Music at a car show needs to be BACKGROUND noise, NOT the prominent in-your-face racket blasting away at 150 dB!!! Keep the music upbeat and MIXED! Nothing ruins a show like continuous '50s tunes. Play the gamut from the late '50s through the '80s, and keep the volume (and the friggin' nonsensical chatter!) to a minimum, and people will walk away from the show happy. Me, personally, would rather have NO music at a car show. But, then, depending on the show, then you get the kids wanting to show off their new 10,000-watt noisemaker and vibrate everyone's fillings out!!! The guy that DJ's the local Mopar show (also the club pres) plays nothing but '50s crap for a show that has (mostly) '60s car through to the late models. Cranks that up to where you can not have a conversation. Chatters about nothing between songs, THEN replays the playlist! Absolutely the worst part of what is otherwise a great show!
Don't play Hotrod Lincoln or that fucking beep beep song you know what I mean. DR. Rock @ the WSRA CornRoast plays that shit. Very annoying.
PM me your address and I will send you a copy of both of my bands cd's, one of the is REAL country and the other is Hot Rod Rock-n-Roll! Search FB for Sam Navarro and the Lonestar Devils and Lone Star DeLuxe. Cheers, Sam
I sure am glad to hear positive response for background music and variety other than 50's and 60's only, I really agree on those points! Up near me, there's a weekly cruise in sponsored by a radio station (AM 560) that probably doesn't realize that there is an FM dial, and that any music has been created post 1967... I stopped going cause it's just the same music being blasted at you, and I was beginning to get afraid that I'd start rampaging on all the car owners that just want to sit in their chairs, not talk, and frown at you... sorry, I'm getting sidetracked... YES to rockabilly, YES to early punk, YES to something, anything different! And as an aside, to everyone suggesting/voting no music, I think you missed the initial post: I think him playing 'no music' is pretty counterproductive to his job and getting hired again... Just my opinion I guess.
how about some brian setzer, both with and without the stray cats. stevie ray vaughn, waylon jennings, johnny cash, pretenders, tom petty. keep volume down to less than ear bleed level, and please only talk if needed.
umm just a thought on all the people saying no music... since he is already hired to play music, I don't think no music would go well.. that would be funny though dj shows up then sets up and then doesn't play anything... lol
I really appreciate all the comments, even the no music ones. It tells me what Ive thought all along, I'm there to provide an ambiance, not be the show. I do this at what I charge because organizers of these shows are usually benefiting a charity or helping someone out and they do not need to shell out all the money to the entertainment. I'm semi old school as I have not gone to using a lap top. Outdoor shows are bad on lappies cuz you can't see the words. But anyway, about the 50 music...kinda gotta play it around here. I do mix it up and I usually get beaned about it at my weekly cruise night (same old guys, same old complaints) This one person in particular has run up to the booth and told me that I was not playing car show music. I ask him what car show music is and he tells me that i should only play 50s R&R. i says, look around you, all these cars are from all different eras and the owners are all different ages. Not everyone like the 50s. I slipped a CD into the player and started a song and I ask him if this is what he wants. He listens a few seconds and he says yes! That's what I'm talking about. I says song was written in the late 60, early 70s, I wasn't sure. All I knew it was from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, Meatloaf doing "Whatever Happened To Saturday Night" A song clearly in the style but NOT a 50s tune. He walks off grumbling. I like diverse music, in fact, two shows I do, the organizers specify, not too much Beach Boys and typical car show songs.
That's the club I belong to. I agree with you, but usually I am busy pulling my little blue wagon drawing cars or running the model show. They won't hire me because they think it's a conflict of interest me being a member and all.
Yep.........I hate music at shows/cruise nights. I'm there to see cool stuff and talk with the owners of cool stuff.
'Not sure if this just the way things are here in the Eastm but I'm way tired of hearing some fat old guy playing Doo Wop tracks, enuff already.
Anything but 50's ! 25 plus years of car shows,if I hear the Big Bopper one more time I my blow my head off ! I vote for something alittle newer,mix it up and keep it a volume people can talk over. Just my 2 cents...
I was going to comment, but I'm sitting here at the computer listening to Frank Zappa. So maybe I should just say.... "You can't please all of the people all of the time..." Cheers, Glen.
Watched American Pickers the other night and they came across a guy in the hills of California that had 500,000 albums. I wish the hell some of the radio would figure out that there are more than 20 songs to play for 6 month straight.
x100 I would like to hear more hard rock. I personally prefer Heavy Metal and think it goes excellent with hotrods. V8 Screaming, tyres howling, "Eruption" blaring but don't expect to hear it at car shows but that 50s music has to go and Rockabilly can be close behind. I know thems fighting words to some and some of the psychobilly comes kinda close-ish to metal (lots of wholesome distortion...etc) so I'll settle for some hard rock but not too loud for the reasons you mentioned. The best would be a mix as you suggested. You sound like a great DJ who cares what people want to hear - that's rare and appreciated.
At a couple shows last year I heard 80s pop music. Almost made me hurl! The last thing I wanna hear at a show is Micheal Jackson
Another Mopar guy who gets it! My favorite era of music;I'd just plug in the "Nuggets" psychedelic 4-CD collection and roll from there.
One comment I got from a show participant as to my style was "I never expected to hear Uriah Heep at a show, thanx for that". Ah yes,da Heep.Many up in smoke brain cells while their albums were cranking. Plug them in now and then and still feels good. Do like stuff from 50's till now,surf,instrumentals,rock,garage. Agree with the sound.Background.Usually any show I go to is a big bullshit session,catching up with happenings,and making new acquaintances. Yelling gets old quick.
I recently sponsored a Hot Rodders / Old Racers Reunion and was "suckered" into playing the backdrop music a little bit louder for the attending women who were sitting the farthest away from the tunes. The older guys soon reminded me they were there to relive the past and the music was drowning out their conversations. It didn't take long for the music to be turned down !! For future get togethers the tunes will be eliminated.
i don't mind the music as a background, it's the wolfman jack impersonaters that annoy the shit out of me! please just play music and don't speak.
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