Best "cover songs" to get the crowd onto the dance floor?

Dpoirier

Dpoirier

Fractal Fanatic
For those of you out there who are into covers, what are your all-time-favorite surefire ways to get the crowd onto the dance floor? Preferably something with teeth (for a two-guitars + keys + rhythm section band into slightly heavier material with balls)...

I know styles vary, and "heavier" means different things to different people, but there are no strings attached and all suggestions are welcome. My cover band isn't "heavy" as in "death metal", but heavier than Celine Dion. Still broad, I know. Like I said, any suggestion will be appreciated.

Another way to ask the question: when you're in a club (not playing), what song thrown out there by the DJ will surely get you onto the dance floor? Better yet, which song will affect your girlfriend into dragging your butt onto the dance floor, whether you want to or not?
 
Your question brought back some amusing memories. About 20 years ago I was in a (lame) cover band. Oddly, "Mary Had a Little Lamb" always got people dancing (for all of 3 minutes...then, mass disappointment as we broke into "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses"). Obviously we were masters at working a crowd. :)

"Dancing With Myself" also got people moving.
 
Journey/Separate ways, Eddie Money/Two Tickets to paradise, Drama-Rama/Anything Anything, We do a harder version of Rod Stewart/Maggie May and the place goes crazy?
 
This is a funny question. I play in a cover band that plays 80's hair band/MTV type stuff. A few years ago we were gigging in a room we play regularly and as a teaser I started playing an improtu version of stump the band, ya know... where the audience yells out the name of a song and you try to get through the intro. Someone yelled "Old Time Rock-n-Roll", a song we had never done as a band, I immediately played the opening riff on guitar, there was a frantic stampede for the dance floor, so much that people tripping over chairs & tables. We were laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes & when we didn't continue the song the packed dance floor got really pissed, so I did the riff again & you woulda thought I was offerring free crack to a congregation of crack whores in a back alley. Needless to say we felt we better finish the song. We managed to stumble through an obscure arrangment... big mistake, there numerous requests for the same song before the night was over... ala The Blues Brothers @ Bob's Country Bunker.
 
some that worked for us: Keep your hands to yourself: Jenny (867-5309): Sweet Child 'o mine: Journey stuff like Don't stop believin' Separate ways. I always thought Bad to the bone would have worked well, but we never did cover that one.
 
It depends on the crowd age... When I was doing the bar seen songs like The Romantics, What I like about you, B52's, love shack, type stuff always worked. The trick is to play what the chicks like to dance to and not what you like to play.
 
It does depend on the crowd age, and also on what the band is best at playing. For my band, Sympathy For The Devil, I Saw Her Standing There, Brown Eyed Girl, Rock & Roll, Born To Be Wild, Old Time Rock & Roll have always been pretty good ones to get people's feet moving.
 
It's absolutely dependant on the style of band and the type of bar you play. I'm in a 90's rock band that I've been trying to put together for a few years and I finally got the right people. The master plan was to go through every year in the 90's and ONLY pick songs that were top 10 hits. In the right bar, we'll have dancers from the first song to the last song, but in some bars we've had people yell at us and complain that we don't play anything "good". One particular night we had about 30 people in the bar, but couldn't get a response at all. Jokes, music, shenanigans, nothing. So I grabbed the mic and said "Alright folks, you've got me stumped. What do you want to hear?" country and classic rock... Busted into "save a horse ride a cowboy" and the floor filled up. Kept them there with some poison, joan jett, johnny cash that we were basically just pulling out of our asses.

It absolutely depends on the bar.
 
Altho' I hate to list these, they have NEVER failed with any band I've been in.

Funky Music
Brick House
Thriller/Billie Jean
Old Time Rock N' Roll
 
s0c9 said:
Altho' I hate to list these, they have NEVER failed with any band I've been in.

Funky Music
Brick House
Thriller/Billie Jean
Old Time Rock N' Roll
Click to expand...

+1, it doesn't matter what you think of them, they work. We recently decided to get outright blasphemous and did a medley of "That's The Way" by KC and the Sunshine Band, and "Another Brick in the Wall" by Pink Floyd. The crowd (which we thought might have us drawn and quartered) thought it was really cool and reacted accordingly.

The songs you're going to see on the list here show that, while we as musicians love stuff that challenges and inspires us, in many cases our audience has no such illusions or requirements... if it fuels their fire, they're all in. And if you let go and realize every note doesn't have to be your one statement for eternity, you can have a hell of a lot of fun with them! There's a time and a place for everything!
 
Basket Case by Greenday works well over here for some reason. (Don't have a clue why.)
Pulling off some shenanigans helps to get the humorous folks in the crowd to respond as well.
Once the ice has been broken... it usually ends up being a fun evening.
 
Sixstring said:
It depends on the crowd age....
Click to expand...
Venue and geography also play their part. In the UK we probably have a different choice to the US. I have use songs like Mustang Sally, Billie Jean, Honky Tonk Woman, Man I Feel Like a Woman, and Summer of 69. Each has its audience. In the last 12 twelve years, which spans 5 bands, I have play Mustang B.....g Sally at EVERY covers band gig, and not by my personal choice. We even discussed playing it, in 5/4 time, at an avant garde jazz gig.
 
All the songs I dislike the most. In our case:

Urgent
Pour Some Sugar on Me
Any ACDC
Living on a Prayer
Any butt rock

Of course, many will dance to almost anything, including Pink Floyd's Money.

A few songs always clear the floor:
Over the Hills and Far Away
Closer to the Heart
Eruption
Carry On Wayward Son
Satch Boogie
Time (Pink Floyd)
YYZ (or any Rush really)
Anything worth listening to.

Personally, I like to clear the floor.

And nothing will get me on the floor myself. I do not dance, so I try my best to see things from the dancer's perspective.
 
s0c9 said:
Altho' I hate to list these, they have NEVER failed with any band I've been in.

Funky Music
Brick House
Thriller/Billie Jean
Old Time Rock N' Roll
Click to expand...

I havent played in a band in 30 years but but three of those were what I was thinking. I would have replaced thriller with Lowrider. LOL!
 
To get a dance floor going, I don't think you can beat 80's top 40 songs. If girls will dance to it, men will join in. Typically, only really drunk guys will dance without women.

Living on a prayer, 8675309 jenny, blister in the sun, girls just wanna have fun, material girl, oh, and Jesse's Girl always gets em moving.

-phil
 
Radiohead -Creep (everyone sings it by the end of the night)
Goldfinger version of 99 Luftballons
Social Distortion - Ball and Chain
MCR - Teenagers
Linkin Park - Givin Up



Of course the "Eddie Bauer" generation loves "Breakfast at Tiffany's"
 
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