Best Dance Party Worthy of Mordor (What the Thunder Said)

The thing you couldn't tell from the pictures of Emily's party was that the music was LOUD...like, "I can't believe the neighbors are okay with this" loud. Emily said that the speakers shook all her shampoo bottles into the tub of the bathroom that shares the wall with the living room. Needless to say, spending the night hunkered down, picking out my favorite songs with the full force of Emily's stereo blasting in my ears and watching everyone dance like crazy, I had the best time in ages.

And finally (I know you've been so anxious!) here's what I played:

"Harlem Shuffle" Bob & Earl
"You" Spanky Wilson
"Bye Bye Baby" Mary Wells
"Uptight Everything's Alright" Stevie Wonder

(I started the party off with some soul and R&B, real funky stuff suited for mingling but puts dance notions into heads...those predisposed to dance bought into it, and soon I was ready to transition into some party openers I had been planning on [and if you don't know "Bye Bye Baby" by Mary Wells then you need to get to know it as soon as you can because it's an absolute banger.])

"P.Y.T." Michael Jackson
"Needy Girl" Chromeo
"The Choice is Yours" Black Sheep
"Get Low" Flo-Rida f. T-Pain
"SOS" Rhianna
"Maneater" Nelly Furtado
"My Love" Justin Timberlake

(I threw out some enticing numbers to start that sequence off with and then shifted to some very agreeable mainstream tunes...the party was filling up, people were headed to the patio, things were rolling and I entered my so-called (by me) Disco Sequence that I came up with this summer [Honestly, I wish I had picked something more creative than "My Love", but I really wanted to go back-to-back Timbaland])

"If I Ever Feel Better" Phoenix
"You Should Be Dancing" Bee Gees
"Inside And Out" Feist
"When I Get You Alone" Thicke
"The Way You Make Me Feel" Michael Jackson

(Sometimes disco isn't exactly disco, but those songs all shared a certain sensibility...The Way You Make Me Feel seemed to catch the attention of a lot of people out on the patio and I was ready to launch my primary mainstream assault.)

"Green Light" John Legend (I only knew of this song because I had VH1 on before work one morning.)
"Forever" Chris Brown
"Disturbia" Rihanna
"Womanizer" Britney Spears

(I was REAL excited to play Womanizer and tried to give it a proper lead in with all those other songs that white girls love so much...the song is so dope that there's only one direction you can to follow it up...Weezy, baby.)

"Got Money" (feat. T-Pain) Lil Wayne (the crowd-approval to this number--so best)
"Pass That Dutch" Missy Elliot

(feeling that the partiers were on board with me, I started heading a little farther from shore)

"Je Veux Te Voir" Yelle (why is this song so dope? Why? Why?)
"Technologic" Daft Punk

(I received word that Jared was about to head home so I aborted the futuristic jams in favor of something necessary)

"ABC" Michael Jackson
"I Want To Hold Your Hand" The Beatles
"Little Honda" The Beach Boys
"Groove Is In The Heart" Deee-Lite
"Pump Up the Volume" MARRS

(Back when I was in London in 2003 I went to the very last Headcoat concert and after their set ended the DJ put "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on at ear-splitting volume and the effect was spectacular...I had been waiting 5 years to duplicate the experience. Followed it up with Little Honda, my first favorite rock and roll song and I decided to keep spoiling myself by playing two more of my favorite songs from my taste-forming years. After that I just decided to take the train to junior hipster jam town)

"Move Your Feet" Junior Senior
"Move" CSS
"Shut Up And Let Me Go" The Ting Tings

(By now I was starting to get requests, and requests getting played leads to happy dancers...my first request, "Something fast and old by Madonna" followed by "Some Beyonce.")

"Express Yourself" Madonna
"Crazy in Love" Beyonce
"House Of Jealous Lovers" The Rapture
"Do You Want To" Franz Ferdinand (played this in honor of the requester of the Rapture song, people went nuts and I heard someone yell "Best song of the night!" when it ended)
"The World Should Revolve Around Me" Little Jackie (in honor of our hostess)
"Love Like This Before" Faith Evans & Fatman Scoop (here's something cool: when you're picking songs from your laptop and someone requests a song you don't have, you can just try to find it on the internet...and if you do, then you've got a happy requester. I really liked this song.)
"I Got It Like That Vs Hollaback Girl" (Just a little mashup)
"Fancy Footwork" Chromeo (the last request for a while, then I felt inspired, real inspired, to take the dance to some special places)
"Let's Go Crazy" Prince
"Dancing With Myself" Billy Idol
"You Shook Me All Night Long" AC/DC
"Hungry Like The Wolf" Duran Duran
(the 80s jams were received with so much enthusiasm that I just couldn't lining them up.)
"Just Can't Get Enough" Depeche Mode
"Always On My Mind" Pet Shop Boys (do you realize how massive this song is?)
"Blue Monday" New Order (my brain was telling me to take the party back to hip hop town, but I just had to play one more 80s song)

"Four Minutes" Madonna Ft Justin Timberlake
"Big Pimpin" Jay-Z (it was nearly 1am at this point and everything started to deflate, by the time I was halfway into Young Folks most everyone was done)
"Young Folks" Peter Bjorn And John
"Cars" Katzenjammers (but with the party ending, I could play some real silly stuff, like this cool steel drum version of the Gary Numan classic)
"Everything I Do I Do It For You" Bryan Adams (imagine this: stake dance. they've said the closing prayer and there's time for one more slow dance before you go home. This is that slowdance*. The lights were on and people were sweeping up at this point. [*I had prepared a sequence of 90's Stake Dance hits but the atmosphere was never appropriate, this was the only one of the bunch that made it out--this time.])
"Closing" Disneyland (I've got this soundtrack of Disneyland box set and this is the message that plays at the end of the day at Disneyland. Just wanted to officially acknowledge that things were done.)

And that's what I played. I really appreciate having had this opportunity and was so glad that people had fun and liked what I played for them. I got two pseudo-requests to dj some future parties and a general "You should do the next stake dance" sentiment from a few people. What flattery!

Final Tally: 53 Songs, 3.3 hours.

End notes:

1) I would really like to pick the music for a party that's just oldies, r&b, vintage reggae, and soul.
2) Also, sort of would like to play an all electronic party.
3) You should see the list of songs that were at the ready but didn't get played. I came equipped!