That's right Max. Just because your dad's a DJ, doesn't mean he can't dance. No truer words have been uttered...er, written...er, printed on a t-shirt. What I'm trying to say Max is that yes, sometimes your dad IS a DJ and he certainly dances while he's doing it. Case in point:The Stake Dance in South Chicago I dj'd on Saturday.
Yep, it was on for round 2 (cause I did it last year. If you don't know, now you know...people).
To remind you, this is a Stake dance that has pretty much equal parts White, Black and Hispanic. Its a dance full of insecure kids who are at that stage where nothing matters more in life than acceptance and self discovery. This leads to the following problems from a DJ's perspective:
1) They don't come to just dance. This means that their motives for being at a dance is to hang out with friends, look for mischief, or possibly dance with that boy/girl they kind of like (kind of, sort of, maybe). There motive is not to let loose and just dance the night away.
2) They only like a certain kind of music and all other music is inferior or lame. Yes, this means you can only really satisfy 20-30% of the audience at a time, unless you get lucky with the right song (to be discussed later).
3) If you don't play their music, they will not dance. Worse, they will yell at you, roll their eyes, or boo your song off.
4) They have no idea what other people like because they have trouble seeing outside of their own world.
So, with those thoughts in mind...I showed up to DJ. I decided that this year I would be on stage so the kids couldn't look at my computer. Instead, I put out a sheet of paper for them to write requests. Here are a few I got:
Bity Bity Bam Bam - Selena
Rock that Body - Black Eyed Peas
MISSSSSSSS MURDER!!!! - by AFI (pretty please smiley)
Pretty Boy Swag - Soulja Boy
El Malo - Aventura
Take On Me - Real Big Fish
Teach Me How to Jerk - Audio Push
Any song by Radiohead (come on kids, its pretty tough to dance to radiohead)
Etc, etc, etc. Man. Tough night ahead.
Unfortunately, I can't tell you the order I played the following songs because my Itunes mixed them all up somehow since Saturday night, but here is the list.
Around the World - Daft Punk
Know Your Enemy - Green Day
Teach Me How to Jerk - Audio Push
Forever - Chris Brown
Somebody to Love - Justin Bieber (did not get the response I was expecting, almost got boo'd off)
Casper Cha Cha Slide - Casper (The kids love this song...everyone. They all participate. Its the easiest 6 minutes of the night both years)
On to the Next One - Jay Z
More Than Words - Extreme
In Da Club - 50 Cent (even though this was edited, it was a little risky for a church dance...but it was a girl's birthday and I announced it then played the song. The kids responded with love)
Party in the USA - Miley Cirus (After about 5 songs about 25 white kids walked in from the Naperville Stake and were standing all awkward in the corner. I played this song to make them feel more at home. They responded with shreeks of joy and crazy white girl dancing. Black kids looked on with disgust, but eventually joined in).
Bust a Move (Don Ramini Remix) - Young M.C.
During the above song, Brig's mom handed out glow sticks and the kids went wild. This was a top moment of the night for me. They loved the techno version of this song and jumped wildly until they ran out of energy:
Down - Jay SeanDay 'n Night - Kid Cudi (always a clowd pleaser)
One, Two Step - Ciara
I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas (I played this song last year and the kids really didn't respond, but the requests kept coming in and they owned this song)
Suavamente - Elvis Crespo
Krazy - Pitbull feat. Lil' John
American Boy - Estelle feat. Kanye West
Thriller, Beat It and Billie Jean - Michael Jackson (even though he died last year, the kids are still in mourning and they kept wanting more MJ)
Like a Star - Corinne Bailey Rae
Bad Romance (Skrillex Remix) - Lady Gaga (this was the winner of the night. Alright Lady Gaga, you win again. Last year it was Just Dance, now this. You officially own teenagers. But I refuse to play your crappy A song Alejandro. It sucks. The kids were not happy when I told them I wouldn't play it.)
Perfect Situation - Weezer
Young Forever - Jay Z
Nine In the Afternoon - Panic at the Disco
Sell Out - Reel Big Fish (the white boys went nuts - everyone else thought they were retarded).
Come Away With Me - Norah Jones
No Es Una Novela - Monchy and Alexandra
A Moment Like This - Kelly Clarkson
El Sonidito - Hechizeros Band (I was told later that the latin kids were really happy with me this year and recognized that I had made great strides at finding out what they like. That was good cause last year they were hatin' up on me.)
Crazier - Taylor Swift
OMG - Usher (Another tough choice. The actual lyrics to this song say "Oh My Gosh," but I was worried a leader would come get mad at me any way. No one did, and the kids freakin' died when I played this song. Hey, its a great track.)
Dios te Pido - Juanes
Gettin' Over You - David Guetta
Telephone - Lady Gaga
Dame Tu Amor - Alecranes Musical
Cupid Shuffle - Cupid
When You Look In To My Eyes - Jonas Brothers
Ob La Di - Beatles (Here is where I learned a great lesson. My instincts told me that kids won't dance to music they don't know well. But someone requested it and I gave it a shot. It was boo'ed off within 2 minutes. The party died. Lesson? Kids don't know what other kids like. Don't trust them, shut them down)
Juana La Cubana - Aniceto Molina
You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift (I got boo'd by the boys at first, but by the end everyone was dancing and singing this song. Sorry kids, you got owned by T Swift and her power over your kind)
Just Dance - Lady Gaga
You're a Jerk - New Boyz
Dile el Amor - Aventura
Winner - Jamie Foxx feat. Justin Timberlake
Evacuate the Dancefloor - Cascada
Your Love is my Drug - Ke$ha
Gold Digger - Kanye West (This went over really well...this is about as nostalgic as these kids can get)
I let another kid play a song from his iPod and it stopped the party cold, even though he said it was a great rap/dance song like the Cupid Shuffle. He got boo'd. Big mistake.
Overall, the party was hot and I entertained them the best I could for 4 hours. Claire never said it would be easy, she only said it would be worth it.
Oh, and I danced nearly the entire night to own tunes.
5 comments:
Really interesting post. I agree about Alejandro except I think Telephone is even worse. The song is so BORING it goes nowhere. Anyway, good job, Jeff. You are a brave man.
I'm glad it was a success. Kids don't know anything about good music.
ellen - I had a remixed techno version of Telephone, so it was way more awesome for a dance than normal.
I applaud your bravery. I think I'd pee my pants if I got asked to DJ a dance for teenagers, even mormon ones.
So totally worth it. Jeff, you rock! Thanks and thanks again.
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