There's been alot of good stuff on here recently about straying away from cheese and playing alternative tracks, some of which I agree are very good and a welcome change. The opportunity particuarly arise where no lengthy playlist has been provided.

I have to say as a function DJ, I always welcome playing something different or a classic track which has been forgotten about. However, alot of work which I do are 'family weddings' and I stick to a tried and trusted format sticking to a fairly familiar playlist, which varies. This has been the case since I started DJ'ing in 1982, although each function is different, typically we tend to have a bank of about 100 tunes which are the mainstay on 70% of what we tend to play.

However, my point here is that for a standard function, I don't think it's worthwhile straying very far away from the standard fare that we so often talk about on here on the forum.

I would like to know whether anybody on here has tried a totally different approach at say weddings for say an hour or so, playing less familiar tracks, and what the responses were of the punters. If so, what did you play and what were you views?

Hi,

I do play alot of the "normal" music at my gigs but will try and chuck in some stuff that people may not have heard for along time as long as it goes with the flow. I try to make all my sets flow into each other buy beat mixing or keeping the tempo the same. I never jump from one genre to another or decade to another i let them flow into each other as this tends to hold the floor better.

Gav

I enjoy playing the odd outsider,
Most people come up and ask who it was as they like it, etc.

I suppose it all depends on the venue/event

Yes, that's the problem, slipping in 1 or 2 is ok, but Joe Public likes the obvious tracks.

I did a wedding a couple of years ago and was given a playlist of various modern soul tracks which made up the whole of the evening.

The B&G were fans as were virtually all the guests. It was a great night with a packed dancefloor that was never empty.

I did a party for one of those guests and was booked on the strength of what I played at the wedding.

At the party the guests were a cross section of ages and tastes and I had to play accordingly. Just like most weddings.

Whilst there are lots of knowledgeable music fans around, the majority of people, in my experience, have only a passing interest in music . They make up the "mainstream" audience who want to hear a "mainstream" music selection.

Last night's wedding was a good example. It was a success but I had to work hard to think of enough cheesy tracks to play.

I agree 100% with you Spinner - or is it because we are from East Anglia? Mainstream is right apart from a few extras from the 'run of the mill functions'.

I positively invite the 'specific and unexpected' playlists. Not only is it useful as a niche product (when many of you others won't touch it with a bargepole!), but it makes the job more exciting, maintains my interest in music generally, and most important, keeps me on my toes (when you have a week to get to know 100 new tracks, and how you intend to play them)!!!!!!

My gigs are mostly weddings and birthday functions. Very predictable music. But I like that.

Predictable?

How can most of your gigs be predictable? Do you use a set play list for each gig? any variation? new tunes or ever have the "oh ill try this one"

Just out of interest, as i treat every gig as is, and try not to play the same old each time,

down to experience really over the past xx number of years. i suppose.

I didn't have a play set, but i reckon I can tell what they will dance to from how they look. That's down to experience. Occasionally you get it wrong, but not often.

i have about 200 main tracks out of 15,000 songs and these tend to get the most plays because that's what fills the floor. Flexible yes, but my main aim is to fill the floor, and not to be too clever. Experiment yes I love it, but depends very much on the crowd.

New tunes -yes some tim es, but prefer if they have been requested.

Experimentation is dependable upon the gig.

Rob

I do have a "Brain Freeze" list , infact ive had to refer to it a few times over the last few weeks, Must be getting old,

tell me about it!

Allways have to have the cheat sheet handy.
Must be an age thing.

I find you can usually read the crowd real quick.
Most of the time 95% correct.
I find with weddings parties etc it's very hard to play any music that not mainstream.
I sometimes slip something different in during dinner music just for a change.

I have a folder on my hard drive with the top 100 floorfillers for weddings on it.......in case of brain freeze. I find myself dipping into that folder much too often these days.

Now why did I switch the computer on !!!!!!

I am for it all and have realised the need for variation since 2005.

One point to remember though, the only place (mostly) that you would hear some of the big party tracks is, well, at a party. No where else, just discos, pubs and clubs ie/ nights out.

Granted, some other media may play them occasionally but worth keeping in mind.

I think people want to hear safe songs for the majority of the night, in my experience they dont like that much change

It really does depend on the crowd. I lived in and around London - Hackney, Dalston, Bermondsey, Woodford, Ilford, Beckenham - before moving to Cambridgeshire 17 years ago so I'm not a real East Anglian.

Very often weddings held at places like Kimbolton Castle or Huntingdon Marriott or Cambridge Garden House ( and similar venues ) will have guests from all over the UK and sometimes beyond. At those times departure from the mainstream will be fine.

The more "local" ( in terms of guests ) functions tend to require a more "familiar" music choice.

For a tune to become mainstream it has first got to be played quite a bit to make it popular.
So we have to play some new tunes to get them to become classic floor fillers/cheese.

Jim

I don't bother playing anything new unless it's high in the charts and well known. This depends very much on your crowd and function. eg If you are a club DJ or Pub DJ then you can get away with it.

I believe it is the responsibility of every dj to try and play newer music and develope their dj skills so we can improve our industry.

When I'm doing pubs or functions I always get peaple assking for "the latest Robbie" or "that Mika one" and it is only by playing them that they become popular.

I must admit it is harder to keep up with things now than in the 7" days. There is so much more music about now that radio stations are now set up to play only one genre of music.

Jim

The trouble is that you get 1 or 2 people dancing to them and the other 148 sitting around wondering what you are doing. Used to be different 20 years ago. As I said club and pub functions are different.

But is it better to play dancing queen at every gig for years and years and years because everybody dances to it or should we be finding newer music that coupled with some older classics will keep people dancing ? The easy way out of course is to just play the same basic 30 tracks every gig and eventualy be replaced by a computer ! If dj ing is to move forwards then its the djs who have to move it !

was testing this out last night.....40th party, with a playlist of some dodgy 80's stuff that i knew they would sit down too!

like Duran Duran hungry like the wolf and new order blue monday????

she wanted them so i played them! errrrrrrr no thanks keep to the decent dancey stuff again and again! good tunes but not for a 40th party that wanna hear cindi lauper and wham!

not worth the risk!!!

Blue Monday a dodgy 80s tune ???? you have got to be kidding Be very aware that eventhough 50 %of your guests are happy with cyndi lauper and wham that 50% think its pump and are only dancing because they have no alternative if they want to dance .

New releases and 'this weeks highest chart entry' have no place at uncles ted's 60th birthday. fair enough at daves 18th party .

Indeed, & as for Hungry like the wolf, it usually goes down a storm round here.

I agree with your sentiment entirely, the problem is , that if you don't play the likes of Dancing Queen, you just get hassled to play them! Its strange how people only want one song by an artist. Barry White, its always You're the first, the last my everything; Dexy's it C'mon Eileen. If you try something a bit different, they're straight up to you asking for the obvious one!

Uncle Ted's 18 year old granddaughter (who is a page 3 pin-up ) will still be there and want some of the latest hits.

Jim

Every gig is different - I'm always trying to find the less obvious tracks to play that I think will go down really well, and sometimes you get lucky and find a crowd into something a bit different. For me there's nothing better than playing music the crowd loves but didn't expect you have have. It makes it much more interesting as a DJ to try and find that musical angle that makes the party really special. Did a 60th party recently and chatting while I was setting up discovered the gentleman and his 3 best friends used to play in a skiffle band and loved blues as well - so cue the Lonnie Donegan, Muddy Waters etc.. They would've been happy with the usual Rock'n'Roll / 60's classics all night but they really enjoyed the more specialist stuff. I think a lot of people don't ask DJ's for anything away from the mainstream as they don't expect us to have it - did an 18th party and was told to play chart stuff/R'nB by the mum who booked me, party was going OK, and then one of the lads asked me if I had ever heard of the Clash! (heard of them - used to go and see them!) from that moment on it was classic punk/new wave with some newer Klaxons Artic Monkeys type stuff, turned into a great night and load more bookings coming out of it..

Completely disagree with that statement , sorry !

I'll have to scour the net for Muddy's skiffle album, I thought he only did blues / R'n'B

We've had threads with us DJ's suggesting alternative tracks by popular artists to keep the cheesey songs as fresh as possible...I'm Your Man instead of Wake Me Up for example. We've all tried to play something different and I expect in the majority of cases it's not worked as well as we would have liked. Hence, we stick to the tried and tested to keep as many dancing as possible.

However, I recommend you try playing some different stuff early on at weddings - I mean from the start of the evening. My last gig - not a wedding, admittedly - I had people dancing before 8pm. I try and do the same at weddings too. You get to see who likes what kind of stuff which can help shape the latter stages of the evening.

I always suggest walking around, taking requests direct from guests early on, as well. You may find out you've got the Marillion fan club in...not that any of us carry that garbage around with us !!!!

What, you've never heard 'My ol' mans a rolling stone' ? It's a little known fact Muddy played a washboard before he could afford a guitar....

And I disagree agree with you CS! Ok then, you need to qualify your disagreement. ie the benefits of playing this weeks chart entry at number 37 at unlces Ned's 60th party or Jim & Sues 40th wedding . Could just be that you are more of a club style DJ or the crowds in Norway are more intune with what is happening out there.Don't get me wrong, club,pubs and 18th parties are good gigs for introducing new releases but not other gigs unless they are very mainstream relases such as Kylie and Robbie. Otherwise a waste of time until they have charted for about 2 weeks.

They are all over the radio for months now before they chart.
At the end of the day unless you are doing a specific "fan" disco, ie Northern Soul club or Elvis appreciation society then the party is full of people from 6 year olds to 80 year old grannies. There will be as many people there that want to listen to Mika as there are that want oops upside your head (I wont mention the Birdie Dance ;)).

Jim