Name and shame setlist howlers.

[Nicko]

I've been asked to dep at a gig, and the bands setlist is quite similar to my current band with some glaring differences.  Both bands play mainly indie rock - the kind that everyone knows - but the dep gig includes Slither by Velvet Revolver, Whole Lotta Rosie by AC/DC and worst of all Are You Gonna Go My Way by Lenny Kravitz.

Slither is one of those songs that Slash fans will know but surely no one else will really get it.  Still the bass line is fun to play.

If you're going to do AC/DC why oh why would you a choose this?  That said I'm a bit of a fa of their earlier stuff so OK.

Are you Gonna Go My Way is just one of those songs that guitarists convince themselves that people want to hear - I spent months trying to convince a former band to ditch it mainy because its so mind numbingly dull to play and IME isn't that popular with the crowd.

[Raslee]

My band plays Slither, goes down well if the grooves tight 😊

[Nicko]

2 minutes ago, Raslee said:

My band plays Slither, goes down well if the grooves tight 😊

I have no proble with the song - it just seem out of place if theres no hard rock theme going on

[Hobbayne]

Lenny Kravitz always goes down well when we do it.

[Mudpup]

All 3 of those have worked for us in the past. But we’re not known as an Indie Rock covers band......

[bassbiscuits]

Those songs aren't really that shameful.

You want to try looking interested while playing Wonderwall for the zillionth time...

 

[chris_b]

Don't confuse your personal preferences and prejudices with the audiences idea of a good song.

[PatrickJ]

I was expecting to read a list of songs in line of : Summer of 69, Livin' on a Prayer, Sweet Child, Teenage Kicks, You've Really Got Me (where the guitarists taps van Galen style for the solo)...  Sadly 90% of those are included in my bands set list .. I wouldn't have a problem with those you mention although they don't naturally sit in indie covers set list 

Edited April 3, 2019 by PJ-Bassist

[jacko]

Every single one of the songs that inevitably get mentioned as howlers on these threads are the ones that fill the dancefloor.  maybe we bass players shouldn't be such snobs. 

[paul_c2]

3 hours ago, Nicko said:

I've been asked to dep at a gig

Did they also ask you to slag off their setlist on an internet forum? If you don't want to do it, don't do it let someone else dep for them.

[stewblack]

Wow! The OP only asked for other examples of songs that don't sit well in the set list. Did not slag any songs off in any way.

I joined a soul band and they did an excruciating cover of Michael Jackson's Rock With You which made me want to hide behind a curtain. I'm also in a 70s 80s dance band with the emphasis on disco, funk, electronica - all danceable hit tunes from danceable genres. We open with 20th Century boy which I love but does, to me, stick out like a blind cobbler's thumb.

 

EDIT: OK there is a small dig at Are you Gonna Go My Way but I think we can forgive that - surely?

Edited April 3, 2019 by stewblack

[upside downer]

There's usually a handful of songs in our set (rock and pop) that feel a bit 'meh' to me yet are considered mainstays. Take Whole Lotta Rosie. I hate playing it with a passion and would happily drop it if it were my choice, yet when we play it near the end it always takes the roof off. It's a case of grit your teeth and get it over with. One man's meat is another man's mushroom. Or something like that.

[uk_lefty]

I have to play Parklife by Blur. I hate it but the audience sing along and seem to like it. I have no idea why. I get paid and go home.

[walshy]

5 hours ago, Raslee said:

My band plays Slither, goes down well if the grooves tight 😊

So does mine and always goes down well!

[bassbiscuits]

Ah the age old conundrum of playing stuff you actually like, vs playing something you think is rubbish just cos punters like it.

Me? I make sure there's plenty of songs in my set that people know and like, but nothing I actually dislike.

Life's too short to play songs you don't like. Plenty of good ones out there.

EDIT: This doesn't apply to depping obvs - there you just have to decide whether you like the band/material enough to do it.

Edited April 3, 2019 by bassbiscuits

[gary mac]

3 hours ago, chris_b said:

Don't confuse your personal preferences and prejudices with the audiences idea of a good song.

Very true but it's hellishly difficult sometimes 

[uk_lefty]

I understand the OP's reservations on those songs, but I hope you are pleasantly surprised. Slither is a massive song, it's one that anyone who likes rock music should recognise. Whole Lotta Rosie is probably in the set for the crowd participation "Angus! Angus!" In the intro. Lenny Kravitz goes down well, it's not just a guitar womble people will dance to it if it's played well. That's just my opinion, of course they have to fit the rest of the set, the general vibe of the band and the venue/ audience... But they're good songs that I hope go down well for you.

[uk_lefty]

4 minutes ago, bassbiscuits said:

Life's too short to play songs you don't like. Plenty of good ones out there.

There's five in my band... Our set list would be a lot shorter if nobody had to play a song they don't like. I don't mind the odd one or two as long as the audience likes it. If a guitarist wants to play another flipping twelve bar blues so he can have three more boring solos when our audience loves our 80's song-and-dance along numbers then I put my foot down.

[bassfan]

5 hours ago, bassbiscuits said:

Those songs aren't really that shameful.

You want to try looking interested while playing Wonderwall for the zillionth time...

 

With you on WW. I don’t mind Oasis but the don’t like playing it particularly. Sadly the crowd love a sing song when they’ve had a few sherbets. 😂

[Nicko]

2 hours ago, paul_c2 said:

Did they also ask you to slag off their setlist on an internet forum? If you don't want to do it, don't do it let someone else dep for them.

Thats a bit harsh, I'm actualy doing it as a favour to them as its a couple of guys from  previous band.  I did - as a joke - tell them I wanted double to play Are you Gonna Go My Way but as I said in the OP its the fact they kinda clash with the rest of the set.

[Lozz196]

In an old rock band I was in we did Born To Be Wild. I hated playing it but the audiences loved it. That was always our decision maker.

[paul_c2]

28 minutes ago, Nicko said:

Thats a bit harsh, I'm actualy doing it as a favour to them as its a couple of guys from  previous band.  I did - as a joke - tell them I wanted double to play Are you Gonna Go My Way but as I said in the OP its the fact they kinda clash with the rest of the set.

Yeah possibly, but as a band leader who can & does get deps in, (and choose a setlist) the reason I want a dep is so they can be given a bunch of music and play it for us at a gig. Deps aren't hired for their opinions - I have enough of those to consider and meld together into a cohesive band with the existing band members. If a dep moaned about the music, they won't be a dep any more - doesn't matter how good they are at their instrument either.

Oh, and we'd never put ourselves in the position of needing the dep either. Sure, we'd want them, but there's a big difference in that.

[ChunkyMunky]

5 hours ago, PJ-Bassist said:

I was expecting to read a list of songs in line of : Summer of 69, Livin' on a Prayer, Sweet Child, Teenage Kicks, You've Really Got Me (where the guitarists taps van Galen style for the solo)...  Sadly 90% of those are included in my bands set list .. I wouldn't have a problem with those you mention although they don't naturally sit in indie covers set list 

Beat me to it. The first two I've played in essentially every cover band I've been in.

I'll throw in an unpopular one. Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition'. I've always found that the audience can tell if the musician is bored as hell on it, you'll get found out VERY quickly.

[Rich]

Two words: Mustang. Sally.

Bands hate it. But punters bless 'em, they go mental for it. 

We have Love Shack in the set list. It bores me silly, but again the punters are always up and dancing their botties off to it. So I swallow my pride, think happy thoughts, and play those 5 notes over and over again because we're giving 'em what they want.

[Stub Mandrel]

Some cringy choices here, from '87'88 🙂