Music for 40th birthday party

highlydebased

I've just booked to DJ at a 40th party in December. What sort of music do 40 year olds listen to? Only specifics were "seventies, eighties and ninties stuff"

Any major hits of the time I should bring with me?

Latchy

Just look in the charts of the years in question 60s/70s/80s/90s and see what was popular and in the top 10 then,and select a few from each year.

bullpost

I'd concentrate on late 80's/early nineties - madchester and all of that , and then a sprinkling from earlier and later.

Ekancone

bullpost wrote: »

I'd concentrate on late 80's/early nineties - madchester and all of that , and then a sprinkling from earlier and later.

I would say only a minority would appreciate Stone Roses, etc. I would go for 80's pop, Duran Duran, AHA, stuff like that.

Dr.Nightdub

Forgive a 44-year old howling in pain at the original question, but 40-year-olds no more listen to a "kind" of music than 20-year olds or 30-year olds do. My musical world revolves around reggae, ska, rocksteady and Northern Soul, leavened with an abiding fondness for the Clash, Ramones et al, and I've friends who quite happily live in that same world. But I've other friends who are planets away and it makes no odds to being friends, I forgive them quite easily for going to see Rick Astley.

OP, suggest you talk to whoever hired you to see what planet they're on.

davejones

I've always found ABBA to be a good band to get a party started.

Everybody loves to dance to ABBA from kids to grandparents.

mike65

Depends I'm 42 and my musical core is actaully stuff I was too young to know about (late 60s/early 70s rock) the first tiem round, but I do have a misbegotten soft spot for 1977-1984 material - Stranglers to Frankie.

Mike.

condra

Thats gas.

Im playing a 40th on Friday and have recently been trying to figure out which tunes will go down best with a group of 35-45 year olds.

Not sure about your gig, but there will also be teeny boppers at mine, so its something of a family affair.

Anyways, Im planning on playing some late 70s and early 80s for the adults, but also some modern stuff for everyone.

The challenge for me when doing any "cheesy gig", is to play tunes with broad appeal, without just rattling off the cliches. "Celebration" by Kool And The Gang is a big NO-NO for me, period.

I've played quite obscure remixes at some cheesy gigs and gotten a great response from the crowd. The Jacques Lu Cont remix of "Mr Brightside" for example. Fantastic end of night tune. People can dance to it, sing along, or cry into their pints.

Good luck with the gig

condra

PS - I also think there are some recent chart tunes with very broad appeal. "Goodbye Mr A", "Shes So Lovely" "Valerie" etc..

'Ol Jack Chance

I do DJing the odd time, if ya want people to dance I'd recommend funky 70/80's stuff (stevie wonder, kool and the gang, and a bit of jacko always goes down well) and a bit of 80's cheese like blondie, duran duran, bee gees. old timers love that stuff.

condra

Just a quick update. The gig went sh1t. Really really boring, sober, conservative crowd. I played all the big hitters but except for a couple of buzzed up wives and children, they hardly budged.

Ahh well, I did my best, got payed plus a twenty quid tip, so I suppose yer one was happy enough.

Surprisingly enough by the way, the commercial house tunes got the best response. Modjo, Moloko, Room 5, Bob Sinclar etc...