Well. You knew it was coming. The DJ rant. It was only a matter of time till I said it and now is the time.
A very very long time ago, a man by the name of Jimmy Savile held the world's fist DJ dance party in the upstairs room of the Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherds in Otley, England playing Jazz records. In 1947 he claimed to have become the first DJ that used two turntables for continuous play.
Jump forward, same year. The Whiskey à Go-Go nightclub opened in Paris. Considered to be the world's first commercial discothèque, or disco (deriving its name from the French word meaning a nightclub where the featured entertainment is recorded music rather than an on-stage band). Someone named Regine began playing on twin turntables there in 1953. Discos began appearing across Europe and the United States. (All that is mostly from Wikipedia, just getting that out of the way).
(The following is taken directly from Wikipedia)
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The postwar period coincided with the rise of the radio disc jockey as a celebrity separate from the radio station, also known as a "radio personality". In the days before station-controlled playlists, the DJ often followed their personal tastes in music selection. DJs also played a role in exposing rock and roll artists to large, national audiences. While at WERE in Cleveland, Ohio, DJ Bill Randle was one of the first to introduce Elvis Presley to radio audiences in the northeastern US.
In the 1950s, American radio DJs would appear live at "sock hops" and "platter parties" and assume the role of a human jukebox. They would usually play 45-rpm records, featuring hit singles on one turntable while talking between songs. In some cases, a live drummer was hired to play beats between songs to maintain the dance floor. In 1955, Bob Casey a well-known "sock hop" DJ, brought the two-turntable system to the U.S. Throughout the 1950s, payola payments by record companies to DJs in return for airplay were an ongoing problem. Part of the fallout from the payola scandal was tighter control of the music by station management. The Top 40 format emerged, where popular songs are played repeatedly.
In the late 1950s, sound systems, a new form of public entertainment, were developed in the ghettos of Kingston, Jamaica. Promoters, who called themselves DJs, would throw large parties in the streets that centered on the disc jockey, called the "selector," who played dance music from large, loud PA systems and bantered over the music with a boastful, rhythmic chanting style called "toasting". These parties quickly became profitable for the promoters, who would sell admission, food, and alcohol, leading to fierce competition between DJs for the biggest sound systems and newest records.
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Jump forward to 1975. Hip hop DJ Grand Wizard Theodore created "scratching" completely by accident. Grand Master Flash is also said to have been credited for making the turntable into an instrument. He made new techniques such as the Backspin and Punch Phrasing (isolating short segments of music and rhythmically "punching" them over the sustained beat using the mixer.) (Wikipedia again). And even though the invention of "scratching" is accredited to Grand Wizard Theodore, Flash is said to have perfected it. Scratching, along with punch phrasing, exhibited a unique performative aspect of party DJing: instead of passively spinning records, he actively manipulated them to create new music.
And now jump forward to today. You have some dude in the club with a Macbook putting his library on shuffle and people call him a "DJ"......what.....in....the.....hell.
My dream is to become a producer and DJ. I love love music, simply put. I love everything about it. I especially love House and EDM but my other favorite genres are Metal, Jazz, and Hip Hop (in no particular order). I'd like to think with the many hours I've spent researching, studying, and taking mental notes that I know when something's wrong. And let me tell you...something is very...VERY wrong.
Okay. So recently becoming a "DJ" has become the latest cool thing. What isn't cool about it? You basically control the party. You control the life, the music. You make people dance, feel good, laugh. However, with the recent advances we've made in technology it has made unleashing potential incredibly easier. You can mix, create, and blend music in ways never before thought possible. But somewhere down the line we lost what it meant to be a real DJ.
I will say this. I think that just a Mac and a DJ controller does not make you a DJ. Webster defines the term disc jockey as "an announcer of a radio show of popular recorded music; also : one who plays recorded music for dancing at a nightclub or party" What do I define as a DJ? Someone who interacts with the music. Someone who feels the vibe of the crowd and addresses it accordingly. To me it can also mean taking something and adding more than a simple air horn or sound effect but rather mixing, blending, and creating tracks. If someone does these things, I consider them a DJ. 
The term has evolved over the years and I think we need to come up with a better definition for it. Even though DJ means disc jockey, these days you can't find anyone that spins on wax. Vinyl is either a slowly dying way of music playing or a timeless piece of history that will never go out style. The digital age has, once again, made it easier to unleash potential. But when technology is provided the masses and you have an archaic term, things start to become gray.
Nothing breaks my heart more than a "DJ" leaving his computer, turntable, controller (or what have you) while the music is still playing. What hurts even more is seeing everyone on the dance floor not noticing this and continuing to dance. Now I know what some of you may be thinking "Come on Dizzy, it doesn't matter if he/she leaves for a bit while the music keeps going. Everyone needs a break!". True. They do. But not when you just leave, go out of the booth, get a drink, talk to friends when you should be monitoring what's going on with the music. If you simply just play tracks without interacting with the music and vibe then all you are is an over payed human jukebox.
Also, it depends on how long you have been "DJing". If you're someone like me who is a fresh beginner, then just getting the hang of playing and blending tracks is fine. You have to start somewhere right? But if you've been doing it for two years and all you do is just play songs, motionlessly on a stage then buddy, you aren't a DJ. Experience is relative. I am an avid member of a Deep House online radio station named "dogglounge.com". On the site, DJs from all over the WORLD spin live and play Deep House, Disco, and Jazzy tracks. Dogglounge is one of the influences of my current interest in music today.
I remember first coming to the site through iTunes. I had recently discovered the radio section in iTunes and was interested in what it had to offer. I clicked on the Electronica tab and was amazed by just how many stations there were. After scrolling one title caught my eye "Dogglounge Deep House Radio". I didn't know what House was let alone Deep House. A form of Electronica I didn't know about especially something DEEP? I had to check it out. I clicked on the stream and immediately liked what I was hearing. I went to the site and found out a DJ, DJ Flatcracker, was actually spinning live. I saw people chatting on the cbox and from the many DJ monikers, I assumed it was a community of DJs. I went under the moniker of "DJ Diztronic" wanting to not feel out of place. Very soon though, I found out it wasn't all DJs but just a bunch of DJs that were on the site along with other listeners as me. I changed the nickname to something a little better, a nickname I had held for years, dizzy (lowercase).
I liked what I heard so I came back the next night. There was another DJ spinning live, this one named Odogg. I was fascinated since he was the creator and admin of the site. The owner was actually spinning live! I came back into the cbox as dizzy, introduced myself, and talked to the others. It was a friendly gathering of a handful of people. Then, I heard a voice over the broadcast. It was Odogg, talking. He was shouting people out over the air and when he said my name I was ECSTATIC. I had never had someone do something like that before! I then said that as long as he shouted me out, I'd keep coming back. Kind of like a little joke. That was when I became a regular member of Dogglounge.
I started to develop a love for House music from listening to Dogglounge. It played really nice tracks and even had DJs hailing from the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, and even Portugal to name only a few. Each had they're own style. Some, like Odogg, liked to play on vinyl, some liked to play disco, and some liked to play Jazzy House. They even broadcast live with a live video feed. Dogglounge soon wasn't just a site for really good music, it was like a family. Dogglounge gave me a better understanding and interest in Electronic music. Dogglounge also made me understand what it meant to be a DJ.
Now back to the ranting. People, if you're going to play music at a party, it's okay to dance. Move a little! People like seeing DJs have the same feeling they're having. Don't just dawdle around playing tracks, have FUN! You don't see deadmau5 or Tiësto standing there dead while playing music. They move around, they play with the crowd. They have a good time even if it's their music or someone else's.
Why do we even consider people like deadmau5 DJs? Maybe because he plays tracks live. Maybe because it changes things up and mixes at his shows. And maybe because the term still has not accurately been defined. deadmau5 doesn't even consider himself a DJ. He considers himself more a performer. That can also be said about him amongst others. You don't pay to see someone on stage just play music no, you pay to see a show! And they give you just that. A show.
You cannot consider someone who creates entirely new works of music live the same as someone who just shuffles on an iPod. But sadly that's what the term "DJ" has come to mean to some. Not someone who gets the crowd pumping. Not someone who goes up and utterly KILLS it. Someone who has no energy and no feeling just "playing" tracks.
Let's not forget what's the most important thing about DJs, the music. True, we have come to worship producers for what they do (Hey, to me deadmau5 is a GOD) and indeed sometimes too much emphasis is placed on them. But consider this though. When you pay to go see a Jazz or Rock concert, you expect to see a band. You expect to see a band because that's what they used to make the songs you've come to love. The same principal applies to EDM artists such as Daft Punk. It is not humanly possible to perform those songs live (Hence the term Electronic music). That doesn't give you an excuse however to play the same song at the same BPM with no changes or addition. Then all you are is a walking mp3 player. You go to an EDM artist's show expecting to have them perform their songs, but with more feeling. The feeling that they are under control and (this is probably the 20th time I've used the word) interacting.
I am a HUGE Daft Punk fan and I have been for a long time. Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter have ascended to collectively become one of my favorite artists/duo. So much so in fact that I deleted my entire Daft Punk collection once. Why? Because I didn't own any of it. I downloaded quite a few songs and was about to download two albums when I thought to myself "They are really good. I don't want to just take from these people when I can support them for their fantastic music". Therefore, the robot duo known as Daft Punk's Alive 1997 is a fine example of what I am talking about in the paragraph above. It was recorded live at Birmingham's Que Club on November 8, 1997. When I get a new CD I hold a private listening party alone in my room on my record/CD/cassette player/FM AM radio. I popped it in and began listening with much pent up excitement.
The album is one continuous 45 minute set from that night. And let me tell you, what a set it is. They kept it interesting at all times. They blended tracks even teasing the audience with next track. I felt like I was right there in the audience listening. One memorable point is when they completely cut the feed, the crowd cheers, and then bring it back right where it left off rhythmically. People went to see Daft Punk perform and that's what they got. They didn't just play tracks but changed them, created something new but familiar.
One more point. Playing the latest Top 20 **** doesn't make you a DJ. In the old days, you had DJ's rip the labels off the vinyls so other DJs wouldn't know the name of the track. It was so they had unique music that others didn't. That same effort and care you don't see much these days. If a promoter pays you to DJ is he really paying you to DJ or is he just paying you to play whatever song is hot on the radio? Then that level of uniqueness is gone, extinct, *poof* bye bye. Some songs on the radio ARE pretty good. It's when that track gets played 100 times by the radio station in the same week (that's right, watch the Korn video) when it begins to lose its luster. And no, not everything on the radio is bad and should be disregarded (see the Musical Opinions blog entry). I want to go to a party and dance to songs that are good that I haven't heard before. I want to listen to the occasional timeless anthem that never gets old no matter how many times it's played instead of a song that's only going to be a fad. It's okay to play maybe a couple good popular songs that are in the spotlight at the moment. And hey, if you drop an epic remix of those songs, kudos to you. But I for one find it very hard to dance to and enjoy something when I know every beat. What would you rather hear from a DJ? Another played out GaGa song or something entirely different that you can't help BUT dance to?
This is just a rant. It's me expressing my own views and opinions and hey, maybe some of these opinions are fact. Maybe I'm making very valid points about the modern day DJ. Maybe I'm sharing what a lot of you think as well. Either way, this wasn't meant for me to bash and call out every DJ on the planet. And I'm not grouping all of the DJs with the "DJs". There are some sour grapes in there but you can't throw away the entire harvest. That's not fair to those with the passion for it. It's just what needed to be said for a long time. Lord knows I respect the person who's in the booth having just as much fun as me. We have to change what it means to be a DJ though. We must change it so the legacy gets preserved and so we don't give credit to people who don't deserve it. You don't consider someone who just copies and pastes pictures an artist, then why should you consider someone who just plays tracks? That's all I have to say on the matter or I might have even more to say. I will say this though. Never forget the history of something. Because without the knowledge of where you came from, you don't know where you're going. All that said, there will never be something quite like the sound of a needle being placed on a vinyl. Dizzy out.
