@wickedfast<\/a>, are gaining traction on social media and have collectively been viewed millions of times.<\/p>\nFor Daly, the idea comes down to a simple appreciation for Seger and the Michigan rocker’s old-time rock and roll, and wanting to hear it in a communal space.<\/p>\n
“Bob Seger is absolutely timeless. He speaks for everybody,” says Daly, on the phone from Boston last week. “It’s working class, it’s the old guy sitting at the bar, reminiscing about the old times. Bob Seger has his own sound and he’s developed his own messaging. He’s just a badass dude that any American can get behind.”<\/p>\n
Daly doesn’t classify himself as a Seger obsessive \u2014 “I’m not like a Deadhead for Bob Seger,” he says, in his thick Boston drawl \u2014 but he and his friends love what the Detroit-born and Ann Arbor-raised Rock and Roll Hall of Famer means to people, and what he represents.<\/p>\n
“When I think of Bob Seger, I think of driving to hockey practice as a second-grader, and my dad putting a ‘Night Moves’ cassette in his truck,” says Daly, 36. “Seger reminds guys my age of being a kid, because our dads would play that stuff for us.”<\/p>\n
‘Could you put on some Bob Seger?’<\/h2>\n
The series of videos started when Daly, a marketer and classic rock fan from Watertown, Massachusetts, was out drinking with his cousin Leah last November before heading to a Celtics game. They were four beers deep at Charlie’s Kitchen, a dive bar in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Lady Gaga was blaring over the speakers, which didn’t fit their idea of the vibe of the old Harvard bar.<\/p>\n
So when their waitress came by their table, Daly asked for two things: a Bud Light, and could she put on some Bob Seger?<\/p>\n
It was a yes on the Bud Light but a no on the Seger, so it was decided that Charlie’s Kitchen is not a Seger bar.<\/p>\n
Leah was filming the interaction, unbeknownst to Daly. Asking for Seger was her suggestion, made in the moment, and it registered as a vibe test in a way that requesting Elton John or the Eagles or Led Zeppelin wouldn’t have.<\/p>\n
“She just happened to say Bob Seger, but I don’t think any other artist would have had the legs that this has. Because Seger is almost unexpected, but it makes perfect sense at the same time,” says Daly, who grew up listening to Boston’s classic rock station, WZLX-FM (100.7). “I think we nailed it on the head unintentionally. When you’re trying the least, that’s when the most happens.”<\/p>\n
Daly posted the video to his Instagram page and it got some traction, but not a lot. A week later, he put up another video, made at Olde Magoun’s Saloon in Somerville, Massachusetts, the time with the “is it a bar, or is it a Seger bar?” introduction. That video blew up, grabbing some 882,000 views, and a meme was born.<\/p>\n
Daly has since done almost 50 “Is it a Seger bar?” videos, usually featuring cameos from his friends, and often with him pointing up toward the ceiling as he asks his fated question. Some are Seger bars \u2014 he says he’s certified around 15 \u2014 and some aren’t. But that’s fine, too. Not every bar is willing to cue up “Hollywood Nights” on demand.<\/p>\n
‘Night Moves’<\/h2>\n
The interactions and the scenarios in the videos are 100% real, Daly says, and he’s come up with his own set of standards as he’s been doing the series.<\/p>\n
“If bars message me on Instagram saying, ‘Come on in, we’ll play Seger for you!’ that’s when they get blacklisted. That’s the one rule. If they reach out to me, that exiles them. We try to keep it as authentic as humanly possible,” says Daly, who says he was banned for life from one bar for filming without permission.<\/p>\n
When he asks for Seger, “If the bartender says, ‘Oh yeah, absolutely!’ and throws it on, they pass the test. But if they question it, or if they tell me to go put some money in the TouchTunes, then they don’t get that stamp of approval,” he says.<\/p>\n
Some Seger-playing bartenders will ask what song he wants to hear, and Daly will respond “Fire Lake” or “Like a Rock.” He was at a bar in January before Denver played New England in the NFL playoffs, and he asked them to play “Get Out of Denver,” the opening track from Seger’s 1974 album, “Seven.”<\/p>\n
Some bartenders will make their own choices, such as the one who put on “Fire Down Below,” “and I thought that was a really cool pick, because that’s one of Seger’s most badass songs,” Daly says.<\/p>\n
Usually they’ll throw on “Night Moves” or “Against the Wind,” he says. He’d flip if someone tossed on “Sunspot Baby,” and he says these days his favorite Seger song is “Fire Lake.” Guinness and Yuengling are the two best beers to pair with Seger, he says.<\/p>\n
Daly will occasionally shoot several videos in one night; he edits quickly, sometimes in the backseat of an Uber on his way from one bar to the next.<\/p>\n
He says the feedback he has received \u2014 his followers disproportionately hail from Michigan, he says \u2014 has been overwhelmingly positive.<\/p>\n
“These videos seem to inspire people, and it really means the world when random people come out of the woodwork and let me know what I’m doing is making their day,” he says.<\/p>\n
“This has really solidified to me that Seger means a lot to a lot of people,” Daly says. “I get these long messages from people. One guy was overseas in the military and he was like, ‘Hey man, we just watched all your videos, and we’re just all bawling our eyes out talking about how much we miss the old days.’ Seger is a memory-striking artist.”<\/p>\n
No TouchTunes<\/h2>\n
Daly, who has never seen Seger perform live \u2014 Boston was one of Seger’s stronger markets, and half of 1981’s live album “Nine Tonight” was recorded at the Boston Garden \u2014 thinks the magic of the videos and their popularity comes from Seger himself.<\/p>\n
“What other artist could have done this? I don’t think any, because ‘Seger Bar,’ it almost sounds like one word. Segerbar. Bob Seger is like some drinking-in-a-dive-bar kind of music,” he says. “Seger just fits the vibe of what we look for in bars: a comfortable dive, dimly lit, a good barstool, maybe a jukebox \u2014 not a TouchTunes, an actual jukebox \u2014 and that’s what we want when we’re going out to have a good time.”<\/p>\n
Daly’s friend Brianna Giorgio, who has participated in several of Daly’s videos, says his role in creating the videos can’t be discounted.<\/p>\n
“I feel like anything Brian touches turns to gold. He’s like a ray of sunshine,” says Giorgio, 32, who hails from Medford, Massachusetts. “Everything with him is always so much fun.”<\/p>\n
She also notes the videos are all positive, and there’s a lot to be said for videos that aren’t rage-baiting, especially at a time when everybody seems to be on edge, especially online.<\/p>\n
“Asking people to play Bob Seger, at first people are like, ‘What the hell are these people talking about?’ But at the end they’re all excited, they’re laughing, and it’s almost like walking up to someone in the street and handing them a flower,” she says. “It’s simple, but it’s so fun. Even when it’s not a Seger Bar, it’s not a negative. Nobody’s getting angry. It’s all really positive.”<\/p>\n
Joco’s Bar and Kitchen in Waltham, Mass., was one of the first establishments to earn “Seger Bar” status. Even before Daly showed up there, “We had people coming in asking whether or not we were a Seger Bar,” says Joco’s owner Jayce Varden, illustrating the reach and impact of Daly’s videos.<\/p>\n
The video Daly made inside Joco’s has racked up 878,000 views on Instagram, and the bar has really leaned into its “Seger Bar” status.<\/p>\n
“People come in, they saw the video, and they’re extremely excited, they say, ‘Play some Seger!’ and we play some Seger,” Varden says. He says Daly upgraded their Seger Bar sticker to a Seger Bar plaque, and the designation “means a lot” to Varden.<\/p>\n
“I grew up on Seger,” he says.<\/p>\n
Celebrating Seger<\/h2>\n
Daly’s videos have earned a shoutout from Barstool Sports, and last month he was the subject of a profile in the Boston Globe.<\/p>\n
He has also merchandised his idea, selling a line of Certified Seger Bar caps online; a run of 50 caps (at $50 a pop) sold out in less than an hour, he says, with orders coming from all over the U.S., Canada and the U.K., and one as far as Peru.<\/p>\n
Daly recently visited Philadelphia and made some videos there, and he says he’s hoping to come to Detroit, straight to the source, to find out which bars here are and aren’t Seger bars.<\/p>\n
His ultimate goal is to have a beer with Seger, he says.<\/p>\n
“I said from the beginning, I won’t stop until I’m able to actually sit down with Bob Seger, ideally playing darts, hopefully having a beer,” he says. “People always ask, ‘What would you talk to him about?’ And I always say the same thing: ‘Absolutely nothing.’ I wouldn’t even mention the fact that I know who he is. I would just shoot the s–t with him, and I wouldn’t even fan out to him. I would want the full guy-at-the-bar, random-conversation experience from Bob Seger. Until I get that, I’m not gonna stop.”<\/p>\n
Daly said he’s heard from members of Seger’s camp, but no word from the man himself.<\/p>\n
Seger’s reps wouldn’t comment for this story, but a member of his team said they’re aware of the videos and think they’re great fun.<\/p>\n
Daly \u2014 who says his catalog of hometown bars has increased tenfold since starting the videos \u2014 has an even greater appreciation for Seger and his music since taking on this task, he says.<\/p>\n
“I never wanted to put myself out there as one of these influencer guys, because the ones I see, especially in Boston, they’re always getting s–t on in the comments. It’s kind of sad. Some of the stuff people are saying, it’s like wow, I don’t know if my mental health could handle all this stuff,” he says.<\/p>\n
“But what I’m doing, it’s pretty innocent. And when they play Seger, we celebrate it, like how it’s deserved, because of the music he put out over the years,” Daly says. “It’s just easy to celebrate with Seger, and I think people get really excited when they hear his music. It doesn’t matter what song it is.<\/p>\n
“It’s like championship music, you know?”<\/p>\n
agraham@detroitnews.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n