DJs aren’t Musicians - $1

mylatency

Fun CL post of the day! Whoohoo! YESSS! RADD! FANY! AWESOME! (as Dizzy Bull would say)---Reply to: anonDate: 2005-05-10, 2:14PM PDTWhat a joke.You grab a record, put it on a turntable....... wow.Or cue up a song on an iPod or CD player? What,... what ART, how ........ CREATIVE!NOT.It's sad that people that basically "play records" think they are musicians, or artists, or being the slightest bit creative.Get over yourselves, pull up your low-slung pants, and grab a guitar or a pair of drumsticks if you want to claim you are a Musician.whew.I feel better now.I am sure 50 would-be Dee-Jaze are gonna wanna "shout out" (word) from the Hizz-ouse and tell me (yo) just how cool (dawg) they are (money). Don't waste your time.Get a guitar.---

soulmarcosa

I can play bass & guitar around that fool. Let me at him. Tell dude I'll meet him at Cibello Burritos on the Haight, buy him a burrito, then punch him in the stomach, watch the food fly out of his mouth, then play Village Callers 45s on his grave.































Ah just kidding. Let's start a band!

mylatency

then play Village Callers 45s on his grave.

U


RAWK!

The_Hook_Up

ha ha ha that shit always kills me...I have had more fun and made more $$$ DJing than I ever did playing guitar and being a "musician"...fuck rolling around all over the country with a van load of gear with some hygenically impaired people you got sick of looking at a long time ago. Fuck seeing a movie and hearing a song you recorded in it and wondering where in the hell the $$$ money went. Fuck label owners on your ass about finishing an album they only wanted to shell out a couple grand for.
shit, give me an open bar tab, some cash and I will not be a musican all damn night and have a ball.

TheeeCasualMale

I can play bass & guitar around that fool. Let me at him. Tell dude I'll meet him at Cibello Burritos on the Haight, buy him a burrito, then punch him in the stomach, watch the food fly out of his mouth, then play Village Callers 45s on his grave.

Ah just kidding. Let's start a band!

Have you ever heard of the Hcrinkles?



DVV DVV DVV DVV DVV DVV DVVVVV
I'M SO HEAVYYYY!!!
DVV DVV DVV DVV DVV DVV DVVVVV
GOTTA GET DOOOOWN!!!

soulmarcosa

Have you ever heard of the Hcrinkles?

Have you heard of rock and roll?

Then you've heard of me.

The_Hook_Up

do you believe in the hereafter? then you now know what I am here after.

The_Hook_Up

oh yeah, I forgot, I had a dream last night that the Creation reformed and they were playing at some festival somewhere in the country. I ran into Marco and he was wearing these loafer type shoes that were made out of the same grey, houndstooth, fabric that his pants were made out of. weird.

DenmarkVZ

You grab my dick, put it in your ass....... wow.

Get a guitar.

Gitars are so gay.

dsanders

I can play bass & guitar around that fool. Let me at him. Tell dude I'll meet him at Cibello Burritos on the Haight, buy him a burrito, then punch him in the stomach, watch the food fly out of his mouth, then play Village Callers 45s on his grave.































Ah just kidding. Let's start a band!

I've heard this b4 (w/o the Village Callers), damn funny...who was it by??

Unknown

NOT.

People still say this?

LaserWolf

and grab a pair of drumsticks if you want to claim you are a Musician.

whew.

Q: What do you call a guy who likes to hang out with musicians?








































A: A Drummer.

Shingaling

Gitars are so gay.

Just get one of these and call it even.

TheeeCasualMale

I've heard this b4 (w/o the Village Callers), damn funny...who was it by??

NECESSARY!

Grafwritah

I suppose the next thing you're going to tell me is that CIRCUIT BENDERS aren't real musicians either.

Grafwritah

seriously, do dj's really consider themselves musicians? more like "recorded sound manipulators" right? ?? i don't know..

I'd lean mroe towards that. DJ's don't really create anything new.

Dj_Coma_Toast

It seems to me that a quality dj is harder to come by than a shitty band.

Grafwritah

It seems to me that a quality dj is harder to come by than a shitty band.

Yes, and a quality plastic surgeon is harder to come by than a shitty DJ, but that doesn't mean either of them makes music.

Dj_Coma_Toast

dont dj's and bands both "Play" music. What about band that do all covers?

Gnat

This discussion is fascinating and points at a greater issue: DJs having to feel valid by also calling themselves musicians. It's the Napoleon complex of DJ identity: Short people aren't as good as tall people--DJs aren't real musicians.

The question is posed, are DJs musicians? Let's just assume for the time being, no they are not. But let's also get passed this implication that as a non-musician DJ, you suck (aka are without talent) because you're not a "musician". Handling wax with skill takes talent...period...drumming or playing the sax well also takes talent...the commonality here is in either case you have to be talented to rock the house if you are a DJ or a "musician".

I also submit to you that some DJs are musicians in their own right... as anybody who has ever heard a beginning DJ scratch or try to beat match can attest, there is a huge amount of musicality (i.e. percussion--a freaking family of musical instruments) involved in being a DJ.

The person who takes the snotty "pick up some sticks" argument deserves one response: fuck you and your drum sticks if that's the argument you want to make: DJs scream talent all day and we don't need to justify shit...

nuff said...

gNAT



This apparently is DJ Napoleon by the way...page is some Slavic language so I have no idea if he considers himself a musician...the floor would attest that he is a shitty DJ though...

Sun_Fortune

I can understand why people who play guitars get pissed at DJs -- and the reason is that they have a dead instrument. How much more new guitar based music can there be?? Don't get me wrong, I used to play guitar and still wait for the guitar solos in songs, but there's really only so many things you can do with a guitar and most of those things have been done already.



And on a skill level thang, I would wager that being a really good all around dj is probably just as hard as learning to play guitar well. I'm not talking eric clapton well, but twenty something rocker well. It takes most djs ten years to really come into their own and guitar players frequently do it in less.



And whether or not Djs are musicians, consider this: a guitar player can only play the notes that he has. A Dj has all of recorded history to chose from.

Mr. Casual

A Dj has all of recorded history to chose from.

who's the bitch now ...

Gnat

And whether or not Djs are musicians, consider this: a guitar player can only play the notes that he has. A Dj has all of recorded history to chose from.

See, but this points at my above arguement: DJs trying to justify themselves in the musician's world. Fuck that...we do what we do...I will partially agree with you though in that DJing in general is soo appealing because it is not confined to one sound...the possibilities are limitless when you just add some real DJ skill...

Mr. Casual

If anyone ever asks me if I am a musician I tell them I dj. I have never had anyone respond with "well your not really a musician." I have heard the arguement before though... I tend to think that DJ's are more composers than anything... we take records and create a composition of sorts... I always play to my feeling; choosing records that convey a mesage to the crowd... even it is as simple as... get the fuck up. Our "compositions can be dark, bright, rough, soft; it can jump across genres that are thought of as simply impossible to compare. Oh wait that guitarist just dropped 4 bars of "Give Me Shelter" and then went back into his lame song...... interesting lets take a look at some of Shadows early blends... I'd like to break a guitar over that dudes head

djr

Shit....if you heard me play bass guitar in college,
you'd be happy that I spun some records instead.....

DenmarkVZ

i'd rather go see z-trip than some emo-reacharound three chord "band."





















p.s.--I play keys, geetar, bass, drums etc...played in bands for many years. still can't DJ worf a fuck. it's hard (pause)

soulrez

I can play bass & guitar around that fool. Let me at him. Tell dude I'll meet him at Cibello Burritos on the Haight, buy him a burrito, then punch him in the stomach, watch the food fly out of his mouth, then play Village Callers 45s on his grave.

location...

puto_bong_bong

YO DOGG R YOR COMPOSITINZZ DEDLEE CUZ WE LOOKIN FO DAT TITE BOOMANAYTIN BRAKEBEAT ISHT WIF HELLA FX DOGG FILL ME?

DenmarkVZ

but there's really only so many things you can do with a guitar and most of those things have been done already.

for real. I mean after 30+ years still not even a close second to Hendrix.

Grafwritah

but there's really only so many things you can do with a guitar and most of those things have been done already.

for real. I mean after 30+ years still not even a close second to Hendrix.

Turntable: backwards, forwards

2 things.




I'm partially playing devil's advocate as I have nothing against DJing at all, but I don't think it's quite the same.
I guess it's really a question of where you draw the line - generally musicians at least have the ability to create something new (even if they don't, referencing the comment on cover bands). DJ's, on the other hand, are at best "recycling."

And that's another question, is recycling something old really creating something new?

People generally regard art made from junk/garbage as still art - but I find this comparison closer to sampling based hip hop than anything. I think that has crossed the line into a new creation. DJing, while manipulating some sounds, is still generally just running different songs one after the other, or maybe layering an acapella from one on an instrumental on the other.

DenmarkVZ

Turntable: backwards, forwards

2 things.

Fuck, I wish it was that easy.

ps--obviously you're not wedded to this half-assed argument. you can do WAY better.