Party Time! Everyone loves a good party – unless you’re the host, or a boarder-line hermit. Parties provide that magical combination of being some exotic and different coupled with being safe, dry and warm. Unfortunately though, party music can be sadly lacking in anything close to style, oomph or substance. Typical party soundtracks involve either a hastily cobbled together “cheese” playlist consisting of too much Bon Jovi, or else some sadistic, powerful person who manages to control the remote, subjecting all party goers to The Hits, or MTV Base, or towards the end of the night, the musical no-man’s land that is Magic. Creating a great party playlist is pretty easy however, providing you follow these five simple rules:
1. Play stuff that most people will know, even if they only know of it vaguely.
2. If you put on a track that is a bit more obscure, make sure it is a really upbeat or beautiful track. Don’t make it too complicated; most people do not like it.
3. Throw in some nostalgia, but make sure there are some new tracks too. If you only include tracks from when you were in the first year at uni, it’ll just send everyone into a spiralling depression about how shit life is in comparison to those halcyon days.
4. Keep it upbeat. You want people to enjoy themselves, not drown their sorrows.
5. Cater to your guest’s tastes. If there will be a lot of attendees who are pop-loving girly-girls, you will have to include some Take That. They will not consider it a party without some.
I follow all these rules, and my party playlist is awesome. Here is some pure gold from my extensive party list:
1. “Bang Bang Bang” – Mark Ronson and the Business Intl.
Such a cool song, great to get heads at a party nodding. The chorus has an element of glorious, reckless abandon about it, and it manages to be upbeat and buoyant without loosing its razor-edge sharpness. Helps that it was the song of summer 2010 as well.
2. “Undone (The Sweater Song)” – Weezer
A slightly less well-known track from Blue, but most should be familiar with “Undone” if they like Weezer, and everyone who’s anyone loves a good bit of Weezer. This track is mellow and plodding, yet it has a dispassionate centre to it, which is great for subtly angry sing-alongs.
3. “Telephone” – Lady Gaga feat. Beyonce
These days a party kind of isn’t complete without a bit of Gaga, and this track, with both Gaga and Beyonce, is an obvious choice. It is also my favourite Gaga track.
4. “Seven Nation Army” – The White Stripes
No indie kid party would be complete without some White Stripes, and “Seven Nation Army” is pretty much the king of White Stripes tracks.
5. “Pump It Up” – Elvis Costello
This track is vintage Elvis Costello, with a cool, nonchalant peppiness that should be familiar to all.
6. “Hey Ya!” – Andre 3000
Ah – an awesome song. It was played to death in 2003, but now I cannot imagine a good party without it. It is just aural positivity – fantastic.
7. “Let Make Love and Listen to Death from Above” – CSS
Such a cool, edgy song should add a cool, edgy depth to any party. Poly-rhythmic enough to dance to (or at least tap your feet to), with a sexy, arty feel that should appeal to ladies and gents.
8. “Frontier Psychiatrist” – Avalanches
Nice bit of sample based mastery in this awesome Avalanches track. Again, it should be familiar to most, when heard at least, if not on paper.
9. “Danger! High Voltage” – Electric 6
A punchy, fun track that has a great set of guitar parts, and funky, perverted lyrics. Great for getting down to after a few drinks.
10. “No More Mr. Nice Guy” – Alice Cooper
Such a cool track with an anthemic chorus line. Most people should be familiar with this, though they might not know its Alice Cooper, or even (shudder to think) who Alice Cooper is.
11. “Rock the Casbah” – The Clash
Everyone loves “Rock the Casbah”. It is played a lot, but this time for a good reason – it is a fantastic track – musically and ambiently.
12. “On Mercury” – Red Hot Chili Peppers
RHCP do their upbeat tracks as well as their drug-addled, misery ridden ones, and “On Mercury” is good evidence of this. The usage of a melodica is inspired positivity and the lead/support vocals are executed with vigour.
13. “Lights Out” – Santogold
Its important to wrap the party up with some mellow wind down music, otherwise no one will chill-out and go home! With this track, the title speaks for itself - it is laid back and relaxed yet hip. Great home time music.
See this playlist at HCE at http://t.co/nRTNnYd
