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Forum: General Discussion

Topic: DJ's are people, too!! - Page: 1

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I'd like to get something off my chest, right now.

I all started last night at a gig. This is a bar where I had worked a couple of times before.

The band on stage consisted of one man and one woman. I knew them from last year because I played with them at the exact same bar.

Last night, we played 2 sets each. Their first set AND my first set both sucked. There were about 20 people in the bar, nothing was going on, nobody cared, almost no one danced.

Then, a few dozen youngsters got in the bar, as the band was playing it's second set. That's when things started happening.

So far, so good. The band is totally upstaging me, as they play hit after hit (Calabria 2008, Please don't stop the music...)

Then, it's my turn. The crowd is pumped up, and it's up to me to keep them hot until 3 AM.

So, I play a great set of house music for the next hour, and people are going nuts!! The band litteraly had trouble moving their equipment out, as more and more people dance right on the stage!!

Everything seems under control, and it feels like I'm THE man.

This is where thing suddenly get nasty.

This drunk girl comes up to me and says "People want some reggaetone" "People want some reggae" "We wanna hear this" "We wanna hear that". So, I'm thinking "My dance floor is packed, you f***ing biatch, so why don't you just shut up and dance like everyone else?"

But, being the kind, respectful, repressed hypocrit that I am, I choose to play some reggaetone, eventhough I suck at it because I hate this music. However, the crowd seems to like it, so I decide I'll go with reggaetone, reggae and hip hop until the end. There's only half an hour left, anyway.

The crowd is still going strong and people seem to be having a good time. The same girl from before comes up to me, and she's like "Play some REAL reggae, man! Don't you understand anything?"

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm no reggae expert. But, when I play "Red red wine", "Murder she wrote" and "I shot the sheriff", I firmly believe this is as reggae as it gets. So I just ignore her for a moment.

Then she says "Play what I tell you and you'll see, people will like it". And I'm like "What do you mean". And she's like "Play some BIG reggaetone"

What's the difference between regular reggaetone and BIG reggaetone? Does BIG reggaetone actualy suck MORE?

So, anyway, I keep doing my thang. But then, this other, drunker girl, comes to me and says "Could you stop playing reggaetone, it makes me want to kill myself!!"

Now, although I have to agree with her on this one, I had mixed feelings between playing another style of music, or supplying her with a rope. At this point, I don't know what to do anymore.

Finaly, it's time for the last call. The manager asked me to play a slow at the end, so I put on "Two become one" from the Spice Girls. Ok, sure, it's outdated, and nobody really cares for Geri Halliwell anymore, but it's still a good song and it usualy works fine.

But then, the most incredible thing happens. This guy walks up to me and he's like "Look, man. Don't play anything else after this one, I don't care anymore".

At this point, I'm not sure if I should be insulted or laugh to his face, so I do the latter. He then makes an agressive motion to move towards me, and his friend holds him back. So, I'm thinking "Hey, man, don't hold him back, I'll even let him punch me first. Please, just put me out of this misery!!"

The perfect end to a perfect night...

In conclusion, I will say this: DJ'S ARE PEOPLE TOO!! People with feelings, who bust their ass, night in and night out, to make everyone happy.

Well, here's a thought: I'm f***ing tired of being f***ing Santa Claus with everyone!! There's a reason why I don't DJ full-time, and my post pretty much explains it.

DJ'ing is fun when it works. When you have a good crowd of people who come to dance to YOUR music, not necessarly THEIRS. But, even if they don't like the music, there still is a respecful way to make a special request. Last night, not ONE person made a decent request. They prefered to insult me, yell at me, and one actualy wanted to beat me sensless!! That's too much. I quit.

Internodal.
 
geposted Sun 30 Nov 08 @ 3:23 pm
Agreed, but not worth quitting over.
As you said, the crowd was going nuts for your stuff. In the future, take requests, but dont let them take over your set. Just keep doing what you were doing and the people will like it.
 
I know exactly what you mean, but it is part of the job. You cant please everyone and if you have most of the crowd dancing then the only people you take orders from is management the rest are just requests. Theres always going to be one or two whingers but most of the time they wont even remember giving you a hard time so just suck it in, block it out and get on with making the majority happy.
 
It was a rough night - but I wouldn't worry too much about it.
 
Ok, so maybe it's not worth getting all depressed over this.

But, hey, let's face it. People don't know crap when it comes to the DJ business. They think we're just a bunch of drug-pushing, money-craving, don't-care-about-your-face-unless-you're-a-nice-looking-chick kind of guys.

When, in fact, not many of us actually do it for the money, very few DJ's sell drugs, and most times the best looking chicks are also the bitchiest.

So, it's just a question of me, a regular, average guy, who enjoys mixing good music and making people dance, being pee'd off about this business.

And I do thank you for your support. It's a bit comforting to know I'm not alone in this crazy world.

Internodal.
 
I've left after many gigs in my career with a feeling I did a crappy job but a few days later I'd get calls and emails telling what a great job I did from folks I didn't even know(must of taken a card off the table before the staff through them out). Got jobs from these parties too! There are losers at every party and every club. Many of the DJs I know bring a small sign to there gig when they work with a band that states "sorry, no requests tonight". It seems to work for them, never tried it myself... See if the client can get a request filled by the band, they only know a handful of songs. Normally, what I'll see is that the person is a friend of the band so ya they know what he's going to ask for anyway as he has already heard them play it. Me on the other hand, when someone asks for a genre of music to play I always ask them to name the song and if I have it I'll play it if it's popular. This clears up many problems before they start. Every genre of music has different levels and styles in itself. When I get asked for a "Rock & Roll", I always ask "Elvis or Led Zeplin" style and then ask what the name of the song is and I'll try help them with the name of the song if they tell me at least the artist's name. I like telling customers to imagine how hard my job is if they can't remenber the name of their 1 favorite song to dance to... I need to find music every night of the week to make people happy on the dance floor and the sitters for at least 9 hours as well. Anyway, I can go on & on... Don't take it to heart, learn from it and don't quit for something like this. Find a better reason to quit but in the meantime go forward and continue DJing if it's your dream and you love doing it. Oh ya... don't let any drunk customer try to program your night. The band or club hired you not the drunk customer!

Funkmasterfrank
 
Always follow your own feeling, taking requests can make you a worse DJ.
 
" You pay I play" if not BUCK OFF!! Dude I know how you feel. like stated earlyer it come with the Job cheer up
 
i hate the request part..well im a mobile dj thou..i give a lil session where they can write dwn what they want...if the gig is long enough..
 
Taking requests is part of the job. Sorry fellas, if you can't handle customers asking for a song be ready to be replaced by bands. You get enough customers complaining about the DJ not playing requests the manager will find a DJ that will play requests.
 
yeah man i know exatly what you mean but its not worth quiting over.
just think its all about what the majority of the crowd think of your music, not just the odd few dick heads who spoil it by making silly little requests.

I djed at a party be4, and some girl actualy came up to me and said that i was SHIT, just because i never had the one song that SHE liked..its stupid, if the rest of the crowd like it then why cant the odd few just join in !!

It always happend when they are drunk too!! But ya cant please everyone im afraid pal, coz some of the crowd just dont have a clue..
 
When I get asked for a "Rock & Roll", I always ask "Elvis or Led Zeplin" style ...

Same here Funky-Frank, I ask them if they would like me to do a "rock & roll" mix featuring Bill Haley, Metallica & Seether.
Other than those "DJ's who are hermetically sealed in a booth off limits to customers dealing with customers is part of the job and it can be difficult at times.

This is the ONLY area of the business where a female DJ probably has an advantage. Drunk men rarely get pushy with me because their "song request" is ALWAYS superseded by their desire to get laid. So no matter how REMOTE their chances they are normally polite to me.

If a drunk female gets on my nerves I will normally ask for her phone number in order to "track her request".
Then I tell her if she doesn't GET THE HELL off my stage I'm going to begin flashing her phone number on the BIG SCREEN along with the words "FOR A GOOD TIME CALL". (This was a joke for all the people in Burbank reading this)

The biggest mistake you can make is to tell a customer their request is totally stupid although many are just that. I will normally say things like:
"Sorry I don't have that song but I will put it on my list of things to get" Or "Wow I haven't had ANYONE request that song in years but as soon as I get a chance I'll check the back room and see if we still have it"

This is a very competitive business, there are those out there who will play for all the beer they can drink, customer service is part of the JOB.
 
TearEmUp wrote :
Taking requests is part of the job. Sorry fellas, if you can't handle customers asking for a song be ready to be replaced by bands. You get enough customers complaining about the DJ not playing requests the manager will find a DJ that will play requests.


Good point there...I forgot to mention though i do take alot of requests I also write down some of the ones denied and tell management after what songs I wouldnt play and why. They usually understand when I say "one drunk guy constantly requesting metallica while the crowd is loving dance" or "a girl demanding everyone do the timewarp while RnB is happening".
 
I think by "real reggae" she meant by the like of Sean Paul, TOK, Beenie Man, Lumidee, Louchie Lou and Michie One, Tante Metro, Kevin Little, Cutty Ranks, Elephant Man, etc.

I'm not tryin' to school ya, just take a look at those artists and grab some of their tracks. It could save your aggravation next time:)
 
Taking requests is one thing. On a "slow" night, it can actualy make the job a lot easier.

Taking ABUSE is another thing.

I don't mind playing requests, sometimes even the ones I'M SURE will empty the dance floor. I have enough knowledge to "recover" from a bad request, so I play pretty much anything that won't start a riot.

However, last night had nothing to do with anything I've ever seen in over 15 years experience. There was a lot of hostility. Chicks coming over to me, telling me my music made them want to kill themselves... Please, how pathetic is that? And what about this guy who wanted to fight with me? What the hell? Has the world gone mad?
 
DJ Kizzle, you make a good point. Most of the artists you mentioned are usualy part of my routine. But, last night, I was caught so off-guard, that I litteraly froze and didn't know what to do anymore. That never happened to me in over 15 years. It just seemed like nothing was good enough for anyone.

Maybe I do need to better prepare myself from now on. Music changes. People change.

Or, maybe it's time to realize I'm all washed up. There's food for thought.
 
internodal wrote :
Or, maybe it's time to realize I'm all washed up. There's food for thought.


Don't be so rough on yourself, bro. It was an asshole on a weird night. Don't sweat it.

When the dance floor is packed and some chumps are saying you suck, just think of them as the vocal minority.
 
It's a tough business and that's what it's like, I had problems dealing with it a first (First 3 years) but now I just tell them to fuck off.

An old DJ once told me to say to them if you don't like it fuck off.

Usally it's a woman or young girl of about 16-21 that fuck a night up by trying to make it her own as if it's all laid on for her, well sooner than play to them I'd rather quit. Luckly since I stoped all this carry on I have a lot more repect from them and they don't mess.
 
Usually when people start banging on about a particular genre, it's because that's what they are really into... so while UB40 is reggae in that their music used reggae characteristics in their sound, they are predominantly a pop band, and someone who is really into their reggae music would scoff at the thought of UB40 being called a reggae band.

Best thing to do is get hold of 20 to 30 mins worth of serious tracks in genres that you don't usually play but may get asked for, but do enough research to know that the tracks you are getting will be proper stormers in the eyes of that genre's devotees. The tracks have GOT to be tunes respected by fans of that genre.. So if you have to put some Lee Perry on, perhaps 10% (the reggae devotees) of the audience may have recognised and absolutely loved it, compared to UB40 in which case 100% would recognise it, 90% would go sit down cos they liked the house music you were playing before, and 10% (the reggae devotees) would hate you because you are mocking the reggae gods by playing UB40!

Also, if you can play 3 or so serious tunes of any genre that has been requested and they are big tunes that the askers go mad for, they'll be quickly satisfied and you can get on with playing what you like again.
 
Charlie Wilson wrote :
An old DJ once told me to say to them if you don't like it fuck off.


that wasn't one of my old gems was it, certainly sounds like me... lol
 
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