You can think of openers, and most conversational snippets really, in terms of giving or taking value. They don't matter much in the scheme of a relationship, or bang, or even a lengthy conversation if you can transition out of them is what people mean when they say that. A certain portion of girls will blow a guy out now matter what he says, others you can work through but will probably be more trouble than it's worth. There's no magic opener that will get 99% of girls to engage.
If you're not making it past the opener regularly then it matters hugely, if you can often get in lengthy conversations and get girls back to your house but run into issues with LMR the opener doesn't matter much at all. Perspective. There's little difference between opening with "I'm not usually a fan of this place but tonight's DJ is awesome. Sort of like..." and "Damn, this drink tastes pretty light on the vodka. Knew I should've gone for whiskey on the rocks. How did she do with yours?" Nothing special but they're giving something, therefore much different than "what are you up to?"
"What are you up to" is asking strangers to come up with some response (probably a boring, generic one they've given 1000 times) to keep a conversation going with a guy they don't know right off the bat - taking value, and "Is this a gay bar" is giving value in the form of laughter. If you open with a line which is requesting something (value) from a person you don't know, you are more likely to get blown out than if you add value.
If you're not making it past the opener regularly then it matters hugely, if you can often get in lengthy conversations and get girls back to your house but run into issues with LMR the opener doesn't matter much at all. Perspective. There's little difference between opening with "I'm not usually a fan of this place but tonight's DJ is awesome. Sort of like..." and "Damn, this drink tastes pretty light on the vodka. Knew I should've gone for whiskey on the rocks. How did she do with yours?" Nothing special but they're giving something, therefore much different than "what are you up to?"
"What are you up to" is asking strangers to come up with some response (probably a boring, generic one they've given 1000 times) to keep a conversation going with a guy they don't know right off the bat - taking value, and "Is this a gay bar" is giving value in the form of laughter. If you open with a line which is requesting something (value) from a person you don't know, you are more likely to get blown out than if you add value.