The world's most interesting DJ

http://youtu.be/8rzn02QHbHc

I'm not actually sure when the last time they actually DJ'd was though - 2007 maybe?

more likely the 90s? I think Thomas played three songs at Busy P's birthday party in 2008 or so.

Dance genre naming has always been a mess, but appropriating EDM for electro house has to be the stupidest yet. Who started that?

I didn't mean I think DJ's in general "don't do anything," I just mean it seems like there's this whole genre now of dudes who make hundreds of thousands of dollars a night for doing very little.

The superstar DJ isn't exactly a new phenomenon. It's just moved to the US in recent years.

I don't really see the problem with appropriating EDM and electrohouse really. EDM is p much a trancier, more steroidy version of the former + brostep noises.

Problem is that EDM has been used widely for 15+ years as a catch-all term for all electronically produced dance music, from the late 70s onwards. Redefining it to just electrohouse anthems is hugely confusing.

Also, hilarious to see Boy George at #89.

idk if this is a continental Europe thing but I can't remember ever hearing EDM before it became what it is now

when I was 'getting into music' 20 or so years ago I think 'techno' was used in that same umbrella type way but that eventually passed I guess

can't remember ever hearing the term EDM, that should say

Really? Even wikipedia has a whole article about the confusion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_dance_music

In Europe everybody referred to it as just "Dance" but in the US the term EDM was in use for a long time, I remember the EDM Awards somewhere in the mid 90s.

Gotta say as a Britisher I agree with Mencap. I never really heard of the term 'EDM' being used as a currency, at least not as an acronym. It was 'dance' or for less discerning people, 'techno'. EBM and IDM, yes. All genre terms are misnomers and subject to flux though I guess.

Yeah it's always just been 'dance music' here. I've never heard of EBM though. Electronic Beat Music?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_body_music

nothing to do with EDM or modern dance music really.

As an American who was never a big dance guy but who at least remembers the 90s and AMP on MTV and such, I remember hearing "electronica" as the catch-all term rather than EDM or Electronic Dance Music. Otherwise things were mostly broken down into genres.

Same goes for any stadium rock band tho. Playing guitar for 90 minutes definitely takes less effort than DJing a 3-5 hour set, unless you're Angus Young.
― Siegbran, Wednesday, October 22, 2014 3:58 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

1) o rly 2) you're just turning the usual rockist argument on its head anyway which doesn't make it less dumb

they're two very different things guys. it's like saying sculpture is more difficult than painting because you're working in 3D.

Same goes for any stadium rock band tho. Playing guitar for 90 minutes definitely takes less effort than DJing a 3-5 hour set, unless you're Angus Young.

― Siegbran, Wednesday, October 22, 2014 4:58 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Except (1) No stadium rock band makes hundreds of thousands of dollars a night except maybe the Stones, and (2) I'm talking about guys who seem to be doing almost nothing, like their set seems presequenced and they just pointlessly fiddle a few knobs.

A reasonably well known elctronic artist with whom I am aquainted once confided in me that he does litterally nothing at his popular live shows. Just presses play, waves his arms about and occasionally prestends to look busy.

to play devil's advocate, the work is in setting up the set (which is presumably synched to crazy lights & visuals) and in making music that hundreds/thousands of kids want to hear.

most of these dudes are corny and i'm not a fan, but they're tapping into something (and providing a service) that other musicians who might have more talent/skill/experience don't care to delve into anyway.

to play devil's advocate, the work is in setting up the set (which is presumably synched to crazy lights & visuals) and in making music that hundreds/thousands of kids want to hear.

Oh yeah, absolutely. They're not talentless, no matter what you think of their tunes, and I'm sure they've worked exrememly hard to get where they are. Just, for the actual duration of the gig they don't really do anything.

Yes they do, eg Britney makes $300.000 a night.

The economics of filling an 50.000 capacity arena with a rock band or with a DJ aren't any different, and the performers don't get widely dissimilar cuts either. There's not much of a mystery to it - you bring in the punters, you get paid.

this whole thread is like stepping into a conversation from 2006.

i'm still reeling from that hardwell set

Well Britney dances her ass off for a couple hours, but no one really gets paid solely/primarily based on how much effort they put in so it's silly anyway. Obviously anyone at the $300,000/night level of any field has SOMETHING that puts them above the enormous competition that inevitably chases $300,000/night. It's still amusing to watch people make that money for basically being second-rate cheerleaders/spin instructors while literally faking that they are having an effect on the music coming over the speakers.

i pretty much press play when i DJ. where' s my £300k?

Well it's not as if people are there to watch the amazing turntablist action (tho dudes like Umek used to do pretty amazing things on 4-deck setups), pretty much everyone is there to dance to the latest tunes by the guy + mixed in with some other recent records in the same style. I always view it as the producer travelling the world to show off his latest music to the fans, on a huge sound system with a big lightshow, to get the applause as well as the cheques. A big release party if you will.

Also, the way the biz is these days, there's much less money in record sales, so they have to tour for cash. The days where producers could stay at home counting their cash and send a couple of pretty dancers and a backing tape on the road (aka the Disco era) are over.

yeah for sure the point is to be in the atmosphere, hear/feel the booming sounds, be dazzled by the lights and feel graced by the iconic presence and lightly flopping hair, not to observe a skilled performer at work. So w/e.

watched five minutes of hardwell, going to commit suicide now

at the 5 min mark i was still listening to corny movie trailer narration and not w/e hardwell is

unless the dude is just playing portentous 'coming to a theater near you this halloween...' traxxx for thousands of ppl every night, which would be p awesome

Dave Clarke has his say on EDM in his usual restrained manner:

http://djmag.com/node/50178

if only those ignorant kids who don't remember what Frankie Knuckles did thirty years ago would just get off his lawn...

Meanwhile, Deadmau5 is annoyed with people further down the skills scale.

Ha, that's brilliant

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2DBYr_Z1hfg/TzQEMQoSCpI/AAAAAAAAC7U/adKEI54v0zY/s320/IronyMeter1.gif

djs are obsessed with how little work other djs do, neurosis is a good pr tool

Hah, I wonder what Yngwie Malmsteen thinks of Sunn O)))

Yngwie's opinion of most musicians that weren't Yngwie Malmsteen or Ritchie Blackmore was pretty low

Dave Clarke has his say on EDM in his usual restrained manner:

http://djmag.com/node/50178