I was asked to be the DJ at a friends party (he’s got a big dance room at his parents house), the motto is “80’s”, so everyone needs to dress like they did in that time and stuff .
I don’t have enough 80’s music, so I thought you can help me out. Perhaps you know some cool tracks that sound like 80’s or know a mix+tracklist I can quickly collect some good tracks from (or a .trrnt, something like that).
I would like to play music with really cool baselines, that typical discofunk stuff, example:
newer version which I like much more “Crying at the discotheque”
It doesn’t really have to be from the 80’s, Daft Punk for example (Stardust - The music sounds better with you) are having good tunes too, that sound like 80’s.
When it comes to Funk I usually play this. These songs a classics here in L.A.
You cant play these tracks @ a house party cuz damn Cholos (Gangsters) always start shit with this music, it makes them feel all O.G.
Anita Bell - Ring My Bell
Cameo - Word Up
Curtis Blow - These Are The Breaks & It Like A Jungle Sometimes
Frankie Smith - Double Dutch Bus
George Clinton - Flashlight, Atomic Dog
Grandmaster Flash - White Lines
Mary Jane Girls - All Night
One Way - Cutie Pie & Mr Groove
Gap Band - You Drop A Bomb On Me
Zapp & Roger - More Bounce To The Ounce/ So Ruff / I Can Make You Dance
not to be hatin’ but i really don’t understand how you can DJ at an 80’s party while you don’t even know the music? It’s like i am a hiphop DJ and am asked to play grunge rock at a grunge rock concert. I will simply say: no, i don’t know and have that kind of music. How can you dj a decent set when you don’t feel and know the music you have to play?
This kind of stuff is giving (laptop) DJ’s a bad name, simply downloading entire playlists with mp3 files from the internet and playing them at random… argh…
It’s not necessarily a bad thing to get used to Djing different music than you normally do, but be careful.
If the theme is strictly 80’s then a mistake would be to play 70’s like the youtube link track you posted in your thread - this is definitely from the late 70’s. Sheila B. Devotion Spacer was a hit in '79, but was being played in clubs a bit before this.
If it is for a crowd that weren’t necessarily around in the 80s then I would stick to some well seasoned artists
Grand Master Flash
Maybe some Afrca Bambata
Cameo
Rick James is funky
Midnight Starr
Gap Band
Tyrone Brunson
Shannon
Yeah, I think you don’t understand. I was a big 80’s fan for some time and went to many 80’s parties. So I know many tracks and can “feel the music”. I am a musician for 15 years, I think I’m a bit into any genre: Jazz, Metal, House, … also older stuff like Débussy or Bach (When I like something peticularly I buy it on vinyl)).
I only need some 80’s tracks to have in my collection and to be able to play, I guess I will know many of them when I hear them - and to mix music without knowing it exactly is something a DJ should be able to (like improvisation on instruments). Do you just don’t play wishes when you don’t know the track good? I think that I am able to mix tracks decently into my set without knowing them at all. If you are not you need to practice.
You are right that when people download playlists and play them at random, it often sounds unproffessional and is not really proper DJing, but mostly when people do that, they are at the beginning of DJing and don’t know what else to do in that state but downloading some music and play it in their Virtual DJ or something. (Laptop) DJs in clubs are NOT doing that, you don’t get into a club anyway when you only have a promomix that you didn’t prepare properly.
Btw your intention must have been to destroy the thread. Nobody is going to post more tracks after your spreading of prejudices, that I will only play random 80’s mp3s without any respect of the musical aspect. Thanks (It’s too late to get more tracks anyway).
Thank you JesC and Whitey for not being so prejudiced and helping me out, tonight will be fun, I’ll play most of the tracks you gave me (with respect, because I’m sure you connect more with some tracks and know the meaning of them).
some tracks and compilations that i love with that cool 80’s sound:
1 Raw Silk Do It To The Music (Original 12’’ Mix) (6:36)
2 Howard Johnson So Fine (Original 12’’ Mix) (5:32)
3 Krystol After The Dance Is Through (Original 12’’ Mix) (5:15)
4 Royalle Delite (I’ll Be A) Freak For You (Original 12’’ Mix) (6:15)
5 Shot Main Thing (Original 12’’ Mix) (5:45)
6 Thelma Houston You Used To Hold Me So Tight (Original 12’’ Mix) (5:37)
7 Meli’sa Morgan Fool’s Paradise (Original 12’’ Mix) (5:13)
8 Bernard Wright Who Do You Love (Original 12’’ Mix) (5:20)
9 Loose Ends Hangin’ On A String (Original 12’’ Mix) (6:00)
10 Change Change Of Heart (Original 12’’ Mix) (7:02)
11 Lillo Thomas Settle Down (Original 12’’ Mix) (5:26)
12 Cheryl Lynn Encore (Original 12’’ Mix) (8:18)
1 Glenn Jones I Am Somebody (Original 12" Version) (6:22)
Producer - Robert Wright
2 Serious Intention Serious (Original 12" Version) (6:30)
Producer - Anthony Malloy , Paul Simpson
3 Cameo She’s Strange (Original 12" Version) (5:50)
Producer - Larry Blackmon
4 Status IV You Ain’t Really Down (Original 12" Version) (6:00)
Arranged By [Vocals] - Toney Lee
Producer, Mixed By - Eric Matthew
5 Lillo Thomas I’m In Love (Longer Luv Mix) (6:46)
Producer - Paul Laurence , Timmy Allen
Remix, Producer [Additional] - David Bianco
6 Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly Twilight (12" Version) (6:48)
Producer - Frankie Beverly
7 Earth, Wind & Fire Let’s Groove (Original 12" Version) (5:36)
Producer - Maurice White
8 Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam with Full Force I Wonder If I Take You Home (Original 12" Version) (6:54)
Producer - Full Force
9 Skipworth & Turner Thinking About Your Love (Original 12" Version) (8:04)
Producer - Patrick Adams , Rodney Skipworth
10 Brothers Johnson Stomp! (Album Version) (6:23)
Producer - Quincy Jones
11 Julia And Company Breakin’ Down (Sugar Samba) (Original 12" Version) (7:08)
Producer, Arranged By - David Ylvisaker
12 Fat Larry’s Band Act Like You Know (Original 12" Version) (6:28)
1 James Ingram Yah Mo B There (John Jellybean Benitez 12’’ Mix) (6:40)
Featuring - Michael McDonald
Remix - John “Jellybean” Benitez
2 Stephanie Mills The Medicine Song (Mark Berry Original 12’’ Mix) (6:40)
Remix - Mark S. Berry*
3 D. Train* You’re The One For Me (Shep Pettibone 12’’ Mix) (7:22)
Remix - Shep Pettibone
4 Gwen Guthrie Seventh Heaven (Larry Levan 12’’ Mix) (7:21)
Remix - Larry Levan
5 Serious Intention You Don’t Know (Paul Simpson 12’’ Remix) (8:18)
Remix - Paul Simpson
6 Unlimited Touch Searchin’ To Find The One (Shep Pettibone 12’’ Mix) (6:49)
Remix - Shep Pettibone
7 Sharon Redd Beat The Street (Shep Pettibone 12’’ Mix) (6:44)
Remix - Shep Pettibone
8 David Joseph You Can’t Hide Your Love (Larry Levan 12’’ Mix) (6:44)
Remix - Larry Levan
9 Gwen Guthrie Ain’t Nothin’ Goin’ On But The Rent (Mark Berry Original 12’’ Mix) (7:16)
Remix - Mark S. Berry*
10 Sister Sledge Thinking Of You (Original 12’’ Mix) (4:22)
11 Change Searching (Original 12’’ Mix) (8:02)
Hey no problem about the tracks DJ T. I spin alot of 80’s music be it New Wave, Synth Pop, Darkwave, Freestyle, High Energy, Hip Hop, Funk and so on.
There is nothing wrong in asking for tracks that you usually play for a specific genre. I have a New Wave Dj from Houston that always want to compare setlist and we share list, its no be deal.
Brothers Johnson. Ohio Players. Spinners. Earth Wind & Fire. Kool & the Gang. Parliament Funkadelic.
I agree, though, that you’re really kind of a glorified jukebox if you aren’t familiar with the style. You won’t seize opportunities to be creative because you won’t know they’re there. I could probably lay down a metal or goth set at a party after downloading a bunch of tracks, but that doesn’t mean I’d be taking anyone on any kind of journey.
The party was a great success, he prepared his house for 2 days with all kind of stuff from the 80’s, especially ski things and everyone was dressed alike this:
I was running a playlist of your 80’s I prepared with the host one hour before, and the atmosphere was awesome, I thought I could mix a bit later to make the people dance. But at 10pm or so the host said, “lets go make them dance and play elektro” so I threw in daft punks da funk and the part with 80’s music was quite over, later I also played stuff like “a walk in the park” at 130bpm or so, all in all it was just awesome (people said it was the best party of the year ).
Thanks again, and I agree with you olafmol and steveboyett, that you need to know the style and music to understand whats special about it and to know what matters in a mix.
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