Honestly, my favorite part of DJing is introducing people to music they would not ever listen to normally. This started with my house parties. I play grittier electro and dubstep. I invited everyone I know, and would start by playing remixes of popular songs and get people into the groove then slowly work into the stuff I really love.
What I have noticed is that the slightest bit of familiarity gets people excited. For example, I have a remix of Thrift Shop that only has the horn loop and “This is F*ckin’ Awesome” lyric mixed with some wicked wobbles and people go ape sh*t over it. I got requests for more well known stuff all night; Skrillex, Daft Punk, Bassnectar, Awolnation, etc., but I never played anything the way they would hear it on the radio or a TV commercial. Instead I played chopped up versions or remixes that were another Genre. I played a dubstep version of Get Lucky for example.I did play some more “commercial” tracks because I want people to hear it, like it, and go buy it or watch it on youtube. I am in the position of having to create fans of my type of music as much as my performances because there is literally no scene here and the area I live in is usually about 10 years behind on trends.
I am not really in a position to give advice, it is not like I am making it big or anything, but I can say that the biggest thing that kept people dancing is that I was having fun the whole night. I didn’t feel like I needed to play anything specific to avoid being to commercial or have a specifically designed style. One of my friends said after I was done playing that the best part about me playing is that I am smiling from ear to ear the whole time and never stop dancing.
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