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Dancing and partying vs. filming and facing the dj (pg. 4)
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| Looney4Clooney |
there should be a dancing area were you are booted if you can't dance to a reasonable level. The jury will be ex soul train participants.
The problem with dancing is that most people should abstain. This is stuff you practice in your room when you are a pre teen. That is my biggest issue with events. People dancing that should not be dancing. Express yourself in the non dancing area. |
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| Dykes_on_Jay |
| quote: | Originally posted by Looney4Clooney
cocaine |
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| dave-bofficial |
| quote: | Originally posted by Looney4Clooney
there should be a dancing area were you are booted if you can't dance to a reasonable level. The jury will be ex soul train participants.
The problem with dancing is that most people should abstain. This is stuff you practice in your room when you are a pre teen. That is my biggest issue with events. People dancing that should not be dancing. Express yourself in the non dancing area. |
But it can be HILARIOUS sometimes :D |
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| netroM |
| quote: |
5 years on the dancers there became legendary for their hands in the air vibe, but back then the only hands in the air were those of the DJ in that bizarre booth. |
:stongue:
That does sound like a cool dance floor though. |
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| paulversuspaul |
| The set up at twilo was great too because it was so damn dark in there you could barely see the dj. E werk was supposed to be so dark and filled with so much smoke that you could barely see in front of you. I dont know, perhaps the worse the visual acuity of the dj the better or legendary the club? Only scientific conclusion that can be drawn from this. |
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| Woony |
| quote: | Originally posted by paulversuspaul
The set up at twilo was great too because it was so damn dark in there you could barely see the dj. E werk was supposed to be so dark and filled with so much smoke that you could barely see in front of you. I dont know, perhaps the worse the visual acuity of the dj the better or legendary the club? Only scientific conclusion that can be drawn from this. |
I've heard the set up of a lot of clubs in the 80's and even early 90's (think Limelight) was that the DJ was in another room than the dancefloor. That's a pretty good way of shutting DJ worship down :p (not like it was an issue back then, more like the opposite) |
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| paulversuspaul |
Im not old enough to remember that but I do miss the DJ Booth. Was awesome bc you couldnt really see him and sometimes there was glass in front of him. Has become an inside joke for me and one of my friends as in an Essential Mix from 99 Pete Tong says as a voiceover "Paul Van Dyk live from the gallery turnmilss as they have removed the glass from the dj booth to celebrate". And we do remember one day noticing that the glass was removed from this club we used to frequent, and it was basically right around the same time that EM came out. As if it was some sort of world wide phenomena.
EDIT: I am almost certain DJ Worship began with the rise in MDMA use. If you look back on the history of dance music, right around the Hacienda is the first time you heard about DJs getting billing or promoted just for their dj skills. |
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| Woony |
| quote: | Originally posted by paulversuspaul
I am almost certain DJ Worship began with the rise in MDMA use. If you look back on the history of dance music, right around the Hacienda is the first time you heard about DJs getting billing or promoted just for their dj skills. |
That seems absurd. DJ worship just was the inevitable result of the rise of dance music as a culture/youth culture. Before EDM the DJ wasn't much more important than the barkeeper, he was just a jukebox and nobody really cared. With EDM the DJ become an actual artist and the worship just was the natural result when EDM first become big. |
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| paulversuspaul |
| quote: | Originally posted by Woony
That seems absurd. DJ worship just was the inevitable result of the rise of dance music as a culture/youth culture. Before EDM the DJ wasn't much more important than the barkeeper, he was just a jukebox and nobody really cared. With EDM the DJ become an actual artist and the worship just was the natural result when EDM first become big. |
Yeah but dance music has been around in a very similar form since the 70s. Disco also had a strong youth culture etc but the DJ wasnt the person worshipped but the artists making the tracks. In the early 80s it was the same with all the dance music coming out, things like new order depeche mode,, etc. suddenly the hacienda shows up, acid house arrives, and mdam explodes and from that point on the DJ has replaced the producer as the artist. Hip Hop Culture was a huge phenomena in the states but most people worshiped the mcs and artists and not the DJs spinning their stuff at the local club. Maybe I am using my own personal history to form this opinion, but i distinctly remember loving tracks and artists from 95-99 and suddenly taking a pill and noticing who the DJ was and going to shows for the DJ. |
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| sg_57 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Woony
That seems absurd. DJ worship just was the inevitable result of the rise of dance music as a culture/youth culture. Before EDM the DJ wasn't much more important than the barkeeper, he was just a jukebox and nobody really cared. With EDM the DJ become an actual artist and the worship just was the natural result when EDM first become big. |
Maybe at the clubs you went to or knew about...? but just as obviously, at least in NYC (Larry Levan, Tony Humphries), Chicago (Ron Hardy, Frankie Knuckles, Lil' Louis) and Detroit (Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, etc...) there may have been other clubs you didn't go to but where thousands of people went where this was clearly not the case. Quite the opposite in fact: if a certain DJ wasn't there that night, almost nobody would show. Only talking about House and Techno. But Hip-Hop was the same, with those huge parties at 1018 (Roxy) attracting sold-out crowd for Afrika Bambaata and Grandmaster Flash. And even gay clubs like The Saint certainly had very major names with a huge following playing like Jim Burgess.
Mind you, it wasn't so much a matter of dumb 'worship' as one of deep appreciation and solid but unconditional and very knowledgeable support. Some were major stars who often times ended up influencing radio play and creating million-selling worldwide hits like Taana Gardner "Heartbeat", Soulsonic Force "Planet Rock" or Inner City "Big Fun". I'd wager that very few who post on here would have witnessed this as most of them would have been too young to go clubbing in... 1985. Also, at that time a majority of those huge club crowds was black/latino or gay rather than lillywhite and straight as they seem to be nowadays. But maybe you're right, to straight white crowds in the US this didn't matter much before EDM.
But it would be inaccurate to say that it never happened before. Just that whatever was going on probably was off your cultural radar.
The facing-the-DJ business started happening around 1996 or so, possibly a bit later like when Sasha-Digweed did their monthly at Twilo. Everyone noticed it but not much could be done about it. In my opinion it was a direct result of big fees and promoters hyping the hell out of their expensive guest DJs (rather than residents), treating them like performing artists, putting them on a stage and with concert-type light systems focused on them so it soon became the norm. That is what was never the case in earlier times.
For those who don't like it, there are certain parties where picture-taking is not allowed (like Berghain, where they'll throw you out for doing it) or others that jam cell phone reception, hopefully it helps everyone remember that - for those who care about keeping the vibes musical and the privacy intact - it can still be about dancing and community. Matter of priorities, really.
I'd wager that the glowstick-jesus-pose-epic-breakdown EDM thing will probably crash and burn soon enough, while another generation of underground kids will still be dancing to some new sort of mind-bending techno (or whatever else it'll be called) in dark, trashy rooms twenty years from now. Maybe at that time with new technology there'll be some sort of communal enhanced psychedelic drug rituals where it'll be a truly shared experience rather than individual as it is right now? Who knows. But I think there will still be a crowd who enjoys the basics rather than the superficial fluff.
Anyway, it may not be that important as there's room for both extremes, it's just a matter for people to wisely choose parties they want to support and go where they feel comfortable. Some people like to shop at Pathmark and go for the bland discounted products, others prefer Whole Foods and the top-dollar organic route. Whatever works...
My personal opinion is that it's pretty difficult for anyone constantly spending time fiddling with their gadgets to close their eyes and allow themselves to be carried by the beckoning swirls and twisted rhythms and end up getting 'lost in sound' at any party. Different kind of experience, really. |
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| dave-bofficial |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl44Li0yUNo
See how the people are enjoying themselves?
Sure there's a lot of weird people there, but still...
I feel that those just standing there facing the DJ are "killing" the vibe...
Of course this is my opinion, but hey, let's face it, we're all different and have our "ways" to party.
I have to agree with those who said that it's better to attend to "smaller" or local events, when it comes to enjoying themselves and partying...
I don't know if anyone was watching ASOT 600 yesterday... I respect Armin for what he's doing and all that, but he (Armada +++) seriously organize this to be a concert and not a dance event (i feel it this way)... I really start to speculate that it's not the people that started this "facing the DJ" thingy.. But rather there was some DJ's that felt better about themselves when people started focusing on them (and partly on the music). I understand it to certain point, but they should understand that people mainly come for the music.
I know if I were a (famous) DJ, I would enjoy seeing people dance to my or the music i'm playing rather then just facing me. If this continues it can result in that the DJ's can just have the mix already prepared on 1 cd and play it while they just fistpumping and dances to the music... I have a great example of this:
Last summer I was at Balaton Sound in Hungary which was great. I don't know why the hell I was at this concert, but I ended up seeing Martin Solveig (I feel embarrased to say it). He wasn't even mixing, he just played tycheesycrap songs, and when each song was finished he just said a looot of crap to the audience and played the next song. EVERYONE was facing him, filming and fistpumping. This is a good example that people don't come for the music anymore, but to see and do the same things as the DJ's and later brag to friends that:
"I saw Martin Solveig live bro'"
"No bro'" rather than:
"I went to Martin Solveig",
"How was it?"
"I danced my ass of, and the music was great"
Seriously, this starts to concern me.
But hey, these are just my opinions... |
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