Jukeboxin'
Even if this were written in complete earnestness, I'd believe it to be true.
A nice followup article would tackle the crazy issue of how to sabotage the jukebox. I knew a guy who would play 'Echoes' by Pink Floyd with all five plays. I never did anything that crazy, although once some friends of mine played 'Jessica' by the Allman Brothers 3 times in a row just because we couldn't get enough of it.
(oh, and two weeks ago, I listened to 'Tuesday's Gone' about 75 times in a row, but I was alone, and the Cardinals had just won the world series.)
My most successful jukebox moment has to be in a bar attached to a bowling alley somewhere in Pennsylvania. I surveyed the crowd; quiet, keeping to themselves, or laughing. not much music playing. I nodded, walked to the jukebox and put in 'The Gambler' by Kenny Rogers.
You can't gamble in Pennsylvania. Hell, you can barely stick your neck out without some Quaker trying to chop it off. But somehow, everyone on their barstool felt a little rambly, a little gambly, and before I knew it half the bar was singing along. I'd done a good thing.
Flip side:
In college I lived in a fraternity house (albeit a house where people like the Dead Milkmen, the Murder Junkies and Wesley Willis would perform in our living room). Every Thursday we had a party where people would come over, drink free beer, play pool and foosball. It was like 'Dazed and Confused', except with uglier chicks. It was here as a freshman I heard incredible music I'd never heard before. And if you were the guy serving the beer, you got control over the stereo,
This house never catered much to students, but more to people in the outlying Philadelphia area, and for a time, we became a party location for friends and posse members of the Goats, a Roots-like hip-hop band that made a bit of noise in the early '90s. Well, they took over our party and played nothing but Goats for several weeks in a row, and my roommate and I got plenty sick of it. So the following week, we signed up for 4 hours of bar shifts, playing Smashing Pumpkins and punk rock and probably some Metallica. After turning down 40-50 requests to change the music, some guy pulled out a taser, turned it on, and jammed it to my head. It turns out he turned it off before making contact, but it freaked the crap out of me.
I guess the moral of that story is, some people freakin' *hate* the Smashing Pumpkins. Makes people angry!
And then there's the proudest moment:
The time my band Vote for Noah got our CD in our neighborhood bar, Fitzgerald's at 24th and 3rd. We'd play our song and look around the room with our eyes bugging, waiting for people to go into convulsions, start speaking in tongues, and buy us shots. It didn't play out quite like that, partially because the songs were so much quieter than anything else being played (mastering is important kids!) but the first time you cue up a song you wrote on a jukebox is pretty special.
A nice followup article would tackle the crazy issue of how to sabotage the jukebox. I knew a guy who would play 'Echoes' by Pink Floyd with all five plays. I never did anything that crazy, although once some friends of mine played 'Jessica' by the Allman Brothers 3 times in a row just because we couldn't get enough of it.
(oh, and two weeks ago, I listened to 'Tuesday's Gone' about 75 times in a row, but I was alone, and the Cardinals had just won the world series.)
My most successful jukebox moment has to be in a bar attached to a bowling alley somewhere in Pennsylvania. I surveyed the crowd; quiet, keeping to themselves, or laughing. not much music playing. I nodded, walked to the jukebox and put in 'The Gambler' by Kenny Rogers.
You can't gamble in Pennsylvania. Hell, you can barely stick your neck out without some Quaker trying to chop it off. But somehow, everyone on their barstool felt a little rambly, a little gambly, and before I knew it half the bar was singing along. I'd done a good thing.
Flip side:
In college I lived in a fraternity house (albeit a house where people like the Dead Milkmen, the Murder Junkies and Wesley Willis would perform in our living room). Every Thursday we had a party where people would come over, drink free beer, play pool and foosball. It was like 'Dazed and Confused', except with uglier chicks. It was here as a freshman I heard incredible music I'd never heard before. And if you were the guy serving the beer, you got control over the stereo,
This house never catered much to students, but more to people in the outlying Philadelphia area, and for a time, we became a party location for friends and posse members of the Goats, a Roots-like hip-hop band that made a bit of noise in the early '90s. Well, they took over our party and played nothing but Goats for several weeks in a row, and my roommate and I got plenty sick of it. So the following week, we signed up for 4 hours of bar shifts, playing Smashing Pumpkins and punk rock and probably some Metallica. After turning down 40-50 requests to change the music, some guy pulled out a taser, turned it on, and jammed it to my head. It turns out he turned it off before making contact, but it freaked the crap out of me.
I guess the moral of that story is, some people freakin' *hate* the Smashing Pumpkins. Makes people angry!
And then there's the proudest moment:
The time my band Vote for Noah got our CD in our neighborhood bar, Fitzgerald's at 24th and 3rd. We'd play our song and look around the room with our eyes bugging, waiting for people to go into convulsions, start speaking in tongues, and buy us shots. It didn't play out quite like that, partially because the songs were so much quieter than anything else being played (mastering is important kids!) but the first time you cue up a song you wrote on a jukebox is pretty special.
posted by stinkrock at 1:32 PM
4 Comments:
I played '99 Luftbaloons' many consecutive times, it might go without saying that I was too drunk to remember how many times. My friend Joe once played the live 'Moby Dick' three times in a row. I thought mine was funny, but his was just mean.
A jukebox is the number two assest a bar can have - beer is number one.
I recall that instant Jackson.
I believe we played '99 Luftbaloons' 99 times to piss off our friend Al Biscup when we took a late night run to the Stewart Airport Diner.
I do not like the Smashing Pumpkins, but I would refrain from harming anybody who over played their records.
I remember going off on a chick at a party who lifted the needle on "Diary of a Madman" the day Randy Rhodes died. An action no jury would convict me of.
FYI, your old fraternity is house is back. You heard about the fire? It's been totally remodeled.
i heard, and am kicking around the idea of going to bbq this year. you going?
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