Aug 24 2008
Where Have All the DJs Gone?
BY THEBOSTONBACHELOR.COM / August 24, 2008
Friday night a friend and I ended up getting free tickets to a shindig hosted by Nicole Richie and Joel Madden. Yes, we decided to go. Don’t look at me. To be honest, I had no fucking clue as to who Joel Madden was; I thought he was the guy who designed handbags. Needless to say, about 20 minutes into the night I find out that he’s the host DJ and a member of the band Good Charlotte. Though I didn’t know any of the band’s songs, I figured that this guy, being in the music scene for a while, at least had some musical sense?
Well it turned out that the setlist for the night was the same typical shit you’d hear in any Ed Hardy sportin’ club. Not the worst I’ve ever heard, not the best, but just your typical safe, setlist. A little bit of G-Funk, a little bit of dance club hip-hop, and of course that annoying “Music is my boyfriend / music is my girlfriend” song. That’s when I had to ask myself, “Seriously, what ever happened to the art of DJing?” The days of Grandmaster Flash, Mix Master Mike, Cut Chemist, DJ Q-Bert, DJ Premier, and DJ Shadow are long gone. I mean, even that kid from the movie Juice would probably blow most of the current “DJs” out of the water.
The fact remains that the art of DJing has fallen somewhere between a plastic drinking bird toy hitting random keys on a keyboard and the shuffle feature on your iPod. Unfortunately, this trend will only expand in the indefinite future. Thanks to hard drive technology, broadband filesharing, and lossy compression, any bored asshole out there with a laptop, some freeware software, and an hour of spare time can claim to be a DJ. Shit, even me.
-The Boston Bachelor
I just hit the floor.
I mean, at first I thought it was you that was talking… Then I realized.
Comedy…
P.S. That Indian bit was off the hook.
I agree, it is so easy to become a DJ now with all the technology. Half the guys and girls up there trying it are not doing anything more special than pulling out a cd and dropping a new one in. Why don’t some of them revert back to vinyl when you needed to hear the beat in your finger tips and match up the songs and drop the new one without sounding like an idiot. That is dj’ing. now you see 2 ipods with a laptop and dj that thinks he is the shit.
The first time I looked at the picture I thought it was Markis Sarkis from WPI but then I scrolled over it and read the caption.
-High Comedy
Right on, BostonKnucklehead. I believe that most club DJs out there are afraid that they’ll drop the wrong tune and people will stop dancing and filter out of the club, leaving them with an angry manager yelling in their face. I can understand to one extent, but the unfortunate result is a neverending spew of safe, Top 40 hits. Bring the noise.
V, that reminds me of the time I called you up from DC, and for the first 5 seconds you thought you thought I was your father. Floor.
Deep, Markis Sarkis is one of the greatest names ever invented, right alongside Dean Jackson, Abdul Abdullah, and Priest Holmes.
I don’t know how it is on the East Coast, but in Cali any and every club I have ever been to has played “Ice, Ice Baby” at least once in the night. God, I hope that trend hasn’t made it your way. It’s a good, cult classic, sure. You’re right. We are witnessing a movement of the Death of the DJ. A very sad time, indeed.
When the DJ at my local club isn’t doing it for me, I whip out my Motorola Krave and play some of the songs I have downloaded. It has saved my sanity many times. check it out. motorola.com/krave