Should club nights* have ‘standards’?
There are two schools of thought on this. One says that no, they shouldn’t – it makes good records turn stale and means the evening becomes predictable. My feeling is somewhat different. I think the danger isn’t in the concept of standards per se, it’s in becoming too attached to too many tracks which gum up your last hour or so. I have always liked the idea of a night having an end-of-night anthem: it’s a kind of appreciative nod to regulars, a way of saying “thanks for coming again, we’ve had a great night”. But having three or four songs that always show up is a bit less desirable, at least if they’re not spaced out through the evening.
I like the idea of songs rising through the ranks – starting as early-on, ‘ooh what’s that’ numbers, earning a place in the closing set, then being quietly relegated, perhaps to show up again as an early-evening big tune. In other words, I think a disco night should work very much like the chart used to, with some ‘big new entries’ as well. And nobody likes things to hang around the top 5 too long, even if they are good.
The end of night tune at Club FT always used to be “One More Time”. Then it turned into “We Want Fun”, by Andrew WK, a slightly more divisive ‘anthem’. The position is now, I think, up for grabs. Big And Rich? Alcazar? Something else entirely?
*(by ‘club nights’ we really mean ‘disco nights’ here, as per the distinction in previous posts.)