First of all, sign up.
Secondly, who is/was your favorite DJ? Honestly, I haven't really listened to music on the radio in close to 20 years now (I could name some of my favorite NPR commentators!) so no one current comes to mind. Was racking my brain trying to think of one from my past, but no one really floated to the top. I think I liked John Hines as a kid, but now he's like a right wing talk radio guy?
01. "Pedal Point Blues" – Charles Mingus – Mingus Ah Um
02. "St. Nicks In The Fourth In A Fervor" – Ha Ha Tonka – Buckle In The Bible Belt
03. "D-7" – Nirvana – Hormoaning
04. "So Called Friend" – Uncle Tupelo – No Depression
05. "Symphony No. 5: Finale" – Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra – Tchaikovsky: Symphonies 4, 5 & 6
06. "What The Writer Meant" – Hop Along – Bark Your Head Off, Dog
07. "Sorry I Am" – Ani DiFranco – Not A Pretty Girl
08 "Apache Rose Peacock" – Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Majik
09. "Start" – Throwing Muses – University
10. "Imperfections" – Olivia Chaney – The Mark Radcliffe Folk Sessions
Barb Abney for a while back, when she was on The Current.
Dan Geiger from Radio AHHS when I was a kid.
The last DJ I can remember by name is Rick Dees from KIIS-FM from 30 years ago in LA. I guess the (defunct) classical channel here had DJs, so Dick Wobbe and John Clayton from KFUO-FM (voted best classical station in America in 2005) are probably the last then. I was in my car listening when Dick's mic was hot and he used some choice language when answering the phone -- he got several days leave for that 😉
Thanks to Rick Beato's YouTube channel, I'm now aware of guitar player Plini, and this track would have cracked my top of 2018 list:
If someone doesn't name Johnny Fever, I'll be very disappointed.
Was trying to search an old DJ name and found quite the repository of historic Twin Cities radio.
John Records Landecker at WLS-AM Chicago in the 70's.
Lin Bremer - WXRT. "It's great to be alive. "
1. The Old School Yard--Cat Stevens
2. We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again--England Dan and John Ford Coley
3. Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word--Elton John
4. This Guy's in Love with You--Herb Alpert
5. Without You--Harry Nilsson
6. Your Wildest Dreams--Moody Blues
7. You Make Me Feel Brand New--The Stylistics
8. Can't Get It Out Of My Head--Electric Light Orchestra
9. Oh, Darling--Supertramp
10. Return to Pooh Corner--Kenny Loggins
Ooo, I was wondering what I should listen to next. I'm thinking it's time to dig up Nilsson Schmilsson.
I know main categories of DJ:
Radio DJ. Announcer, talker, used to be selector.
Club DJ. Skills are beat-matching and transitions, plus selection.
Hip-hop DJ. Skills are cuts and scratches, creating new music out of existing records. Also, a bit of selection. Also called "Turntablist"
Some DJs straddle the lines (DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid liked to scratch across his club sets, NY hip-hop DJs on Radio also did announcing and beat-matching).
Do and Radio DJs still select their playlists? I don't know that I've ever had a favorite. The "Rock Over London" show that Mankato's KDOG would play on Sunday nights after American Top 40 (first Shadow Stevens then Casey Kasem) was cool (first place I heard Jesus Jones is all I remember). Did that show have DJs? Were those selections curated, or just trying to capture the British zeitgeist of the moment (reflecting the selections of others like John Peel)?
When we had XM radio last summer, I was fond of Pitbull's selection of Club DJs for his channel (so, he was like a meta-DJ). I would never recognize one DJ from perio never really remembered any of the DJs from time to time though.
I wasn't much of a club kid, so I can't really judge those DJs broadly outside of mixes. My favorite entries in the DJ-Kicks series (from back when it was only 12 volumes deep though I never heard Carl Craig's) were Claude Young (Techno/House) and Kemistry & Storm (Jungle
[Kemistry then perished in an auto accident shortly after that mix was released. It was weird: I'd just heard of her and then I hear she's dead. It was like that Sublime guy.])
I've heard great things about sets from Plastikman and Ricardo Villalobos, but I can't confirm.
As for Hip-hop DJs, The Invisible Skratch Picklz were held up as the gold standard before I heard anything. They never released an album, just a single and then each made their own thing. Of the things I've heard from them solo, Mix Master Mike hits my sweet spot.
Not sure if I should include DJ Shadow ("Just your favorite DJ Savior")... I really dug Endtroducing..., but couldn't really get into his subsequent releases. I'm not even sure if I can judge these guy's abilities as DJs, as opposed to composers/producers who highlighted their turntable skills. I've never seen them or heard them play full DJ sets. (That one ISP single, "Invisbl Skratch Piklz Vs. Da Klamz Uv Deth" might be an exception.)
I'm not going to include Fog/Andrew Broder, despite how awesome he was with the turntables on "Pneumonia", "Check Fraud", and "What-a-day Day", but he was really using the turntable as an instrument to make weird classic rock.
Shorter AMR: I don't know any contemporary DJs.
this was unbelievably pedantic. thank you.
You're welcome.
1. Sonic Youth “Walkin' Blue” The Eternal
2. Palace Songs “Untitled” Hope
3. Hello Saferide “Re: Always on My Mind” Long Lost Penpal EP
4. Shurik'n “Samurai”* Où
5. Split Lip Rayfield “The Weasel, the Bean, the Frog, & the Dog” The Bottle Let Me Down: Songs for Bumpy Wagon Rides
6. The Cinematic Orchestra “The Man with the Movie Camera” Every Day
7. HEALTH “VICTIM (BORN IN FLAMEZ RMX)” DISCO3
8. Mix Master Mike “Ultra Intro” Anti-Theft Device
9. Stina Nordenstam “Little Star” William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet
T. Aphex Twin “4” Richard D. James Album
E. Merle Haggard “What I Hate”* Working in Tennessee
*Notes:
4. French Hip hop from the 90s. Featuring a sample from Bruno Coulais's theme for the film "Le Jouet" (which was remade in the US as "The Toy" starring Richard Pryor). Gives it a real classical feel. I bought this CD in the Amsterdam Airport in January 2000, flying back to MN from Prague. Same time I bought Arvo Pärt's De Profundis (my first and still favorite Pärt). Also walked past Billy Corgan (and maybe other members of his band) but didn't bother him.
Hey, the song has a video!
E. Chemtrails!