I Don't Wanna Play That Song!

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What do you do when your band has an embarrassingly bad song in an otherwise ace set that you hate playing, much less being seen playing? If you roll your eyes or look bored, you come across as a petulant asshole. If you play it and look like you enjoy playing it as much as the other songs, you look like an ignorant dandy who apparently doesn't understand how shitty you sound.

What to do? What to do?

― Pleasant Plains, Friday, 6 April 2007 18:49 (eighteen years ago)

I say "hey dudes, I don't like that song and I don't want to play it anymore." And we don't.

― n/a, Saturday, 7 April 2007 03:37 (eighteen years ago)

I was outvoted, 3-1.

― Pleasant Plains, Saturday, 7 April 2007 04:21 (eighteen years ago)

Seems like the options are play it and pretend you're into it or start your own band/write your own songs. If you didn't write the song, you can't be blamed for it being lame. But a lame song can still have a good bass/drum/guitar/whatever part, and that can be your job. I think most professional musicians have to play music that they don't like. You make it sound as good or as true to the composer's intent as you can, and then you shrug and pick up your check or whatever.

― St3ve Go1db3rg, Saturday, 7 April 2007 19:47 (eighteen years ago)

Does this apply to "Brown eyed Girl"? Because there is never any excuse to play that song live.

― John Justen, Saturday, 7 April 2007 20:15 (eighteen years ago)

There's a particular face session players put on that pretty much screams I'M DOING MY JOB, MAN. No petulance or sneering, just total blank-faced professionalism. Normally it says something along the lines of "large or small, I take pride in a job well done" -- sometimes with a hint of "hey, I just love playing my instrument." Catch any popular country singer on Leno and there are invariably a couple guys, way in the back, playing tiny keyboards and making this face.

Alternately you could lobby to change your part enough that people will say stuff like "the XX player was working hard to save it, but that song really blew."

― nabisco, Sunday, 8 April 2007 03:12 (eighteen years ago)

Another good trick for "blank-faced professionalism" is to keep looking at your equipment! Get a good quizzical face, lean over toward your amp, and squint hard, like you're about to adjust something. Touch a knob (but don't actually change anything), play for a few seconds, then turn back to the amp like that didn't quite fix it. After that, start looking down and inspecting any pedals you might have. Knock some cables out of the way with your foot, like they've been in your way all through the set. Not only do you look professional and disengaged, but then people might say "that song really blew, but I dunno, it looked like the XX player was having some kind of equipment problem, so maybe it wasn't supposed to sound like that."

― nabisco, Sunday, 8 April 2007 03:16 (eighteen years ago)

We usually argue on stage about what song to play until someone gets outvoted or just starts playing something. It's part of our charm, I hope.

― Jordan, Sunday, 8 April 2007 08:01 (eighteen years ago)

cosign

― pretzel walrus, Sunday, 8 April 2007 16:26 (eighteen years ago)

Thanks, everyone. The solution I've discovered is to invite someone on stage to play the song for me while I go get a beer.

― Pleasant Plains, Sunday, 8 April 2007 16:28 (eighteen years ago)

Usually it's a song that I wrote and everyone else in the band loves it but I think it's moronic. Therefore I get to introduce the song with that explanation. Sometimes I am proven wrong.

― Casuistry, Monday, 9 April 2007 20:42 (eighteen years ago)

If you're the singer you just let them play it but sing some other song's lyrics to the song's melody, or you sing it with the same lyrics but change anything with the proper phonetics to words like "butt" and "taint" etc.

― nickalicious, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 19:43 (eighteen years ago)

There's a particular face session players put on that pretty much screams I'M DOING MY JOB, MAN. No petulance or sneering, just total blank-faced professionalism. Normally it says something along the lines of "large or small, I take pride in a job well done" -- sometimes with a hint of "hey, I just love playing my instrument." Catch any popular country singer on Leno and there are invariably a couple guys, way in the back, playing tiny keyboards and making this face.

Yeah, but I get the feeling those guys make the same face when they're taking a shit.

― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 23:34 (eighteen years ago)

musically speaking, they are.

― horrid bluegrass clicktrack, Thursday, 12 April 2007 02:24 (eighteen years ago)

one year passes...

The song I was talking about was "Box Elder" because it's "one of Pavement's obscure ones".

(I am no longer in the band.)

― Pleasant Plains, Thursday, 24 July 2008 21:19 (sixteen years ago)

Wow, the "maybe something's wrong with his equipment" trick really wouldn't have worked for that one.

― nabisco, Thursday, 24 July 2008 23:50 (sixteen years ago)

Yeah, but it was pretty amusing!

― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 27 July 2008 00:38 (sixteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

Grrr... just got kicked out of my own band... well kindof, but the guy who was entirely uninterested to start with suddenly got very excited, then tyrranical then decided he wanted to play guitar instead of drums, then got his mate to drum, then decided my songs were too radical and he didn't see a place for two guitars. He bought me a pint, but hang on this band was sort of my idea in the first place. He's still a good mate, so I said "fair enough" as is my usual and placid wont, but hey isn't that a bit of a kick in the tits eh?

― the next grozart, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 22:46 (sixteen years ago)

That deserves at least two pints, I mean really.

― Decreasing Range, Thursday, 21 August 2008 10:24 (sixteen years ago)

I solve this problem by not being in any bands.

― Granny Dainger, Wednesday, 27 August 2008 18:14 (sixteen years ago)

kinda bullshit

― RabiesAngentleman, Thursday, 28 August 2008 02:06 (sixteen years ago)

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/s378327.jpg

― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 28 August 2008 10:23 (sixteen years ago)

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