Songs you didn't like until your band covered them

Erberderber

Erberderber

Senior Member
Sometimes it seems that a song that didn't interest you in the past gets a new lease of life when your band covers it and then you find yourself humming it for days after rehearsals.

When one of the bands I'm in told me they were going to do a cover of I'm Yours by Jason Mraz I cringed, but it's strangely growing on me. Who'd have thought it?
 
If I really do not like a song, I simply will not play it. I'll cover songs which I don't care for yet don't actually hate, but so far that's never made me like them.
 
For me? A whole genre.

Never liked listening to Funk, all that "Get down on the floor" gibberish.

Been playing Funk with a band for 9 months now and I love it. Its all about the music, bass and drums to be precise, and its great to play. Now I am the first to flag up if a new cover is not Funky enough. Who would have thought.

Try playing a genre or a song before you dismiss it, would be my advice, you may just surprise yourself.
 
Matchbox by Carl Perkins

and

Nutbush City Limits by Tina Turner

We do both. I had never heard Matchbox when our guitar player introduced it and we listened to a YouTube version. I was like.. .. meh.

Now I love that song. We put our own "less country" spin on it. Everybody takes a short solo. Love it!

With Nutbush, of course I had heard it but I have always thought it was a bit of a mess. Our version has the bass just thumping the whole time bum bum b b b bum bum bum b b b bum.

We throw in the honkin' harp solo and a nasty Fender Twin tone guitar lead. We even stretch it out toward the end and get real quiet and our lead guitar player that sings it starts talking mumbo jumbo to the audience. "Betta watch out fo da police" It's genius.

Oh, I almost forgot. We do Boz Scagg's Runnin' Blue. I never liked it that much but it swings and it's a staple in our set because our other guitar player once took a piss next to Boz in an airport bathroom.. .. so I guess that's a good enough reason. I've grown to like the swing and taking turns in the version we do.
 
Like a Virgin done in a Hard Rockin' style.

Sugar Sugar with the same application.

Mary Mary where you goin' to (Monkees?) The same.

Why? Because we would always get asked to play some pop so we obliged.
 
I've never been a Fleetwood Mac fan, but our band learnt the entire Rumours album for a concept show last year.

I still don't like 'Oh Daddy' or 'Gold dust woman' but 'Go your own way' and 'Don't Stop' are fun to play.
 
It happens a lot for me. The most recent is Boogie Shoes. All of our band members sing so the harmony in that song makes it rather enjoyable. Another point is that a song you may not care for becomes fun when you get a consistent and positive response from the audience. People love to dance to Boogie Shoes. That gives us a lot of energy.

Back in the day my example is Baby Come Back by Player. Never would have listened to it because I was into 70s progressive album rock. But even to this day if that song comes on I turn it up! Why, because our band worked on it and made it sound good and the audience always reacted well to it.
 
This constantly happens for me. We actually Play I'm Yours BTW.

My band's method for selecting new material is each of us gets to pick whatever song they want. There is no fuss, we just learn it and the rule is we have to play it out at a gig at least twice. If it flops we drop it, if it works we keep it.

You would not believe how many songs have actually surprised us. I purposefully choose songs that aren't our typical "party song" but are songs I like and a lot of them end up being hits.

Needless to say there are many many songs other members choose that I despise but as soon as the dance floor goes crazy it starts to grow on me.
 
I never thought I would like playing country and bluegrass music on drums. I started playing with these guys back in January, and this was from our first gig back in August (recorded with a field recorder). I love playing with these guys so much.

https://www.reverbnation.com/TheNewRiverDrifters
 
Several years ago played 'Run to You' by Bryan Adams for a New Years band event.

When it was proposed I laughed. Admittedly, our take was a little heavier than the original, which made it more palatable for me, but those chords were the same, and damned if it didn't rock.
 
Boogie Wonderland - EW&F
Kiss - Prince
Genie In A Bottle - Christina A.

We turned them all into a rock cover.... people love it lol
 
I have a few. Joined a really good cover band this past year and play many well known rock songs from the '70s to the more modern day The Killers. Some of my favorites to play that I never really fell in love with when listening to the original are...

Mysterious Ways (U2)

TNT (ACDC)

Snow (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

Temple (Kings of Leon)

American Girl (Tom Petty)
 
A lot of obscure british stuff, at least it is obscure over here. Our Bass player is from England and when he first played some of these for us we were trying to find a nice way to say no but being the band we are where everyone gets a say we had to play em and surprisingly I grew to love em. Most of the people at our gigs do not really like most of them but they seem to put up with it.

1) Sex and drugs and rock and Roll--Ian Drury

2) Nice and Sleazy---Stranglers.. (I really like this one, wicked bass line.)

3) Princess of the Streets---Stranglers (still hate this one)

4) She said Alright-----DR Feelgood (Love it)
 
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