Why is it that every time I'm at a show, I can never identify a single one of the hundreds of shitty, anonymous songs being blasted over the club PA system before the gig starts?

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WTF

― Vestigial Appendages, Esq. (King Kobra), Friday, 6 May 2005 20:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Because the bands have selected music to play that you haven't yet heard, thereby rendering you incapable of recognizing them?

― ath (ath), Friday, 6 May 2005 20:57 (twenty-one years ago)

you didn't read the question carefully enough, my friend.

― Vestigial Appendages, Esq. (King Kobra), Friday, 6 May 2005 21:06 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm talking about the music that comes on BEFORE the show. you know, like, pre-recorded stuff being played over the loudspeakers.

― Vestigial Appendages, Esq. (King Kobra), Friday, 6 May 2005 21:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I bet the bands could select that, too. ath's response still stands!

― Jay Watts III (jaywatts), Friday, 6 May 2005 21:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I have no idea, dude. I once waited like over an hour and a half for a Pavement show in Grand Rapids, MI, to begin, and was kept sane by the fact that the sound guy was playing decent tunes. (It's usually the sound guy.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 6 May 2005 21:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Wait, I forgot, I think he played MC 900 Ft. Jesus. Okay, never mind.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 6 May 2005 21:13 (twenty-one years ago)

At this new venue in Portland called the Doug Fir the booker claims that she makes a new specific PA mix FOR EVERY SHOW. Damn.

― jergins (jergins), Friday, 6 May 2005 21:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I always just assumed it was the band that got to choose what the PA was playing before they went on. It should work that way, at any rate. How exciting for the band!

― ath (ath), Friday, 6 May 2005 21:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd be interested to see how many people around here shared your plight.

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 6 May 2005 21:23 (twenty-one years ago)

all my friends seem to agree with me, and we're all pretty knowledgable about music. it's the weirdest fucking shit

― Vestigial Appendages, Esq. (King Kobra), Friday, 6 May 2005 21:26 (twenty-one years ago)

at small clubs it's often the sound guy -- one of his/her few perks. at larger clubs > ballrooms > stadiums, it definitely begins to fall under the headliner's perogative.

in either case, it's often a point of pride to play the weirdest / obscurest stuff possible. it's usually a compliment to the sound guy if you walk up and ask what a song is, unless the person is a total snob

― milton parker (Jon L), Friday, 6 May 2005 21:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Some of you may be familiar with Pat Green - Texas country singer. I saw him here in Amarillo once at the Midnight Rodeo, haven for Wrangler-clad hos and semi-retarded farmboys.

Pat and his band took the stage to Radiohead's "I Might Be Wrong."

Dunno, I just thought it was cool. Sometimes I think pre-show music is picked purposely to be far away from the actual live act's music to create an intentional contrast.

― Justin, Friday, 6 May 2005 21:56 (twenty-one years ago)

This happens to me all the time. milton parker is OTM w/r/t "the obscurest shit possible". Sound guy's just flexing.

― giboyeux (skowly), Friday, 6 May 2005 22:03 (twenty-one years ago)

One time I got to Maxwell's early for an Alex Chilton show, way before even the first of the two opening acts (The Gories?) played, and practically the only two people in the back room were me and Mr. Chilton. What should start playing over the PA but "I Hear Her Call My Name." I gave in to the nearly-always-to-be-suppressed impulse to talk to the performer and said "Are you going to cover this tonight, Alex?" He looked at me with what I later learned was his not-atypical psychotic grin and said "What is it? Don't know it. Don't know it. Don't know the tune," drawing out the word "tune."

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 6 May 2005 22:11 (twenty-one years ago)

I went to see Fantomas a week or two ago. They took about 45 minutes to come on stage after the previous band, and in the interim they played "Shut Up Little Man" over the PA. My friend left, convinced it was a gleeful Patton watching us rubes in the pit squirm in discomfort. I didn't think it was his choice - the people at this venue always pick the worst stuff to play before shows.

So, if anyone else catches Fantomas on this tour, could you please share if there's a repeat of this?

― Abbott, Friday, 6 May 2005 22:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I always thought the sound guy was purposely trying to play the crappiest and obscurest music possible, that when the band you've been waiting to see takes the stage, their music sounds THAT MUCH better.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Friday, 6 May 2005 22:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Being a sound guy sucks. I was a sound guy practically for free at many places.. whether on campus or for a non-profit venue.

I'll be choosin' the music if I have to wrap, unwrap cables, set up mikes, etc. thank you.

― donut debonair (donut), Friday, 6 May 2005 22:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean, if the band wants a specific CD to be played before they play, fine. When Sam McPheeters wanted me to play his weird ass concoction of pre-Mens Recovery Project stuff before their gig, of COURSE i complied. There are exceptions.

― donut debonair (donut), Friday, 6 May 2005 22:37 (twenty-one years ago)

..and yeah, I got complimented at what turned out to be a cancelled Korn show at the UCI student center (their first album hadn't come out yet) for playing a certain band. Who was I playing? Lync! Makes total sense.

― donut debonair (donut), Friday, 6 May 2005 22:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe because of the shitty, anonymous club PA? Seriously, I used to go to a club where the bass and treble were miles (well metres) apart, so you'd have to walk half way across the room to find out what the DJ was playing. It was usually disappointing.

― Ben Dot (1977), Friday, 6 May 2005 22:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I remember Kevin Shields giving the sound man at the old 9:30 Club in DC the most evil look because he kept the pre-show music (some 1992 piece of top 40 crap) on SO LOUD, even when MBV were onstage and setting up. Shields kept doing the slash-across-throat symbol to cut it, after the fifth or so try the guy finally turned it off.

This is why I love ILM...I've never had the occasion to tell that story, if it can even be considered a story.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Friday, 6 May 2005 23:01 (twenty-one years ago)

five months pass...

you don't recognize it because it's a cd-r of the soundman's shitty band.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Tuesday, 1 November 2005 19:02 (twenty years ago)

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