Dance, Interrupted
While out dancing this weekend, I was again subjected to a curious phenomenon I’ve observed on the past few occasions I’ve frequented a bar/club. It seems that it is now impossible for the DJ to play any song in its entirety! He, instead, mixes random snippets of 90s dance, Van Halen’s “Jump”, and Justin Timberlake together but only the first verse and maybe the chorus of each. As soon as you get a firm grasp on the rhythm and move accordingly, the song has already segued into something entirely different. You’ve just perfected your Morrissey sway and “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” starts; your mopey moves are now rendered completely inappropriate. If the bridge is the part of the song where you totally lose yourself in a euphoric trance and shake to and fro with giddiness, forget it. The dude at the turntables is not going to play that part.
In this hyper-information age, has our collective attention span really dwindled to such a minute point where an entire song could disrupt that desire for immediacy, for instantaneous variety? With the new DJ method, it implies that we can’t wait for what’s next. There is no longer an anticipation, an excitement about where the next song will lead us on the dancefloor. We aren’t given enough time for that. We might be physically active, sweating out there under the lights but we’re merely observers allowing another song to pass us by. We happily let the entirety of the experience elude us.
Or maybe this form of teasing is intended to keep us in a perpetual state of heightened desire. If so, it has the exact opposite effect. Its only benefit is that if the worst song ever is playing (and at this particular dance party, there was a wealth of those), you can sip your cocktail with relief knowing that it will soon be over.
I also find mash-ups, especially when played consecutively, insufferable.