Accidental DJ would like awesome advice on danceable music.
So, I'm co-DJing something that will actually be rather large and a bit fashiony. I'm basically on board for this because I have some expertise with, like, retro dance music. But as I listen to my collection and think about what I want to play, I realize that some of what I like is a bit too oddball. ("We Don't Need This Fascist Groove Thing", a little too much second wave ska, Don Cherry's disco hits, etc)
So now I'm thinking, OMG, what if I
run out of music???
Thus, I'm looking for recommendations for fast stuff that's fun to dance to
while mostly or completely sober - so things with more song structure. Remixes are fine. Genre is negotiable - R&B, motown, punk, no wave, hip hop, etc etc. I'm not especially looking for what's fashionable now - that's not why I was asked, for one thing.
Pickypants details: This will be a crowd with fairly fancy taste, so "fun to dance to" would be a little more complicated than "Come On Eileen" or "YMCA". And nothing racist/homophobic/creepily misogynist!
Some things I like to dance to include Janelle Monae, early Talking Heads, Gang of Four, Alain Toussaint, Zebda. The crowd likes Gogol Bordello, that kind of thing.
The main thing - stuff needs to be
fast! Like, no slower than
Tightrope. That's what's hanging me up a bit, actually.
High energy 1980's gay disco music:
The Pet Shop Boy's medley of "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "I Can't Take My Eyes Off of You". Bronski Beat.
If you want to go a bit more deeply retro, Re-Flex's "The Politics of Dancing", songs by Men Without Hats that are *not* "Safety Dance" ("Living in China" or "I Got the Message").
More if I think of it.
posted by rmd1023 at 2:03 PM on November 4, 2011 [1 favorite]