Maybe this is just a “Las Vegas” thing, but in the free rags here, they always have full page ads for the big nightclubs announcing that “Celebrity” DJ Glitzbullla or whoever, from LA or NYC or Botswana or somewhere exotic will be there - one night only!
Am I an old fuddy-duddy who doesn’t have a clue? The way I see it, you might as well have “celebrity” waiters bringing food to you, and “celebrity” bartenders mixing drinks, and “celebrity” restroom attendants handing you a towel.
Seriously - when did DJ’s become “celebrities”?
Do people actually get excited and want to spend more for cover charge because some specific DJ is showing up?
Well, when I wanna dance to house, it’s nice to see an ad for a touring house DJ, especially if local DJs are getting kind of stale, or if the other DJs around happen to spin trance or drum and bass.
There have been celebrity DJs for decades (rap and hip-hop, the multitude of dance music genres, plus DJs for people who like to watch a DJ and/or hear complex scratching). It might seem odd for someone who considers, say, dance-music to be the background to a night out with friends, but there are some-- myself included-- who like dance music for its own sake, and will seek out clubs with top-notch DJs.
DJs tend to have unique styles, which makes it more likely that a music fan will tend to favor one artist over another. (Someone into upbeat, fast dance music will probably want to know if Christopher Lawrence is in town, while they may want to avoid Sandra Collins. And someone into highly complex scratching will dig DJ Qbert, and be bored to tears by Keoki.) Really good DJs will also be able to control the ebbs and flows of the dance floor, picking tracks and tempos to drive the place crazy, calm the place down, etc.
A lot of DJs also do their own tracks, mixing them into sets; in addition, new dance tracks are often released white-label/bootleg, or leaked to certain name DJs, so if you’re into the genre, the only way to hear new releases is by attending a name DJ’s set.
Absolutely it does. There is an elite group of djs who are far better than the local club dj. Just check out any dance music message board and you’ll find plenty of discussion (and disagreement) about different djs and their style.
I can’t find it at the moment (five minute search window makes it a bit difficult), but a while back someone posted a thread asking what DJs did. For those of us into playing instruments (and a different scene), it was extraordinarily eye-opening thread, and gave a lot of us a new appreciation of the idea that a DJ is doing a lot more than merely spinning records–the feeling/descriptions was that it was an instrument in its own right. If anyone remembers and can either fill in some more background or key words to search for, it would dovetail very well with this question.
At first I thought you meant celebrity DJ’s like the club in Hollywood where Lindsay Lohan took over as DJ for a couple nights. From what I hear she really sucks at it.
If the DJ is know for being a celebrity, rather than for the music, then I’d avoid it. If the DJ is one whose music I like, but happens to be well-known, then it’s good.
Unfortunately, though I like the music, I’m too old to go to the clubs.
Don’t know the thread (would love to read it when found), but I believe the documentary film Scratch also can be very eye-opening to someone who is unfamiliar with what good DJs can do. Even after watching it a few times, I’m still amazed at the precise, delicate handwork and synchronization required of a DJ running two (or more) turntables just to do beat-matching and such, let alone the ingenuity to use them as instruments in their own right.
Yeah people care. It’s like experiencing house music a different way to the style of the DJ presenting the music. I’ve seen a few and they were really good at what they do.
Even if you aren’t a big fan of electronic music, I’m pretty sure that you could tell the difference between a good DJ and a bad DJ at a club.
If you can’t put your finger on it, you can see by the vibe in the room. If the beats aren’t quite matching up, even if the difference is almost imperceptible, you will notice that people aren’t really dancing. A bad DJ can completely disrupt the mood of the room with an imprecise change from one song to another.
Good DJs also have significantly better record collections than bad ones - part of the job is staying up to date with what’s new in the industry, and digging out the good classics.
Absolutely. My SO likes and makes electronic music, and he talks enthusiastically about specific DJs, the same way you’d talk about your favorite singers or authors. He has gone into clubs specifically to see a particular DJ perform.
Once you understand what this kind of DJ does, you understand why they have fans and why they are headliners. I thought they were glorified disc-changers until I was corrected.
My SO looks too nerdy to be into electronic music and consequently was often suspected of being a narc. Not only wasn’t he a narc, he was, um, interested in procuring some goods himself, and this perception made it difficult.
