Help required
I have just been booked for an end of year School disco (secondary)
Any help on which tracks “should” go down well would be appreciated.
I know when I had an 12year old party they kept asking for all the current chart stuff, but they weren’t dancing to any of it! So after a while I went back to the usual floor fillers (Abba’s Dancing Queen, B52’s Love Shack) Etc. low & behold the floor was full until I started playing their requests again.

If its a secondary school... judging by what my eldest daughter would expect to hear, you should play lots of rnb, plus chart stuff... my 15 year old is also into jungle and drum and bass! This age group are very opinionated as to what they do and dont like.. so best to just go with the flow!

you'll probably get asked for the Darkness as well

Eveance to Rachel Stevens

You'll probably find the Lads still asking for Eminem, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Busted etc etc and the Girls asking for R 'n' B - Music tastes change so fast within this age group that it is difficult to know automatically what will work. Just keep plenty of the above with you and you should do okay.

You can always push the Requests, and let them tell you what they want....as they will tend to do anyway -if you have a mobile, then the "Text your Requests to the DJ" seems to be very popular amongst this age group.

Also don't worry if someone asks for a request and then doesn't dance to it, it's par for the course with kids of this age.

Spinko

I had my first School disco (10 year olds) last Friday. A 2 hour gig turned into a 5 hour night by the time I left
Boy that was hard work. I wish I had asked for some guidance from Kazz first.
They wanted just about every track imaginable regardless of whether they were "dancable " or not- Busted Darkness Eveance Kelis Outcasts Eminem(no chance) and as you say Spinko they dont dance anyway.But they sure as hell know all the words!
BUT the one track they requested most (well the boys actually) was BOB THE Bl***Y BUILDER.-and I had left it at home!!!!
I am not sure that I want to do another one

Ho, Ho, Ho Trev , Welcome to the sharp end of mobile D.J'ing! , they really are little monsters aren't they, and I must admit that I hate doing functions of that age group and will do my best to get out of doing them...or get somebody else to do them!.

I think that these sort of gigs are far harder than doing a Wedding, and currently you can get asked for all manner of strange requests from Marilyn Manson right up to R'n'B and Dance!.

Everybody starts out in business thinking that by doing Kids disco's they are taking the easy option, but it really can be hard work, and a baptism of fire for somebody who may be doing their first gig!. As Trev so rightly posted, even experienced D.J's may need some advice....cue KAZZ!

Thanks for all the help.

On arrival we were taken to the hall, Oh my god was it large! (How was my little system going to cope?)
It had a very high ceiling with a balcony all the way round and a massive stage. After setting the 4’ pro-stand up it looked silly sitting on such a large stage, we put a table each side of the stand & the speakers on the outside, and then tied the whole lot together with rope lights. This looked a lot better filling most of the front of the stage, now for the sound check, we had looked around to se if there was any way of teeing into the schools PA system (No way unfortunately) will my little 400W amp & 150W speakers fill a hall of this size (I don’t think so, can I go home now? PLEASE)
Hey it wasn’t bad! Even on the lowest setting it could be heard clearly at the back of the hall, and the lights filled the hall with light after replacing another couple of bulbs (good job they are all 250w bulbs, but at £10 each this is getting expensive)
I was playing at about 1/3 volume as the kids came in making enough noise to drown out the music, I cranked it up a little for the next couple of track just to let them all get in. There were about 500 kids in the hall as I faded down the music & turned the mic up to almost full volume to make an announcement (Luckily the headmaster didn’t want any children on the stage & there were about 8 teachers between me & the kids at all times) Time now to put the first track on (Fat man Scoop) There was a massive cheer and they all started jumping around, & it stayed that way for nearly 2 hours.
I couldn’t believe my Amp & speakers coped so well, after the last track they were asking for more but the teachers wanted to go home so they suggested I play “wish you a merry Christmas” The kids loved this & thought it was hilarious but it worked & the hall was soon empty.
I was dreading this gig but it turned out to be a good kick and I had a good laugh.

i tend to disagree with chris, saying kids parties are a pain. i only take kids school discos that are on in the afternoon and its easy money, i done a school last week 1.30-3.30 for 80 quid, it was split up into the first hour for the infants then the second hour for the juniors