Reply With QuoteQuinny,
on an average... how many records did you add per week? I can probably answer the question better.
No Longer Charting
I guess DJ's fall into the two categories mentioned in the title to this thread.
Both types have their merits and downside.
For most of my DJ life I guess I was somewhere in the former camp, as I always had lotsa other DJs who'd come to my gigs and examine me, sometimes the minutest details. I'd always go out on a limb and play a fair chunk of unknown, untried material. I'd always try to keep the standard of record selection high (didn't always succeed). I used to take chances and sometimes fall flat on my face,but what the heck, life was less boring!
However, I did admire the jocks who could play the same old same old every night and get away with it. They always seemed more popular (with very few exceptions) with managers and punters alike. They could always generate a fun filled atmosphere and had an uncanny knack of always producing the right record at the right time, no matter how bizarre/cheesey their selections seemed to me. Downside; they only played records that were ultra safe.
Yep, I guess I did miss out on something in the DJ's manual, but these same guys would always look to me for advice. Go figure!
What do you think as either a punter or DJ?
Were the risktakers or the safety first merchants your preferred type of DJ and why?
Guys who could play anything and everything need not reply. In 15 years of DJing and hanging out in discos, I never experienced such a jock and I really don't think such super humans existed (if they're being absolutely honest).
Gold Record [Level 7]
Quinny,
on an average... how many records did you add per week? I can probably answer the question better.
No Longer Charting
Basically, whatever I bought that week. As I bought more or less everything I played, it wouldn't have been as many as say NickNack, who was getting almost everything from the record pools. So to answer your question I guess an average of maybe 10 records. Not huge, but still significant.
They'd always get at least 3 plays before they either went forward or were put on hold. I'd always play records I really liked regardless of their 'hipness' value. I always thought that a DJ had to be as individual as possible.
Indie Release [Level 4]
Surely the best DJ's play both to themselves and the crowd. Try to educate a bit, but not to the point of ruining punters night.
No Longer Charting
Fair comment.
I think every DJ was tucked up inside that basic straightjacket. It's the degrees to which one adhered to it that made the basic differences apparent.
Gold Record [Level 7]
What would you do without your muesli...where would you be without a bowl?
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
A big factor is the crowd though. A general crowd will demand their anthems and reject anything unusual... like someone I once knew said, "A DJ is there to play the songs that people want to hear, and that's it. When I go out, I don't want to hear any weird crap; I want to hear songs that I know the words to". On one hand, these people don't go out a lot, but on the other hand, there are a lot of them! These people might only buy 3 records a year, but they are the ones who determine the top 30 just by sheer numbers.
But pleasing such a crowd means playing the same tunes over and over and over again, since they don't want to hear anything they don't already know. Dedicated clubbers quickly tire of the tired-and-true, and seek out more exotic delights. Here they don't want to hear anything they're tired of, and are also paying attention to mixing techniques and skills. A train wreck will be met with a chorus of "booos".
One thing I find very sad about the present state of DJing is that each DJ seems so determined to carve out a specific identity for themselves that they will only play a very very narrow range of material. The last time I went out to one of these hip, underground clubs, I was subjected to some form of trance that was so homogenous that I literally couldn't tell when one track was ending and the next was beginning. It really did all sound the same. But the clubbers I was with were eating it all up... mind you, they were also completely stoned, and I have to wonder if they would've enjoyed anything else just as much.
Gold Record [Level 7]
Quinny you bought all your records? :o No wonder you confronted so many hardships during your DJing years... :P
And this is true, especially after ’78 or 79, before then ‘Club' music was very different (from radio)and what a DJ liked and played was exactly what the crowd wanted (hard core clubbers), after ‘Top 40’ radio took over everything changed, the crowd, the music and finally Deejaying change too, now breaking new music was much more difficult and ‘Radio’ was the driving force behind what clubbers liked and expected to hear on their night out.Originally Written by Graham_Start
I used to get dozens of records on a weekly basis, usually between 5 to 10 made it to my play list a week( with many more in the ‘maybe’ pile, they were good records but not for my present gig) out of this maybe two or three recordings survive more than two weeks (hard to tell) even though I used to ‘Sandwich’ new records with known hits, many good one didn’t make it despite my efforts.
Gay clubs didn’t suffer much of this problem, that’s why they were able to keep a more distinct, and extensive play list and experiment with lots of new music that would quickly clear the floor in any other club, including “Morning Music” sets that were strictly a Gay Club after hour’s thing.
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
THANK YOU! MixMachine has got it! :D :D
Underground Hit [Level 5]
I am sick of hearing this:
"CAN YOU PLAY SOMETHING A BIT MORE HANDS-IN-THE-AIR?"
Womb Prayer!
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
How about the DJ who was asked to play something "a bit more, y'know, white?" -- and he was playing Cher at the time!
No Longer Charting
My favourite was always "ain't ya got nuffin' wiv a good beat?" :roll: :roll: :roll:
Underground Hit [Level 5]
Play something we can dance to!
Womb Prayer!
Chart Hit [Level 6]
I found that most often I one would begin the evening with the tried and true to get that initial dance floor build up.Once the floor was happening I could then begin slotting in the new material by trying to select the material that blended well with the current material considering style,BPM or sound.It was always a struggle to balance the new with the tried and true.But I always thought the best DJ's were the ones who could quickly read the crowd and adapt their style to accomodate them.I certainly wasn't avant garde but then again neither were the crowds I played to.In the Toronto disco scene of the 70's the following was the case.Since the licensed clubs could only serve liquor till 1:00AM.Most clubbers would hit the disco around 10:00PM with the peak time happening by midnight.The preference in music was the tried and true with some of the newer so called hits being thrown in.Most of these party people would head out to the unlicensed after hours discos after the bar closed and continue to dance into the wee hours of the morning.
It was in the after hour clubs that people were more receptive to the underground and avant garde side of the music and where a DJ could exercise total liberty and creativity in their musical programming.I always had admiration for them and would have liked to have been able to have those freedoms but alas working a full time day job as well as DJing four nights a week in a licensed disco ,where I had to cater to the bottom line of making sure the paying guests were happy didn't allow me the opportunity to do so.
I did frequent the after hour clubs to discover material that I felt would go in the club I worked in and found it an invaluable resource for discovering new music especially on the import side.
Different eyes see different things. Different hearts beat on different strings. But there are times for you and me when all such things agree...Rush
Gold Record [Level 7]
Seeing as my visual 'discus' gag went over everyone's heads, I'll get serious. I'll put myself in the category of "DJ's DJ", because I play what I want to play - I'm not good at taking orders that way.
For most of my intermittent DJ 'career', disco has been rather unfashionable, so audience response was better when I played funk and soul sets. Recent times have produced a more open music market, so now a lot of people expect to hear disco-based music. Still, it's easy to play the 'wrong' records - new disco converts have a completely different set of rules which govern their appreciation of music, which I shan't harp on about again here.
Mostly, my experiences prove 50/50 - sometimes, you tear **** up - other times, nothing you play seems to work - I've given up on working the crowd out - if I can't take things in any direction after the __th or so record, I just play for myself. The same set will sink or swim...what can you do? Maybe that's why I have a day job and will only ever be an occasional jock, but I really do not care!
You seldom get requests for anything decent - it's always Kylie, lager-house, dry 'R&B' or 'anything funkier than this'. Aw, go play with yourself.
I could be more of a pop (read 'people's') DJ, but that's not where I'm at. You can please some of the people some of the time, etc...so I'm into taking my chances and if it works, I'm cool with that. If they don't like what I like, f**k 'em. No apologies.
By the way, I was once asked, '...do you supply razor blades with this music..?' - and that was from an indie fan!!!
What would you do without your muesli...where would you be without a bowl?
Platinum Record [Level 8]
[quote="Forrrce"]If they don't like what I like, f**k 'em. No apologies.
quote]
But of course sometimes party organisers book the wrong dj for the party that has a specific theme, take those Studio 54 events that STILL seem to happen with regularity. Still you go there in hopes of strutting your stuff to some Musique or something and yet the dj spins house or jazz funk for his mates who dig it in the corner. Good music but wrong night and you the punter have every right to raise your voice and bark at the spinner. But otherwise, even if I for one play 4 different versions of The Theme from Enter The Dragon in a row and some loud nasal American exhange university student who thinks cool club music means rock and roll, or any other kind of nerd one always gets, comes tapping on the booth glass to complain, then like you Forrrce I say fcuk them, too.
Indie Release [Level 4]
From what I can see of todays dance music fans (who are brought up on house music), they have very little patience with new music, unless the new track pushes all the right buttons straight away. It is all about big drops, obviously heavy basslines and lots of surface energy - while vocals and melody are kept to a minimum. So you can get away with new stuff, as long as it sounds exactly like records they already know.
No Longer Charting
Of course a guy earning his living from DJing would probably have to be more safe than a part-time one, but I guess a full time DJ ought to have more skill in mixing'n'matching, simply due to normally having more experience.
I think DJs have become much harder in their attitude to the punters. With many it is simply just a case of take it or leave it, due to their 'fame' and narrowness of sounds played.
The other question that goes hand in hand with this thread is: Did/do you prefer to play to hardcore hipsters or handbag popsters?
Both have their merits and de-merits.
I was never comfortable with hardcore hipsters 'cos they were sooo intense, uncompromising and just plain stupid at times. They'd read about tracks in Record Mirror or some other review mag that day/weekend and expect me to not only have every track, but have had time to digest them fully to spin with authority. Ggrrrrr.
The hand bag brigade were much less demanding but ate away at your DJ soul. They wouldn't tolerate anything too different, too old, too new, too fast, too slow, too shiny, too black, brown or white. They knew what they liked and stuck to it like glue. I still played other stuff when I could, just to keep my sanity.
Both were very happy, so long as you played what they wanted. Both were marvellous audiences if you could unlock the key.
Gold Record [Level 7]
In my opinion, the 'hardcore hipster' is the one who needs to be hipped. Acting the wally and making impressive yet unreasonable requests only means our hip friend's an idiot.
What would you do without your muesli...where would you be without a bowl?
No Longer Charting
Forrrce: I'd agree with you. Trouble is/was, the whole disco scene was built around being hip to a lesser or greater degree. Believe it or not, in Mallorca, quite often I'd be playing records to English people, long before they were accepted dance floor hits in the UK. Now, that was freaky.
In the UK at least, you had the 'soul mafia' DJs who had a very specific 'New, Newer, Newest' agenda and much of the country followed. Alternatively, the Northern Soul scene was all about exclusiveness and one-upmanship. Both led an average DJ, like myself, to feel somewhat inferior at times. New/hip records at least gave me a temporary sense of being. Looking back, I don't know why.
I, for one, don't believe that the Soul mafia scene was quite as hip as it was made out to be. They were touting anything up to 30 new records a week as being 'must plays'. I can't believe they turned over that much product and kept a crowd. A view of the playlists/fave raves from their all dayers confirms that a lot of oldies were played there. Probably a bigger proportion than one might expect, sooo... and Chris Hill used to play punk records at his gigs in '76 to keep some of his punters happy. Something I never did.
There was a lot of macho bravura around in the '70s. Still is on this board, at certain times. :lol: :lol: :lol:
Gold Record [Level 7]
The Mafia? Oh, yeah...remember their little sub-division, "The LADS"? It stood for 'League Against Disco ****' and railed against anything too black or too street. Anything electronic got a panning. Within two years of The LADS' inception, a certain Mr. Tong was on board at Def Jam and today makes his living promoting the worst kind of disco ****!
What would you do without your muesli...where would you be without a bowl?
No Longer Charting
Forrrce: Can't say that I do remember the 'LADS'.
I guess the 'Mafia' should have some plaudits, as they did define a lot that was good about the era. As with so many things, the further one travels along a road, the more of a cul-de-sac it becomes. They became victims of their own excess and what was once a defining movement quickly became the core of their own ball and chain.
At best, any scene is a passing fad in the whole scheme of things. Nothing stays the same, nothing lasts forever.
Gold Record [Level 7]
Ah well, it amused me anyway. :lol:
What would you do without your muesli...where would you be without a bowl?
No Longer Charting
Forrrce: It was too small for my 52 year old eyes. I thought it was a stylish mixertap thingy. :o :lol: :oops:
Underground Hit [Level 5]
I also remember The Lads. What a hypocritical arsehole Tong is! The way all of that lot refused to play any electro, rap, hip hop etc and actually made fun of it on the radio (even tracks like Harliquin 4's "Set it Off" was too electronic for these stuck in the mud fools). "Not part of our scene" they used to say. Now listen to shite he plays! He even plays modern records which sample the exact stuff he "hated" so much.
Also, I've noticed his all time top 10 has been printed several times in various mags and there was no black music in there, maybe one token Marvin Gaye track but the rest was Doors, Sex Pistols, Underworld etc. All stuff to make him look hip. I find this very intersting for someone so deeply into Keni Burke, Mizzell Bros, Altlatic Starr etc. Personally, I doubt if he ever liked soul music, it was all just a stepping stone for him to get into the music business. I've zero respect for Tong, Holloway etc.
Leather is the way forward!
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