DJs can be introspective too!

The other evening, when I was DJing at innjoy, I found myself playing a bunch of tunes either by Bauhaus¹ or by any of the spin-off groups that came out of Bauhaus. Now this was a little out of character for me since usually only one Bauhaus song will sneak into my set every couple of months but I suppose I had the band on the brain since they were playing in town. At one point I threw on a cover of "Day Tripper" off Daniel Ash’s first solo album. I’ve always liked the song and its languorous pace but it wasn’t exactly a hit with the rest of the room. Afterwards Tom cued up his own iPod to the Beatles' "Bulldog" and made me play it to, in his words, "make amends." I played the tune and everyone seemed happy.

I thought about it a bit yesterday though since I couldn’t really figure out what there was to not like about Daniel Ash's cover of a Beatles song. The more I thought about it the more I realized that it was probably my perspective on the relative critical merits of the tune that should be suspect. You see, that particular album was a favorite of mine my freshman year of college even though, if I peel back the layers and view the past honestly, I actually didn’t really like a lot of the songs on the disc.

I think I latched onto it more because it was the first output by a member of Love And Rockets since "So Alive" was a hit and I had loved the band so much that I was hungry for any proof the group was still active in any way. I had waited years and obsessively combed record store racks – this was back in pre-Internet days when reliable information about music groups was actually scarce from time to time – for the supposed Swing! EP that was supposed to have been a stopgap.² So Daniel Ash’s Coming Down was devoured by me the day it came out. I really wanted the disc to be a continuation of the harder rocking psychedelic of Love And Rockets but Ash had obviously opted for the route that solo recording artists follow all to often to their great detriment; the "I must make a musical statement that is as far removed stylistically from what my fans like as is possible while still staying within roughly the same instrumental parameters."

I was so hungry for new output though that I committed the sin of fandom that made such an attitude by artists possible...I put up with it and latched on to whatever I considered remotely appealing with a zeal that would embarrass even a Fundamentalist outside an abortion clinic. Ultimitely since "Day Tripper" fell within the boundaries of songs that sounded similar to the artist's previous output it was elevated to a plane far above its actual level of musical achievement.

So now, years later, I find I continue to sin, only now my transgression is that of the fan who has clouded their objectivity with the gauze of sentiment. This in itself is perfectly harmless and, to an extent, pretty unavoidable as we are all wont to trip back through time on the tunes that made us who we were and who we ended up becoming. However I guess I can understand when a room that has assembled because of their faith in my musical tastes -- and the continued faith that my selections will actually help to enhance their pleasure throughout the evening –- feels a little betrayed when I pull out a relatively sub par Beatles cover at a point in the evening when I should be winding things down in a manner that sends everyone off with a smile or, at least, a feeling that their trust was well placed in the DJ.

Would I play the song again? Probably. However next time I would make sure to build a little more context using the songs surrounding it in the set and respect the fact that while the songs has a special meaning for me, I'm the only person that sees it that way.

¹And yes, they were unbelievably awesome last night. I was expecting the Bauhaus show to be good, but I had no idea the band was still so completely captivating and massive. My review is here.
²Only years later did I discover that after announcing the disc’s release it was then canned and didn't actually emerge until the group's albums were re-issued recently. Grrrr.