Play That Funky Music responsibilities

[ProfD]

47 minutes ago, PianoMan51 said:

I’m stunned that it’s still on anyone’s playlist.

That was my initial thought upon reading this thread.🤣

 

But, I've come to accept that cover band musicians operate on a different playing field. 

 

I do not believe audiences are demanding 1970s dance tunes be played or else. Also, the silver- and blue-haired audience is fading fast.

 

I think bands create a playlist based on 1) what they feel comfortable playing and 2) believe will pack the dancefloor.

 

Yet, plenty danceable tunes have been recorded over the past 50 years that could easily replace those 1970s tunes in the repertoire. 😎

[rockit31]

4 hours ago, Spider76 said:

I keep reading the thread title as 

"Play that funky music responsibly"

Keyboard friends don't let keyboard friends overplay.   lol!

[KuruPrionz]

I played this in a "Motown cover band". It was a dance floor packer.

 

Get all funky, play all funky and be all funky and it will rock. Musicians worry too much, lock a groove, sing the chorus and the rest is just stuff to the audience. 

They. Do. Not. Care. About. The. Details.

 

They just want to find a dance partner and shake their groove thang. 

[Stokely]

Yeah this song gets people more excited than any other we play.   Part of it is that our audiences definitely trend older (50s and up) but you'd be surprised at what younger people listen to...I had a coworker somewhere around 30 that knew every 80s tune under the sun, including some I had never heard and I was younger than him in the 80s and really into the music of the time!

I'm certainly ready to give it a rest.  Our band has been together more than ten years, with various lineups, playing an average between 1 or 2 times a weekend...and this is probably the ONLY song on our big list we've played at every gig.

Keep in mind that if you often use subs--and we do for bass and guitar as both our guys are in different bands--it really limits how far you can get away from the same list everyone knows.  Sucks but that's the score.   Our other problem is a drummer who can almost never practice, so it has to be either easy or one he knows.  Also sucks!

We added Get Lucky to our list not long ago, that's the only song we play that's from the 3rd millennium and I'm all for more, as long as it doesn't require tracks and sequences.    A Lady Gaga tune was mentioned so maybe two soon!   To be fair, the singer started the band as an "AM radio gold" theme thing so we've been stretching slowly into the 80s, 90s and beyond.  These things take time!

[AnotherScott]

38 minutes ago, Stokely said:

this is probably the ONLY song on our big list we've played at every gig.

My wedding band has done it quite a lot, but it's not one of our "almost every gig" songs. It would get beat out there by Don't Stop Believing, Living on a Prayer, Shout, Brown Eyed Girl, Sweet Caroline...

[Stokely]

Brown Eyed Girl is probably in 2nd place, mostly because of a sub guitarist that didn't know it,  and it might actually be more popular than Funky music.   I thank my stars Sweet Caroline is on "request only" basis, that's definitely my least favorite tune I've ever played in a band.  But it's not about me (I repeat often and under my breath)

LOL I just got our 3 set list for Friday, it's very good--playing at more of a "listening joint" vs a dance one, so we have all our fun stuff.  Yet there it is--Funky Music, right between Hard to Handle (honorable mention for the every gig song) and Only the Lonely by the Motels.   I didn't really have to even look.  Heck I'm not even sure Brown eyed girl was on it.   I think one reason it's always there these days is that we have a couple that comes out to almost every gig and she is a pretty big tipper, and that's "her song"  

[stoken6]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Long Train Running. I think I've done that with every covers band I've worked with, in all genres.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[KuruPrionz]

My hat is off to all of you!!! 

Nobody mentioned Sweet Home Alabama, which I've played far too many times and wish it would go away forever. 

I have no idea why anybody likes it...

[Stokely]

14 minutes ago, stoken6 said:

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Long Train Running. I think I've done that with every covers band I've worked with, in all genres.

 

Cheers, Mike.

Definitely also a contender.  I think we had a sub or two who didn't know it or it would wrestle for top spot.   I have fun with that one though.

[stoken6]

14 minutes ago, Stokely said:

Definitely also a contender.  I think we had a sub or two who didn't know it or it would wrestle for top spot.   I have fun with that one though.

Here's the crib sheet for LTR:

 

"You don't know it? Funky blues in Gm, it goes VI-V instead of V-IV and watch me for the stabs and the ending". 

 

Cheers, Mike.

[JohnH]

This is Easy. The guitar player should be playing the jazzy chords during the verses, so i pick up the main riff on Clavinet.

 

I also do the horn stabs that come in out of the song on the top second board. This has worked in every band I have played this in for 25 years.

[Stokely]

re: long train running - Guitarist has to know that riff, and there are changes during the chorus.  But generally I agree, and in any case *almost* everyone knows it.

I actually don't mind any of these songs because they give my brain a break.  No matter what you play (or don't) it doesn't really matter   I've got some songs that take a lot more focus.

[ProfD]

3 hours ago, Stokely said:

Part of it is that our audiences definitely trend older (50s and up) but you'd be surprised at what younger people listen to...I had a coworker somewhere around 30 that knew every 80s tune under the sun...

It's par for the course that some young people will dig old music for one reason or another (musician, listener, enthusiast, etc.).

 

The main reason old music stays in rotation is because it's dtill being played on the radio or in commercials or at sporting events or by wedding and cover bands.

 

Old music doesn't survive just because it's a great piece of art.  Most of it sticks around because it's overplayed. Who let the dogs out.🤣😎

[rockit31]

18 hours ago, JohnH said:

This is Easy. The guitar player should be playing the jazzy chords during the verses, so i pick up the main riff on Clavinet.

 

I also do the horn stabs that come in out of the song on the top second board. This has worked in every band I have played this in for 25 years.

we had practice last night and ran through the song.   Sounded pretty good once we decided it wasn't a song for our female singer to tackle.    So now on top of the bass line I am playing with a clav, and the horn stabs , also on my second board,   I get to sing it too.    Lucky me!   lol.

[AnotherScott]

17 hours ago, ProfD said:

It's par for the course that some young people will dig old music for one reason or another (musician, listener, enthusiast, etc.).

 

The main reason old music stays in rotation is because it's dtill being played on the radio or in commercials or at sporting events or by wedding and cover bands.

 

Old music doesn't survive just because it's a great piece of art.  Most of it sticks around because it's overplayed. Who let the dogs out.🤣😎

 

I've always thought it was interesting that, "in the old days," kids pretty much never cared about the music of their parents' generation. As a rule, if you were a kid in the earlier days of rock, you didn't care about the big band music or the crooners of your parents' time. But later, while each generation added their new stuff, they would still enjoy--and add to their own musical preferences--the rock of the previous generation(s). I think you're right is that there's an element of "it's everywhere" these days, but there's some chicken-and-egg there too.