The most common comment I got as a DJ was "You suck. Can't you play something that we can dance to?".
The fact that the dance floor often was full of moving bodies didn't seem to influence the overall picture; I sucked.
Most of the time I didn't mind. Obviously, the people who enjoyed the music were too busy dancing to chat with me. And anyway, life isn't a popularity contest. At least that's what I try to convince myself.
Appart from paying my bills while I "studied" at university, being a DJ gave me time to listen to a lot of music, and also gave me a legitimate reason to buy music. (We actually payed for music back then. In fact, I still do.)
Most of the clubs I played at had a more or less explicit alternative flavour, which made life easy for me. But I still needed to figure out what worked and what didn't. And I also needed to weave in 70's disco and 80's pop and even (this hurts) 90's euro-techno.
As I became more and more experienced I learned I few tricks:
One interesting reflection is that most of the DJ's I hung out with at the time played various types of music as DJ's, but all hade similar tastes off the dance floor. We played Black Box ("Ride on time") on the dance floor, but listened to the Pixies at our after parties.... In other words, we were prostitutes.
Ultimatly though, being a DJ just gave me a reason to be a huge prick! I still remember telling one of my best friend's sisters that she couldn't choose what music to dance to at her own party. Since I got payed to play music, I new what was right, and what was wrong, and she could go to hell.
I'm still sorry.
Previous defining influences or influencers:
The fact that the dance floor often was full of moving bodies didn't seem to influence the overall picture; I sucked.
Most of the time I didn't mind. Obviously, the people who enjoyed the music were too busy dancing to chat with me. And anyway, life isn't a popularity contest. At least that's what I try to convince myself.
Appart from paying my bills while I "studied" at university, being a DJ gave me time to listen to a lot of music, and also gave me a legitimate reason to buy music. (We actually payed for music back then. In fact, I still do.)
Most of the clubs I played at had a more or less explicit alternative flavour, which made life easy for me. But I still needed to figure out what worked and what didn't. And I also needed to weave in 70's disco and 80's pop and even (this hurts) 90's euro-techno.
As I became more and more experienced I learned I few tricks:
- Don't try to fill the floor early in the evening with the latest hits unless you're prepared to use them again.
- Always have one long, mainstream song prepared incase you need to go to the bathroom.
- The right choice of songs is more important than perfect mixing.
- It's OK to loose one third of the floor when you switch genre - just make sure you stick to that genre for at least three more songs and you'll be fine.
- The best floorfiller, early on in the evening in a club with lot's of girls (ladies?) at the bar: Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams".
One interesting reflection is that most of the DJ's I hung out with at the time played various types of music as DJ's, but all hade similar tastes off the dance floor. We played Black Box ("Ride on time") on the dance floor, but listened to the Pixies at our after parties.... In other words, we were prostitutes.
Ultimatly though, being a DJ just gave me a reason to be a huge prick! I still remember telling one of my best friend's sisters that she couldn't choose what music to dance to at her own party. Since I got payed to play music, I new what was right, and what was wrong, and she could go to hell.
I'm still sorry.
Previous defining influences or influencers:
6. In the car
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