Top 10 Records every wedding DJ needs (no 6.)
One of the greatest rock songs, sung by the greatest rock singer, in the greatest rock band. Ever. Should you wish to comment, note that I will not tolerate any other opinion in this matter 
Archive for the ‘DJ top 10’ Category
May 18th 2009
May 2nd 2009
Top 10 Records every wedding DJ needs (no 7.)
Shake it like a
Polaroid picture. This record is utterly cool and hugely popular, often with people who aren’t
even old enough to remember Polaroid pictures.
fit a twenty squillion pixel camera into a mobile phone, but how many phones do
you know of with their own printer attached? Exactly. Je reste ma valise, as they say in the French legal system.
Why not go crazy and use one of these for your wedding photos?
Apr 29th 2009
Top 10 Records every wedding DJ needs (no 8.)
Most rock and roll
artists aim for sweet success armed with three chords and the truth. The Mavericks, with Dance
the Night Away, managed to make a mint with two chords and
some minor inconsistencies in their story.
won’t play it in every set, but it’s amazingly useful to placate those occasional wedding
guests who insist that the dreaded Slosh is a crucial component of any
successful party. I’ve never been entirely comfortable with a dance floor
filled with “senoritas who can sway†sweeping round to face me every 32 bars, in
eerie synchronicity. I can’t shake the suspicion that line-dancing is a form of
hypnotic subversion.
Anyway…who’s dancin?
Apr 23rd 2009
top 10 records every wedding DJ needs (no 9.)
Ow! And Sham-ON! Number 9 in the top ten floorfillers for wedding DJs goes to Billie Jean by king of pop and royal screw-up, Michael Jackson. If this is only at number 9, what are you going to think about the next eight?!
Last.fm says…
Billie Jean
is a 1983 hit single from Michael Jackson’s Thriller album. A number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 .. Jackson started writing the first
demo of the song in his home in Wilson, North Carolina in the fall of
1981. When he presented the song to his co-producer Quincy Jones,
Jones had problems with the title and wanted to call the song “Not My
Loverâ€. He thought when audiences heard it they would assume Jackson
was referring to tennis superstar Billie Jean King. He also had
complaints about the length of the song’s intro, believing it was too
long; Jackson replied that the long intro made him want to dance.
Jackson won both arguments: he got to keep the title of the song and
the intro..
There's an unwritten rule I have when I DJ that I try not to play more than one track by any one artist. Michael Jackson makes me regret that rule every time. There's hardly a chance that any of his hit records won't get people on the floor: Jackson Five's ABC, or I want you back, Don't Stop til you get enough, Bad, Beat It, Thriller,Black or White, The girl Is Mine. Billie Jean is probably the most iconic track of his career, though. Honourable mention also goes to this insanely catchy pinnacle of his pre-solo days.
The man himself doesn't seem to have both oars in the water, which is such a shame. He's one of pop music finest recording artists, jam-packed with charisma. A classic songwriter, and a genius at performance.
I feel a Jacko theme night coming on…
Apr 20th 2009
top 10 records every wedding DJ needs (no 10.)
Being a DJ for hire is tough. After Peter Kay's homage to the role, our credibility has dropped somewhat. But though it's fun playing music for a living, it's still a tough gig to get right.
At its best, it's is a careful balance of diplomacy and daring, of predictability and innovation. It takes experience to know which tracks to play, and when. The skill is not in pressing play, it's in understanding the musical tastes of the people in the room, catering to them, challenging them and above all entertaining them.
And it's always good to have some guaranteed floor-fillers to fall back on if people seem a little reticent to shake their funky stuff.
So over the next few weeks I humbly a list of my top ten classic party anthems which are essential weapons in the audio arsenal of the DJ-for-hire.
(Imagine the top-of-the-pops theme playing)
Nuuuuummberrrrr teeeeeeen!
10. Bryan Adams. Summer of '69
Hear it on spotify (original)
Buy it on itunes (original)
I tend to play this record about half-way through the night. Best not to wheel it out too early, or you risk missing the magic. Recorded in 1984. Summer of '69 is a classic example of rock songwriting, combining instantly recognisable riffs and hooks (it takes about half a second of the intro to recognise this track) with themes of nostalgia, love, teenage dreams, rock & roll. Every time I hear it I think of "Back to the Future". (Ok, technically that's 4 years out, but it's close enough).
PS. Does anyone have a way of linking actual interactive music players on the blog? Let me know!
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