" With Todays Top 20 " How Do We Make It Fun Again ???

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A

APartyDJ

New DJ
Apr 11, 2007
183
0
60
Chattanooga, TN. & Dalton, GA.
www.celebrationschattanooga.com
Well Guys,
This Is A Late Night Rambling Rant...

I Have 2 More Proms To Do This Year.

How Can You Fill 4 Hours Of Prom Without Playing " Crap Rap "

I Think I'm Starting To Sound Like My Dad...

But The Norm In Music Now Is Way Past SUCK...

If Its Not Content Its Context.

Every Rap Songs Gotta Have Nigga, Hoe, Fu**, Or Any Of The Other 7 Words Yer Not Supposed To Hear On Radio...

I Feel Like I Need To Remix Every Song To Clean It Up...
What Does Radio Edit Mean?

How Can We Promote Artist Like Toby Mac, Family Force 5 , And Other Jamming Clean Artist...
Well Thats My Rant...

Thanks For Your Support...
 
Well, you could do what Bear did ~ cut off the library at 1964. :)

I haven't done a youth-oriented show since 2000 and don't miss 'em one bit. I'm fine with the dance steps and hiphop tunes that thump the floor and get folks dancing... but that rap stuff is useless. It's got no dance beat whatsoever. It's just noise.

Why is it popular? Simple ~ the bass bed. The pups love a bass bed. Well, there's good, wall-rattling bass to be had from tracks that didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday.

A prom is the ultimate dance party. Why play tracks that have no dance beat? :confused:

Just an old school dance DJ's humble opinion... but there ain't nothing wrong with mixing in some 50s and 60s dance tunes. You've got Elvis, Bill Haley etc. Happy dance tunes that can rock the floor.

TLC and 69 Boyz work. Will Smith is still good. And you can do the Perculator, Boodie Bounce, Bus Stop etc. It ain't gotta be all the latest rap. :)
 
Exactly what the Wolfster just said.

Except my formula is to avoid the 60's and focus on 70's/80's Old School, Mid-90's hip hop (West Coast style), and a variety of current pop, rock, rap, and reggaeton.
 
When I was doing middle school dances, I'd get requests for the most extreme rap and punk.

Before I set up request sheets, I'd like the kids come up on stage to make requests and when they'd hit me with one of these extreme and/or profane pieces of garbage, I would tell them to their face that there was no way I was playing it.

When they'd ask why, I'd reply, "because it's crap."

The other thing I would do is deal with the kids who would bring in their own CD's and ask me to play cuts from it. They were either downloaded songs or non-radio friendly edits.

I would tell them that if I put this in my CD player, and I hear one swear word, I will take it out and break the disc right then and there and ask them if they still wanted me to play the disc.

You know, I never once had a kid tell me yes.

You want to clean up the crap? Don't play it.
 
I go through my collection and pre-select every track that I think will be safe to play but isn't too stale - When I get stumped as what to play next I refer to my list.
 
I've done as the Wolfster has "I don't play it". It's the main reason I don't do weddings. I have learned to say "No"

I had a function a couple of weeks ago, where I played some of the Will Smith stuff, and some of the Hip-Hop that's OK. What happens though, is you lose the rest of your audience. They won't take the time to ask you to play something else, they either don't dance or they leave.

I consider it "my responsibility" to keep the party going, I'm the "professional", and I know better than to play "Floor Killers". The client expects me to keep there party going..........I oblige
 
APartyDJ said:
The Kids Expect The Prom To Be Like A Night Club.

It Booms And Rocks, But Ya Cant Play More Than 3 Oldies Or Ya Gonna Get Boo Hiss From The Crowd...
Click to expand...
This is why we don't do 'em.

We have the sound system. We can provide that. But someone else will have to DJ and manage the music. We ain't doin' it. :)
 
First. I don't do em. But IF I did, here's my thoughts... (Basically I can't do this right so I don't do schools.)

Creativity, skills, time.

You can no longer just grab the 5.99 12" lp remix from your local record pool and play 5min of the song, beat mix into another, and get whoops and cheers.

1 or 2 min of a song and mix it into another.
Mash up older stuff with the newer base riffs.
Be different every time. EVERY TIME!

You got to create music now. Be more of a producer! Skills and time required that I don't have, nor are many schools willing to pay for the required effort that is truly required to please the kids and the teachers / adult chapparones.
 
APartyDJ said:
The Kids Expect The Prom To Be Like A Night Club.

It Booms And Rocks, But Ya Cant Play More Than 3 Oldies Or Ya Gonna Get Boo Hiss From The Crowd...

And Some Times It Can Be A Huge Crowd...

Thanks To All That Have posted So Far...
John
Click to expand...

I see your point and agree with you 100%. However, if this is the market you wish to keep working in, you're going to have to look the other way. I decided a few years ago, that my personal offense to the way kids behave and the content/context of the music, was enough to move on to bigger and better things.

I won't sell my principles for a few bucks. The best way to be a part of the solution is not contributing to the problem.

Good luck.:sqwink:


.
 
asides the obvious stuff I enjoy the hell outta gettin the younguns to pack the dancefloor. My plan to move into fulltime will allow me more ops to play the teen/ young gen crowd as I have a few tricks up my sleeve to play legit acceptable music and make the proper money doing it. Theres a secret, I will share it in my book for just $99
(J/K). I will be doing a sneak peek for a couple locations and face to face sales with vendor sponsors etc. Lots of potential prize giveaways etc. No video and most likely other than Dance risers and a kick ass sound and light show will maximize profit and minimize expense as I do for all of my gigs.
 
Flyingdjdan said:
First. I don't do em. But IF I did, here's my thoughts... (Basically I can't do this right so I don't do schools.)

Creativity, skills, time.

You can no longer just grab the 5.99 12" lp remix from your local record pool and play 5min of the song, beat mix into another, and get whoops and cheers.

1 or 2 min of a song and mix it into another.
Mash up older stuff with the newer base riffs.
Be different every time. EVERY TIME!

You got to create music now. Be more of a producer! Skills and time required that I don't have, nor are many schools willing to pay for the required effort that is truly required to please the kids and the teachers / adult chapparones.
Click to expand...

I disagree completely.

The local Radio Mixshow DJs are collectively a bunch of snot-nosed egotistical @zzholes who underbid the dances then bail on 'em when the administration tries to cramp their style.

I agree about mixing being important......but the students REALLY WANT TO HEAR THE ENTIRE SONG.

After many years of being clueless.....its finally gotten to the point where I can beatmix over the intros and outros pretty well. My set of "My Humps, Push It and BGB" is one of the highlights of my prom successes this spring. Ironically this same set has been a wedding reception staple for 2+ years.

I do agree that by changing styles often you can placate the chaperones (who notice when 2 or more rap tunes get played in a row).

Another really neat trend is that the students respond favorably to older "club" style music ("What Is Love" by Haddaway via SNL, "Sandstorm" by Darude, "Better Off Alone" by Alice Deejay). At my daughter's prom, Brad noted ten requests for "Barbie Girl".

When Eminem said "NOBODY LISTENS TO TECHNO" he was right about the hard techno & house styles, but wrong about the cheesy trance and Europop like Vengaboys et al.
 
i gotta agree with djmc... the kids definitely want to hear the whole song, and may get upset if its cut too early.

Another thing i realized around here (nj/nyc) is the kids really go crazy for the trance/techno songs. At a prom over the weekend, i was able to play 2 30min sets of nonstop techno and have the all 200+ kids on the floor the entire time. You know those favorites, like sandstorm, satisfaction, everytime we touch, heaven, castles in the sky...there is also a remix by rob mayth to barbie girl, and a dj mystik remix to the titanic's my heart will go on...these always work for me as well as quite a few new ones. Another alternative to rap that works is reggaeton.
 
Honestly, schools are one of the toughest if not the toughest type of event to do. It's a balancing act and even when you do it well, you need to have thick skin because you are going to get complaints.

See, here is the problem. Unlike a wedding where as long as you make the Bride and Groom happy (because you do what they ask), at a school you have all the administrators / students / chaperone's / and parents (not even there) to make happy. It's just not possible to please everyone, thus somebody complains and the people that hired you hear it and they don't hear from all the people that loved it. And that is why you are always going to be fighting an uphill battle.

Also, as far as the music. If you aren't comfortable playing the majority of todays current songs, turn down the event. I wish I could play just "good, clean, fun" music, but its beyond unrealistic. I do as much as I can to avoid the crap, but it's impossible because most of its crap. I have pricipals and morals too, but when it comes to music, I do the best I can and shrug off what I can't.
 
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