I’m always hearing stories about how the DJ at “such and such” club has a real “attitude”. He won’t play their favorite dances or songs, he’s nasty and he glares at them from the DJ booth.  If they approach him he gives them the “don’t you dare ask for something stupid” look. I shake my head because I understand both sides of the track and I know why it happens. It’s a different world when you are looking out from the DJ booth.

            If you have ever been a DJ in a bar then you know what it’s like to have dancers come up to the booth and shake their fingers in your face and DEMAND that you play their requests.  If you don’t play it immediately, they return even more irritated than before, and the foul language and arguments start in.  It’s hard for the average person to even conceive that these things happen just about every night so I thought I might give you an idea of what we have had to endure.  One of my personal favorites is arguing with the drunken dancers.  Try talking to someone whose eyes don’t focus that want you to play a song and are angry because you don’t know which song they are talking about.  General statements like “you know the song. It’s a two step and some guy is singing it.” don’t help at all.  Trying to politely put up with males and females hitting on you or groping you in the booth because you are “the DJ” is always fun, too.  Maybe that doesn’t sound bad to you guys, but if you are trying to work up there and you have a room full of dancers ready scream at you if miscount on your 5-6-7-8 or have “dead air”, then it gets kind of stressful.  And how about the country versus non-country music controversy?  If the song you are playing is not country, the country lovers scream at you and threaten to never return.  If you play all country songs, people get bored and go home.  Never is the whole room happy with what you are playing.  Someone is always glaring up at the booth with folded arms or yawning in disgust.

            There is also the dancer that comes up and writes about twenty dances on your request board.  If you only play nineteen of the twenty requests (not bad if you ask me) then they still leave grumbling that you are a lousy DJ because you didn’t play ALL of their songs.  You can’t win.  How about the guy that asks for a song and he is the ONLY one that knows the dance, but feels it’s ok for him to go out there and “showcase” for everyone else that also paid to dance.  Then there are the ones that ask for a dance and when you start the music, they SCREAM out to you from the dance floor, “wrong song, wrong song – I want the other song”.  What other song?  Maybe you should have written that down with the name of the dance?  There are lots of new “fad” dances that are choreographed to obscure songs that DJs can’t always afford (or even find) to purchase.  It’s nice if someone purchases the CD for the DJ if they really want to dance to that particular song.  However, the dancer that brings their own personal CD for the DJ to play that consists of songs that they copied illegally from the Internet is not really doing anyone a favor.  It is very hard to get it through dancers’ heads that it is AGAINST THE LAW to steal music from the Internet.  I know how easy it is to get the songs online and that everyone has a CD burner in their computer, but it is never legal to play copied songs, especially in a public place, and the fines are huge (thousands of dollars per song) if you get caught.

Try to keep in mind that the DJ is up there working very hard to keep ALL of the people dancing, not just you, and it’s not as easy as it looks.  Keeping the mood up and the dancers on the floor takes planning.  You have one song playing; you are prepping for the next one and trying to make announcements, taking requests and answering questions at the same time.  Country DJs have to worry about mixing the line dances with the couples dances.  If the line dancers get in the way of the couples, it is up to the DJ to pay attention and maintain dance floor etiquette.  The country DJ also has to know what dances go to what songs and where exactly in the song that the dance starts.  The best country DJs are the ones that also know how to dance. It’s a fine line between order and chaos on the dance floor and all of the responsibility rests on the DJ.  If you are working in a bar, you have to make announcements about upcoming events and drink specials, and you have the owner watching you all night like a hawk to make sure you are getting it right.  Many owners also have rules on what type of music the DJ can or cannot play.

            Being a DJ is a thankless job.  It is hot, smoky and you are usually stuck standing in a little booth all night long.  It’s difficult to get a drink or even get to the bathroom.  Rarely do dancers come up before they leave for the evening and thank the DJ.   So it is 7 hours or more of non-stop stress for a couple of hundred dollars.  Does that sound worth it to you?  And here’s some news for the country dancers.  In rock dance clubs, people don’t just come up and thank you, they tip the DJ at the end of the evening and buy him drinks during the night.  You rarely see that in a country bar.  So now maybe you can understand a little better how just one really nasty person can set your mood off for the whole night.  There are some nights when you just want to pack up your music, walk out and go home before the evening is over.

            The season to give thanks is here so try to have more patience the next time you go out dancing.  Try to see the view from the other guy’s eyes and appreciate what you do have - don’t complain so much about what you don’t.  Most of the bad experiences I’ve had are in the past and most were from working in bars or private parties.  When I go to a bar that has a bad attitude, I can empathize and feel sorry for the DJ. I’m very lucky right now because I love working at the Elks club.  Our host, Nancy, is one of the nicest, kindest people I have ever met and our regular dancers are fun loving, polite, considerate and gracious.  Every once in a while a heckler walks in, but for the most part, it is a joy for me to work there.  And when my partner, DJ Jam, and I are happy, it reflects back to the crowd and creates a fun atmosphere for everyone else.  We are starting our second year now and want to say thank you, Happy Anniversary and have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!

            I saw the list below on www.djdepot.com about what you shouldn’t ask the DJ.  It inspired this article and also made me really laugh because we hear at least one of these comments every night.  But if you don’t get it, show it to your favorite DJ and I’m sure he or she will explain it to you!