I have a DJ gig at the local primary school fete. Request is for “A mix of disco classics from across the ages” i.e. none of that weird shit you usually play.
Please add your disco bangers below.
Musings on the byways of popular culture
I have a DJ gig at the local primary school fete. Request is for “A mix of disco classics from across the ages” i.e. none of that weird shit you usually play.
Please add your disco bangers below.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
That should start you off.
I might be over-thinking things, but Glass by Sink Ya Teeth
Mixes into this from Donna Summer:
Patrick Hernandez – Born To Be Alive
When I was a DJ (last century I admit) no matter the audience, Hi Ho Silver Lining got everyone dancing and singing along. Follow it with Build Me Up Buttercup and your tip jar will be overflowing. Hardly disco I admit but if you’re after adulation and applause, trust me
Hi Ho wouldn’t work any more. GUITAR ALERT.
It worked last week at Café des Artes. Michou et Michou were well impressed
Do not play anything featuring a guitar unless it’s being played by Nile Rodgers.
I always say this, I always mean it.
Talking about which:
Plus – absolute cast-iron classic
Wise words, Moosey
Zappa: Dancin’ Fool
Worked for me when I was in primary school.
Disco Tex and the Sex O Lettes – Get Dancing
Van McCoy – The Shuffle
Don’t school fetes generally adhere to a pretty similar musical ruleset as weddings?
Uptown Funk, Can’t Stop The Feeling, Reach, Superstition, How Will I Know, I’m Coming Out, Mr Brightside, Livin on a Prayer, 24K Magic, Despacito, Groove Is In The Heart, etc etc.
I was at one a couple of years ago where a live band absolutely nailed Purple Rain. I still have no idea who they were or why they were so good, but I can still remember exactly how it felt to be stood in the sunshine with pals, looking out over a magnificent vista of bouncy castles and face painting stalls as those closing “Ooooooh-ooooooh-ooooohhhh”s and that amazing circling guitar rift conspired to render magical the mundane.
The “disco across the ages” thing sounds like a potential hospital pass to me. Most parents will be too young for the heyday of disco, and I don’t know how much cache it has with 10 year olds nowadays.
You’ve hit the nail of my issue with it. The mum asking me is in her mid-30s. There’s a sort of passive-aggressive “don’t play any bloody Bhundu Boys this year” in the request. I might just ignore it, anyway.
I should steer clear of Lawnmower Deth too. Even though the new album is excellent, within its genre.
She knew the bhundu boys name ?
I wish. Everyone else loves all that stuff.
There’s a Prince tribute band called Endorphin Machine, possibly them?
And one called New Purple Celebration, who are fantastic.
The full album, mind.
Get someone to beatbox under this and you’ve got yourself some dancefloor dynamite:
The French dude even looks like Moby.
I remember really disliking this back in the day but hearing it afresh a few years ago I recognised it for the masterpiece it is. The groove is one that LCD Soundsystem would kill for, the bass is minimalist by disco standards but absolutely perfect and the clever variations in backing vocals show an attention to creating something more than just a production line disco number. A classic!
One from 77, one from 78:
https://youtu.be/hPrklRwn1HE
Pop Will Eat Itself – Def Con One
That would be a shoo-in for a 50th birthday party, but most of the parents were not even born then, let alone their kids.
Oddly enough, I bought 92° F from a bargin bin on Saturday. Sadly it wasn’t the version with Sylvia from Boney M singing.
All of these are way too hi-faluting. Lowest common denominator shite is what they want: Now That’s What I Call 70’s Pap” is all they really want or need. I’d refuse, but 20 Jazz Funk Greats by Throbbing Gristle might fool ’em. For a moment.
Ignore the instructions and use this as an opportunity to educate these 10 year olds.
It’s their parents……. Dancing Queens and Knights In White Satin one and all.
Putting an Afterworder in charge of something like this is terrifyingly irresponsible.
“Do you mean you actually can’t dance to Starless and Bible Black, or are you just not trying?”
Just imagine…
… you forego entirely the “disco” suggestion and opt instead to take attendees to the fete on an epic musical journey that will reshape the very boundaries of their relationship with sound. As you painstakingly compile your playlist over a period of several weeks you occasionally pause to smile to yourself at the knowledge that you are curating a cultural event that will be spoken about for years and decades to come. Attendees might be arriving as civilians, but they’ll all be leaving as battle-hardened sonic warriors, versed in the full alphabet of your record collection, all the way from A to D.
The day of days finally arrives. You head down to help set up, safe in the knowledge that you’re the only one present who knows that everything – everything – is about to change. As you rig up the bunting on the BBQ stand Gloria calls across “Hey, Arthur – where are we with the Disco playlist? Good to go?”. You smile broadly and give a thumbs up that Macca himself would be proud of. She waves back. Good – she doesn’t need to know, not yet.
You watch the children file into the fete, excited and wired for an afternoon of fun and frolics with their mates. You gaze beatifically upon them, and reflect that there will be no “fun” today, because today is a schoolday, and perhaps the most important schoolday of their young lives. You picture the write up in a future edition of Mojo: “Not everyone who claims to have been present at the infamous St Indescripts Primary School Fete of July 2022 can possibly have been in attendance but, of those fortunate enough to be proximate to ground zero, an astonishing proportion went on to form bands. And not noisy bands who play Maroon 5 covers. Actual, proper bands with lots of chord changes, a proper appreciation for the canon, acoustic chops and no female members”. God, what a legacy you are about to bequeath upon the local community.
An hour in, things are running smoothly. You’ve had a drink and a hot dog, and a couple of people have already stared at your Music From Big Pink tshirt. Presumably fellow fans. You get the nod from Gloria and hit play on your Spotify playlist. This is it – there’s no turning back now.
The opening few tracks pass without much incident. A bit of early Kinks, a spot of The Who. As the music plays, you stand, arms crossed, nodding gently in your flat cap, impassive by side eyeing everyone for signs of recognition. At one point you lock eyes with another one of the Dads and for a moment you think he gives you a nod of approval, but it’s hard to tell – the bloke always has that weird twitch. As the playlist segues flawlessly into several choice cuts from the Matrix Tapes you could swear you see a couple of parents frugging – actually frugging! – over by the Nerf gun stand. Joy unconfined.
It’s when the demo version of Venus In Furs kicks in that Gloria first gives you the look. It’s a kind of mix of confusion and concern, although she’s too busy cleaning vomit off the mats in front of the bouncy castle to follow it up. You look across the fete to get a sense of the broader reaction and detect a wave of approval emanating from the youth. Keep your Fortnite and your Roblox – THIS is the stuff they’ve been waiting for, and it’s been kept from them until now. Well, time to rip down the barricades and kick over the statues, because here come the Redskins deep cuts, kiddos. You’ll thank me when you’re older and massively socially maladjusted – trust me.
There’s an ugly incident a quarter of the way through the world music segment, when one of the Dads approaches and asks pointedly whether you have any Bruno Mars. You tell him “of course”, wait until he’s a safe distance away and stick on a track from the last Pink Floyd album. He peers back at you, furrows his brow and mouths the word “wanker”. It’s a little daunting, but you console yourself with the knowledge that he’s a tiny minority, and that his kids will be off somewhere grooving.
Not long after that, Gloria and a phalanx of the other Mums approach and interrupt a sublime album track by The Incredible String Band to inform you that some of the children are crying, and you’re being ordered to play something – anything – off the soundtrack to Zootropolis. Rude. There follows a spirited exchange in which you defend your musical selections and explain that your own kids have been listening to this stuff since day one, and just look at them. The remark prompts an exchange of worried glances between the phalanx and one of them makes a lunge for the aux cable. You fend her off, and they retreat.
Your next selection, a bootleg recording (in mono!) of the Beatles arguing in-studio over the tuning of a hurdy gurdy, is – in many ways – the centrepiece of the playlist. Extending to a full 25 minutes, it will give the kids a real opportunity to hear genius at work, and it will then ease them into a run of solo Beatles deep cuts, climaxing in a triple header of obscure, collectors-only, funk workouts by the All Starr Band. That’s the intention, but it’s about to be tested, because here come a larger group of parents, and the bloke at the head of it is brandishing a tyre iron…
Can my people speak to your people about the film rights for this post?
You had me at the powerfully erotic phrase “a phalanx of the other mums”, suggestive as it is of both a delightful cornucopia of womanly pulchritude and a progressive rock song title.
Of course!
Regrettably, after posting I realised that one detail in the above is so unrealistic as to stretch credulity. Spotify playlist…. pfffft. Vinyl, or – if you really must – Tidal playlist (did you know that it’s in a lossless format? Sounds so much better over really good cans).
I see this as a pilot for a new BBC sitcom. The Afterworder. Starring James Nesbitt as Norman (Normskki to his online pals). The next episode is on his weekly cinema club (from his home cinema set up in the garden) re-run of all the Stars Wars episodes. I’m especially looking forward to the festival episode… Get writing Bingo…
Normski? Hip-hop lensman, presenter of Dance Energy and no-I-am-not-bloody-making-this-up brief partner of Janet Street Porter? (long enough to get him a show in the Def II strand, anyway).
I suggest you alter that, he might have lawyers. I suggest WeAreNorman instead.
You either have a very vivid imagination, or you have been to one of my DJ gigs before.
Fan bloody tastic!!
This post has made my day. Cap doffed.
Comment of the year!
Funniest thing I have read for ages. Loved it.
Van McCoy The Hustle
Shirley and the Gang. Shame shame shame
Just stick an ABBA playlist on and disappear to the beer tent.
Don’t forget to leave out The Visitors or The Day Before You Came.
And if you want the kids on your side – play »Shiny Happy People«!
Not disco, but in the record (well, CD) box.
Rhianna We Found Love
Dua Lipa Levitating
https://youtu.be/w4dBufC9Igk
Madonna Like A Prayer
Cont. 80s on:
S Express Theme From S Express
Pigbag
Salt n Pepa Push It
KC That’s The Way I Like It
Gap Band Oops Upside Yer Head
James Brown Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag
Booker T Green Onions
Harlem Shuffle
The Twist
No disco is complete without:
Young hearts run free
Rock the boat george mcrae
Miss you – maybe one of them extended remixes.
Love is in the air
Miss You – extended disco mix – see YouTube bit higher up…it’s a corker!
Oops. Could also do undercover of the night.
I tried Start Me Up once. It didn’t work. I all but went out to the retreating masses and said, “What is the matter with you people? This is the Rolling fuckin’ Stones!!”
But that would have involved leaving my pint unguarded.
Guitars = CS gas (gas gas)
Yeah but it aint a great song for dancing.singalong yea, dance no. Like When Doves Cry was played coz it was a hit. Awkward beat.
Here’s a 2022 track…
My absolute favourite track is a b-side cover version of a disco song. Here’s a live version, but the recorded version, with the vocoder bits, is even better. I’ve seen her live loads of times, but I’ve never seen her sing this live. I thought she was doing it once, but it turned out to be a cover of Don’t Leave Me This Way. She did, however, sing it as a request for me on her second kitchen disco!
Oddly enough, Paul, I thought of you today. Postie delivered my theaudience LP direct from the label (Last Night From Glasgow). Still working, so haven’t spun it yet.
I wonder when I’ll get mine then, as I ordered it from Rough Trade. I did buy three of her albums on coloured vinyl for £30 each direct from the label. They are being listed at silly prices on eBay, and have even been bought for around £100, when they are still available at cost price. Some people are daft. But back in the day, on several occasions I have seen concert tickets going for silly money on eBay, when they were still available from the venue. I thought about buying half a dozen of each of the Sophie albums, thinking I can at least double my money, but whenever I’ve tried something like that it always backfires and I end up stuck with something I eventually lose money on. Like Del Boy on a bad day.
Would be nice if they could finally release Quiet Storm, theaudience’s unreleased album. Would be nice to have it in physical format. She also has a brilliant unreleased track whose name escapes me (maybe Romeo, Romeo?) that got stopped by Herr Hutter, due to the sampling of the main keyboard refrain from The Model.
But, fan my brow, I was just having a look on YouTube to see if I could find it, cos it is a great track, when I came across this. I’ve never seen this before. Sophie always performs her last number from the balcony, without a microphone, and here she is performing My Favourite Things at Sheffield City Hall a few months back. And what’s so interesting about this? Well, that handsome, bald headed, big nosed bloke in the sky blue shirt three along from Sophie to the right is yours truly. The little guy in the green shirt next to me is my son, and the girl in grey in between him and Sophie is my daughter. To let you in on the secret, when I booked the tickets I chose the seats next to the gangway I thought she’d choose and guessed right. You should have seen the kids’ faces!
There is a reason we keep peering over the balcony too. The ex was downstairs. It was her night to have the boy (the girl stays with me permanently), but she dumped him cos she wanted to go to this concert with her mate. I knew the kids would want to see the show, and knew she’d dump the boy, so I had actually bought those tickets even before she got hers. We never told her we were going, because we didn’t want her spoiling our night (she was absolutely smashed, as we guessed she would be), so when the spotlight shone on Sophie and us three we thought the game was up. Fortunately, the Prosecco prevented her brain from registering she was photographing her kids and the bloke she’d just spent 20 years with! I can’t wait to show the kids this in the morning!
That’s a remarkable story. Such anticipation Paul, and getting it completely right.
You are one ace dad, Paul.
Splendid.
You win the prize for dad of the year. (Assuming your kids actually like Sophie Ellis Bextor? 🙂 )
I think following her lockdown kitchen disco turns, that’s probably a given. Bless ‘er.
Watching that clip, it’s a shame Sheffield City Hall doesn’t have a STFU sign like the Jazz Café does.
Do you know, it really irritated me. Apart from a one off show she did in one of the big halls on the South Bank a few years ago, I have only seen her in smaller halls like Holmfirth Picturedrome, Manchester’s Ritz and the Hospital Club, and the audience has been been, mainly, firm fans, so when she does the last number you could hear a pin drop. After the kitchen discos took off and the numerous TV spots, she had to move to bigger venues and the audience just wouldn’t shut up. Fortunately, we could hear her very well from where we were!
And yes, the kids both love her too. They are going to have a shock when they find out that she isn’t the biggest female pop star on the planet. As far as they are aware she is bigger than Madonna! And they were both thrilled this morning when I showed them the clip.
It took years before my kids realised I didn’t know every every performer on the planet, I just used to take them to see the ones that I did.
I do have this on CD single.
That’s a magnificent record, and was one on the list I was thinking of putting on here.
Don’t overthink it or try to convert anyone to something obscure that you alone think is fantastic.
Think of the civilians and their kids.
Sister Sledge, Lost In Music.
James Brown, I Feel Good.
Stevie Wonder, Superstition.
Black Box, Ride On Time.
Ian Dury, Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick.
Fatback Band, I Found Lovin’.
New Order, Blue Monday.
Etc.
Blue Monday and Ian Dury are a bit avant garde for this kind of gig. I’m not even sure about James Brown.
Think to yourself “Would Jane McDonald sing this on a cruise ship?” If the answer is no….
It’s not a great criterion to use…I’ve read her sing Stripsody, but I wouldn’t recommend it for a kiddies disco…
“Rhythm Stick” is a kiddie-pleaser singalong as well as a banger.
Late additions:
Kid Creole & The Coconuts, Annie, I’m Not Your Daddy & Stool Pigeon.
Was (Not Was), Spy In The House Of Love, Walk The Dinosaur.
I have requested clarification regarding “disco classics”. Does she mean “disco”, or just “tunes she’s heard of”? No reply as yet.
“Classics” always means tunes she’s heard of. As far as you’re concerned, Falling and Laughing may be a classic. She will not agree.
One thing about civilians is that they’re not fascist about genre, unlike some social groupings I could mention, so disco means danceable rather than “sounds like SNFever/Tom Moulton/Chic organisation”.
Just don’t play Achey Breaky Heart – not because it won’t go down well, but because it’s unutterably awful.
She almost certainly means “school disco classics”.
I’ve been to quite a few school fetes in recent years. They all have broadly the same soundtrack. That’s what she’s highly likely to be after.
We Don’t Talk About Bruno
Black Magic
Running Up That Hill
Levitating
Uptown Funk
24K Magic
Get Lucky
Bad Guy
Shake It Off
Old Town Road
Despacito
Bad Habits
As It Was
Blinding Lights
Happy
Good 4 U
Watermelon Sugar
Sunflower
Can’t Stop The Feeling
Roar
Umbrella
Don’t Start Now
Titanium
Dynamite
Dance Monkey
Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)
Maybe a couple from the Greatest Showman soundtrack too, although it feels like the kids might finally be over that now.
You seem to have missed out The Sexual Loneliness of Jesus Christ.
That’s his problem, I have my own issues to deal with.
Can we not have ONE disco thread that doesn’t descend into a debate on theology??
Lord have mercy. If you exist.
That made me chortle, the WASP track at the end. It reminded me of a school fair back in 84. There were two schools directly across the road from our house; my primary school and a catholic school right next to it. We used to laugh at the catholic school kids (apart from our mate, Martin) because they had nuns there and everything, as well as pictures of the Pope in the dining hall, that we saw when we had to use it once.
Anyway, once Saturday morning I was lying in bed and had the window open. They were starting their school fair and the PA sparked up. Karma Chameleon, Uptown Girl, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go and so on. And then came Relax. I thought it was brilliant, as they didn’t realise what they were playing. Except half the way through someone did. There really was that scratching sound as the needle was dragged off the record halfway through. I just imagined the telling off some 10 or 11 year old was now getting from a nun!
A few years earlier we had a similar thing happen to us at school camp. One of the lads took a couple of singles along. Turns out someone from the year above had told him there was a record player there. Would have been nice for him to tell us, so we could have taken some too. The two singles he took were My Perfect Cousin and Peaches. All was going swimmingly for a few days until one of the teachers sat with us as we played them. Peaches was duly confiscated. Good job I didn’t take my copy of Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, as I don’t think that would have lasted long once we played the B-Side.
Heatwave – Boogie Nights.
Earth, Wind and Fire – September.
Earth, Wind and Fire and The Emotions – Boogie Wonderland.
Definitely need some EW&F.
Already in my DJ box. Obviously.
Will Powers – Kissing With Confidence (extended version)?
I can be relied upon to provide the W.
Eat, Wind & Follow-through?
Can’t Let Go? Too late….
I’m sure you’ll have no difficulty with the seventies and eighties.
Here’s fifteen crowdpleasers from the noughties:
Beyoncé (Feat. Jay Z)Crazy In Love
OutKast Hey Ya!
Black Eyed Peas I Gotta Feeling
Gnarls Barkley Crazy
Girls Aloud Sound Of The Underground
Kylie Minogue Can’t Get You Out Of My Head
S Club 7 Don’t Stop Movin’
Britney Spears Toxic
Spiller Groove Jet (If This Ain’t Love)
Rihanna Jay Z Umbrella
Scissor Sisters Comfortably Numb
Shakira (Feat. Wyclef Jean) Hips Don’t Lie
Eric Prydz Call On Me
Sophie Ellis-Bexter Murder On The Dancefloor
Goldfrapp Ooh La La
And fifteen from the teenies:
Adele Rolling In The Deep
Daftpunk Get Lucky
Janelle Monae Make Me Feel
Mark Ronson ft Bruno Mars Uptown Funk
Kendrick Lamar King Kunta
Pharell Williams Get Happy
SG Lewis Robyn Channel Tres Impact
Taylor Swift Shake It Off
Dua Lipa New Rules
Gorillaz Feel Good Inc
Deeelite Groove Is In The Heart
Haim Forever
The Weeknd Can’t Feel My Face
Calvin Harris Slide
Anderson .Paak Come Down
Some great toons on that list, Tiggs – especially the noughties section, lots I had forgotten…
Adele though? Not really danceable. I guess those that love her would embrace it. Singalong and swayalong. I would have gone for Robyn Dancing On My Own as a well known banger.
The Jamie xx remix of Rolling In The Deep is a real banger.
I restrict myself to one artist per song. Robyn is represented by Impact which I think is more popular with the masses than the tortured genius that is Dancing By Myself.
DOMO is a massive hit. Bigger than anything else by Robyn. The groove and tune transcend any angst. It’s not exactly Nico and her wheezing harmonium. Disco is made of heartbreak.
Rumour Has It would storm the place.
That would be better.
Do not, I repeat: do not, play King Kunta at a school fete.
Yeah, and on a similar note make sure you select Kool and the Gang and not someone with a similar name…
There is a radio friendly version with the swearing blurred out. 😉
I guess the Anderson .Paak might be out as well.
Ok. I give in. Replace with Like Sugar by Chaka Khan.
I’m experimenting with a new nickname for Nick Kyrgios: King Chunta.
Like it?
Sound like a Kebad Shop owner, and their speciality dish.
Hello everybodypeeps
More like “Fuck you, everybodypeeps” in his case
You might find something you fancy here…..
Players Association – Turn The Music Up!
I have a memory of (I think) the first secondary school disco and requesting “Sunday Girl” by Blondie (which came out in 1978, so I would have been 11).
Mind if I was choosing now, I would go with Atomic by Blondie…….
I’d probably go for Heart of Glass. But most of the parents are aged late 20s to early 40s, and the kids no older than 11, so a tune from 1979 is like someone playing me When I’m Cleaning Windows.
I now have an image in my head of Debbie Harry in a wet t shirt singing “Cleaning Windows”…….
Put that Blackpool rock away, young feller!
So when you say disco over the ages you mean disco in the 21st century plus a few reborn oldies due to rediscovery via new TV/film? Not eveything from the year dot till now.
Well, I think it covers anything from (roughly) Theme From Shaft to (roughly) the Disco Sucks burning.
I am apparently being sent a ‘helpful’ list. Gawd help me.
Ok. That is actual disco then. Time to head to funky town with Lipps Inc.
Share the list! Share the list!
As it is being written by someone in her early 30s, I fear it will contain language and terminology most AWers will find confusing or offensive.
Words like “fun”, for instance.
So she’s requested No Fun by the Stooges?
How mainstream. *sniffs*
I think of Thriller as the bookend of the disco period. Or Atmosphere by Russ Abbott.
You might have a point there. Although is it appropriate to allow the replay of Thriller near primary school children?
No, I suggest we substitute Love is In Control – which is also from 1982 and produced by Quincy Jones and is brilliant.
John Otway – Bunsen Burner.
Danceable AND Educational …
“Forget-me-nots” so we can all impress the phalanx of chix with our air bass.
Or better still, Come Back and Stay….
Straight Ahead by Kool and The Gang.
Puer disco
Ha ya alright @uncle-wheaty?
Tune!
They never played this s at Betty O’Gragys !
what a glorious record
Seriously, I know it’s not disco, but shove Running Up That Hill in the set and you’ll fill the dance floor with kids wondering how the heck to dance to it. Apparently Ms Bush has already made £2.3m from downloads since the episode of Stranger Things aired that featured it. My kids, albeit older than primary school age, both love it.
The 12″ is already in my box. It has been a long, long, time since I’ve been able to play out the current number one. Or even to know what the current number one is.
They need to be studying the old Wogan clip to see la Bush and her improbably dressed mates doing their version of the Prince Charming to this platter.
I’ve already shown it to the kids, who were suitably nonplussed. They’d rather hear it to the visuals of Stranger Things.
I’ve heard that Tiktok has given a few songs a new lease of life. Not just Netflix. Apparently Aha Take On Me is one such. Also the Rick Astley one. Aha at least is a great tune.
You would be shocked at some of the songs my 12 year old knows because of Tik Tok. Something will come on the TV and he’ll start singing it, to my amazement. “Tik Tok?” “Yep”
St Vincent has done this cover of a disco classic for the new Minions film.
Songs from movies are often decent floorfillers.
Rock the Dinosaur
Ghostbusters
I’m a believer
Happy
I like to move it
It is as, erm, you would expect for a kids’ film.
You’d never get that Anna Calvi lass covering, say, The Village People, would you?
The Magic World of Pop is full of surprises!
If the PSB and the Mighty Muppets can do it
In the Navy
Macho Man
I see no reason why Anna should not have a bash.
News just in:
“It doesn’t have to be a Disco song, just songs that will get the kids/parents dancing.”
Aaarrrgh! Guess who has spent the last few hours going through his CD collection, pulling out anything Disco? No cash prize for this one.
Which means hits! How many NOW CDs do you have?
I think I stopped at NOW 3. I could search the glovebox in Mrs F’s car and find another five or six.
I did buy NOW 1, sort of – I went halves with my school chum, who promptly moved to Milton Keynes, taking my half of a double LP with him.
Your local charity shops will have more recent copies at very reasonable prices.
This thread reminded me of a 40th birthday party I went to many years ago. The “DJ” (he had a laptop) was playing commercial soul/disco from the mid 1970s which was too early for most of the guests. I was enjoying it, but the dance floor was empty. Eventually someone had a word with him and he played Dancing Queen. That was when the party started.
Haha – this is brilliant!
Seriously, just play the music that gets played at all school fetes and allow yourself 2-3 “leftfield” choices (absolute max) of things you reckon kids might like but probably haven’t heard.
Whatever you do, don’t be That Guy.
Or alternatively: spike the fruit juice and drop 120 minutes of Happy Hardcore, Gabber and Drill.
2 Leftield choices – Open Up and Release the Pressure?
I was placed between the bouncy castle and the BBQ. So I was drowned out by the constant drilling whine of the compressor, and so my clothes stink of smoke – just like pub gigs in the olden days.
Played half an hour of back-to-back Disco bangers, nobody danced. Played some Bhundu Boys, everybody smiled, and a handful danced. Played ‘Reach’ and the kids all danced.
Roll on next year!
Could you not find a place for Napalm Death’s You Suffer – all 1.3 seconds of it
I did sneak in the Electro Hippies Mega Armageddon Death, all 0.1 seconds of it. Or that might have been the pop from switching on the microphone.
…”the constant drilling whine of the compressor” – hahaha, I bet when you finished some young rave-heads came up and started dancing, because they thought it was music, because it sounds like the kind of music they like to dance to at their rave-ups!! SWIDT, LOL, I hate myself.