Kev, forgive me for going a bit off topic, but given the audience in this thread, I figure this is as good a place as any to get relevant responses. So, here's the deal. My "band" (a group of us that get together casually to play every now and then and have had a handful over VERY low-key "gigs") is booked to play two hours or so of music at an outdoor cycling fundraiser at the beginnig of May (the Tour de Cure Diabetes ride, to be specific). We played it last year, and it was cool. Basically, we are providing background music and entertainment for a couple of hours for the families hanging out and eating lunch, and for the cyclists who are finishing their race. Problem is, our drummer bailed, so we have having to re-shuffle the band around, which means having to scratch some songs from the list and learn some newer, easier ones to fill in. For me, growing up on MTV, '80s MTV songs are my wheelhouse.
So here's what I'm asking for: Can you guys quickly give me some suggestions for songs you think would be appropriate for the crowd, catchy and recognizable, and fairly straightforward and easy to learn? As far as instruments, we have drums, bass, guitar, and me on vox. (one of our guitarists is moving over to fill in on drums, and we may be able to bring in a backup guitarist to fill in on the second guitar spot, but the guy who is now doing drums is somewhat limited in the drumming dept.) So nothing overly keyboard heavy, or at least that can't have the keyboard part played on guitar, which is basically what we are doing with Just What I Needed (the Cars).
Suggestions?
To give a flavor of some of the stuff we are already doing: Wanted Dead Or Alive (Bon Jovi), Still Rock And Roll To Me (Billy Joel), Back In The USSR (the Beatles), Purple Haze, a couple of Tom Petty tunes, etc. I was thinking about maybe adding a Huey Lewis song--just trying to think of the best one that isn't too keyboard or horn heavy. But '80s is mostly where it's at. What do you guys suggest?