The DJ Should Dance

When a DJ is playing music we expect you to dance to, I think it’s important for the DJ to dance. The 80s and 90s gave us a boatload of bouncy tunes, so why hide behind the decks? It’s not that I’m a lithe and dainty dancer. No one who incorporates a golf swing into their dance moves should be considered dainty. I just believe anyone in charge of the music should move with it. If they don’t, you gotta wonder where they’re coming from. Nothing against house music. I can do house music. Often it’s really good. It’s super easy to beat mix when every song is bubbling along at 120 beats per minute. But let’s face it. Today’s house music exists because alternative rock made it possible. Heard of New Order? Depeche Mode? Soft Cell? Warehouse shmarehouse. DJing is not that hard. DJs like to make it look hard. We hunch over those controllers and knit our brows, selling you on the fallacy that every knob tweedle is going to make the music sound better. And why not? People buy it. They way you know a DJ is good is listening, not watching. So in a way it doesn’t matter at all if the DJ dances, because no one is watching anyway. Yet it’s a matter of sincerity. Does this DJ believe in the product? Is the In ‘n Out employee on her break just eating the burger because it’s free, or is it a really good burger? Is that DJ a believer or phoning it in? In any case, if you were there when that record came out, you want to know the DJ at your event was too. In our case, at KROQ, we were at the radio station for most of the 20,000 plays of Tainted Love. The 22,000 plays of Strangelove. The point is, we went though it with you. So here we are with our memories not only of the music, but the radio scene missing from today’s music. A podcast is not a broadcast. A download is not live radio, where it’s always anything-can-happen day. Can’t take it back. The airwaves are headed into open space toward Mars by the time you say oops. Think about it: it seems like everybody can have a TV show. Almost no one has a radio show. There are two senses that stimulate memory: music and smell. I cannot bring these days back, but I can sure talk about what they smelled like! (j/k) The music speaks for itself. And I am happy to be it’s presenter.