jealousy, desire to go against popular stuff and feel underground, and some actual decline of such people.

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> S u s h i p u n k . P h o t o g r a p h y <

Two words: Greed & Ego. Superstar DJs are the pop-stars of EDM, putting their faces on CD covers with a big grin....you know who I am talking about.

what the rockstar dj thing has affected is the love and appreciation of music first and foremost and the communal experience of an underground party where the dj and crowd and place and time are all one spirit and one rhythm and one. also it has seriously taken away from dancing.

go to any armin or pvd or tiesto party in north america and you'll see a bunch of middle to upper class white boys pumping their fists at the stage. (the market, and what they do instead of dancing)

check out of a video of mijk van dyk playing at dubmission or something and then see the difference.


the superstar deejays also have accelerated standardization and commodification of what was once underground music through things like radio shows. they have destroyed, or rather mangled beyond recognition that which they set out to "introduce" or "spread".

the sad reality is, the mainstream doesn't want to go to underground, they want the underground to adapt to it.

superstar deejays through their ubiquitousness and place in the pop psyche stratify and thestandardization that comes through mass marketing create stereotypes that harm the scene by misleading people about what the music and culture is really about. People associate popularity with quality, and this culture of instant gratification would rather have a popular (and by default quality) dj tell them what is dance music rather than to seek it and study it and submerge themselves in it on their own.


the best parties i have ever been to have been absolute no name djs or at least anonymous deejays in small clubs with real atmosphere and real, interesting people.


edit -
sorry if this sounds like propaganda. take what i write with a grain of salt. it's just my opinion, however, one about which i have strong feelings.

Last edited by nefardec on May-28-2007 at 14:11

Idolatry and ignorance.

ive spoke/met a few djs who could of -easily- been the next big thing but gave it up as they didnt like the way the music industry worked in terms of work and djing and how they got treated by managers and promoters (and how they got ripped off)

It's kinda sad really

Theres a huge difference in pay from a big named dj, and a uprising one who are usually better and just trying to pay the bills.

Being in the spotlight all the time must effect your ego.

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Old enough to know better, young enough not to care!

quote:

Idolatry

DJ =/= God

quote:

Originally posted by julien2 DJ =/= God

Here: ≠

quote:

Originally posted by *Sanchez* ive spoke/met a few djs who could of -easily- been the next big thing but gave it up as they didnt like the way the music industry worked in terms of work and djing and how they got treated by managers and promoters (and how they got ripped off)

On a kinda flipside of this, I know & have spoken to DJs who have the ability to be the best but just don't want to have to deal with the full-on mainstream media. Mark EG is one such example, behind the decks he is legendary, he can play many styles of music and his overall energy is brilliant, I love the guy to bits as a big inspiration in my upbringing, and his love of the music in general is just astonishing

quote:

Originally posted by nefardec the best parties i have ever been to have been absolute no name djs or at least anonymous deejays in small clubs with real atmosphere and real, interesting people.

+1

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quote:

Originally posted by Whirloop +1

+2

Some of the best parties I've been to are random gatherings with TOTA DJs blasting tunes rockstar style

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quote:

Originally posted by chinamon not true. i say "ugh" but i am a tranny.

quote:

Originally posted by kotsy lol colour me retarded

It changed the entire mindset of what dance music was about. Dance music was originally faceless, predominantly instrumental and predominantly apolitical, apathetic music. Because of the nature of it, there was usually no performance of it and if there was, it was something like Orbital's live rig where the performer and their actions are hardly visible. It was intended to be played on the dancefloor, and it was about the communal experience of dancing. DJs played what the crowd wanted to hear, and the crowd was the centre of it all.

The advent of the superstar DJ put all the emphasis on the person playing the records. It was inevitable really- talented DJs were going to attract attention, and the beginnings of electronic "bands" like The Prodigy also began to shift the emphasis. However, the effect was magnified by success-hungry individuals determined to get rich and have themselves worshipped, and the result was that dance music became all about the performance. It became a show, an exercise in ego-massaging and it was no longer about the people making up the dancefloor.

This also made dance music much easier to package and sell, now it had recognisable human faces and personalities. This resulted in the dilution of the music as producers strove to appease more mainstream crowds and, in turn, feed their own popularity. To become a successful DJ, now you had to produce records- it had nothing to do with your skill behind the decks.

The ultimate result is a scene where the big name DJs maintain their clique of success, playing only certain records from certain labels and dictating who makes it and who doesn't. The effect is most evident in trance- always the worst afflicted of the genres- where all the awards and radio play and club play and compilation spaces are shared among the same little power base, all scratching each others' backs to keep their popularity alive. It's no longer about the crowd and what we want, it's about what we're told we want. That's why you have to dig deeper to find great music these days- you can no longer rely on big name DJs finding it themselves. They don't have to.

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> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
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