Cheese Factor - Cheesy and Overplayed Songs and Other Cheese Factors

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When I played professionally in a band for 20 years, I played old time rock and roll and one in a million everyway possible.Yet you have to play what the people,when they want it if you want to get paid. Period. What you as a dj think is cool or not ,as a song ,should not have any bearing on what the public wants. Sure I would love to play what songs I like but that is not about being a pro performer!!!
 
The client is the boss.... but to me there is a limit. I will pass on a booking if the DNP is too extensive, or if they give me any kind of restrictive list that limits me to say 300 tunes pre-selected by the client. I know that 99 % of the time an event that restrictive is doomed to failure. Plus when nobody dances, the guests will not say the bride and groom have crappy taste in music, they will say the DJ sucks.
Now I try to avoid playing most of the songs mentioned, unless a guest requests them. I also have a section in my planner where they list the do not play songs. I ask them to take a look at the Mobile Beat top 200 for an explanation of why they hear these songs so often. It's not because DJ's just love hearing YMCA again, it is because people request them.
I also remind them per eezee's post, that while they may be in their 20's and going to clubs, and hearing all the latest dance tunes, many of their guests are not. Even their friends & relatives who are not old, but may be in their 30's & 40's, with families don't get out much anymore, and people dance to what they know and are comfortable with.
So I ask them to think about their guests. If they are like the one bride on wedding wire, who said she doesn't care what they want to hear, they are getting a free meal and drinks, I will be suddenly get booked, and rerfer them to another DJ.
 
Cheese is in the eye of the bride & groom.

Asking the right questions will reveal the definition of cheese for each customer. I ask for 3 songs, off the top of their heads, that they want played; then 3 that they don't want played. That gives me an indication of their tastes and allows me to ask the right follow-up questions.

Most of what we call cheese is really music or bits that are socially outdated.
The Hokey Pokey generation has dwindled at most events. I rarely play polkas anymore unless it is a regional or cultural expectation. The point is that you don't define cheese.... you feel cheese and if the bride/groom doesn't feel that it's cheesy - it's not.

Jay
 
I'm a traditionalist when it comes to wedding music. I like the more cookie cutter wedding people dance and have the most fun I will say this is 75% of my weddings.

YMCA, Billie Jean, Mony Mony, The Twist, Shout, Old Time R N R, Electric Slide, Chicken Dance, Hokey Pokey, Cupid Shuffle, Cha Cha Slide and Cotton Eye Joe. I would guess tose are the biggest.

I have had many weddings where they wanted none of this listed song and I did just fine, but only younger people danced and the older guest left early.

I include the MB Top 200 with my wedding packet, I one had a client ask me n ot to play anything on the list.


I have seen things listed that if you want to call cheese I don't know if I agree I think they are just bad songs.

Ice Ice baby still goes over well but U Can't Touch this is Cheesy.

Macarena I play went the B & G request

Barbie Girl, Achy Breaky Heart, Thong Song, Bunny Hop, Who Let The Dogs Out, Honky Tonk Badonkadonk, Hamsterdance, Rodeo Song - I cant say I have ever played any of these songs at a wedding.

I do use Barbie Girl at 13th birthday and sweet 16's quite often
 
I agree to an extent that there are definitely overplayed songs, absolutely.



But someone cheese at a wedding, is another persons feast.



While there may be songs I have heard at every gig since I was in junior high, and while I may tend to hate hearing the song over and over, the song in reference is totally still a hit to this day in our area.

You are wondering the song: Love Shack.

But now get this....I totally love this song, and I have learnt to not get sick of songs! I have learnt to enjoy every moment, such as a song like this, when clients/guests come out and bust out some real dance moves.

You wonder another song that used to be cheesy in my book? Macarena. Again...only played this song probably 10 times in 150 events. I have played this song, 5 out of my last 6 events, and it is somehow a floor filler, once again.


So all in all, I cannot say there are cheesy songs, and songs that I may not like when I am djing. I can honestly say, when I am djing, and the people are out enjoying themselves, it doesn't matter which tunes that are being played to get them up and out. Of course reading a crowd plays into this.


Anyways...no cheese....nothing but classics!
 
Those are not cheese songs, they are wedding "classics".

When I think cheese, I have a mental picture of a DJ makin' a fool out of him/herself with huge prop hats, telling bad jokes and acting foolish.....now that's cheese!

As many wedding clients tell me they want different, the events all are very similar. It's tough being tasteful when discussing the reception music. Most wedding guests want to hear the standards, whether we as DJ's like it or not.

I try to avoid both play and do not play lists. This can create what I call serious mission creep.....that's when a project starts out as quite manageable, then too many folks start thinkin', and next thing you know the project has taken on a life of it's own, and rapidly goes out of control.

Best,

Paul
 
My guess is that most Brides didn't know what "cheesy" was, until some DJ "educated" them...:sqerr::sqwink:
 
eezee said:
WE the DJ go to every single event, not the client. So they are just hearing this at maybe 2-3 events compared to 20 to 30 for us.
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Then explain to me why most of the songs I listed at the top are the most listed in DNPs.


eezee said:
Its starting to sound like you are the one that doesnt want to hear the songs and are unconsciously forcing your will on them.
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I never said I wouldn't play the songs if they wanted them but, I won't go out of my way to play them if they are not requested. I actually like most of the songs on the list and do request them at parties I attend and not DJing.

The bottom line is that many of these songs are getting overplayed and some clients are getting tired of it. This is why they are appearing on DNPs. Maybe we all should analyze trends like this to give a better product to our clients.
 
bizzyb53 said:
When I played professionally in a band for 20 years, I played old time rock and roll and one in a million everyway possible.Yet you have to play what the people,when they want it if you want to get paid. Period. What you as a dj think is cool or not ,as a song ,should not have any bearing on what the public wants. Sure I would love to play what songs I like but that is not about being a pro performer!!!
Click to expand...

Same here, only the song was Smoke On The Water for us....:sqerr::sqwink:
 
TommyO said:
Then explain to me why most of the songs I listed at the top are the most listed in DNPs.




I never said I wouldn't play the songs if they wanted them but, I won't go out of my way to play them if they are not requested. I actually like most of the songs on the list and do request them at parties I attend and not DJing.

The bottom line is that many of these songs are getting overplayed and some clients are getting tired of it. This is why they are appearing on DNPs. Maybe we all should analyze trends like this to give a better product to our clients.
Click to expand...

I myself have not mentioned that I will go out my way to play all these supposedly " cheesy" songs. But I do not dread them like a plague either.
In the typical 2-3 hour Open Dancing, there are more than enough songs out there to make the crowd happy, just gotta have a good feel for the crowd.

I am not targeting you Tom, but you did mention in one of your above posts that you mention to clients that certain songs are overplayed. Overplayed according to who's standards? Do you think the client would have known that they were overplayed if you did not mention it in the first place? Is a 50/50 chance unrealistic?

By me " suggesting" that some song are cheesy or overplayed, I have unconsciously made the couple , especially the Bride, NOT want to have that cheesy wedding that everyone supposedly dreads. Maybe she just buckled under pressure perhaps? Hence influencing her song decisions.

Hence it ends up in the DNP.

Without my influence on categorizing certain songs "cheesy", there is an equal chance that any song will or will not end up on a DNP. How many songs on the DNP will not be on the DNP if us DJ stopped " suggesting" that these songs were overplayed/cheesy to begin with.

We are considered the so called "expert" on music. If we say its overplayed, then that's the final word. Most likely the bride will agree just to not be the uncool bride. A lot of weddings is about ego, peer pressure and the pomp and pageantry. If an expert says something is cheesy, then it must be.


Just my .02:sqwink::sqbiggrin: Steppin down the box....:sqembarrassed:
 
Thanks Eezee I dont mention a DNP list if they are adamant enough about the odd song or two they bring it to my attention.
 
for me, cheesy is the songs a dj plays when its obvious those songs aren't working for that crowd. To tell someone what songs we believe are cheesy. I think its kind of snobbish in my opinion to post on a website what songs we think are cheesy.
 
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