Pizza is my favorite food. I eat it twice a week. But if someone offered it to me for every meal for the rest of my life, I’d say no. I love sushi, hamburgers, tacos, etc. I like to change up from time to time which food is eventually going to land me in the hospital.
Variety is an important component of life but you wouldn’t know that by listening to the music selection at local bars and nightclubs.
Each establishment has its favorite songs to play, which is fine, but there’s no reason that half of your playlist should be the same as it was two years ago.
One song that is played interminably at every venue is “Dreams and Nightmares” by Meek Mill. I’ve been harassed by this song so much I’d like to file a restraining order against it. Every time I hear that song I wish that I was Mr. Potato Head so I could just remove my ears.
I know all of the lyrics, but I recite it reluctantly with a straight face in protest whenever the song comes on.
This is not to say that I didn’t once like the song, but I’ve just heard it too much. I like “Goodfellas,” but if someone held my eyes open and forced me to watch it “A Clockwork Orange”-style, the film would lose its luster.
“Callin’ Baton Rouge” is a local favorite that haunts me every moment of my life, waking and asleep. Garth Brooks invades my subconscious while I sleep, pelts me with loose change and then pours coffee on my head. It’s not a pleasant experience.
Again, “Callin’ Baton Rouge” is a good song, but after hearing it at every LSU football game, party, and bar, I’d like to erase it from our collective consciousness.
I’ve been called a curmudgeon by my friends when discussing my thoughts on overplayed songs before, which is an entirely fair criticism. I pride myself on being one of the greatest haters of all time.
My temperaments aside, it seems lazy to recycle half of a playlist from week to week. DJs are playing songs that they think a majority of people know or can at least dance to, but there are far too many songs that accomplish this purpose for the same 20 or so to keep popping up.
“Dancing Queen” by ABBA is a common choice for DJs when dipping their toes in the water of ’70s pop. However, other similarly popular songs from that era like “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight),” “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” or “Stayin’ Alive” are seldom heard.
As far as the ’80s goes, you’ll be lucky to catch a day where the DJ is playing Madonna’s “Material Girl.” You’d be hard pressed to find a Michael Jackson song, even if he’s probably the most famous musician ever.
For the ’90s and 2000s, patrons will get “Promiscuous” by Nelly Furtado and Timbaland, and that’s it. Don’t hold your breath for Britney Spears, The Backstreet Boys or *NSYNC.
There are so many songs and artists that never receive any play. Local DJs seem to have picked their favorite few songs from 50 years of popular music and just let it ride every week.
To diversify their music selection, bars and nightclubs should try to hire DJs that appreciate music and are willing to change up what they are playing every week. My ears would thank them.
Frank Kidd is a 21-year-old mass communication junior from Springfield.