A DJ:
- playing “Heartbreaker” without “Living Loving Maid.”
- playing “We Will Rock You” without “We Are the Champions.”
- playing “Eruption” without “You Really Got Me.”
- talking over any song until a half-second before the vocals begin.
A live act:
- Choosing poor opening and/or closing songs.
- Shoehorning audience participation into a song not amenable to it.
- Reworking a song beyond all recognition.
- Including a large drum solo in its set. (Bo: “Who likes drum solos?” Nathan: “Drummers.” Bo: “Who else?” Nathan: “Nobody.”)
A fellow fan:
- Claiming fanhood of an artist with a decades-long career solely on the basis of that artist’s two or three biggest songs.
- Claiming supreme fanhood of an artist, such that your petty affection cannot possibly be remotely comparable.
- Placing his girlfriend on his shoulders at a concert and leaving her there.
- Clapping and never stopping.
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On 2.4:
Neal Peart: “Yeah, well, Bo is retarded”
It does get old after a while, but I think The Professor gets a lifetime exemption.
Agreed on the drum solo. If I want to hear a drum solo, I would go see a drummer. As a teenager (many, many, many years ago) I had the absolute pleasure to see Buddy Rich play live. Nothing can compare, the guy was incredible. So, until they can play in Buddy’s league, drummers should just keep the beat.
Not to go all nerdy ex-DJ on you, but you are supposed to time it out to finish your lines right before the vocals begin. If you don’t, you’re “stepping on” the song. That being said, some songs have too much of a build up before the vocals begin, like “Promises, Promises” by Naked Eyes. I can’t remember exactly but it is around one full minute before the words kick in, if a DJ is still talking for that long then he/she probably should take the ego to the blog world. 😉
BamaDan, Mirth: if it’s an alien like Peart or Rich, that’s different. But those are sufficiently rare as to be essentially nonexistent for purposes of the discussion. You know the drummers I mean.
Mirth, I like a drummer who brings a lot to a song, but in the context of the song. “Whole Lotta Love.” “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” Cheap Trick’s “Love Me For a Minute.” I like more than keeping the beat if the guy’s any good, but all too often a “drum solo” becomes ten minutes of keeping the beat. 🙂
Charles, I get what they’re/you’re doing. I just don’t like talking over the song at all. Sometimes the beginning is one of the best parts. I rarely heard anyone fail to ruin Robert Plant’s “Burning Down One Side,” for example.
I agree! There were songs that I picked to just shut the hell up and play. Sometimes there isn’t a need to tell about the morning zoo being on from 6-10 weekday mornings or the free t-shirt givaways if you come down and test drive the new improved Subaru. It’s also a bit of a worn out philosophy that DJ’s can’t talk without anything going on in the background. I haven’t paid a whole lot of attention (not in a “I’m too cool for it all now” way, just in a “I really haven’t paid a whole lot of attention” way), but with satellite and internet radio, the trend may be to talk over intros less.