Category: Jam Session
Hey all musicians and listeners / people who hit bars and clubs:
What are the standards you expect a 90s-ish alternative band to know? I mean, when I was still playing, early 90s / late 80s, there was stuff you always had to know. True in any genre of music really. But what keys player in the 80s / early 90s didn't play Eurhythmics, Brian adams, Genesis, and so on? And what rock band didn't play Kiss, AC/DC, Zepelin and stuff?
I'm not talking your original acts, but just playing out at gigs. The kid I'm hooking up with to start a band is a 90s / alternative player, hasn't played out much, and I think is still under the illusion you can get gigs on originals only.
I realize I'm pretty old school in some ways, hell I'm a few years shy of twice his age. If what he wants, and certainly it's what I want ultimately, is to play gigs, we gotta know some standards, whatever that amounts to now. The proverbial Hotel California / Free Bird / Beat Up Old Jet Liner / I Love Rock 'N' Roll of the 90s and beyond.
I was just thinking, he's cool with my playing and all, but I feel a bit like an idiot not knowing what the standards usually are now.
So any bands, one-hit wonders, etc. will be great to know. We're aiming to be hard-ish alternative. My daughter calls it hard, but compared to 80s metal doesn't seem hard to me. Rage Against the Machine was one of his big influences.
As an aside, I've seen with interest how bass lines have undergone some interesting changes. Stuff I just didn't pay attention to since I got out in the early / mid 90s. And even though alternative was on the radio then, it wasn't in all the bars and clubs, we were still expected to do 70s 80s stuff. At least if you were a money-making band that got gigs and got people dancing.
Lol I'm curious what the new "Free bird" is ... that tune some obnoxious asshole yells out at every venue you could possibly play, after yelling, "Play somethin' we know!" Please tell me it's not "Free Bird" anymore ... gods!
Smell like Team Spirit by Nervana I'd think would be up there.
That's true, and thanks.
Say, I never responded but, I heard you were finishing up some recording. That's pretty rad. Studio work's tough, in many ways tougher than playing live.
Take after take after take ...
So, congratulations.
I'm a 90s kid and this is what I usually hear when I went to bars with 90s theme.
nirvana, stp, pearl jam, dishwalla, rage against the machine, everclear, oasis, live, our lady of peace, rhcp. etc. those are just at the top of my head right now.
Great suggestions, and that's the kind of stuff I nbeed to know, right?
Funniest thing ever is you hear people say ... "I don't really know, but ..." then lay out what they expect to listen to, which is the solid gold info we need to get ready to play out.
People are turned off by the word 'standards' because it's so overused by polite society re: music you should know. But every genre has them, and fans of that genre know exactly what they are whether they use that word or not.
I still think I've some 'splainin' to do to the guy as to how you can't make any money on originals. Lol I remember thinking you could though, but every money-making, or even often-gigging band I ever played with, we did a mix of each, usually 2/3 covers and 1/3 originals. But while you can't make it on original tunes alone, you totally can on covers if they're the right ones.
So I really appreciate the feedback. I got some great feedback from Facebook too.
Just checking the top 10 hits for any given year on Bilboard will give you this information too.
The problem with this, is you will also need to know your blub.
Do people want to hear 90's music?
If so, is it rock?
You could specificly bill your band as a 90's group, but if you do so, you'll have to finde your listeners.
Just because you like the 90's doesn't mean you can turn that in to paying gigs.
Spend some time in the clubs you intend to play in and learn what people are going to them to hear.
After that, make your sound better, and your shows more exciting in some way.
Here's how you explain to him about not being able to make it on originals alone. Think about going to a concert. When the band says, "And, here's something off the new album," what does everyone do? Yep, beer and bathroom break. lol
People want to hear stuff they can sing along to.
It might be a good idea to throw an R E M song in your song list. I guess they're really more 90's pop; I'm not really sure. One that is always a hit is that song Creep by Radio Head. You can't go wrong with that one. Something by Bush would be good too, perhaps Glisserine or Come Down.
Someone already mentioned STP but and Pearl Jam. Those are 2 must haves.
Oh yeah, what about Smashing Pumpkins and Green Day?
There ya go. hth
Wayne, Portland is so 90s it's ridiculous. Have you seen the show Portlandia? It's full of stereotypes and makes hipsters cringe, but it's all true!
Some people say coming to Portland is like going to a land where the Iraq War and George W. Bush never happened. Again, a bit of a stretch to prove a point. 90s alt rock is in. We can certainly do later tunes too, and I'm sure a few earlier if they fit.
Smiling Sunshine, thanks for the friendly way to describe this so I don't sound paternalistic and old. I absolutely refuse to get off on the wrong foot of, "I've made money doing this and you haven't" bs. It is technically true, a fact he himself pointed out. But I was young once, and older guys would sometimes come off that way when I was just starting. And even though, looking back, I know they were completely correct, I was so turned off by them that I couldn't listen. I'm not into any of that shit.
So I like how you explained it. I can skip any of my own past shit, give the concert example and let that do the trick.
But Wayne, seriously lol watch Portlandia on YouTube, especially clips of the first season. It's hilarious, and I live with these people, share some of their values, laugh at some of the rest of it.
The only thing I could see is that you could have too much 90s alt rock going so you couldn't get a gig. 15 years ago that was it. But now, lots of performers are doing this new indie folk. Which IMHO is pretty cool, but unless I'm really out of it, isn't going to get people buying beers, dancing and making out like your typical rock stuff does.
White Zombie!!!
White Zombie is great. But do you know why metal groups often suck at clubs? Their technique is often fine, but in order to play metal properly, you need really big gear. I wouldn't do metal on anything less than a full effects board and 500 Watts of power. Not because it's loud, it's the sound you're after.
Anyone is free to argue with my point here. But you need a monster board where you mic every drum channel, especially the bass drum and snare. I've played at clubs where I saw metal done so awfully, so many times. And it wasn't the players. But those poor guys would remain as opening acts only, while us guys playing different music would be second or final show, and not be technically any better. Granted these were variety bars, bring in what bands you could to fill up the place. But once I discovered this was the problem with the metal guys, I often had me a case of "survivor's guilt" since, again, they weren't technically bad. Just their sound was.
A few suggestions here:
Guns N Roses, though that might be a bit heavier than you're after
Pearl Jam (Jeremy, Alive, Even Flow)
Nirvana (Smells like Teen Spirit, In Bloom, Heart-shaped Box)
Alice in Chains (Man in the Box, Rooster)
Everclear (Santa Monica)
Smashing Pumpkins (Zero, Bullet with Butterfly Wings, Disarm, Today)
Green Day (When I Come Around, Basketcase)
Offspring (Self-Esteem, Come Out and Play)
STP (Interstate Love Song, Plush, Vasoline)
Soundgarden (Black Hole Sun, Pretty Noose, Black Days)
Dishwala (Count Blue Cars)
Bush (Come Down, Glycerine)
Red Hot Chili Peppers (Under the Bridge, Give It Away)
Oasis (Wonderwall, Champagne Supernova)
Our Lady Peace (Starseed)
Those are a few that I hear all the time, and heard growing up in the 90s as a kid. Most of them were pretty big, and most are bar-friendly.
Oh, a few more I thought of. Can't believe I didn't think of these before.
Collective Soul (Shine, December, The World I Know)
Live (Lightning Crashes)
Blink 182 (Damn It)
REM (Losing My Religion, The One I Love, Everybody Hurts, What's The Frequency Kenneth)
I don't know your setup/skill level/how heavy you want to go. Some of the ones I listed in my first post in the thread might be a bit heavy if you don't have a huge board for metal stuff, for instance, but almost all of those will be hugely recognizable by a crowd who liked alternative in the 90s.
Guns 'N' Roses is full on 80s and pretty glam / heavy. Lots of your suggestions are good.
It's going to depend on what drummer we find, also. And some of the music will require two gitars. Even if you fake it as a bass player and add in chords, it's not the same as having two guitars for some of the music. R.E.M. you can get away with one, same with most your suggestions. Alice In Chains is really big sound though. It's possible Rooser and Voodoo you can do though.
Great suggests, and much appreciated.
This is where I had intended to post about the Black Crows. I remember I was Freshman in college when their "Shake Your Moneymaker" album came out. By 1980s standards, they were really stripped-down, what people now call minimalist. Their guitarist certainly experimented with a lot of different ideas.
Sick Boy, Ball and Chain, and Story of My Life by Social Distortion.