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Requests that make you go "uh...."


Blackbird 13

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1. I remember playing a particularly out in the sticks venue with my band at the time when one of the bouncers comes up, 6'3, and probably 300 pounds, with a bald head and a goatee and goes "Hey... do you guys know Mister Mister's "Take These Broken Wings"... it took me a second to process before I could even answer his question... wish I'd known it!

 

2. Played a room with a reputation as having the more "senior" crowd. I don't remember the order, but we played some combination of "Cupid Shuffle", "Play That Funky Music", "Save a Horse", "Billie Jean", "This Is How We Do It", "Brown Eyed Girl", and finished up with "Let's Get It On" when one of the more elderly bar patrons comes over and asks me, in all seriousness, if we know "any dance music". Again.. relatively speechless before saying "Other than stuff like we've just done, I don't think so..."

 

3. At a show in a resort town, I vivdly remember this really preppy looking white kid coming up to me.. had to be no more than 23.. short hair, button up shirt, khakis, very stereotypically "white".. and asking if we knew Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise". We did, and played it, and I thought very little of it, until not fifteen minutes later a guy from the other side of the bar, this time a black guy in his late 20s/early 30s who's blinged out, baggy clothes, and looking as "thug" as possible, comes up to me and asks if we know Green Day's "Holiday". Again, we did, and played it.. but it was certainly a lesson in never judging a book by it's cover.. and a reminder that music is a universal language.

 

 

Any funny or interesting requests stories?

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3. At a show in a resort town, I vivdly remember this really preppy looking white kid coming up to me.. had to be no more than 23.. short hair, button up shirt, khakis, very stereotypically "white".. and asking if we knew Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise". We did, and played it, and I thought very little of it, until not fifteen minutes later a guy from the other side of the bar, this time a black guy in his late 20s/early 30s who's blinged out, baggy clothes, and looking as "thug" as possible, comes up to me and asks if we know Green Day's "Holiday". Again, we did, and played it.. but it was certainly a lesson in never judging a book by it's cover.. and a reminder that music is a universal language.

 

Love this story :)

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Not a song request,

 

But I've had several requests for people wanting my band to play anywhere from 1 to 2 hours extra, for free. That made me go, "uh...."

 

Also, as a stage manager/FOH engineer, I've had several big bands come up to me and want me to mic every horn, individually. That also made me go, "uh...."

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There's been some doozys (doozies? :p) over the years.

 

We got done playing a song by Bad Company or something when a guy came up and asked if we knew any Slayer. I was like, "yeah, I love 'em, but I don't think the band knows it..." :thu:

 

One guy kept demanding that I sing "18 And Life." Over and over. All night long. Every time we played there. He was like, "I *KNOW* you can sing it, man!" I was like, "Actually, I can't...I'd love to, but I can't hit those notes like Sebastian can." It was his obsession, that one song, that he was certain we could play. I liked his faith in our abilities. :lol:

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1. I remember playing a particularly out in the sticks venue with my band at the time when one of the bouncers comes up, 6'3, and probably 300 pounds, with a bald head and a goatee and goes "Hey... do you guys know Mister Mister's "Take These Broken Wings"... it took me a second to process before I could even answer his question... wish I'd known it!


Any funny or interesting requests stories?

 

That's a great novelty song for you guys. I think it made a round of commercials a few years back. :thu:

 

A few years ago after finishing a sweat drenched set that included Bon Jovi, AC/DC, Green Day, Metallica, RATM, Velvet Revolver a woman in her late 20's comes up to me and asks if we knew the theme to 'Arthur'. It took me a minute to realize she was asking if we knew the 1981 soft pop hit "Best That You Can Do" by Christopher Cross. She was dead serious.

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That's a great novelty song for you guys. I think it made a round of commercials a few years back.
:thu:

 

I dunno.. the Mister Mister song is just so SLOW.. trying to keep the energy level up. I'd like to do it acoustic... but it's hard to sing too.. time might be better spent elsewhere!

 

Speaking of novelty songs from commercials.. pretty sure we're gonna do "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" here shortly.. and I'm gonna love doing that one! The other vocalist can nail it, and I love the energy!

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The typical ones...people asking for female vocal songs when there are four men in the band. Playing a set of 60s and 70s rock for a Legion crowd all night, and somebody comes up and requests Metallica.

 

One night a guy asked me, "Can you play 'Rolling On the River'?"

 

I said, "You mean 'Proud Mary'? Sure!"

 

He got VERY agitated and yelled, "NO, God damn it...I want to hear 'Rolling On the River'!"

 

Probably the most random request I ever had was for Aaron Copland's 'Fanfare For the Common Man'. I kid you not.

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Speaking of novelty songs from commercials.. pretty sure we're gonna do "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" here shortly.. and I'm gonna love doing that one! The other vocalist can nail it, and I love the energy!

 

 

That is on our shortlist of next songs to tackle also...

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Speaking of novelty songs from commercials.. pretty sure we're gonna do "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" here shortly.. and I'm gonna love doing that one! The other vocalist can nail it, and I love the energy!

 

 

We've been doing that one for a few years now and it's still on the setlist just about every gig. Our singer nails it.

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1. I remember playing a particularly out in the sticks venue with my band at the time when one of the bouncers comes up, 6'3, and probably 300 pounds, with a bald head and a goatee and goes "Hey... do you guys know Mister Mister's "Take These Broken Wings"... it took me a second to process before I could even answer his question... wish I'd known it!


2. Played a room with a reputation as having the more "senior" crowd. I don't remember the order, but we played some combination of "Cupid Shuffle", "Play That Funky Music", "Save a Horse", "Billie Jean", "This Is How We Do It", "Brown Eyed Girl", and finished up with "Let's Get It On" when one of the more elderly bar patrons comes over and asks me, in all seriousness, if we know "any dance music". Again.. relatively speechless before saying "Other than stuff like we've just done, I don't think so..."


3. At a show in a resort town, I vivdly remember this really preppy looking white kid coming up to me.. had to be no more than 23.. short hair, button up shirt, khakis, very stereotypically "white".. and asking if we knew Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise". We did, and played it, and I thought very little of it, until not fifteen minutes later a guy from the other side of the bar, this time a black guy in his late 20s/early 30s who's blinged out, baggy clothes, and looking as "thug" as possible, comes up to me and asks if we know Green Day's "Holiday". Again, we did, and played it.. but it was certainly a lesson in never judging a book by it's cover.. and a reminder that music is a universal language.



Any funny or interesting requests stories?

 

 

I work at a well known university. One of the professors who is also an MD and black is a total metal head.

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I work at a well known university. One of the professors who is also an MD and black is a total metal head.

 

 

I have friends that are black and listen to nothing but country.. and white friends who are almost exclusively into harder rap and hip hop... it wasn't even so much the race of the people alone as the overall persona that both guys gave off! They both kinda projected the exact opposite of the request each one made.. but hey, never assume!

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I dunno.. the Mister Mister song is just so SLOW.. trying to keep the energy level up. I'd like to do it acoustic... but it's hard to sing too.. time might be better spent elsewhere!


Speaking of novelty songs from commercials.. pretty sure we're gonna do "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" here shortly.. and I'm gonna love doing that one! The other vocalist can nail it, and I love the energy!

 

you can always do it like this. :lol:

 

[video=youtube;Pp3Yl75IUfw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp3Yl75IUfw

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A southern rock/country rock band I had in the 80s was playing in Saskatchewan, and after listening to us for a full set, a woman came p and asked if we could play "Guilty" by Barry Gibb and Barbra Streisand. I sad no, we weren't that kind of band, and she turned to the crowd and announced that we were a bunch of dirtbags and the band was "the {censored}s" because we couldn't play anything she liked. It was kind of comical in a way. We announced that we were "the {censored}s" the rest of the evening.

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The typical ones...people asking for female vocal songs when there are four men in the band. Playing a set of 60s and 70s rock for a Legion crowd all night, and somebody comes up and requests Metallica.


One night a guy asked me, "Can you play 'Rolling On the River'?"


I said, "You mean 'Proud Mary'? Sure!"


He got VERY agitated and yelled, "NO, God damn it...I want to hear 'Rolling On the River'!"


Probably the most random request I ever had was for Aaron Copland's 'Fanfare For the Common Man'. I kid you not.

 

 

Our weirdest one was about 20 years ago, a guy who came up (drunk as all get out) and asked if we knew "that one song." We asked which one, and he kept saying, "you know, that one song" and he tried to sing it, horribly. We started to laugh and he straightened up and said "Listen, a-holes, I work for the phone company, so I know good music!" and he stomped off. We still laugh about that one.

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To me the weirdest requests are for female singer type songs when the requester can easily see that there are no females in the band. Like "Do you guys do any Janis Joplin?"

 

 

I've got asked to sing Gretchen Wilson and Taylor Swift songs more than once.

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To me the weirdest requests are for female singer type songs when the requester can easily see that there are no females in the band. Like "Do you guys do any Janis Joplin?"

 

That doesn't stop us. If a song doesn't get a particular crowd reaction that we expect (Hank Jr.), we STOP the song and tell the audience they were bad and we'll now play the punishment song.

 

 

Sade's, Smooth Operator sung by two guys. :lol:

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That doesn't stop us. If a song doesn't get a particular crowd reaction that we expect (Hank Jr.), we STOP the song and tell the audience they were bad and we'll now play the
punishment
song.



Sade's, Smooth Operator sung by two guys.
:lol:

 

Ha! I'd like to hear that! That's a GREAT song!

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Our weirdest one was about 20 years ago, a guy who came up (drunk as all get out) and asked if we knew "that one song." We asked which one, and he kept saying, "you know, that one song" and he tried to sing it, horribly. We started to laugh and he straightened up and said "Listen, a-holes, I work for the phone company, so I know good music!" and he stomped off. We still laugh about that one.

 

 

Yeah, that happens a lot...somebody asks if you can do a song, and you say, "Sorry, we don't know it." Then they try to be helpful and start singing it to you drunkenly. Then you say, "No...I know what song it is, we just don't PLAY it." Meanwhile, a dance floor full of people is waiting impatiently for the next song...

 

"I work for the phone company, so I know good music!"...that's a classic, all right!

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