For the Black side of the crowd hit some 80's music - classic Electro (Planet Rock, Pack Jam, When I Hear Music, etc), classic Funk/Pop R&B (Cameo, Gap Band, Micheal Jackson - Thriller & Off The Wall hits, etc) maybe even drop some New jack Swing and classic House music if the crowd is into it.

Also don't forget the "line dance" classics - Booty Call - Blackstreet, Cupid Shuffle, etc.

Come on dude, hit the classics. Sugar Hill Gang Rappers Delight, Some old school Madonna, some Tone Loc, Skim over some top 40 of the mid 80's, have line dances on stand by like, the electric slide, or whatever line dances they may do in your part of the country. Most 40 plus folks only know the hits and you can't play a lot of underground. You may have to have some disco and they will NOT dance to every song. So basically, classics from the 80's and 90's. The stuff thats is out today you will have to play by request. I did a class of 1983 party last year and they wanted to hear shit like WhiteSnake and Quiet Riot and shit. Un-danceable shit. I then hit them with Good Times by Chic, sugar hill gang and quickly brought them up to the 90's with C and C music Factory and some 80's B-52's. It was white and black people so I had to do some marvin gaye,michael jackson and Prince as well. Depending on the type of atmosphere you can get away with early 90's hip hop like Naughty by Nature, Young MC and anything by Will Smith..40yr old graduated high school in 1987 so top songs from 84 to 90 should cover you some but they will want to pick it up once they are drunk and think they are young again.

after all of this, hit em with the new vibin ish. don't make em feel too old, theyll still wanna get down with the new ish, besides 40 ain't really that old anymore. 40's the new 30, son. don't play too much of that expired ish. trust me that shit gets old. no pun intended.

Dude Gap Band, Chic, James Brown,Stevie Wonder, and Van MCoy would be it. Gloria Gaynor, Gloria Estefan (SP). For newer stuff I think PussyCatDolls, Gwen Stefani, Chili Peppers would fare well.

Good Luck

Ask them for a playlist of their favorite songs.
That way you'll know what they actually like.

This better be a joke and if not then please give up djing cuz if you dont know what to play your not a real dj.you should know what to play once you get their.with serato you should be good.

Im 40 and if you was to play anything on that list i would walkout the party unless its a old school session.know your crowd anc read them. this is why alot on here blast new dj's that ask these question's.

May I ask Que- "with serato you should be good"???

look for hits of 1984- 1994 for especial care...

I have to agree. I do 30-40 year old parties from time to time and all I mostly play is newer sh*t.

^^true that. I played a 40th bday party a couple weeks ago and played ALL new ish, and it was off the chain. Believe me, these 40 year olds don't want to feel old, and like new hits, esp. The ladies. Be prepared with old classics and new akonish hits. Read the crowd.

@ 40 we still consider ourselves still "COOL". So you cant play all oldschool. You gotta mix it up a little. Some new and some old

i play @ clubs mainly and that has none of this pressure...for the money i charged i just wanna make sure i have the right idea going into the show...i have never DJd for such a crowd before.

thank y'all, this has been more than helpful

trust me all new radio is whats going on maybe a old school set for maybe 1hr or so but u have to read the crowd and im sure you play for 40/30 in a club u just cant pick us out u would see my and think im 28 or 30

What i mean is that cuz all our music is on a hd you can download/buy any genra of music now.we aint limited like b4 it was only buying one genra and that was it whatever you played for the most is what u buy,not now everybodys a dj.

Thats the main reason we have so many dj b4 it wasnt.you would get the equipment but the records if u had to buy would make u quit,and thats why we got paid so much to dj cuz ppl spending $6 to $12 per record was killing ppl and if u needed doubles then double that price the x that buy 120 per milk crate and thats how much 1 dj crate of records cost

Pretty much 1 dj crate would be $1440 @ $12x120 or $2880@24x120 thats all lethal weapon,diggin in the crates av8 etc so us that was on our game got the big figures. it was weekends where i was making $4k buy the end of the weekend (friday,sat,sun) for doing 2 weddings,corp event and club thats why we get mad when dj's do it for cheap

djque your english is straight retarded.

+1

I thought that went without saying (but you never know).

Older crowds like smooth stuff as well as hype club hits. If you were doing Lil' Wayne, something like Mrs. Officer goes well (because of Bobby Valentino on the hook) but Get Money would also work in some cases.

Also think newer stuff that borrows from old stuff that they (we) know:

Let It Go - Keyshia Cole (Biggie)
Lose Control - Missy (Clear)
In The Ayer - Flo Rida (Pretty Tony)

I've done a few lately that I wasn't too sure what I'd be playing. Most recent was a 30th and I was updating all my older stuff for a few days before I actually thought about it. I'm nearly 20 so it's only 10 years difference. Ended up playing almost nothing but RnB besides about 20 minutes of 80's.

I finally did the Party, i tip my hat off to all those who said these guys know how to party... it ended up being a normal show, must have played old school stuff for like an hour tops. I had these guys doing the stanky leg thats how retarded it became lol...Akon and Michael jackson will win always with these guys...Gotta say this was the best party i have ever Djed...when drunk we are all young, Thank yall

LOL @ some of the cliche sugestions in here, man they're 40 not 140. I won't be 40 for quite a while but I'm not stupid enough to think that I'm going in there playing Rick James all night. Dj's gotta stop listening to the bullshit playlist suggestions around here and actually see for themselves, the world doesn't revolve around the same 20 tracks regurgitated in here for every genre.

Dj 1 - Uhhhh... I need some Reggae

Dj 2 - You gotta play Red Red Wine, Like Glue, Morgan Heritage, Cutty Ranks, Heads High, Toots & The Maytals, Ini Kamoze.

Real World - WRONG muthafucka, wrong. Unless it's a partywith a mixture of 35 year old secretaries from Des Moines and 50 year old dreads....wrong.



Anyway GPL, you already did the party and I'm glad it worked out for you, but I'm also glad that you witnessed with your own eyes that asking for a playlist around here is a crap shoot, sometimes you get some gems, more often than not it's the blind leading the blind, or in our situation... The deaf leading the deaf.

; )

+ 80's

taking requests on tha spot works too.


always have your Brass Monkey, Ice Ice Baby, Hammer, and Baby Got Back ready to go when things start to heat up

.... and if alcohol is involved, you may be required to pull out sum 2 Live Crew





.

+ 80's

taking requests on tha spot works too.


always have your Brass Monkey, Ice Ice Baby, Hammer, and Baby Got Back ready to go when things start to heat up

.... and if alcohol is involved, you may be required to pull out sum 2 Live Crew





.

it's not that hard, just get a "top hits of the 80's" or whatever year they were in their prime (teens-20's).I mean these people are in the 40's age range, they aren't senior citizens, so u may want to throw on some new & recent hits....

Debbie Deb.

I have a party like this coming up soon and I was curious what the responses would be. this is not my first time doing this though.
I play some of the club classics as well as new stuff (right now Fine China works for every party I spin for regardless of age) for some reason Booty Call (Line dance version) no one really seems to know here.
Line dances such as:
Macarena
cha cha slide
cotton eye joe (sometimes)
Cupid shuffle
Electric Slide (not the rap version)
Soulja boy ' tell 'em (for predominately black parties)
Wobble
Teach me how to dougie (under 35 is best)
Copperhead road for the country crowd and boot scoot boogie as well.

you gotta know your client and their crowd....watch how they react when you change things up. and don't forget that once everyone gets drunk...what they want will often change.

oh, and Macarena has to be the chick singing version, not the three dudes version.

this is an old thread, but 40 yr olds came of age with biggie, 2pac, NIN, RATM, Metallica, Wu Tang etc.



if you played any of this crap at my 40 year old bday party or any of my homies, we would pay you and tell you to go home immediately or risk getting everything thrown out on the yard or in the parking lot depending on what style housing you live in.

+1

I play gigs pretty much for old people, and no you do not play the macarena cotton eye joe or any of that line dance crap(aside from requests at a wedding). Believe it or not, 40 and up crowd is somewhat similar to 30's crowd. Mix in new stuff (hideaway) with old (show me love) and just play good music.

spoken like a true mobile DJ. I love mobile crowds they are always so fun cause they never really expect the DJ to get down and when the DJ gets down its always amazing watching old people boogie like they are 19 again.

I have to agree to disagree almost all of my mobiles include cheesy ass line dances that get everyone up.

best mobile DJ song to date is CC and the music factory - everybody dance now

I always open with that track at my mobiles sets shit off everytime.

Maybe at your events but every area is different. I get requests for a lot of that stuff at all my weddings, corporate and 30 & up events.

True every area is different. For example, cupid shuffle I don't think is that well known around here but it's big time at any mobile gig in areas in the states

Yup. It's still big at a lot of clubs I do as well.

If you have to ask such stupid questions then maybe you should sell your gear.

Sorry, had to be stated.

Almost every dance in my area with a broad range of ages in the audience require the basic 4-5 line dance songs. Many of them think of the Cupid Line Dance as something new and cool. I can remember when we did almost the same moves to Parliments, Tear The Roof Off The Sucker in 1976.

Classic songs from the 1950's forward will bring people of all ages to the dance floor. I had request for several old MJ songs at a HS HC on Saturday Night. On Friday night at a wedding reception I had a young girl, maybe in her early 20's ask for Gregory Abbott, Shake You Down, I told her she was going to hear it in about 10 minutes as it was already on the playlist for the night.

man, im about to start to have to do these events where you play shit like this. i sincerely don't know how you guys do it. i just dont get line dances and ymca/cotton eyed joe type stuff, but theres no denying theres a place for it. i just dont ever wanna be at that place.

What do you listen to that you can't handle these type of songs. I find the best DJ's I have ever seen love and play music from the Big Band Era forward. If you want to be a really good DJ, educate yourself on many genres and types of music.

You might really be surprised at what you do and don't like if you open your musical taste up. I am not much on Heavy Metal, Modern Rock of Rap, but I find songs from those genres that I like and play at many events, so I can keep all the customers happy.

Just remember one thing, the people in their late 40's to early 60's have the most disposable income to spend on you, not the broke youngins :)

This. There is enough good music from every era and every genre out there that you can find some tracks that will get even the most stubborn head moving. Part of being a real DJ is finding these tracks so you can rock any type of crowd.

Don't forget, getting the crowd moving is what people pay you for. Amazes me how entitled some DJs act, like it's their right to collect a paycheck for playing their favorite songs and nothing else. That's not how it works. People want to dance and you have to figure out how to make that happen. You may think you're tearing it up but if the crowd isn't feeling it, you haven't done your job. Period.



This is the truest statement. I did an early retirement party for my friend's parents five years ago. Older Martha Stewart ish crowd. I spun whatever the hell I had and whatever the hell they wanted and I am still getting requests from that party and their friends. I charge a G for these parties and they don't even blink because they're all loaded and they love to dance.

It can be fun actually because you still a get a big crowd reaction. Thats what satisfying seeing that you played something cheesy and totally set the place off with it. I could never mobiles 100% though at least not until I'm 40..lol

i'm not saying theres great music from every era, and i take pride in my musical knowledge and range in dj'ing.

BUT, the songs i listed

'''Macarena
cha cha slide
cotton eye joe (sometimes)
Cupid shuffle
Electric Slide (not the rap version)''


all those songs seem like songs that a mobile dj service would hand a noob and say, 'play this list'.

IMO dont think any event needs these songs for a good time or good party, and if it does i'd rather not do it.

I actually played for a 50 yr HS reunion for a former 1st lady and i played old 50-60s pop(which i dug for, sourced with the reunion and online diggin), but nothing like that. Still got compliments and dancing all night.

to me these are becoming 70s-90s mobile dj standards that should be phased out but if you guys wanna keep rocking the cotton eyed joe thats on you.

I seriously do not know one person that would want to hear any of that stuff outside of a wedding that had very very conservative people. Even the wedding i did this summer had a band that at least played like BEP and newer corny stuff, and they wanted me to play old school rap after.

Mobile gigs dont have to be wack IMO.

all those songs seem like the

I'm 41. From the Bay Area. I've never played any of those line dances and I've never seen most of them played. Maybe the electric slide at a wedding. +1 on playing good music. Try playing a lot of songs that were heavily sampled. 40 year olds will recognize them even if they aren't hip hop heads.
Yeah I don't know anyone that would want to hear that other stuff either, even at a wedding.

If you played the Mashed Potato, The Hand Jive, The Stroll, you played the 50's version of all those songs above, that you have so much dislike for. If you didn't play any of the above songs I listed, then you shorted the audience and missed a chance to see them enjoy dance moves from their youth.

There are a lot of really cheesie songs out there, I am sure if you gave me a list of what you like to listen to, I would find some Cheddar in the mix, if not now, they will be considered cheesie when you get a little longer in the tooth :)

I'm 40. The stuff you guys describe here is like music to make grandma get up and dance at the wedding.

We grew up with the whole bad boy catalog, Mariah Carey if you wanna go more top 40.

A lot of the top DJs out there are in their 40's (z trip, qbert, jazzy Jeff, most of the beat junkies). Listen to their stuff for music that influenced our generation.

all these albums have turned or are turning 20. (and yes this is why around 40 year olds are so salty about the current state of hip-hop/rap).

People turning 40 soon grew up on all this. And of course im not saying play 'wu tang aint nothing to fck with' at a 40 something corporate party, but i am saying things are changing from a social standpoint and what was listened to for the next wave of late 30s(20 Yr hs reunions) and 40 yr old bday parties.


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rateyourmusic.com

Yeah I think some of the responses might have broadened out from 40 year olds to 50 and up crowd. But probably my fault as I started off classifying 40 year old as "gigs for old people". my bad lol. I do find the majority of requests from the 40 crowd is mainly 90's hip hop stuff. They say, "keep it old school." Throw in the odd rock balad request (Billy Idol, Joan Jett, etc.) and occasional cheesy 90's pop tune (C&C, Marky Mark) and that's about it. Never the Macarena or YMCA unless it's a wedding.

I did 30 year HS reunion 2 weeks ago in Hershey PA. They requested every line dance known to mankind and danced all night to them. I played each one a minimum 2 times back to back. People still love them no matter if we as DJ's do or not.

i would thing the 30-40 yr reunions would have a lot of those songs.

i still remember having to learn those dances in 6th grade and they all seemed to be from the 70s.

most gen x'ers of the late 80s and early 90s were a bit different if you were anywhere near a decent sized city. Contrarian generation to say the least.

It's great if you can play cool music and the crowd go for it but if cha cha slide and such crap pack the dance floor and create a great atmosphere who gives a fuck so long as the place is rocking.

you are the minority.

precisely...a real DJ plays what the crowd wants. my last gig was mostly folks 35-42yrs, higher ranking military folks (It was a Khaki Ball) only about 80 people....you know how hard it is to get folks in uniform to dance when you have less than 100 people? I had the floor so busy the club got mad cuz no one wanted to leave. I gave them what They wanted, not what I wanted.
I already have 3 more gigs like this scheduled for December

while I am 41 myself, i know what to watch for. I use the time during the dinner (i have a 30 minute set premixed for dinner for each particular crowd) to walk out onto the floor and talk to the folks while they are eating with my request sheet...asking for what they would like to hear. I even played some 2-step and Bachata that night.

Hey man, nothing wrong with 2-step or bachata!

if we are talking a HS reunion in a small town maybe, but just because the playbook says play that stuff to 40-50 yr olds, doesnt mean you have to, or everyone wants to hear it.

especially the closer to 40 year olds.

and 2 step and bachata would be much better than the line dances.

YOu are playing to a certain crowd. NOt sure if military bases in Japan are the typical crowd some of us play to. I personally know no military personel in any way, nor does my area have an major bases around it(well maybe 150 miles away)

Just play top 40, and if people ask, say that you thought that they would like it bc top 40 has the number 40 in it.

nm

There is a certain element that only will dance to those line dances. It will be the only fun they have and are usually adamant about having them played. If you play them and no one dances, mix out of it and move on. If people jump up and are having fun, mission accomplished, that is why we are there in the first place - to read a crowd and a room and program music that they will enjoy.

This and normally line dances are heavily requested. Hell I played at a club where people constantly asked for the damn wobble and this was a mega club and all 1200 people doing the fucking wobble. Anyways I hate line dances but they cannot be denied unfortunately.

Who really cares what the people are dancing to, as long as they are dancing and enjoying themselves.

As a DJ I have the most fun if my crowd is dancing, no matter what that music is. As a person I really don't care for Heavy Metal, Modern Rock and almost all RAP, but if the crowd wants to dance to it, I do my job and play it. I do limit things as I don't accept gigs that want foul music with a lot of language in it, I recommend those customers to another DJ, we are a Christian Family and we truly carry those beliefs and standards into our DJ services. This has gained me many more gigs than it has lost.

It is always nice when you get to do a dance where the crowd is in tune with your generation and social group, me I love Motown, Disco, Funk, 60s-80s rock and a lot of Top 40 from 1950 to current.