Preteen dance party mix
November 29, 2010 2:18 PM   Subscribe

Please recommend some danceable music that fits the following draconian criteria:

  • Female vocalists preferred.
  • Mostly uptempo, but short of manic.
  • Any time period from the 60's on forward.
  • Absolutely no violence, explicit sexual references, or bad language. (Radio edits OK.)
  • Available on iTunes, Amazon, or any legal source that does not require a subscription.
  • Pop, country, R&B, indie, whatever.
  • Lyrics that accentuate the positive.
  • And if they're not all love songs, that'd be great too.
Most of my pop-music reference points are from the 80's, so I'm thinking "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," maybe some early Madonna. What else is out there?
posted by expialidocious to Media & Arts (23 answers total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
ABBA
posted by malibustacey9999 at 2:28 PM on November 29, 2010


Radio Citizen - The Hop
The whole thing could be a sexual reference for all I know, but it's certainly not explicit and I'll be damned if I can make out what she's saying half the time.
posted by juv3nal at 2:34 PM on November 29, 2010


The Pipettes - Pull Shapes

On repeat, forever.
posted by Conductor71 at 2:43 PM on November 29, 2010


Standing In The Way Of Control by The Gossip fits all of you criteria I think (YouTube video).

Also if this is really for preteen girls they may enjoy music they've actually heard of more than what non-preteen AskMeFi commenters will suggest. I personally don't like any of the music from the High School Musical films but I'm sure any track off of those soundtracks would go over better than my suggestion with that target audience.
posted by burnmp3s at 2:49 PM on November 29, 2010


Nena -- 99 Luftballoons (or 99 Red Balloon, if you want the English version)
posted by sugarbomb at 2:49 PM on November 29, 2010


Annie Lennox - "Walking on Broken Glass"
The B-52s - "Roam"

That's all I had in my iPod which fit the criteria. Which means I listen to a lot of non-danceable stuff at work.
posted by TrishaLynn at 2:50 PM on November 29, 2010


Stuff my preteen daughter likes/ed

Avril Lavigne Sk8ter Boy

Into the Rush - Aly and AJ

Everything is Not What it Seems (theme to Wizards of Waverly Place)

Or in general any Disney TV show theme as well as any songs by Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana


Other stuff that is good, but may be before the audiences time:

Snap - I've got the power
Male vocalist, but a female does prominent backup.

Also, Seconding anything by Abba
posted by forforf at 2:52 PM on November 29, 2010


"Giving up on love"-Slow Club
"Everybody"-VV Brown
"L.E.S. Artistes"-Santogold(It's possible not everyone would consider this dancy, but I think it is.)
Possibly "Seven"-Chew Lips


Don't be put off by the title of the Slow Club track-I think it's quite a peppy song.

Early Kelly Clarkson stuff might fit, too. If you like the 80s (who doesn't?), Whitney Houston has some fun stuff, e.g. "I wanna dance With somebody". Also, seconding "Standing in the way of control."
posted by bibliophibianj at 2:56 PM on November 29, 2010


Chromeo - You're so Gangsta
Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (vocals sound female, but I actually think it's a pre-teen boy singing)
posted by saladin at 3:12 PM on November 29, 2010




How explicit is explicit? Because there's definitely some Britney that would fit and some that would not.
posted by maryr at 3:21 PM on November 29, 2010


though burnmp3s has a point, here's some of what would've worked back when...

Katrina & The Waves - Walking on Sunshine
The Go-Go's - How Much More and We Got The Beat
Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy
Bananarama - Venus
Annie - Chewing Gum
B52's - Rock Lobster
Tom Tom Club - Wordy Rappinghood
Martha and the Muffins - Echo Beach
posted by progosk at 3:54 PM on November 29, 2010


My favorite upbeat empowerment song is "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield. And, although I was unaware of it before now, I see that it was in the movie "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" so it might be familiar to some preteens.
posted by SweetTeaAndABiscuit at 4:06 PM on November 29, 2010


My 11yo neice has always loved Kelly Clarkson's "Since You've Been Gone." FWIW I'd use "Cosmic Thing" over "Rock Lobster" for the B-52s.
posted by rhizome at 4:07 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


La Roux - Bulletproof
Paramore - Ignorance (or any of Paramore's more uptempo numbers)
Eisley - Invasion
Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed
Britney Spears - Stronger
Crystal Castles - Celestica
Tegan and Sara - Alligator
Tiesto f/Tegan and Sara - Feel It In My Bones (or any of the more uptempo Tegan and Sara numbers)

It may be worth noting that most Lady Gaga is not really appropriate for a pre-teen dance party if you're looking to avoid sexual references. My sister described seeing the fourth and fifth graders at her school dancing and singing along to 'Love Game/Disco Stick' as "really rather disturbing".
posted by mewithoutyou at 4:13 PM on November 29, 2010


The Go Team, The Power is On (awesome cheer / sample funfest)
The Bangles, Walk like an Egyptian
The Surfaris, Wipeout! (lots of surf dance potential)
Vitamin C, Girls against Boys
The Ting Tings, That's not my Name
posted by shothotbot at 5:35 PM on November 29, 2010


Don't know what most preteens right now would think of it, but Vitamin C ("Smile", "Me, Myself & I") might fit your bill.
posted by crush-onastick at 5:36 PM on November 29, 2010


Sergio Mendez, Mas Que Nada, utterly, absolutely, totally. Love those finger-snaps!
posted by ovvl at 5:40 PM on November 29, 2010


ESG
posted by ifjuly at 8:21 PM on November 29, 2010


'Clap Your Hands' - Sia
posted by h00py at 11:46 PM on November 29, 2010


My sister described seeing the fourth and fifth graders at her school dancing and singing along to 'Love Game/Disco Stick' as "really rather disturbing".

I'm fairly sure that they are imagining some kind of disco-ball-topped scepter.
posted by empath at 5:34 AM on November 30, 2010


From my customized "Good Dance Tunes" iTouch playlist:
"Gonna Make You Sweat" - C&C Music Factory (yes, mostly male vocals, but a great dance tune)
"Hella Good" - No Doubt
"Groove Is In The Heart" - Dee-Lite
"Party Out Of Bounds>Private Idaho" - B-52s (again, a mix of male and female)
"Iko-Iko" - The Belle Stars
"I'm Every Woman" - Chaka Khan
"New Toy" - Lene Lovich

All purchased via iTunes.

Wow - in reviewing all of my playlists, I realized that my music selection is primarily male. Interesting...
posted by sundrop at 6:27 AM on November 30, 2010


Response by poster: Checking back in with the final playlist:

Everybody / V.V. Brown
Standing In the Way of Control / Gossip
Unwritten / Natasha Bedingfield
The Sound Of Sunshine / Michael Franti & Spearhead
King of Anything / Sara Bareilles
Dynamite / Taio Cruz
Live Like We're Dying / Kris Allen
Rush / Aly & A.J.
Just Fine (Radio edit) / Mary J. Blige
Smile / Vitamin C
That's Not My Name / The Ting Tings
Firework / Katy Perry
Pull Shapes / The Pipettes

Thanks for all of your suggestions. Everything on here is from within the last 5 years. I decided to do a separate 80's mix, though I might enjoy that more than the preteens do.
posted by expialidocious at 8:53 PM on January 1, 2011


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