Lounge music
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"Lounge music" refers to music played in the lounges and bars of hotels and casinos. Generally, the performers include a singer and one or two other musicians. The performers play or "cover" songs composed by others.
"Lounge music" is also often used to describe laid-back electronic music, also named Downtempo.
Patrons of the lounge often request the performers to play music which the performers are ill-equipped musically to play. For example, a duo of a singer and a piano player could be requested to perform "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin. The resultant performance could be considered as bad music, a parody or both.
An example of the stereotypical interaction between the lounge musician and the audience is found in this following exchange:
Audience member: Do you know Rhapsody In Blue? Lounge musician: No, but hum a few bars and I'll fake it.
While the performers are often minimally paid, many people attempting a musical career start as lounge musicians. For example, the Beatles performed first as a lounge act at a bar in Hamburg, Germany. Billy Joel worked as a lounge musician and penned the song "Piano Man" about his experience.
Comedians have long lampooned lounge singers. The "Vegas Lounge Singer" was lampooned famously by Andy Kaufman as Tony Clifton.
However, lounge music has enjoyed brief resurgences in popularity in the 1980s and 1990s, led by deliberately ironic figures such as Buster Poindexter and Jaymz Bee.