IMO, point blank, we're fighting a losing battle when it comes to these "arena DJ's". The people that attend these events are the same people that are told what's hot & what they should like. And when it come to female DJ's, we may as well hang it up. My ugly ass ain't got a chance next to some of these girls. Some of these chicks are so damn fine!! What ever happened to DJ Rapp and her little sexy ass??
Yeah dude, Swedish House Mafia are huger than huge.
And this:
IMO, point blank, we're fighting a losing battle when it comes to these "arena DJ's". The people that attend these events are the same people that are told what's hot & what they should like. And when it come to female DJ's, we may as well hang it up. My ugly ass ain't got a chance next to some of these girls. Some of these chicks are so damn fine!! What ever happened to DJ Rapp and her little sexy ass??
Yeah dude, Swedish House Mafia are huger than huge.
And this:
IMO, point blank, we're fighting a losing battle when it comes to these "arena DJ's". The people that attend these events are the same people that are told what's hot & what they should like. And when it come to female DJ's, we may as well hang it up. My ugly ass ain't got a chance next to some of these girls. Some of these chicks are so damn fine!! What ever happened to DJ Rapp and her little sexy ass??
Pretty much people with no skill, plugging in their iPod to a system, playing it for 10,000 people and getting big money to do so. I'm not complaining or hatin' but I just don't like to see truly talented DJ's get over looked because they ain't visually appealing enough. I'm not as active as I was, say, 5 yrs ago but I do turn down many parties due to promoters, club owners, etc. thinking that all DJ's fall into this category. But like someone said earlier: alot of these novelty jocks won't be around in 5 yrs but there will be more to take their place. As long as there are DJ's there will be people that have no talent, no ear, no taste, that will get gigs without paying any dues or that just flat out suck and don't deserve it. That's just my opinion, so who ever falls in this category: TAKE IT PERSONAL, I meant to attack you.
It suck balls but this all makes perfect sense to me and is pretty much in accordance with the way everything is right now. Style over substance, image over content, being famous for being famous, reality show celebrities. It's par for the course really.
I don't hate any any of these people, my only problem is that it cheapens DJing as an artform in the eyes of many.
Lady Gaga has probably sold a million times as many records as Stevie Wonder = Life is not fair and doesn't make any sense, deal.
Why would anybody book Q-Bert or Craze to play a club?
You apparently haven't seen Craze live. He consistently kills it. Q-Bert's party rocking skills are indeed questionable if not nonexistent. Two completely different DJs.
Why would anybody book Q-Bert or Craze to play a club?
You apparently haven't seen Craze live. He consistently kills it. Q-Bert's party rocking skills are indeed questionable if not nonexistent. Two completely different DJs.
No, I haven't.
More than ten years ago, when I lived in Atlanta, I knew some dudes that were in a scratch DJ crew with him.
It sounds like he's gotten into other things since then.
Although I'm not exactly inclined to trust anybody who thinks Q-bert's party-rocking skills are merely "questionable". Try venue-clearing. Or stab myself in the ear with a pencil painful.
It suck balls but this all makes perfect sense to me and is pretty much in accordance with the way everything is right now. Style over substance, image over content, being famous for being famous, reality show celebrities. It's par for the course really.
I don't hate any any of these people, my only problem is that it cheapens DJing as an artform in the eyes of many.
Lady Gaga has probably sold a million times as many records as Stevie Wonder = Life is not fair and doesn't make any sense, deal.
Dude.
1) When were people NOT famous for being famous? This is some new shit? Really?
2) Stevie Wonder is one of the most successful artists in the history of pop music. Well over 100 <I>million</i> units sold. Lady Gaga has sold 100,000,000,000,000 units? Word?
I think sometimes people are so on these battle DJ's nuts that they don't realize or admit that their actual DJ skills are bullshit. If you're at a Q-Bert show, or anyone like that, you are well aware what it is he does. You're not their thinking to yourself, "Man, I hope he plays T.I.'s new shit".
speaking of cash money, i saw him a few years back and it was probably one of the most entertaining sets ever in terms of fun music and him messing with the crowd on the mic. "ayo! if you got twenty dollars in yo pocket........it may be mine. i lost a twenty earlier!"
I know DJs who've been bitching about this since the late '70s.
I'm sure if you took it back to cavemen days, some dude was bitching, "Grok wear lion-skin and snake-teeth to get gigs but he no hit rock better than me."
I doubt any of us work in a profession that is fair and meritocratic.
Academia is arguably as bad as the Recording Industry in terms of promoting assholes and hacks to positions of power...
Post Of The Century
false. Academia is closer to being meritocratic than any other field. notice i said "closer", but still.
Look, I think it's kind of pointless to argue over "which profession is more or less meritocratic". I mean, you can, but it's kind of (no pun intended) academic. That said, I can't see how one can possibly claim that academia is "closer" to being meritocratic than any other field. The only thing that it requires is a more burdensome set of hoops to jump through (as someone pointed out earlier) but past that, I can't say it's notably that much more meritocratic than most other professions, especially in terms of what you need to do in order to earn tenure, a professional privilege that's practically unique to academia but is hardly earned in any consistent way from department to department, let alone institution to institution.
I think sometimes people are so on these battle DJ's nuts that they don't realize or admit that their actual DJ skills are bullshit..
Depends on the generation. All the "first wave" (which would include Q, the Junkies, et. al) started off as mobile DJs; best believe most knew how to spin for a party crowd at some point and a lot of these guys never lost that skill (see J-Rocc, Shortkut, etc.).
I'm sure if you took it back to cavemen days, some dude was bitching, "Grok wear lion-skin and snake-teeth to get gigs but he no hit rock better than me."
is Pickwick's soulstrut comedy gold thread still around?
I doubt any of us work in a profession that is fair and meritocratic.
Academia is arguably as bad as the Recording Industry in terms of promoting assholes and hacks to positions of power...
Post Of The Century
false. Academia is closer to being meritocratic than any other field. notice i said "closer", but still.
Look, I think it's kind of pointless to argue over "which profession is more or less meritocratic". I mean, you can, but it's kind of (no pun intended) academic. That said, I can't see how one can possibly claim that academia is "closer" to being meritocratic than any other field. The only thing that it requires is a more burdensome set of hoops to jump through (as someone pointed out earlier) but past that, I can't say it's notably that much more meritocratic than most other professions, especially in terms of what you need to do in order to earn tenure, a professional privilege that's practically unique to academia but is hardly earned in any consistent way from department to department, let alone institution to institution.
never mind that what counts as 'merit' is dependent on ppl's individual values & opinions
i honestly dont get it. these agencies have a zillion djs... and they all do the same cookie cutting.
I think you probably get it exactly: if you're talking about the club industry, what you have is an entire community of "business people" - DJs, promoters, club mangers, etc. - where turnover is massive, and thus, there's no institutional/cultural memory that allow people to learn from the past to make sounder decisions and master the market.
In that context, you can have a lot of dumb motherfuckers spending a lot of dumb motherfucking money to book dumb motherfuckers. It's not a grand mystery - it's just a highly inefficient business plan, which probably explains why turnover is so large as poorly run clubs run out of money, get bought out by someone else who is probably just as ignorant and the cycle continues. Of course, occasionally, even a poorly run club might catch fire by some accident of history and just encourages other dumb nuts from assuming this shit is easy.
In any case, I totally get why Supreme is annoyed; this is his livelihood and in an industry where he surely sees a lot of talentless toys get put on, that's bound to grate. But that said, I don't think it's not a product of current history; I think the club industry has always been flighty, trend-driven and ruled by considerations other than skill/talent.
There was a giant billboard of this dude near my office for a minute.
It provided me with a daily boost to my self confidence when I stepped out for lunch. Like, no matter what frustrations I may be encountering in my life, at least I am not one of the people responsible for elevating this dude to quasi-celebrity status.
i honestly dont get it. these agencies have a zillion djs... and they all do the same cookie cutting.
I think you probably get it exactly: if you're talking about the club industry, what you have is an entire community of "business people" - DJs, promoters, club mangers, etc. - where turnover is massive, and thus, there's no institutional/cultural memory that allow people to learn from the past to make sounder decisions and master the market.
In that context, you can have a lot of dumb motherfuckers spending a lot of dumb motherfucking money to book dumb motherfuckers. It's not a grand mystery - it's just a highly inefficient business plan, which probably explains why turnover is so large as poorly run clubs run out of money, get bought out by someone else who is probably just as ignorant and the cycle continues. Of course, occasionally, even a poorly run club might catch fire by some accident of history and just encourages other dumb nuts from assuming this shit is easy.
In any case, I totally get why Supreme is annoyed; this is his livelihood and in an industry where he surely sees a lot of talentless toys get put on, that's bound to grate. But that said, I don't think it's not a product of current history; I think the club industry has always been flighty, trend-driven and ruled by considerations other than skill/talent.
i get that part, what i dont get is the top agencies shuffling around different djs that all play the same. how can so many exist within. how does one actually shine. however, nightlife in its heyday... wasnt fueled by garbage djs that were lacking skill... look it its rich history. nyc/chicago/detroit.
as far as cash goes, i see it like this... if jazzy jeff is in...he should be as well. also if these mgmt co. djs had more balls... and acted like true djs, they wouldnt allow the crowd and mgmt to dictate whats what musically. the only thing cool in that lane is... the money. that poison would eventually kill me. you think i could show up at a southport weekender and play ANY of this crap ?
theres a whooooooole world out there operating in a completely different orbit, where honest music and suberb taste actually matter and the music is just as popular, and its not poisonous... giles peterson, theo parrish, trusme, etc etc...
also if these mgmt co. djs had more balls... and acted like true djs, they wouldnt allow the crowd and mgmt to dictate whats what musically. the only thing cool in that lane is... the money.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
There was a giant billboard of this dude near my office for a minute.
It provided me with a daily boost to my self confidence when I stepped out for lunch. Like, no matter what frustrations I may be encountering in my life, at least I am not one of the people responsible for elevating this dude to quasi-celebrity status.
See, now, whilst I don't care for what he does these days - and I know several people who've met/interviewed/worked with Oakenfold, and who will testify to him being a complete dickbag - it can't be denied that dudes like him, Tiesto or Armin Van Buuren have put in serious work to get to where they are in their chosen profession. His isn't one of these cases where some nano-talent manages to surf some voguish wave into a life of ridiculous wealth (although, the more I think about it, maybe it is). I mean, I agree about the bizarre quasi-celebrity of so-called Superstar DJs like Oakenfold, but I do think there's a difference between that and the kind of thing Supe, Cos and Kon are talking about, namely the likes of Amy Fisher getting work as a club DJ (yep, saw her billed on a club flyer as "guest DJ" a few years ago). Even if it's a hustle you're not particularly inclined to respect, being able to fill football stadiums in every continent in the world just by playing records is a pretty successful hustle nonetheless.
There was a giant billboard of this dude near my office for a minute.
It provided me with a daily boost to my self confidence when I stepped out for lunch. Like, no matter what frustrations I may be encountering in my life, at least I am not one of the people responsible for elevating this dude to quasi-celebrity status.
See, now, whilst I don't care for what he does these days - and I know several people who've met/interviewed/worked with Oakenfold, and who will testify to him being a complete dickbag - it can't be denied that dudes like him, Tiesto or Armin Van Buuren have put in serious work to get to where they are in their chosen profession. His isn't one of these cases where some nano-talent manages to surf some voguish wave into a life of ridiculous wealth (although, the more I think about it, maybe it is). I mean, I agree about the bizarre quasi-celebrity of so-called Superstar DJs like Oakenfold, but I do think there's a difference between that and the kind of thing Supe, Cos and Kon are talking about, namely the likes of Amy Fisher getting work as a club DJ (yep, saw her billed on a club flyer as "guest DJ" a few years ago). Even if it's a hustle you're not particularly inclined to respect, being able to fill football stadiums in every continent in the world just by playing records is a pretty successful hustle nonetheless.
I thought we were just generally hating on our Local Tiesto Experience at this point?
I have no doubt that Oakenfold worked very hard to get on that billboard.
I'm just not sure that laboring intensely in the service of awful music and thereby becoming a celebrity is any more defensible than laboring intensely to become a celebrity and using that as a platform to play awful music.
Comments
you could've found one of these guys in every one of the last 8+ decades.
b/w
And this:
I don't understand what the "battle" is.
$$$$
Pretty much people with no skill, plugging in their iPod to a system, playing it for 10,000 people and getting big money to do so. I'm not complaining or hatin' but I just don't like to see truly talented DJ's get over looked because they ain't visually appealing enough. I'm not as active as I was, say, 5 yrs ago but I do turn down many parties due to promoters, club owners, etc. thinking that all DJ's fall into this category. But like someone said earlier: alot of these novelty jocks won't be around in 5 yrs but there will be more to take their place. As long as there are DJ's there will be people that have no talent, no ear, no taste, that will get gigs without paying any dues or that just flat out suck and don't deserve it. That's just my opinion, so who ever falls in this category: TAKE IT PERSONAL, I meant to attack you.
false. Academia is closer to being meritocratic than any other field. notice i said "closer", but still.
I don't hate any any of these people, my only problem is that it cheapens DJing as an artform in the eyes of many.
Lady Gaga has probably sold a million times as many records as Stevie Wonder = Life is not fair and doesn't make any sense, deal.
She has sold but a tiny fraction of what Stevie's sold.
You apparently haven't seen Craze live. He consistently kills it. Q-Bert's party rocking skills are indeed questionable if not nonexistent. Two completely different DJs.
No, I haven't.
More than ten years ago, when I lived in Atlanta, I knew some dudes that were in a scratch DJ crew with him.
It sounds like he's gotten into other things since then.
Although I'm not exactly inclined to trust anybody who thinks Q-bert's party-rocking skills are merely "questionable". Try venue-clearing. Or stab myself in the ear with a pencil painful.
A)- Yo, It's gettin late and it's still packed!!
B)- Let Q-Bert get on.
Dude.
1) When were people NOT famous for being famous? This is some new shit? Really?
2) Stevie Wonder is one of the most successful artists in the history of pop music. Well over 100 <I>million</i> units sold. Lady Gaga has sold 100,000,000,000,000 units? Word?
I know DJs who've been bitching about this since the late '70s.
I'm sure if you took it back to cavemen days, some dude was bitching, "Grok wear lion-skin and snake-teeth to get gigs but he no hit rock better than me."
Look, I think it's kind of pointless to argue over "which profession is more or less meritocratic". I mean, you can, but it's kind of (no pun intended) academic. That said, I can't see how one can possibly claim that academia is "closer" to being meritocratic than any other field. The only thing that it requires is a more burdensome set of hoops to jump through (as someone pointed out earlier) but past that, I can't say it's notably that much more meritocratic than most other professions, especially in terms of what you need to do in order to earn tenure, a professional privilege that's practically unique to academia but is hardly earned in any consistent way from department to department, let alone institution to institution.
that was awesome
Depends on the generation. All the "first wave" (which would include Q, the Junkies, et. al) started off as mobile DJs; best believe most knew how to spin for a party crowd at some point and a lot of these guys never lost that skill (see J-Rocc, Shortkut, etc.).
is Pickwick's soulstrut comedy gold thread still around?
I think you probably get it exactly: if you're talking about the club industry, what you have is an entire community of "business people" - DJs, promoters, club mangers, etc. - where turnover is massive, and thus, there's no institutional/cultural memory that allow people to learn from the past to make sounder decisions and master the market.
In that context, you can have a lot of dumb motherfuckers spending a lot of dumb motherfucking money to book dumb motherfuckers. It's not a grand mystery - it's just a highly inefficient business plan, which probably explains why turnover is so large as poorly run clubs run out of money, get bought out by someone else who is probably just as ignorant and the cycle continues. Of course, occasionally, even a poorly run club might catch fire by some accident of history and just encourages other dumb nuts from assuming this shit is easy.
In any case, I totally get why Supreme is annoyed; this is his livelihood and in an industry where he surely sees a lot of talentless toys get put on, that's bound to grate. But that said, I don't think it's not a product of current history; I think the club industry has always been flighty, trend-driven and ruled by considerations other than skill/talent.
It provided me with a daily boost to my self confidence when I stepped out for lunch. Like, no matter what frustrations I may be encountering in my life, at least I am not one of the people responsible for elevating this dude to quasi-celebrity status.
i get that part, what i dont get is the top agencies shuffling around different djs that all play the same.
how can so many exist within. how does one actually shine.
however, nightlife in its heyday... wasnt fueled by garbage djs that were lacking skill... look it its rich history. nyc/chicago/detroit.
as far as cash goes, i see it like this... if jazzy jeff is in...he should be as well.
also if these mgmt co. djs had more balls... and acted like true djs, they wouldnt allow the crowd and mgmt to dictate whats what musically. the only thing cool in that lane is... the money. that poison would eventually kill me.
you think i could show up at a southport weekender and play ANY of this crap ?
theres a whooooooole world out there operating in a completely different orbit, where honest music and suberb taste actually matter and the music is just as popular, and its not poisonous... giles peterson, theo parrish, trusme, etc etc...
See, now, whilst I don't care for what he does these days - and I know several people who've met/interviewed/worked with Oakenfold, and who will testify to him being a complete dickbag - it can't be denied that dudes like him, Tiesto or Armin Van Buuren have put in serious work to get to where they are in their chosen profession. His isn't one of these cases where some nano-talent manages to surf some voguish wave into a life of ridiculous wealth (although, the more I think about it, maybe it is). I mean, I agree about the bizarre quasi-celebrity of so-called Superstar DJs like Oakenfold, but I do think there's a difference between that and the kind of thing Supe, Cos and Kon are talking about, namely the likes of Amy Fisher getting work as a club DJ (yep, saw her billed on a club flyer as "guest DJ" a few years ago). Even if it's a hustle you're not particularly inclined to respect, being able to fill football stadiums in every continent in the world just by playing records is a pretty successful hustle nonetheless.
I thought we were just generally hating on our Local Tiesto Experience at this point?
I have no doubt that Oakenfold worked very hard to get on that billboard.
I'm just not sure that laboring intensely in the service of awful music and thereby becoming a celebrity is any more defensible than laboring intensely to become a celebrity and using that as a platform to play awful music.