How Long Does An Over-Played Song Stay Over-Played?

Vic, for me, 'More Than A Feeling' felt old when it came out. way overplayed. it became a joke in my crowd.

...the most over-hyped (at least here in the UK) band in history - Frankie Goes To Hollywood -
T.R. wrote and recorded a song a few years back with a title spoofing them. "Frankie Goes To [something]wood," about a troubled teen who gets sent to an institution in upstate New York. I can't find the name of it easily, but if someone from NYC wants to do something similar, there's a mental hospital in Queens named Holliswood. :D

I think the Upstate one is called "Marcy" or something like that. Can't remember now.

I think T.R.'s song was "Frankie Goes To Southwood."

There's a place by that name that sounds right, but it's in southwestern Pennsylvania. Whatever.

I still have trouble listening to Fleetwood Mac or Peter Frampton -- and I overplayed them 30 years ago!

Some songs I have been playing for years and years, over and over, and I do them because they work with the audience. I found that the worst part of those songs is calling them. Whether it is for a request or if I know that this is what the crowd needs right now, I get the "oh, not that one again" thought running through my head. But I know I need to play it so I do. And then the funny thing happens, as soon as the music starts, I forget that the song is overplayed, I forget that there is nothing new I can find in the song, but the magic of the music starts and I find myself enjoying playing it, even if it's the millionth time.

Oh, yeah ... PLAYING them is another matter. :twisted: I'm notorious for genre bending, like doing "Born to be Wild" with shoegaze styling and tempo. Or the Jim Reeves classic "He's Got to Go" a la Ramones. There are reasons why a song got overplayed in the first place, and performing them reminds you of those reasons.

I might try my hand at a book: "100 ways to play Mustang Sally" :lol:

We musicians seem to get tired of overplayed songs before the general public does. Perhaps because we listen more intently or with more insight -- I really don't know.

But I've been playing "Old Time Rock And Roll" since it came out, and the audience still goes wild over it and jams the dance floor. So to amuse myself, I've been playing the guitar solo on a wind synthesizer (I can play wind synth better than I can play guitar) to see how well I can imitate a guitar. I was thinking "Jeff Beck" when I recorded this one on the gig -- at least his use of the whammy bar (not that I could ever really emulate the master, but it's fun to try to cop bits and pieces of different people and mix them with my own playing).

http://www.nortonmusic.com/mp3/_oldtimeguitar.mp3

Now that was a lot of fun!

The audience still goes nuts over the "Electric Boogie" but thankfully "Them From New York, New York" has finally faded away. That was actually a well crafted song, but there wasn't much to do with it except play a cover version (without alienating my audience).

But then there are other "songs" I've listened to many hundreds of times, and I don't think I'll ever get tired of them, Dvorak's 9th symphony, Tchaikovsky's 6th, Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet Concert Suites, Shastakovitch's 4th symphony, Amirov's Arabian Nights, to name just a few.

It seems the huge symphonic works of the romantic and post-romantic era are the ones that I can listen to for the hundredth time and still hear something new. Perhaps because they are so huge and complex. I especially like the darker works (Russian, Eastern European, etc.).

It's fun for me to listen to many different kinds of music. I regularly listen to symphonic, rock, blues, salsa and jazz, and I mix in smaller doses of at least 20 other genres. Perhaps the fact that I don't listen to one kind of radio station helps with the overplayed aspect.

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Now that my two oldest kids are getting old enough to notice music a bit more, I'm finding that music that felt overplayed to me seems new again - because I realize there was often a reason it was overplayed in the first place, and I get to watch these two little people discover how great it is for the first time. Something that you would normally dread hearing feels a whole lot better again when it gets your five year old dancing.

I think T.R.'s song was "Frankie Goes To Southwood."

There's a place by that name that sounds right, but it's in southwestern Pennsylvania. Whatever.

it was on the GN "CD" -- maybe still up on Soundclick?

I liked that tune.

...the most over-hyped (at least here in the UK) band in history - Frankie Goes To Hollywood -
T.R. wrote and recorded a song a few years back with a title spoofing them. "Frankie Goes To [something]wood," about a troubled teen who gets sent to an institution in upstate New York. I can't find the name of it easily, but if someone from NYC wants to do something similar, there's a mental hospital in Queens named Holliswood. :D

My mind filled in another word for your [something] that would pass the filters, but combined wouldn't be appropriate for a PG audience. Now I have the title to a parody song about a teen that wakes up to discover something new. :D

Awesome! :D

OK, I've got a hot link:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=225776&songID=1559214

...the most over-hyped (at least here in the UK) band in history - Frankie Goes To Hollywood -
T.R. wrote and recorded a song a few years back with a title spoofing them. "Frankie Goes To [something]wood," about a troubled teen who gets sent to an institution in upstate New York. I can't find the name of it easily, but if someone from NYC wants to do something similar, there's a mental hospital in Queens named Holliswood. :D

My mind filled in another word for your [something] that would pass the filters, but combined wouldn't be appropriate for a PG audience. Now I have the title to a parody song about a teen that wakes up to discover something new. :D

we're a bit beyond PG. Fun band, by the way (ignore the advert; some great parodies in this vid):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpyfMt42MQk

I love my friend Dan Lange's song "Wood," on his "Streetwise" CD:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/lange2