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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