can you hear what I hear?
Yes, it is crap Christmas music being blasted at you in order to make you feel more christmassy and buy more. As you will no doubt have guessed, or if you have read anything else that I have written, Christmas music is not something I look forward to hearing. Forget for a moment the sickly sweet sentimentality, and the overt Christian message, and focus on the actual music.
Not even John Lennon could write a song that got away from it. It is a testament to just how rubbish the whole thing is that there isn't a good Christmas song. True there are some that are not as bad as others, but really, ever put a Christmas song on a mixtape / playlist that wasn't made especially for Christmas? I didn't think so.
At this point you are thinking, bah humbug, get some Christmas cheer little fella. That is not it. Sure I dislike any religious holiday and yes I think that we are all being sucked in to the great capitalist joke of thinking that we are showing the Christmas spirit by getting everyone gifts . . .but in reality, it is a great time to party. As you may know, I love to party. Who doesn't , I mean really. If you are in the Southern hemisphere, it is nice and warm, time for BBQs , being outdoors and chillin. If you are in the Northern hemisphere, it should be nice and cold, snowy (although not in Canada this year it seems). Time to get inside, warm up, have a few drinks by a fire if you are lucky and catch up, or have a dance. What's not to like?
In this spirit , I have been asked to do the music for a party on Saturday night. Christmas eve. Now the temptation would be to just do a Christmas playlist and leave it at that. I, however, would not be able to look at myself in the mirror on Christmas day if that were the case. So, I thought about the mood setting and thought I would start with some funk. I love funk. I am not sure how or why I got into it, but I am into it. I think that it might have something to do with the imagined cool music track to my childhood. Whatever the reason, I am cooler than I was before I got into it. here is the incomparable Fundadelic
The other benefit of Funk, other than it being a great way to set a cool party mood to start with, is that the tracks are very long, that is a cool 10 and half minutes of funkiness. Very good news for a party, as it means you don't have to change it that often.
So, the funk has set in and people, while not exactly getting down and shaking their funky stuff, (most of my friends are not that funky really, although it is simply amazing what Tequila can do) are having fun and getting into it. The laughs are happening and the mood is dare I say it, festive. So where now? how to get the party to the next gear? Well, party's are supposed to be fun and so fun music is in order. Now, this spot, this exact spot, is the hardest bit for us music geeks. What we would like to do is to introduce some obscure but brilliant music. Sit down and explain to people why it is so cool and why they really should have heard of it. Get into a very deep music discussion and then wonder what happened to the last 10 hours. However, my music geek friends, you have to bite your tongue, remember that everyone you have ever heard of sold out, otherwise you wouldn't have heard of them, and play the people what they want to hear.
They want to hear something like this
Actually, I really like that song. It is extremely catchy, in a good way. Not like this song, which for some reason I always feel a little dirty after listening to. That said I do love it, in that weird somewhat dark and warped way that it sometimes happens. Like that girl you can't stop fighting with and kissing.
So if it is not going now, your party is in trouble. The only known remedy to this is drinking games involving tequila. If it is a non drinking type of party, one really has to wonder why you are wasting your time when you could be at a drinking type of party having more fun and listening to great tunes. . . .Why, why aren't you at that type of party? ? wtf dude?
Anyway, now I am back and have calmed down, on my playlist I am going to the Beastie boys next. I realize that the party has just been built up to a crescendo, however I have a plan. I have been to a lot of concerts, raves and general music evenings and nights. Not enough I hasten to add, but quite a few. At all of the good ones, they start well, build up quickly and then take it down a notch or two. This is to let people refill their drinks. Take a moment. Work out what they want to do, before it kicks off again. Otherwise, well it is home in a taxi before midnight with a lot of memory loss and the need for an apology.
So, to the Beastie Boys it is , and perhaps their best album, Paul's Boutique (discuss) I am not going to play the whole album, but selected highlights,, such as this.
The Beastie boys rock. that album was actually described as the Pet Sounds, or Dark side of the Moon for the Hip Hop generation. Which is a bit lazy as a description, but it does show just how good the album actually is. After a few tracks form this album, I am going to play some Jungle brothers, Eric B and Rakim, some N.E.R.D., maybe some Moloko and then I am heading straight into the 80s. I can hear the intake of breath from here. But you have to play to your audience. The audience on Sat night is an 80s crowd. Honestly, it has nothing to do with my secret love for 80s electronica. Really. I can barely stand this song.
ha ha, anyway, play to your audience.. So , I am going all 80s for a while, with some Frankie, ABC, Duran Duran and other things I would never actually admit to liking. Which reminds me, I have to write the next installment in the Pop series soon.
Then, if people are still standing from that onslaught. Well, it is time too have some fun. I like this song because it is fun , and it puts people in a good mood. Especially when they are already there . . .
You know, after that, generally what happens is that then you get requests and with the 80 gbs on the ipod, there is generally something that could be played. If nothing else, then there is the itunes radio function to give people the Rhianna and or Black Eyed Peas that they actually wanted to hear. . . Seems that they went to the wrong party!
Happy party season people. . . and remember, there is nothing wrong with being the loudest drunkest and most fun you know how to be. You just have to pick the right party .. . ..
No comments:
Post a Comment