At Underground on Friday night, it dawned on me that the most requested song of my DJ career, which, by the way, began before today’s 21-year-olds were alive, is “Blue Monday.” No question about it, the New Order dance floor classic, which I also want to mention was already an oldie by the time I started DJing, has been requested at just about every club night where I’ve regularly played, sometimes multiple times in the course of one night. I get it. “Blue Monday” is the best dance song ever. I’ll write more about that later, but the tl;dr is that it’s over seven minutes long, mixes well with multiple styles of music and never clears the dance floor. It’s perfect.
But, the weird thing about “Blue Monday” requests is that they’re unnecessary. If it’s a dance club where some variation of indie, ‘80s and/or synthpop are played, there’s a 99% chance that “Blue Monday” will be in the mix. Often, I’ll get the requests at 10:30 p.m. and I’m like, “wait until midnight,” because one does not play “Blue Monday” until the floor is at it’s peak. Other times, I’ll get the request after 1 a.m, at which point, the song was already played.
Last night, I got the post-1 a.m. “Blue Monday” request. Malvada had already played the and I said that. However, the requester had spent a good chunk of time on the dance floor upstairs, so I wanted to do something nice. “But,” I said, “I have the ‘Blue Monday’ mix of ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head.’” The requester looked excited. I played the song. Everyone in the room seemed happy. Compromises can be a good thing.
Keep reading for the set lists.
Set One:
Depeche Mode – My Secret Garden
LCD Soundsystem – Someone Great
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Wolf (Boy Harsher Remix)
Sacred Skin – Call It Off
Visage – Fade to Grey
Holy Ghost! – I Wanted to Tell Her
Glass Spells – Hechizos
The Horrors – Something to Remember Me By
Eleven Pond – Watching Trees
Human League – Seconds
Chromatics – Shadow (Maceo Plex Remix)
Chelsea Wolfe – House of Self Undoing (Boy Harsher Remix)
Sisters of Mercy – Lucretia
Set Two:
Real Life – Send Me an Angel
Trans X – Living on Video
Bronski Beat – Smalltown Boy
Actors – Face Meets Glass
Bloc Party – Banquet
She Wants Revenge – Tear You Apart
Molchat Doma – Sudno (Boris Ryzhy)
Twin Tribes – Sangre de Oro
The Strokes – Juiceboxx
Vampire Weekend – A-Punk
Postal Service – Such Great Heights
Los Prisioneros – Tren al Sur
Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out
Set Three:
New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle
Yaz – Situation
Boy Harsher – Machina
Mr. Flagio – Take a Chance
Daft Punk – Harder Better Faster Stronger
Blur – Girls & Boys
Bucketheads – The Bomb!
Kano – It’s a War (Purple Disco Machine, Lorenz Rhode Remix)
Vicious Pink – Cccan’t You See
Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams
Q Lazarus – Goodbye Horses
Sally Shapiro – Rent
Stardust – Music Sounds Better with You
Book of Love – Boy
Kylie Minogue – Can’t Get Blue Monday Out of My Head
Pulp – Common People
Next gig: Disco Matinee on Sunday August 18 at Grand Star Jazz Club. You’ll probably hear “Blue Monday.”
Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Read her recently published work and check out her upcoming gigs.
Keep reading
HOW TO POLITELY REQUEST A SONG FROM A DJ
THIS BELGIAN COVER OF “VAMOS A LA PLAYA” SOUNDS LIKE EARLY ’80S LOS ANGELES
DISCO MATINEE IS NOW ON THIRD SUNDAYS AT GRAND STAR JAZZ CLUB