# Best jukebox track for picking up a bar? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2009, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556 "2009-03-15T21:23:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556/1 "2009-03-15T21:23:40Z")
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](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvc9XBTfu6g) would be a pretty clear choice. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556/2 "2009-03-15T21:30:42Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > 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](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvc9XBTfu6g) would be a pretty clear choice. That’s a good choice. I don’t think you can go wrong with the [Stones](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW4DPIBO5OU) either. ---
**Author:** ![turner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@turner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/turner)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556/3 "2009-03-15T22:21:41Z")
“What I like about you” by the Romantics ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556/4 "2009-03-16T00:28:34Z")
“Tiptoe Through the Tulips” by Tiny Tim. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556/5 "2009-03-16T00:41:25Z")
Three sure-fire, can’t fail choices: “Good Times” by Aretha Franklin. [Living In America by James Brown](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHqUipinDyw) “Don’t You Worry 'Bout A Thing” by Incognito. Go with the Stevie original if you insist, but I actually prefer the Incognito cover. ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556/6 "2009-03-16T00:54:13Z")
If it was a bar full of video game nerds [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ljFaKRTrI) would get a rise out of them. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Perro\_Fumando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e9c0ed/32.png) [@El\_Perro\_Fumando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Perro_Fumando)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556/7 "2009-03-16T00:58:11Z")
Boogie Shoes 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SeanArenas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeanArenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeanArenas)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556/8 "2009-03-16T01:08:16Z")
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… ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556/9 "2009-03-16T01:10:05Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556/10 "2009-03-16T01:15:42Z")
> [@turner](#): > > “What I like about you” by the Romantics 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. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556/11 "2009-03-16T01:26:49Z")
_“Working For The Weekend”_ ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556/12 "2009-03-16T01:31:34Z")
The bar I hung out at in college would always start hopping when “Laid” by James came on the jukebox. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556/13 "2009-03-16T02:51:40Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![TheScogg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@TheScogg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheScogg)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556/14 "2009-03-16T03:54:44Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![some\_white\_dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b487fb/32.png) [@some\_white\_dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/some_white_dude)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556/15 "2009-03-16T04:15:38Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556/16 "2009-03-16T06:12:17Z")
REO Speedwagon: Roll With the Changes: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CTzA-Rydr0E/hqdefault.jpg "REO Speedwagon Roll with the changes@Live AId 85") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTzA-Rydr0E) An “unplugged” version: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/JBadNvkmjtY/hqdefault.jpg "Reo Speedwagon " Roll WIth The Changes" From XM Radio") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBadNvkmjtY) Riding the Storm Out: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqG52NpKNdk) ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556/17 "2009-03-16T06:57:33Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![SeanArenas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeanArenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeanArenas)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556/18 "2009-03-16T13:17:20Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > 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? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556/19 "2009-03-16T13:21:11Z")
“Don’t Stop Believin’” - Journey “Fat Bottomed Girls” - Queen ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556/20 "2009-03-16T13:28:06Z")
> [@turner](#): > > “What I like about you” by the Romantics 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… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-jukebox-track-for-picking-up-a-bar/489556.md?page=2)