Since our first show, the set list of FUN DMC has changed and evolved much in the same way the band has changed and evolved. In the very early days, FUN DMC wasn’t so much a mash-up band as it was a trio of musicians with a unique collection of each member’s favorite power-pop tunes. Over the years, many of the songs we used to play have gone by the wayside and some never got past the cutting room floor. This is often due to a change in personnel or the song just didn’t seem to fit the most current iteration of FUN DMC. Still, at some point, these songs did have their place in the FUN DMC repertoire and today we look back at some of those songs from a bygone era.

“Dare You To Move” by Switchfoot – This one was lead by FUN DMC founding drummer, Aaron Eversole. I believe this song might have been played once live but to the best of my memory, it spent most of its time in the rehearsal basement.

“Monkey Wrench” by Foo Fighters – A vocal destroyer, “Monkey Wrench” was performed by founding bassist, Brian Armstrong who somehow hit those crazy high notes for about five shows before the song was retired.

“Some Nights” by Fun. – I don’t recall a song we rehearsed more than this one. I kind of miss doing this one but honestly, it worked better as a five-part vocal arrangement.

“Peaches” by The Presidents Of The United States – Often an intro song, “Peaches” has been performed both by Brain Armstrong as well as Sam Davis.

“What I Got” by Sublime – This one predates FUN DMC all the way back to the early Closing Time days with video proof of Aaron Stanley singing this one at our first show at Bailey’s in Taylorville. One of the few songs I was able to break out the slide for.

“Hysteria/Umbrella” – a Rhianna/Muse mashup – The standard of playing for the modern bassist. At one point, we had a “Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air” breakdown in the middle section of the arrangement.

“Fight For Your Right” by The Beastie Boys – Played it a few times before the infamous train wreck at The Curve Inn and haven’t performed it since. We should bring this one back.

“Gunpowder And Creep” – a Miranda Lambert/Radiohead mashup – One of the more bizarre moments in FUN DMC history.

“Royal/Loser” – a Lorde/Beck mashup – Another slide guitar song, this one faded out around the time Lorde faded out. For a while, we intro’d this one with “Fat Bottomed Girls.”

“Ohio (Come Back To Texas)” by Bowling For Soup – A really fun power pop/punk song from 2004. The best part was always the country swing breakdown in the middle. Probably couldn’t remember this chord progression with a gun to my head today, (and some might argue even back then).

“99 Red Balloons” by Goldfinger (their version of the ‘80s hit by Nena) – The last time we performed this live was at a wedding where we dropped over 200 red balloons onto an unsuspecting dance floor. Both Brian and Albert had to work on their German for this one.

“Fly Away/Alive” – a Lenny Kravitz/Pearl Jam mashup – I don’t recall this one ever making it out of the basement. In spite of it being a very well connected mashup, it just didn’t seem to be the type of song that really fit the type of band we were becoming. Probably around the time we realized that people aren’t really into two minute guitar solos anymore.

“Black Horse Cherry Tree/Panic Station” – a KT Tunstall/Muse mashup – Almost forgot about this one. This was from the very early days of FUN DMC when Jen was still singing with us. Incredible bass guitar work by Brian, not so great vocal “woo hoo”s from Robert and Aaron.