Jig Blog

Top 10 records every wedding DJ needs... NUMBER 1!!!

The scenario is this. It's your wedding day.  You have 45 minutes left before the taxis arrive to whisk your guests away, and you want to finish in style. You have the dancefloor, the DJ, the lights and a one point twenty one Jigger-watt sound system, cranked to 11, hungry and waiting to be fed.

 You need 10 records, all killer, no filler. There are thousands of worthy contenders out there, but you want the best of the best. Guaranteed floor-fillers: feel-great anthems, and who cares if there's the odd overtone of ripe camembert.  Just get these weird and wonderful people onto the floor, cares cast aside and throwing moves like nobody's watching.

So here is the run-down: arguably the best ten records for wedding DJs.

No 10:Summer of '69: Bryan Adams
No 9: Billie Jean: Michael Jackson
No 8: Dance The Night Away: The Mavericks
No 7: Hey Ya: Outkast
No 6: Don't Stop Me Now: Queen
No 5: Nine To Five: Dolly Parton
No 4: I don't feel like dancing: Scissor Sisters
No 3: Young Hearts Run Free: Candi Statton
No 2: Brown Eyed Girl: Van Morrison

...

But what comes next? What makes a song the greatest disco record of all time?

Humbly I suggest the following step-by-step guide...

HOW TO MAKE THE GREATEST DISCO RECORD OF ALL TIME: THE JIGBLOG GUIDE

Step 1: Hire the tightest disco rhythm section on the planet.
Step 2: Start it quickly. Just a snare drum leading into a killer horn hook intro.
Step 3: Load the subject material with light-hearted innuendo
Step 4: Write catchy, repetitive lyrical hooks over a 4-to-the-floor bassline
Step 5: Get your performers to wear outlandish costumes
Step 6: Invent a dance to go along with it.

The result? you've guessed it...

the greatest disco record ever produced.

Are we all agreed?

Top 10 records every wedding DJ needs: No. 2

Why is Van Morrison's Brown Eyed girl such a successful record?

People "hear" music before they "hear" words. But what do they actually remember? Neither, I think.
It's confusing for a songwriter to hear that, but I think it's true. So what do listeners specifically remember about a song?

In the vein of “Summer of 69” , “Brown Eyed Girl” is an enduring classic record. Who can avoid its charms at a wedding disco?  It’s a simple song about the reclamation of youth, about love, simplicity, passion. And it has the added market appeal that it references about 25% of the world’s population in the title. Van was not writing this for a niche market.

I was playing pool in the student union when this record came on in the jukebox. I could probably give you a good guess as to what I was wearing, eating, who I was with, what I was thinking about, how much I was losing by...

Brown Eyed Girl is a soundtrack for happy times. Evocative. Music is a catalyst for emotion, but it's the emotion that people remember first, and the music second. Songwriters hoping for that enduring classic should think in terms of creating moments: enhancing experiences rather than creating notes and melodies.

Songs help human beings to feel alive. Once your song is indelibly associated with a certain emotional experience, listeners will return to the song to reclaim and re-examine that experience. The more firmly the song is rooted in a clear emotional experience, the more enduring the song will be.

I know a couple who admitted that Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get it On" was their favourite all-time record. Need I say more?

Songwriters...musicians...people who enjoy good music... What are your thoughts? Do you agree, or am I way off the mark? Post a reply below.

VH1's 100 greatest dance songs

I notice only one of VH1's top twenty (in their 100 greatest dance songs poll) makes it into my top 10 list. Those of you who have been at a Jiggers ceilidh where I was DJ'ing...Can you guess which one, and what the final two records will be?

Top 10 Records every wedding DJ needs: No 3

CANDI STATTON – Young Hearts Run Free

DON'T DO IT LADIES! 

"What's the sense in sharing this one and only life? Ending up just another lost and lonely wife?"

Edit: if the youtube vid doesn't work hear it on last.fm

Strange that a song that decries the meaningless nature of commitment should be so popular at weddings...Or maybe people enjoy a dose of realism in the midst of their fairytale day?

 Young Hearts Run Free again capitalises on nostalgic emotions, this time sung from the persona of a bitter older woman (or maybe she’s not so old?). Word of advice girls...don’t get married. Look out for number one.

Why is this song so popular, especially when we're playing a wedding ceilidh? It’s an enigmatic reminder that straightforward analysis of lyrics does not always tell us how a listener is likely to respond.

When communicating, it's not always what you say, it's how you say it. Your voice communicates with music more than words. Interesting that something as "throwaway" as a 70s pop song can remind us the extent to which music, not lyrics, is the real communicator.

So what does this song *really* say to you?

Top 10 records every wedding DJ needs (no 4.)

Hi all. Back from a nice blog-holiday break with...

Top ten records every wedding DJ needs: no 4

Scissor Sisters: I don't feel like dancing.

Ironically of course, play this record at a wedding, and people do.

It annoys me that the Scissor Sisters made this record. It’s just the right tempo for the “walking to the dancefloor dance”. Since I don’t tend to play more than one song by the same artist (unless it’s a very long DJ set), it means that I rarely get to play what I think is their absolute best single, the abounding-in-funk, groovetastic and often forgotten-about “take your mama out”.

Still, lyrics in the chorus for this record deserve a special mention, just because they’re especially indecipherable (how many teenagers know what "that old joanna" is?). 

“I don’t feel like dancing when that old Joanna plays, my heart could take a chance but my two feet can’t find the way, you’d think that I could muster up a little soft-shoe gentle sway, but I don’t feel like dancing, no sir, no dancing today”

PS Don't you love that fun Youtube video?

Top 10 Records every wedding DJ needs (no 5.)

If you can't enjoy Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 then you must be deaf, dull and dead.

I love this kind of tight, coherent songwriting, where every lyric flows easily towards a simple point. It avoids being trite on one hand and too clever on the other. Every part of this record fits so well, and it's one of the true highlights of Parton's career. I'm also a huge fan of Jolene.

A class act. Check out her greatest hits for some great, tuneful songs, shmoltzy, blue-eyed ballads and country-gal sass. By the way,does anyone else find these fan-made videos with the cycling still images a bit spooky?

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 :)

Top 10 Records every wedding DJ needs (no 7.)

Hey Ya by Outkast.

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.

 They might be able to 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?

 

 

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.

 It's a cheezy classic. I 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?

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 Lover”. 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...

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!