Friend's 40th birthday party coming up, need music help.

[Uncommon_Sense]

What I’d like for you to do is suggest music that you or your 40ish crowd might enjoy at a 40th birthday party scenario. So, we’re talking some upbeat party/drinking music ranging from Johnny Cash to Kenny Wayne Shepherd to Pantera and Led Zeppelin. Willie, Merle and Hank, Aerosmith, Fleetwood Mac, Clapton, Jeff Beck, Hendrix, Vaughan (SRV), etc. just to name a few.

From older Country to the Oldies back up to Old/New Heavy Metal. His tastes don’t run in the land of Phoofy 80’s stuff or pop music in general.
Pearl Jam works, not so much the Stones and the Beatles.

So, armed with the limited info in this post what songs can you recommend that will kick ass on this dude’s 40th?

[WordMan]

@Uncommon Sense

What I’d like for you to do is suggest music that you or your 40ish crowd might enjoy at a 40th birthday party scenario. So, we’re talking some upbeat party/drinking music ranging from Johnny Cash to Kenny Wayne Shepherd to Pantera and Led Zeppelin. Willie, Merle and Hank, Aerosmith, Fleetwood Mac, Clapton, Jeff Beck, Hendrix, Vaughan (SRV), etc. just to name a few.

From older Country to the Oldies back up to Old/New Heavy Metal. His tastes don’t run in the land of Phoofy 80’s stuff or pop music in general.
Pearl Jam works, not so much the Stones and the Beatles.

So, armed with the limited info in this post what songs can you recommend that will kick ass on this dude’s 40th?

• The Cult, She Sells Sanctuary
• Metallica, Sad But True
• Van Halen, Feel Your Love Tonight
• Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way; Fly Away
• Queens of the Stone Age - No One Knows
• Foo Fighters - Times Like These
• Weezer - Hash Pipe

There are a bunch of songs by groups like Gov’t Mule, Black Label Society and classic thrash like Megadeth, Anthrax, etc…

And grunge songs like Rooster by AiC, or My Wave and Rusty Cage by Soundgarden, etc…but I would assume that those are easy choices…

[Uncommon_Sense]

@WordMan

• The Cult, She Sells Sanctuary
• Metallica, Sad But True
• Van Halen, Feel Your Love Tonight
• Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way; Fly Away
• Queens of the Stone Age - No One Knows
• Foo Fighters - Times Like These
• Weezer - Hash Pipe

There are a bunch of songs by groups like Gov’t Mule, Black Label Society and classic thrash like Megadeth, Anthrax, etc…

And grunge songs like Rooster by AiC, or My Wave and Rusty Cage by Soundgarden, etc…but I would assume that those are easy choices…

Yes, actually, Soundgarden is one of our favs. Sevendust, Godsmack and Tool. Them are a given, but keep the specific song suggestions coming. I’m looking for diamonds in the rough so to speak.

[Skywatcher]

Look into The Legendary Shack Shakers. Geico used their “CB Song” in one of its commercials.

[Skywatcher]

Did I kill the thread?

[Leaffan]

I’m a bit older – turning 45 this year – but my tastes run from the Beatles and Stones up to about… 1980’ish when music just completely stopped (my opinion only).

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about the 80s, when your friend was a teenager.

Rock diversifies in the 1980s

In the 1980s, popular rock diversified. This period also saw the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The early part of the decade saw Eddie Van Halen achieve musical innovations in rock guitar, while vocalists David Lee Roth (of Van Halen) and Freddie Mercury (of Queen as he had been doing throughout the 1970s) raised the role of frontman to near performance art standards. Bono of U2 would continue this trend. Concurrently, pop-New Wave bands remained popular, with performers like Billy Idol and The Go-Go’s gaining fame. American heartland rock gained a strong following, exemplified by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, Donnie Iris, John (Cougar) Mellencamp and others. Led by the American folk singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the British former prog rock star Peter Gabriel, rock and roll fused with a variety of folk music styles from around the world; this fusion came to be known as “world music”, and included fusions like aboriginal rock.

[edit] Glam metal (Hair metal)

Main article: Glam metal

One genre that grew in popularity in the 1980s (c.1983) was glam metal. Taking influence from various artists such as Aerosmith, Alice Cooper (though they were not glam bands themselves), Sweet and the New York Dolls. The earliest glam metal bands to gain notability included: Mötley Crüe, W.A.S.P. and Ratt. They became known for their debauched lifestyles, teased hair and use of make-up and clothing. Their songs were bombastic, aggressive, and often defiantly macho, with lyrics focused on sex, drinking, drugs, and the occult.

By the mid 1980s, a formula developed in which a glam metal band had two hits – one a “power ballad” (slow-dance tempo, but is just as loud and driving as anything else by the group), and the other a hard-rocking anthem. In 1987 a second wave of glam metal acts, sometimes referred to as sleaze rock, emerged including: Guns N’ Roses, L.A. Guns and Faster Pussycat. Guns N’ Roses’ debut album, Appetite for Destruction, became a huge seller. The band would continue its success into the early 90s, with the release of Use Your Illusion I & II.

[Kalhoun]

You might want to check the Billboard charts and find out what was popular 15 years ago. Most people really love the music that was popular when they were 25.

[Leaffan]

@Kalhoun

You might want to check the Billboard charts and find out what was popular 15 years ago. Most people really love the music that was popular when they were 25.

I would have guessed 15! At 25 I was still listening to the stuff I listened to at 15. Come to think of it, I’m still listening to the stuff I listened to at 15!

[ivylass]

Def Leppard
Queen
Rush
The Police

That should get you started

[Kalhoun]

@Leaffan

I would have guessed 15! At 25 I was still listening to the stuff I listened to at 15. Come to think of it, I’m still listening to the stuff I listened to at 15!

I’m thinking of club music. Actually, I like my high school music, too, but since it’s a party, club music = dancing?