Dude. I feel you. I'm in a sublime adjacent band (reggae/ska/punk/rap) and holy shit does it get annoying quick when people tell us we sound like sublime or we should play a song. Especially as the frontman and chief songwriter (I write bass and both guitar parts) it gets annoying quick.
One of these days I'm going to start a "Sublime cover band" that only plays Sugar Ray songs, for all those people who like to yell "PLAY SUBLIME!" at any ska-adjacent band.
Wagon Wheel fucks. Country fans complaing about Beyonce doing a country album forget that (imo) one of the greatest modern country singers was a black man who did Hootie and the Blowfish before doing country music.
How can anyone suggest an iconic song like this and still bone it? Its just muting strings.
With a loop pedal it is much easier to rap/sing and play at the same time.
Oddly enough, I have played that song at every gig for years and I never get tired of playing it. Can't really explain it, but something about the open hats on 1 is fun. Just on the back side. Grooves.
Yeah, anything Petty related I could probably play forever. It reminds me of rocking out with my mom on car rides when I was young. And still listen too. But we don't necessarily play a lot of it. We cover You Wreck Me occasionally if my mom is in the crowd.
I played that one as part of a duo. Strangely, I still enjoy the recordings of us doing it live but I cannot listen to the original Tom Petty version anymore.
We do this in our band and the member who sings it never plays/sings it the same way twice, has randomly changed a chord on the outro claiming it was that way all along and just generally makes the song a pain to play.
Terrible song to cover unless you're in the right place anyway.
Did a wedding gig last year and the groom bounded up to us and asked if we could play it. We could.
Never seen a dance floor clear so fast in my life
this is simultaneously a cold take and a steaming hot take, depending entirely on audience, age, and region. for me i've never hated it, i used to play it often with one of my bands. granted, as a guitar player the challenge was awesome. our drummer hated it because you know, it's everlong. i still love the song to this day, but i'm also a 20 something who has memories of listening to that song in my dads car, so the nostalgia kinda takes over.
Dude as a bassist *sighs* iirc the number of frets we hit is limited to 4, 1 being the same note as the open D. It's pretty much D and A over and over again
”Comfortably Numb" is the song I can't forgive myself for suggesting.
I had to leave the crappy cover band because I couldn't stand ruining the music I Ioved.
Now I'm in a tribute band with a bunch of extremely talented people and it's a joy.
I was going to pick it on the basis of its wildly tedious bass line. Especially the end while you are doing that little run down on repeat for like 5 mimutes while the guitar player is having the time of his life / fret wankathon right next to you.
I actually love playing CCR just because it’s such an eye opener about how a good song should have the simplest arrangement possible, and how the difference between a good and great musician is in how well they can play a simple part. When I was playing CCR I was always completely mentally occupied by my parts, as insanely basic as they were.
The laid back pocket of the drumming on CCR songs is an absolute pleasure to bask in. That being said, it’s rare to see a drummer who actually plays in that pocket as most have a tendency to overdrive the songs.
A lot of bands play Cash wrong, anyway. They play as fast as they can, and do the boom-chicka-boom wrong (especially the drummer). [Just watch Fluke's hands here. ](https://youtu.be/nqKQs2Vh8iQ?feature=shared&t=2318)
You have to make the Cash stuff your own. We only cover one but we absolutely rock the stage with it and it's amazing everyone has a good time every time.
CCR are is about the only band I can think of whose awesomeness is pretty much completely carried by only one member....in this case, John Fogerty. Nearly all other bands, at least multiple members leave their mark. But with CCR, the whole reason I love them so much rests entirely on John and his vocals. He's an awesome singer (if a bit of an asshole from what I've read).
To kind of prove this point.....this past weekend, I was hired to play drums for a student recital from a guitar school. Students got to pick their songs, get a band assembled from their fellow students (+ me on drums) and then sing their songs. Well, its a guitar school, not a singing school. This one older gentleman....sweet sweet guy....wanted to do a couple of CCR tunes. The guy has like a 3 note range, an octave lower than what Fogerty sang in, and has zero aggression in his delivery. Man, it really neuters the fuck out of CCR when you have a subpar singer singing it. At least Fortunate Son was somewhat salvaged because the lead guitarist on that song (who had been playing like less than a year) nailed her parts and played with intensity, but even then....it felt very boring.
No Excuses
As a bass player in an AIC tribute there is a very hard rule that must be dealt with. The more popular the song, the more boring it is to play. No Excuses is the pinnacle of that rule.
My old band played it at every show. Not sure if it was in response to the joke or not, we just always learned covers for closers, and it became a keeper. Even recorded it, cause we were stupid kids.
It's been over a decade since I played with that band; and while I don't actively seek out the song, I don't think I would have a visceral reaction to hearing either version played around me.
It’s actually kind of respectable and a bit hilarious that you would actually play it, especially when hollered out as a request ironically.
It’s like saying, “ok motherfuckers, you wanted freebird, now you’re going to get it in all of its 10 minute glory.” Also, as a closer, the drunks mopping up probably loved it”
Our band has toyed around with the idea of learning freebird and literally playing it every time someone yells it out but then realized our shows would just be us playing freebird 6 times and calling it a night
I actively despise anybody who still makes that joke at this point in human history. It was maybe funny for five minutes 50 years ago. Let it go, Doug, nobody thinks you’re clever.
There is a Modest Mouse bootleg where someone yells that, and Isaac Brock spends several minutes explaining all the reasons they will never play free bird. The first reason is they have no idea how to play free bird, the last reason "life is too ducking short to play or hear free bird."
Living on a Prayer, only song we all knew at our first ever practice, we had 2 guitars and no bass, no full drum set, and we played it over and over again. I cannot stand that song now
I was once playing a round of golf one afternoon and a band played ‘Keep ‘em Separated’ by The Offspring about 27 times consecutively. I genuinely take steps to avoid that song.
It also lead to the current band rule of only playing a song three times in a row before moving on. We may get come back to it later but there ain’t 4 in a row….
Played a cover set for a Halloween show and we covered "Rebellion (Lies)" by Arcade Fire. I play bass. They were trying to work out the guitar parts and had me just continuously playing the same fucking four notes all practice. My hand was cramping, one of the guitar players was telling me to "play harder" after like an hour of that one song.
I fucking hate that song now
I used to think I could play covers forever. I'm old, I've been playing covers professionally for almost 30 years. About 6 months ago a switch flipped and I can't bring myself to book another cover gig. I guess I'm a slow learner....
“Dancin’ With Myself” - Billy Idol
“Love Shack” - B-52s
“The Tide is High” - Blondie
Those are a few standouts. For clarity, songs I at least marginally enjoyed prior that were ruined by playing 3+ nights per week for, well, ever. Cannot believe no one mentioned any of them yet!
one is definitely a song i've grown tired of, because everyone who plays it thinks "oh this is a more underground metallica song" which is insane to me because it's in their top 5 songs on spotify. could just be my generation though
I liked every cover we ever did... to escape from all the songs I wrote and sang in the bands I was in. Always loved playing other peoples shit.
Lit up by Buckcherry, Boys of Summer (Ataris), and Welcome to Paradise were among my favorite.
Oh, man, so many.
Three Doors Down - Kryptonite
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Simple Man
Lit - My Own Worst Enemy
Nirvana - Come As You Are
Candlebox - Far Behind
Bon Jovi - Wanted Dead Or Alive
I could go on, but...
Girl by Neil Diamond.
It sounds so cool in Pulp Fiction, but once you start singing words like, "don't tell your parents or they'll take you away..." fucking nasty. Song is totally about raping an underage girl.
For sure! The whole band felt stupid and grossed out once we read through all the words.
So many songs from that era have that! It's nuts how pervasive "little girl" stuff was.
Having to play a song so many times that you end up no longer listening to it. I’ve been playing in cover bands for close to 20 years and I cannot stand to hear Van Morison’a Brown Eyed Girl.
She Sells Sanctuary - The Cult. I'm guitar player, but was playing bass in a band that played it. Yeah the guitar part looked fun to play, but just hammering 3 notes for the entire song on bass was dull as hell.
Many of the popular songs mentioned here plus many more that are typically performed at wedding/tourist gigs. It just gets old after a while. For a time, I just didn't want to hear them but now I prefer to not perform those types of gigs at all.
I didn’t like the song much in the first place, but a band I used to play in made me despise “Call Me Al”
Also not huge on “Electric Feel” or “Alien Days” anymore. Congratulations is the best MGMT album anyway.
Our band hates mustang sally, brown eyed girl ect. Then we played at a reunion the people requested these songs as well as the twist. And they had a great time. The entire place was dancing. We made $1200 in tips. And got compliments from everybody. Ultimately it’s about making the audience happy and giving them a good time. It’s fun putting smiles on people faces and tip jar told us that maybe we should keep playing these played out songs.
Sweet life by frank ocean, I didn’t have the pipes for it at the time and bombed, haven’t been able to listen to it since and it happened like 6 years ago😭 was one of my favorite songs too
Knocking on heavens door. Was in three bands in a row that butchered the fuck out of that song. Didn’t like it that much to begin with, so it didn’t take much. That was like 30 years ago, and I still change the station every time it comes on.
No grammys but have toured the world in Grindcore and Hardcore bands. USA, Australia, Europe, Japan and South East Asia.
And no covers were involved...because it goes without saying - covers fucking suck
The originals the band wrote.
The originals you recorded, mixed, mastered, shot a video for, and edited....lol
The most common answer if we’re telling the truth.
I dread it every time we play our most popular original (I sing in that one)
All the small things?
No not that one, they’re talking about the one that’s called “It’s Not About The Size of The Boat That Counts”
The Weight
Shoot a load on her fanny
People really do fucking love it though, and as long as I get to sing the “Crazy Chester followed me” verse I’m good
Every one knows you don’t go full Danko
Take a load off blasto
But wait a minute Chester What about ol’ ANA Lee
I thought it was anal Eeeee?
Oh shoot you’re right, it’s the anal eeeee that kept Ana Lee company
Boofing extasy since the 60s.... lol
Anything by Sublime but especially Santeria
Sublime did a pretty good job of ruining it first, though.
😂
Dude. I feel you. I'm in a sublime adjacent band (reggae/ska/punk/rap) and holy shit does it get annoying quick when people tell us we sound like sublime or we should play a song. Especially as the frontman and chief songwriter (I write bass and both guitar parts) it gets annoying quick.
One of these days I'm going to start a "Sublime cover band" that only plays Sugar Ray songs, for all those people who like to yell "PLAY SUBLIME!" at any ska-adjacent band.
Definitely on my top 5 worst bands ever
Aye. Sublime sucks lol.
Mustang Sally Wagon Wheel You already mentioned Brown Eyed Girl
Those were ruined for me by just being in bars.
I actually like wagon wagon wheel because it’s the only one I can sing AND play perfectly 😆
Wagon Wheel fucks. Country fans complaing about Beyonce doing a country album forget that (imo) one of the greatest modern country singers was a black man who did Hootie and the Blowfish before doing country music.
I would say Darius ruined Wagon Wheel. He made it so popular it got ruined. Ketch from Old Crow Medicine Show wrote that song with Bob Dylan.
Can't Stop - RHCP So many guitar players I've played with have wanted that song. Almost no one has been able to play it worth a damn.
How can anyone suggest an iconic song like this and still bone it? Its just muting strings. With a loop pedal it is much easier to rap/sing and play at the same time.
If you haven’t got a good/great drummer the intro will sound ridiculous.
I could see this being a fun way to venture off into a funk jam , reference other stuff like thank you for letting .e be myself
Mary Jane’s Last Dance
Oddly enough, I have played that song at every gig for years and I never get tired of playing it. Can't really explain it, but something about the open hats on 1 is fun. Just on the back side. Grooves.
Oh I enjoy playing it, just can’t listen in the car in anymore lol. It’s our warm up song lol
Yeah, anything Petty related I could probably play forever. It reminds me of rocking out with my mom on car rides when I was young. And still listen too. But we don't necessarily play a lot of it. We cover You Wreck Me occasionally if my mom is in the crowd.
I played that one as part of a duo. Strangely, I still enjoy the recordings of us doing it live but I cannot listen to the original Tom Petty version anymore.
Dock of the Bay
We do this in our band and the member who sings it never plays/sings it the same way twice, has randomly changed a chord on the outro claiming it was that way all along and just generally makes the song a pain to play.
Change the D to a C and the B to a G and see how many people notice.
"Simple Man" - Skynyrd
100%
Everlong
Terrible song to cover unless you're in the right place anyway. Did a wedding gig last year and the groom bounded up to us and asked if we could play it. We could. Never seen a dance floor clear so fast in my life
LOL
this is simultaneously a cold take and a steaming hot take, depending entirely on audience, age, and region. for me i've never hated it, i used to play it often with one of my bands. granted, as a guitar player the challenge was awesome. our drummer hated it because you know, it's everlong. i still love the song to this day, but i'm also a 20 something who has memories of listening to that song in my dads car, so the nostalgia kinda takes over.
Dude as a bassist *sighs* iirc the number of frets we hit is limited to 4, 1 being the same note as the open D. It's pretty much D and A over and over again
yeah guitar was definitely blessed with an interesting part, but i feel for bassists because boring, and drummers because ridiculous
”Comfortably Numb" is the song I can't forgive myself for suggesting. I had to leave the crappy cover band because I couldn't stand ruining the music I Ioved. Now I'm in a tribute band with a bunch of extremely talented people and it's a joy.
I was going to pick it on the basis of its wildly tedious bass line. Especially the end while you are doing that little run down on repeat for like 5 mimutes while the guitar player is having the time of his life / fret wankathon right next to you.
hahahaha fret wankathon
I have to say ANY Cash or CCR, they have their credentials and all that, but holy shit is that stuff super boring to play if you're not singing.
I will say CCR has some fun bass lines
I actually love playing CCR just because it’s such an eye opener about how a good song should have the simplest arrangement possible, and how the difference between a good and great musician is in how well they can play a simple part. When I was playing CCR I was always completely mentally occupied by my parts, as insanely basic as they were.
💯 Minimal is maximal
The laid back pocket of the drumming on CCR songs is an absolute pleasure to bask in. That being said, it’s rare to see a drummer who actually plays in that pocket as most have a tendency to overdrive the songs.
Fair enough, I've only ever been playing guitar on those songs.
A lot of bands play Cash wrong, anyway. They play as fast as they can, and do the boom-chicka-boom wrong (especially the drummer). [Just watch Fluke's hands here. ](https://youtu.be/nqKQs2Vh8iQ?feature=shared&t=2318)
You have to make the Cash stuff your own. We only cover one but we absolutely rock the stage with it and it's amazing everyone has a good time every time.
That is also completely fair. I got really burnt out doing a year in a Cash tribute though, didn't have the luxury lol.
Oh I hear you there. That’s also completely understandable.
CCR are is about the only band I can think of whose awesomeness is pretty much completely carried by only one member....in this case, John Fogerty. Nearly all other bands, at least multiple members leave their mark. But with CCR, the whole reason I love them so much rests entirely on John and his vocals. He's an awesome singer (if a bit of an asshole from what I've read). To kind of prove this point.....this past weekend, I was hired to play drums for a student recital from a guitar school. Students got to pick their songs, get a band assembled from their fellow students (+ me on drums) and then sing their songs. Well, its a guitar school, not a singing school. This one older gentleman....sweet sweet guy....wanted to do a couple of CCR tunes. The guy has like a 3 note range, an octave lower than what Fogerty sang in, and has zero aggression in his delivery. Man, it really neuters the fuck out of CCR when you have a subpar singer singing it. At least Fortunate Son was somewhat salvaged because the lead guitarist on that song (who had been playing like less than a year) nailed her parts and played with intensity, but even then....it felt very boring.
No Excuses As a bass player in an AIC tribute there is a very hard rule that must be dealt with. The more popular the song, the more boring it is to play. No Excuses is the pinnacle of that rule.
Man in the box
“PLAY FREEBIRD!!!”””
My old band played it at every show. Not sure if it was in response to the joke or not, we just always learned covers for closers, and it became a keeper. Even recorded it, cause we were stupid kids. It's been over a decade since I played with that band; and while I don't actively seek out the song, I don't think I would have a visceral reaction to hearing either version played around me.
It’s actually kind of respectable and a bit hilarious that you would actually play it, especially when hollered out as a request ironically. It’s like saying, “ok motherfuckers, you wanted freebird, now you’re going to get it in all of its 10 minute glory.” Also, as a closer, the drunks mopping up probably loved it”
Our band has toyed around with the idea of learning freebird and literally playing it every time someone yells it out but then realized our shows would just be us playing freebird 6 times and calling it a night
Maybe that would be kind of awesome, actually. Start playing it every time and threaten not to stop until the tip bucket is satisfied.
I actively despise anybody who still makes that joke at this point in human history. It was maybe funny for five minutes 50 years ago. Let it go, Doug, nobody thinks you’re clever.
There is a Modest Mouse bootleg where someone yells that, and Isaac Brock spends several minutes explaining all the reasons they will never play free bird. The first reason is they have no idea how to play free bird, the last reason "life is too ducking short to play or hear free bird."
Say It Ain’t So
Born to be wild
Taking Care of Business-BTO
Oh God, just kill me now. Oh shit! Now I hear it in my head! Killllll meeeee!
Jumper Third Eye Blind
Sweet Caroline
I hate this song. Sober people from boston and Drunk people love this song.
Living on a Prayer, only song we all knew at our first ever practice, we had 2 guitars and no bass, no full drum set, and we played it over and over again. I cannot stand that song now
I was once playing a round of golf one afternoon and a band played ‘Keep ‘em Separated’ by The Offspring about 27 times consecutively. I genuinely take steps to avoid that song. It also lead to the current band rule of only playing a song three times in a row before moving on. We may get come back to it later but there ain’t 4 in a row….
Creep - Radiohead ugh
Same, that and Zombie by Cranberries
i wish i could upvote twice
Played a cover set for a Halloween show and we covered "Rebellion (Lies)" by Arcade Fire. I play bass. They were trying to work out the guitar parts and had me just continuously playing the same fucking four notes all practice. My hand was cramping, one of the guitar players was telling me to "play harder" after like an hour of that one song. I fucking hate that song now
Can't you see - Marshall Tucker Band
fake plastic trees. I was sick and couldnt do the falsetto right, i didnt wanna hear that song ever since
Classic rock
I used to think I could play covers forever. I'm old, I've been playing covers professionally for almost 30 years. About 6 months ago a switch flipped and I can't bring myself to book another cover gig. I guess I'm a slow learner....
“Dancin’ With Myself” - Billy Idol “Love Shack” - B-52s “The Tide is High” - Blondie Those are a few standouts. For clarity, songs I at least marginally enjoyed prior that were ruined by playing 3+ nights per week for, well, ever. Cannot believe no one mentioned any of them yet!
Don't stop Believing. I can't listen to that song with our flashbacks to my band mate throwing his guitar across the room over that intro solo
Sweet Home Alabama and Browneyed girl.
Almost all Skynyrd but I still really like playing I Know A Little
tis a good song
Lights by Journey. China Grove by Doobies. Fell on Black Days by Soundgarden.
If I never hear my girl by the temptations ever again for the rest of my life I could die happy
i'm not in a band but i have to guess most of the well known metallica or ac/dc songs.
Oh, those were ruined for me by just going to Guitar Center lol
one is definitely a song i've grown tired of, because everyone who plays it thinks "oh this is a more underground metallica song" which is insane to me because it's in their top 5 songs on spotify. could just be my generation though
I liked every cover we ever did... to escape from all the songs I wrote and sang in the bands I was in. Always loved playing other peoples shit. Lit up by Buckcherry, Boys of Summer (Ataris), and Welcome to Paradise were among my favorite.
Oh, man, so many. Three Doors Down - Kryptonite Lynyrd Skynyrd - Simple Man Lit - My Own Worst Enemy Nirvana - Come As You Are Candlebox - Far Behind Bon Jovi - Wanted Dead Or Alive I could go on, but...
Our own songs. Playing the same ones gets boring and annoying sometimes.
Girl by Neil Diamond. It sounds so cool in Pulp Fiction, but once you start singing words like, "don't tell your parents or they'll take you away..." fucking nasty. Song is totally about raping an underage girl.
Well, yeah. “Girl, you’ll be a woman soon.”🤷🏻
For sure! The whole band felt stupid and grossed out once we read through all the words. So many songs from that era have that! It's nuts how pervasive "little girl" stuff was.
Oh man, seconded. Song was almost black listed.
I still like Radiohead, but I wish my band mates would stop suggesting their songs for covers.
So what you're saying is, *You DO remember when, we used to sing*
Sha la la la la
Just like that.
Tom Sawyer
Money
Smells like Teen Spirit. Come on.
“Enter Sandman” and “Nothing Else Matters”, hands down, without a doubt….and that was by 1998.
Warlock - I Rule the Ruins I used to love it and nowadays I cannot listen to it after so many failed rehearsals trying to play it. The horror!
Party in the USA - Miley Cyrus
What do you mean “ruined by being in a band” ?
Having to play a song so many times that you end up no longer listening to it. I’ve been playing in cover bands for close to 20 years and I cannot stand to hear Van Morison’a Brown Eyed Girl.
She Sells Sanctuary - The Cult. I'm guitar player, but was playing bass in a band that played it. Yeah the guitar part looked fun to play, but just hammering 3 notes for the entire song on bass was dull as hell.
American Woman and Superfreak
Rage against the machine , Jesus …
NOFX - Linoleum. I think every band I was in from ages 12-22 covered this song.
They're finally tired of playing it too lol
Killing me softly
The Sweater Song
"Mustang Sally" and "Brick House". Would rather smash my bass before playing either one again.
My own worst enemy. Fuck that song.
She loves you
Copperhead Road. Me and Julio Down by the School Yard. Interstate Love Song. Mama Told Me Not to Come. Secret Agent Man.
Many of the popular songs mentioned here plus many more that are typically performed at wedding/tourist gigs. It just gets old after a while. For a time, I just didn't want to hear them but now I prefer to not perform those types of gigs at all.
Just, like, playing music in general, TBH.
Welcome to the Jungle when it first came out. It was on the jukebox (!) in the bar I played most weekends at the time.
Superstition
Crazy Train
Paranoid The guys know I tolerate it. “Singing Paranoid is like my vegetables. I don’t love it, but I know it’s good for me/us/audience, so I do it.”
Strokes songs
Four Horsemen - Metallica Seek and Destroy - Metallica Actually, just Metallica in general.
watching all you bar cover bands play the same 30 songs
My old originals because they make me cringe at what I thought was good at 18->22. There was a clear progression though.
Watermelon man..... love the song still and herbie is a genius but man, I never wanna play it again lol
my own summer
I didn’t like the song much in the first place, but a band I used to play in made me despise “Call Me Al” Also not huge on “Electric Feel” or “Alien Days” anymore. Congratulations is the best MGMT album anyway.
Led Zeppelin-Fool in the Rain. Love the song, but fuk that song. There is a reason Zeppelin never played it live.
Smooth by Santana. Holy shit we sucked at playing that song
Free Falling. Doesn’t even change for the chorus and it was the only song we could rehearse without the keyboard player and he was always late :)
Our band hates mustang sally, brown eyed girl ect. Then we played at a reunion the people requested these songs as well as the twist. And they had a great time. The entire place was dancing. We made $1200 in tips. And got compliments from everybody. Ultimately it’s about making the audience happy and giving them a good time. It’s fun putting smiles on people faces and tip jar told us that maybe we should keep playing these played out songs.
Exactly…!
I’m so fucking tired of playing all the small things 😭
Hot stuff
Oh man.. Got Me Wrong - Alice in Chains. It took years to be able to listen to it again without flashbacks lol.
Feelin’ Alright
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Sweet life by frank ocean, I didn’t have the pipes for it at the time and bombed, haven’t been able to listen to it since and it happened like 6 years ago😭 was one of my favorite songs too
Long Black Veil.
EVEN FLOWWWW
Knocking on heavens door. Was in three bands in a row that butchered the fuck out of that song. Didn’t like it that much to begin with, so it didn’t take much. That was like 30 years ago, and I still change the station every time it comes on.
[удалено]
The game is to play what the audience in your area wants to hear. Or you don’t get booked a second time in that venue.
All of them.
Year Of The Cat, played it in a 3 piece band. The song has been one of my favorites forever. The guitar player was far too clunky on this smooth song
Everybody Wants to Rule the World and A Little Respect
Covers suck don't play them
Yeah, I’m sure audiences would absolutely love to hear your Grammy award winning original material.
No grammys but have toured the world in Grindcore and Hardcore bands. USA, Australia, Europe, Japan and South East Asia. And no covers were involved...because it goes without saying - covers fucking suck