You’re in a moderately busy bar (not a club) and the jukebox is open. If you had to play one song to pick up the mood and get everyone bobbing their heads, what would it be?
To my mind, this would be a pretty clear choice.
“What I like about you” by the Romantics
“Tiptoe Through the Tulips” by Tiny Tim.
Three sure-fire, can’t fail choices:
“Good Times” by Aretha Franklin.
Living In America by James Brown
“Don’t You Worry 'Bout A Thing” by Incognito. Go with the Stevie original if you insist, but I actually prefer the Incognito cover.
Boogie Shoes 
Depends on the age group of the people in the bar.
If they’re 80s lovers, some 867-5309 might do the trick. Other decades will require other music…
At least for the crowd that frequents one of my favorite bars, Sublime’s Santeria always seems to get a good response. And anything by Tenacious D.
Hey, I was gonna say that.
Now I’ll have to go with “Black Dog” by Zepplin.
Wouldn’t work with every crowd I suppose.
“Working For The Weekend”
The bar I hung out at in college would always start hopping when “Laid” by James came on the jukebox.
It depends on the bar, and sometimes the bar staff. In a Texas themed restaurant where my daughter worked, David Allen Coe’s "You don’t have to call me darlin’’ would bring service to a halt while the wait staff and most of the customers sang along.
Well, going by longhair75’s post, not alot changes from Omaha, Nebraska to Elizabethtown, Ky. The bar I most often frequent doesn’t have a jukebox machine. What they do have is karaoke, where “You Don’t Have to Call Me Darlin’” is guaranteed to get people off their asses and onto their feet. It’s quite a hoot to see a roomful of people shake their fists in unison at “darlin, darlin” or collectively shout “In the rain, in the motherf***in’ rain!”.
Another picker-upper is “Man of Constant Sorrow” by the Soggy Bottom Boys. I don’t know if it’s so much that it’s a catchy song or if people from Kentucky just love the lines “I bid farewell to Old Kentucky, the place where I was born and raised”.
I’ll give an honorable mention to “Turn the Page” by Bob Seger. It’s not that it gets people dancing and yelling, but it does get people singing. The only problem about this song is that it is invariably sung by some swaggering drunk who lost his sense of tune 5 shots prior to the drink that he’s almost certainly slossing all over the stage 30 seconds into the song.
Journey really gets the college kids going. Any Journey song, really, but especially “Any Way You Want It” and “Don’t Stop Believin’”.
Speaking of Michael Jackson, “ABC” by the Jackson 5 is also a great choice. People who don’t like that song have issues.
REO Speedwagon: Roll With the Changes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTzA-Rydr0E
An “unplugged” version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBadNvkmjtY
Riding the Storm Out:
I don’t know. I have never tried to pick up a whole bar. Most I have ever gone for is one girl sitting at the bar.
That’s what I thought the thread was about when I first read the title.
So … not, “You’ve Lost That Lovin Feeling” huh?
“Don’t Stop Believin’” - Journey
“Fat Bottomed Girls” - Queen
Immediately came to mind.
I have actually done this - picked up a bar with a song, I mean. It was Bad Luck by Social Distortion. At the time, there was a gang of tough guys on one end of the bar, and clean-cut types including me at the other end of the bar. When the song came on, one of the though guys lifted his head and looked around and said “HEY! Who picked this song?!” I am not sure why I just responded with “I did” - I avoid potential confrontation - but I did. He broke out in a big smile and said “Social D rocks!” and we ended up merging groups and having a great time…