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Playing Songs you Can't Stand

The songs I have hated the most over the years are songs that are not danceable. If the audience is dancing I am happy. We have a female vocalists that likes to show off. She suggests songs all the time that feature her vocally but are not danceable, for example "Walking in Memphis" I don't hate the song as a whole, I hate watching the dance floor clear off when its played. I finally put my foot down and said "I refuse to learn anymore songs that are not danceable... She declared, "everyone loves Walking in Memphis!" I said really? Do you not notice what happens to the dance floor when you sing that song? We are a dance band! That is what we are paid to play, dance music! I'll play Mustang Sally all night long if it packs the dance floor! I am being extreme here about Mustang Sally but you get the idea!
 
Backtodrum said:
"I refuse to learn anymore songs that are not danceable...
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This has intrigued me for years:

In this website a lot of people constantly talks about people dancing with the group, but I haven't seen a group in a dance venue since the 70s, and even then, there were on very few occasions.

Where is this supposed to happen? Not in places like New York, right? For example, if we think about Saturday Night Fever (70s), there's a lot of music and dancing there, but the musicians are never physically present, only the DJs.

I'd say there's been very little of that since roughly the 50s world wide.

Besides, when I read almost all the messages from members it seems like everyone in the US goes dancing. Do you @Backtodrum usually go dancing too?

One other thing that intrigues me is that no one, at least as far as I've read, and I´m here since 2006, has commented on this too. I have to understand that for all the members, it's normal that most of them play for people who dance—the expression "fill the dance floor" is used daily in the forum.

Best regards!

P.S: I never heard before those tunes you mentioned (Mustang Sally/Waking in Memphis), but I just did and to me both songs would seem equally danceable.
 
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opentune said:
Springsteen,
Cover Me, Dancing in the Dark. Complete bores for me.
How I get through? My mind goes somewhere else for 4 minutes.
For Dancing in the Dark, I also have mental contests with myself to see how long I can keep this same simple beat without varying anything.

I think I wouldenjoy Pump it Up…there’s a lot I would try to mix it up on that song.
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Oh man, on Dancing in the Dark I just begin to accentuate with the guitarist with my crashes at "you can't start a fire", I do two crash hits in there just to keep
Alex Sanguinetti said:
P.S: I never heard before those tunes you mentioned (Mustang Sally/Waking in Memphis), but I just did and to me both songs would seem equally danceable.
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There's no way, I play Mustang Sally and I just heard Walking in Memphis, by... Marc Cohn I assume? one's a groovy song the other is a slow dance song pretty much. Mustang Sally is one of the "crowd's getting bored, let's spice things up" songs you pick up to get the people dancing, 100%
 
Alex Sanguinetti said:
@Clamorexz, that´s very much a secondary subject in my comment.

Anyway Mustang Sally (Wilson Picket) is about 110 bpm, and Walking in Memphis (Marc Cohn), has different tempos but it is about 127 bpm most of the time, and by Cher too, or slightly faster.

You go dancing too?

Anyway, not too important...in the discussion..

Best Regards!
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Yeah, my bad if it came out as rude, I see your comment was about whether people actually go dancing or not. Personally I don't, but I can't imagine the audience at the venue I use to play having the same reaction to Walking in Memphis like they do with Mustang Sally. It's really not about "dance music" per se, but about "people getting up and dance for one song or two" and Mustang Sally, along with a few old rock and roll songs, are perfect to get the people grooving. In my case there's loads of old people coming to have a dinner and get some entertainment out of us playing oldies, so when Blue Suede Shoes or Great Balls of Fire can be heard in the distance, you know these old folks will be shaking their hips along to the simple yet efficient beat!
 
I can relate to the comment about singer's choices of songs, they want to feature their singing, for which there may be an audience really appreciating something like 'Walking in Memphis' (I wouldn't)

It doesn't necessarily mean they don't like the song if the floor clears, but it probably does!
 
My comment about Mustang Salley was it is played to death by cover bands all over the country. Most musicians that have been at this a long time have played that song 10,000 times and hate playing it. However audiences/dancers seem to love it and even request it. The same can be said for the tunes Margaritaville, Brown Eyed Girl, even My Maria, Boot Scoot'n Boogie, Old Time Rock and Roll, the list goes on and on. They have been played to death by every cover band playing regularly in clubs taverns and Honky Tonks. I am not saying anything against those songs other than to say they have been in regular rotation in a lot of bands playing clubs for years and years. Yes, all those songs listed are danceable and why we play them. People love hearing them and dance to them. Walking in Memphis starts out slow then picks up tempo and then drops off again. at least the arraignment that we play, as a result of not having a steady tempo throughout the song, people struggle to dance to it and kind of stand around not knowing what to do when the tempo drops off. Just trust me when I say the dance floor clears every time we have played it.

Venue owners unless they are concert type venues or jazz clubs and the like want the band to play danceable tunes. people dance/party get winded, hot, and thirsty and they sell beer and alcohol which is what they are in the business to do. Arguments can be made about all of this, there is always the exception. As a drummer that has been at this most all of my adult life I'm 64 now, I think I have enough experience after playing 1000s of gigs over the years to recognize what songs are danceable and songs that aren't!
 
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Backtodrum said:
As a drummer that has been at this most all of my adult life I'm 64 now, I think I have enough experience after playing 1000s of gigs over the years to recognize what songs are danceable and songs that aren't!
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Fully agree on this point. Me and my singer have had a slight difference lately on new songs - he’s working on a medley of Eminem (Without Me), TLC (No Scrubs) and Ed Sheeran (Shape Of You). I don’t mind those songs, I try and appreciate all music but I’ve been pointing out to him people won’t dance to them, no one has ever requested Eminem or TLC at one of our 400 gigs and I suspect he’s merely trying to show off his vocals/rapping talents. When I’m drumming I like to look at what people are doing, I have a great view of their reactions so I feel I’m perfectly placed to see how a song is going down.

In contrast, the songs I’ve suggested to him, which are on the back burner, are Pretty Woman (Roy Orbison) and Baby Come Back (The Equals). I’d put my house on more people dancing or singing along to those!
 
PTB said:
Fully agree on this point. Me and my singer have had a slight difference lately on new songs - he’s working on a medley of Eminem (Without Me), TLC (No Scrubs) and Ed Sheeran (Shape Of You). I don’t mind those songs, I try and appreciate all music but I’ve been pointing out to him people won’t dance to them, no one has ever requested Eminem or TLC at one of our 400 gigs and I suspect he’s merely trying to show off his vocals/rapping talents. When I’m drumming I like to look at what people are doing, I have a great view of their reactions so I feel I’m perfectly placed to see how a song is going down.

In contrast, the songs I’ve suggested to him, which are on the back burner, are Pretty Woman (Roy Orbison) and Baby Come Back (The Equals). I’d put my house on more people dancing or singing along to those!
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Those two songs would work seamlessly together and I agree would make a good party dance medley for a dance floor. Pretty women another timeless song that people love to hear. I always enjoyed playing Van Halen's version just for the power and grit of it. But Roy's original is great as well!
 
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