The Lost Cluttered Art of DJing

I never want to sound like the old man that firmly believes that all modern day music is noise, noise, noise. I never want to be that person that believes that my generation made the best music ever composed (Although let’s be honest, 90s rock was something special). That being said, the Digital Era of Music has indeed ruined one aspect of music that deserves more appreciation: the art of the DJ.

Check this: I was at Hollywood Studios and they had a DJ in front of the hat in honor of the busy season requiring for some guy to stand at center and deliver some tunes to keep the guests happy and forgetting that there’s over 35,000 in the park. He starts fiddling with the computer and then walks away and starts randomly talking to two guests in front of the stage! What literally happened was that he pressed “play” on his computer, and the job was done. No mixing, no scratching, no crossfading, no surprises. What hurts more is that is becoming acceptable behavior in the world of music.

And it’s not just Disney World having their hands on these “DJ”s. You can find them in Applebees, Buffalo Wild Wings, conventions, and I have even seen them in small clothing stories inside malls. The market has become cluttered with these just-push-play DJs that spend a portion of time setting up the music from the safety and comfort of home, and then unleash their 4-hour repetitive mixes to the masses and collect their paycheck. There’s no art involved.

Gone are the days where artists like Fatboy Slim and Funkmaster Flex were tough to come by. Even Paris Hilton receives paychecks for her DJ work nowadays. I hope this stings you more than it stings me. The market has become absolutely flooded with these people, and it brings the entire art down a few notches. Now, it’s tougher to appreciate not only DJs but also music producers with DJ mannerisms (like Deadmau5, David Guetta, Daft Punk, and Joe Hahn).

Similar to how the comic book industry’s absolute marathon of comic book films cluttered the market and made actually-great films like Iron Man, Spider-Man 2, and Scott Pilgrim get lost in the shuffle, the DJ world has been stuffed with has-beens, wanna-bes, and the lazy peeps that pump unnecessary noise to Wednesday night specials at Applebees. The digital era may have allowed for us music lovers to connect to music better, faster, easier, and more consistently than ever before, but unfortunately this also leads to easier editing equipment and tools to create those mixes that used to be a hassle back in the 80s and 90s.....





…and allows for Paris Hilton to make DJ Jazzy Jeff money.

*sigh*

...clearly I am in the wrong career...