So I was a DJ for a wedding reception last night. My wife's good friend and co-worker Katherine, asked if I could DJ her and her husband's wedding reception. I was honored and nervous about this request. I love music. Well, I love my music. And I have an eclectic blend of music. I have everything from Colbe Callait to Justin Timberlake, from My Morning Jacket to Cat Stevens, from Nina Simone to Metallica. I don't like all music, I just like great music no matter the genre. My favorite genres of music are probably Alternative, Electronic, Folk and Classical. And Jazz. And some Blues. And Country. Okay, basically, if I hear of a great album, no matter the genre, I will check it out. If I hear about a list of the best albums of all time, I will want to go through the list and try and listen to each album. I am not saying I will like each album, but I will try to appreciate the music on some level.
I think it's because of my love for such a broad range of music is the reason I have developed a large and eclectic library of music. I think it's for this reason I've developed a reputation for creating playlists and mixes for my friends and family. And I love that. I love sharing my music with people, especially when they enjoy the music.
As I prepared playlists for this wedding reception, I had to really put aside my musical interests. In fact, I had to do something I normally shy away from when it comes to my tastes in anything - I had to think mainstream. I had to think of what people love to hear at weddings and what they are willing to dance to at a wedding. I had to, in a way, be really unselfish with my music.
Katherine emailed me and several of other people invited to the wedding about our favorite love song and dance song. Several people responded, so I used that list to fill the playlists. My favorite love song was "In Your Eyes" and my favorite dance song was "Billie Jean." These were both safe wedding reception songs. I will say "In Your Eyes" doesn't have the danceability factor with it, but it is a very familiar and often nostalgic song. The other requests that came back were quite diverse. There were standards like "At Last" by Etta James and the more recent dance hit, "Gangnam Style" by the Korean rapper, Psy. Neil Diamond, Tony Bennet, Frankie Vallie and Chuck Berry were on the list as well. I ended up having to download around 15-20 of the songs. It was fun discovering more new music.
After I downloaded and compiled all the music, I then built a playlist to play dinner music and one to play during the dance. My dinner playlist had a lot of easy listening, jazz and soft pop music on it like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Eva Cassidy and Jack Johnson. My favorite playlist, or at least the one I was most excited and nervous about was the dance playlist.
Would you like to know some of the set list? Okay, I will tell you.
I started with four standard, get-the-party started songs: Celebration by Kool and the Gang, Funkytown by Lipps, Inc and YMCA by the Village People. I then moved into a more contemporary song, Let's Dance by Lady Ga Ga. It was around this time I moved to some slower tracks with Elvis singing "I Can't Help Falling in Love" and Connie Francis' "Anniversary Waltz." And the next round of dance was kicked off with Billie Jean.
There was something really unique and beautiful about creating a playlist of music and watching people really enjoy themselves to the music. When I have created mixes and playlists before, I didn't always get to see people enjoy my music. This was different. If the dance floor was empty, I knew the song was not as danceable or as well known. Or the place was clearing out.
And then maybe there are a lot of people dancing, and the crowd starts to thin out, and like a conductor, I raise my hand and move some songs around play the ultimate crowd pleaser - the dance along song. For example, Cupid Shuffle, Chicken Dance, or the Electric Slide. I am not usually a fan of these songs because I normally get out of step or something, but I have to say, sitting back, watching the huge crowd of people on the floor dancing in unison is a pretty awesome feeling. I was thinking, I did that. Or at least I helped do that.
There was an ebb and flow of people on the dance floor all night. However, there were always my biggest fans, the kids. For the most part, the kids were the most vocal about requests and always the ones most appreciative the music. I was so glad when I already had some of their requested songs already ready to play. And usually I bumped it up the list for them. It's really hard to turn down the kids. And when they came up to me with their parents, I was like, woah, they think I'm a professional. I'm just a dude. I'm just a friend who was asked to help out.
One thing I learned is not to always trust my musical gut. My wife is an amazing, on-the-spot editor of musical selections. She would look at the crowd, look at my playlist and help me gauge if the song I had on the list was the best next selection. We were a great team. She really helped me out by getting me to remove some of my "favorite" dance tunes but ones no one would probably recognize.
And that's what it really is. Familiarity. You are there to celebrate the union of a man and a woman. You have known them for years or maybe just months. You are seeing people you maybe haven't seen in for a long time. It brings up all this gooey, sentimental feelings about family, friends and your past. And then you hear "Blister in the Sun" by the Violent Femmes and you feel like this is the single greatest event in your life and grab people and start dancing like you're back at the first time you heard that song.
I always thought I wanted to be a DJ because I wanted to introduce my music to the musically challenged. I wanted to impose my playlists, my tastes on other people who simply didn't know better. But I also never really understood that that's not what being DJ is about, at least ones who DJ weddings and Bar Mitzvahs. It really seems about pleasing the people. It's about making people happy. The next time some of these people may be together is for a funeral, so you want this to be one fun event they can refer back to that wasn't involving someone dying.
It's really much more selfless than I realized. I felt like all I had to do was create a list of music, move some songs around, take a few requests, and maybe announce a dedication, but I felt like a conductor. I know, I'm exaggerating the whole experience. I'm sure the alcohol helped out everyone's willingness to dance. That's fine. I'm not a miracle worker.
But it was down to three more songs in the night: Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, December 1963 (Oh what a night!), Hot Chocolates' You Sexy Thing, and AC/DC's You Shook Me All Night Long, and the dance floor was packed with everyone, including the bride and groom, and they were forming circles and circles of people dancing with mini-dance-offs going on in the middle, and you could just see this amazing aura of joy and happiness, and I knew that I couldn't turn water into wine, but I could serve it to the party.
With some sick beats.
