like 20th century Russian composers, also. But once at a recital I forgot where I was in a Rachmaninov piece and had to start over. Ever since then I've hated Prelude In G Minor. I really wish the bingo players at the American Legion would quit requesting it during soundcheck.

[stoken6]

I'm okay with Wagner (but prefer the Russian composers). Note that he died in 1883 and is hence completely innocent of any Nazi taint

Antisemitism didn't start with the Nazis. It goes way back.

 

Whether we should boycott Wagner's music because of his racist views is a different, controversial, story.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[KuruPrionz]

Note that when Skynyrd sings, "Well, I hope Neil Young will remember...Southern Man don't need him around, anyhow..." in Sweet Home Alabama, it's a pretty blatantly racist statement, given the context of Neil Young's Southern Man.

Grey

 

?? Here's some context: Ronnie Van Zant loved Neil's music, this whole thing was one friend ragging on another. Neil said that SWA was a great song and even played it live a few times. Anyone that cares, google for more info and hopefully this thread can go back to being lighthearted stories of onstage train wrecks. If we can stay off our soap boxes.

 

I like 20th century Russian composers, also. But once at a recital I forgot where I was in a Rachmaninov piece and had to start over. Ever since then I've hated Prelude In G Minor. I really wish the bingo players at the American Legion would quit requesting it during soundcheck.

 

And Warren Zevon probably liked both of those songs but still wrote Play It All Night Long because writers gonna write. The overlooked song is Alabama by Neil Young, which was not a hit - from the same album as Southern man, it is pretty scathing.

 

Last but not least, while he keyed the song in G instead of D, Werewolves of London has the same D-C-G structure all the way through as Sweet Home Alabama and sort of a Southern Rock sound to it including a slide guitar solo, just the lyrics were whack.

 

So the whole thing is too complicated to worry about or make assumptions.

All that said, I am just completly tired and uninspired of SHA and would not mind never playing or hearing it again. There are others like that, I mentioned Wonderwall by Oasis. I hate that even more than SHA, at least I get a guitar solo in the latter, plus it's not some sissy bellowing about nothing.

[AquilaRift]

All that said, I am just completly tired and uninspired of SHA and would not mind never playing or hearing it again. There are others like that, I mentioned Wonderwall by Oasis. I hate that even more than SHA, at least I get a guitar solo in the latter, plus it's not some sissy bellowing about nothing.

 

I'm with you on Wonderwall, and pretty much everything by Oasis. Can't remember their names, but the lead singer (Liam?) was such a jerk. I think his guitarist brother was a lot cooler and far more talented, but even so, everything they did was... meh. Felt too much like they had borrowed all of their stuff from The Beatles and didn't bother to hide it. The worst was that the bass player in my band at the time Oasis first appeared on the scene was really into both Oasis and the Beatles, and I think he fancied himself a bit of a re-born Lennon. Great guy, but he wasn't Lennon by any stretch. Anyway, we weren't a cover band, but he insisted that we play Wonderwall. Fortunately, I play keys, so I just walked every time the band played it. LOL.