Teach the children well
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As I mentioned in my last post, I've had ample opportunity to work with our teenage youth here in Wichita, for which I am quite grateful. I've really enjoyed it, because they're still alive and not weighed down by the cares of the world.
However, their music education has been sorely lacking. They don't even know Joy Division, for Pete's sake! I attribute this to the following factors:
- They live in Wichita, and are therefore exposed to country, metal, and rap 24/7. Not the good music from those genres, either. I've seen their Facebook posts, about the new Taylor Swift or whatever.
- Their parents were also thusly raised, so how can they teach their kids different?
- Most of them, bless their hearts, are just up for having a good times no matter what, so they've developed a good sense of camp. That would explain their love for line dances. Oh yes, they love the Electric Slide and Macarena. Aren't they cute!
Last month, I was asked to find new DJ's for the monthly dances, as our current DJ's are moving to Virginia for work. (Thanks again, broken economy! ::shakes fist::) This week, I got trained on their new, all-digital setup, handed an external drive and mini-laptop, and left to my own devices. That sound you now hear is my hands rubbing together in glee. Muwahahahaha!
My next object was to come up with a few songs that would pique their interest, and not send them running for the hills. I don't want to scare the dears away too easily. Also, I'm not keen to get rid of the rest of the music that they already have, including a fair amount of the afore-mentioned line dances and some decent country and ballads. Best to not throw out the baby with the bath water, ya know? Third, I wanted to focus on newer material, since the rest of the CD's we have stopped at 2006, leaving lots of newer albums to explore. Finally, the songs had to be squeaky clean. Even I have quite a few songs that I wouldn't consider due to reference to drinking or sex or whatever else.
It's taken weeks, but it's done, about three hours of music that I will slowly add into the rotation, starting next week. Behold!
- 1. Acid House Kings - Say Yes If You Love Me
2. Art Brut - Emily Kane
3. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - All You Do is Talk
4. Brakes - Don't Take Me To Space (Man)
5. Bright Eyes - First Day Of My Life
6. BT - Somnambulist
7. Charlotte Hatherley - Summer
8. Crystal Castles - Crimewave
9. Cut Copy - Hearts On Fire
10. Daft Punk - Technologic
11. Death Cab for Cutie - I Will Follow You into the Dark
12. Does It Offend You, Yeah? - Dawn of the Dead
13. Dollyrots - Because I'm Awesome
14. Emma Pollock - Limbs
15. Feist - My Moon My Man
16. Franz Ferdinand - No You Girls
17. Friendly Fires - Lovesick
18. Girl Talk - Give Me A Beat
19. Japancakes - Sometimes
20. LCD Soundsystem - daft punk is playing at my house
21. Liechtenstein - Roses in the Park
22. Magic Wands - Black Magic
23. Mahogany - The View From the People Wall
24. Maps - To The Sky
25. Metric - Front Row
26. Mew - Special
27. Peter Bjorn And John - Young Folks
28. Placebo - Twenty Years
29. Rinôçérôse - Cubicle [Edit]
30. Snow Patrol - Run
31. The Beat - Mirror In The Bathroom
32. The Bravery - Bad Sun
33. The Brother Kite - Hopeless And Unsung
34. The Cardigans - My Favourite Game
35. The Cribs - Mens Needs
36. The Dandy Warhols - And Then I Dreamt Of Yes
37. The Lightning Seeds - Joy
38. The Long Blondes - Once & Never Again
39. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - A Teenager In Love
40. The Presets - Girl And The Sea
41. The Prodigy - Thunder
42. Ting Tings - That's Not My Name
43. Uncle Tupelo - Give Back The Key To My Heart
44. Van She - Changes
45. White Lies - To Lose My Life
46. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll
I surprised myself at the number of good ballads I found, since they're not something I seek for my own enjoyment. I even threw in some Uncle Tupelo for that tiny bit of alt-country goodness.
And what a surprise, Mew made the list! ;)
The tagged song? Another recent find that I've really been enjoying. It's good to see the C86 sound make a comeback, and with female harmonies like that, I'm defenseless. Oh, and they're Swedish. Did I mention that? ::swoon::
Comments (21)
you've done very, very well!! :)
I can't help but giggle to think of these youngsters discovering deep catalog tracks by Placebo or The Prodigy because of you (mwah ha ha)...excellent job on this!
Oh, I can certainly hope. Heh.
nice work dale!
i love that brmc tune, all you do is talk, which is an apt description of the students i taught in tough schools in the bronx and manhattan
needless to say, they did not share my taste in music, but i found clever ways to force them into listening to it
when teaching Cortez, we analyzed the lyrics to Neil Young's Cortez the Killer, and when teaching the French Revolution, Rush's Bastille Day
there's nothing like watching a group of bachatta and salsa listening youth laugh and bang their heads to Rush
I also know from my strict Baptist upbringing that we were taught that so much of rock was 'of the devil' & represented a hedonist lifestyle unlike the way of the straight & narrow, so we were steered clear of that 'evil' rock music. I even recall throwing albums of mine away that were considered satanic, to no avail of course since I couldn't stay away from it!
Excellent playlist, I can't think of a better person to mentor those kids musically. I'm loving that new Metric album! And SHOCK, you have some Uncle Tupelo in there too, could Wilco be next?
Only one '80s tune, for shame! ...A good one though. Oh wait, I see the Lightning Seeds, is that from the new one or is it an oldie?
you will be amazed at just how much the kids both love and hate the music you have chosen. Kids are funny, and there might be a song they all begin to love, and one they want you to turn off right away. I was the dj for 7 years at our annual school dance and I found a mix of the new and the familiar is what made the kids the happiest
Oh, last time I looked for Joy Division at my local record store they had it filed under classic rock..........sad times indeed
They MUST know Blur's Song 2 and it will make the little puppies bounce up and down for 2 minutes..
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Have you talked to eMusic about getting a commision on the sales you're going to generate from this playlist? :-)
Dave, I tried to steer clear of the 80's, as they have a fair amount of 80's already. They even have Blue Monday '88, which isn't too shabby. But yeah, I had to throw that song in. And the Lightning Seeds song is from Cloudcuckooland, so it's 80's as well.
Kevin, I'm actually going to post the songs onto sendspace and see the reactions I get beforehand. I did get a couple of "oh boy, new music!!!" responses on Facebook already, so that bodes well.
And that is WRONG WRONG WRONG!!! Not that JD isn't classic (it is), but "classic rock"? Right there with Boston and Foghat? EWWWWWWW!
Neill, that song they have, tho I'm not sure if it gets much play. Might need to remediate that.
Hmm, I really should, huh Jonh? :)
Oh and BTW, I found out tonight that there will be Western dance instruction at this dance. Egad! I don't need to play all country, but probably at least a good half-hour or so. ::gritting teeth::
a few letters down new order was in there as well...... I do not think I will ever go back again
Wow ... that really really hurts.
tell me about it.......I almost want to go back and list all the bands they have in that section that would make me cry. Those two hurt enough for right now
Is no one appalled by the face that Dale is EMCD-ing children?!
But you do it SO well, my dear...
Hey, some of my friends back in Greece are 27 and they still don't know and don't care about who Joy Division are. Hopeless, I'm telling ya.
maybe we should start calling dale Jacko
Oh my gosh, Kevin went there. :O
Not until he changes his skin colour to black.
all i can say is i wish i had a dj like you for my high school dances. ugh that music was terrible, i went to a few and then never again...
Anna, does a tan count? Because I'm working on the most delightful farmer's tan ever. I'm pearly white under my T-shirt, bronze on my exposed arms. ;)
Sorry to hear that; we had student DJ's in HS, so the music was pretty good most of the time.
Hah! We call that cab driver's tan in Greece hehehhe
I have the same tan as you right now, only I'm not bronze but pink...eck!