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Any love for the eighties?


steve mac

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My audience have almost exclusively been of more mature variety, therefore making it easy to choose a set list i.e. pretty much anything from the sixties.

However the other night for the first time one table started shouting for something from the eighties, which feels really modern to me but of course was thirty to forty years ago. Luckily I had Rio by Duran Duran in my back pocket and at the closing chord rang out, so another table started shouting for similar. My follow up was Tainted Love and Take on Me which really went over well but then I was out.

I think I have a hole in my repertoire about a decade long (have 70 s and 90s well covered).

So anyone got any real crowd pleasers from the eighties?

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The New Wave & punk 'expansion' are my personal takeaway from the 80s; but there is plenty of major artist material. Tom Petty, Traveling Wilburys, Toto, Tears for Fears...that is just the 'T's... ;)

Eagles, Stray Cats, Dire Straits, Fleetwood Mac, Yes [reformulated..Owner of a Lonely Heart], Pat Benatar, Prince...tons of stuff there right off the top of my head...

Some 'M's: Motels, Madonna, Men at Work, Michael Jackson

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Depends on the crowd, but the best are in bold. Crazy little thing called love is good because it's upbeat and well known. Sultans of Swing is good if you can play the riffs. Wicked Game if you can hit those high notes!

 

Wind Beneath My Wings

Caribbean Queen

Shame on the Moon

Still the Same

I'm on Fire

Pink Cadillac

Drive

Lady in Red

Wicked Game

Sultans of Swing

Walk of Life

I guess that's why they call it the Blues

Nikita

One More Try

Bad to the Bone

Hurt So Good

Stuck On You

Taken In

Against all odds

Crazy little thing called love

Addicted to Love

Any Day Now

I Just Called

Stray Cat Strut

Rock this Town

Legs

Sharp Dressed Man

 

 

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These pages have a lot of good and popular country songs listed. The first song on the first list, "Amarillo by Morning" is gorgeous. These are top notch singer's songs that *maybe* your audience would know.

 

And remember: most 80s country sounds like 70s rock, with a southern drawl and an adult perspective.

 

An aside: Steve, is there an English or British equivalent to our "country" music? My cousins-in-England sent us an album of "The Scrumpies" (along with "Waterloo sunset" and "See Emily Play") for Christmas. Would the Scrumpies be sorta like country to your mind?

 

https://www.ranker.com/list/best-80s-country-songs/ranker-music

 

and there's always Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_number-one_country_hits#1990s

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Pogo, my crowd only tend to like songs they know, unless they are comedy songs, therefore something like Amarillo in the morning would be lost on them. To be fair I only heard it for the first time a few years ago when I was actually in Amarillo Tx.

I have just listened to The Scrumps and blimey that's just terrible to my ears. Other than some specialist hobbyists, I don't think country music really caught on in the UK. I am sure if you asked the average Brit to name a county star, you are much more likely to get Dolly Parton than say Brad Paisley, that's not to disrespect either.

Me and the missus are spending this Christmas in Nashville this year as we are country fans but we are the exceptions I think.

I was hoping there maybe a solo act on here that actually regularly sang a song from the eighties that was a real crowd pleaser but thanks for the responses, I will carry on trying to find ones that will fit.

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It sounds like you need a couple of sing along songs from the eighties, or songs that most people know the words to. My post is song that I used to do from the 80s but my gig has changed to retirement homes. The one song the old folks like from the 80s is The Gambler by Kenny Rogers. Most people at least know the words to the chorus and can sing along. Was a big hit in the states, don't know about the UK.

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I have been known to whip out some acoustic versions of some Cars songs ( Drive, Just What I Needed) Men At Work ( Who Can It Be Now, It's A Mistake) Los Lobos (one Time One Night, Will the Wolf Survive, Evangeline) Whitney Houston (I Wanna Dance With Somebody) Prince (Purple Rain) etc.

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I started playing the Yacht Club / Country Club / Retirement Development / etc. market back in the mid 1980s.

 

All they wanted was standards from "The American Songbook"; Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, and so on.

 

Then Elvis, The Coasters, Buddy Holly and company eased their way in. With protest from the big band folks, but they tended to be on their 'coda" and some were already hitting the final chord.

 

Enter the Beatles era, and very few Big Band people were left. I remember playing something for a couple and someone else said "Harry James is dead" (although I think the song was "Satin Doll")

 

Disco was next, followed by the 80s, and now even some requests for later than that.

 

Which is rather weird for me. Ever since I was a young musician, grey hair meant play Glenn Miller. Now I see grey hair and they are requesting Eric Clapton and I think, "What are these old people doing listening to our music'. Of course that lasts about as long as it takes to see my own reflection in a mirror :D

 

I do like some Huey Lewis and the News though!!!

 

Notes

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