Party Jamz Guy!

PARTYTIME!

So far this summer has been a non stop roller coaster ride of softball, comedy shows, Ghostbusting and staying up way too late when I should be sleeping. It has also seen the return of a harder party, the likes of which has not been seen out of me since University days when I used to give obnoxious westside hand signals in pictures and drink lots of not-obnoxious malt liquor.

In this party renaissance of late I have grown fond of being in control of a party's music and if I can convince the sucker who's party it is to let me, I'll try my best to get a strong dance party started. Now I'm not a DJ, but I've gained a lot of respect for that profession as a result. However there are some songs I just wish DJ's would give more respect to, some personal favourite party jams. And they go like this:

Feel Me Flow

Naughty By Nature
Poverty's Paradise
1995

There's no youtube link to this song anymore so here's the MTV.ca video:
http://www.mtv.ca/music/video_search_play.jhtml?id=260249&input=Naughty+By+Nature

Naughty By Nature makes the best Hip-Hop anthems, hands down. OPP, Hip Hop Hooray, THIS SONG. These guys just know how to get a party bouncin. Trust me, much like in the video, play this song on a hot summers day, maybe while you are sitting around your friend's convenience store and just jam.

Hey but seriously, what happened to Naughty By Nature? These guys were so cool EVERYONE was in their video for Hip Hop Hooray. Even Eazy E! You knwo these guys have got cred when Eric Wright shows up in their video even if it is for a very unhappy 3 seconds.

For similar jams also see: Naughty By Nature - Jamboree; Naughty By Nature - Hip Hop Hooray; Salt N Pepa - Whatta Man

Walking on Sunshine

Katrina & The Waves
Self Titled
1985

The embedding is disabled for some completely terrible reason, bad luck so far with these videos eh?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eONhto0x_nI

Ok, you may think I'm crazy for this one. But trust me gang, if you're hitting a playlist that contains some 80's or early 90's music and people are not feeling the party as much as they could be, toss this high octane waterslide of a song on and people will go nuts. Girls especially love this tune and it makes them jump around like idiots. Which in this case is great.

I call this song a waterslide because in grade 6 I won Wild Water Kingdom tickets from popular disc jockey Tarzan Dan on AM 640 and he played this song right after having me say how much I loved his radio station. I taped that onto a radio compilation "tape" that I ended up keeping till high school. That tape was the best. I'm pretty sure I also had Sure Shot on there. Also I had that song Wide Load. Hey man, they can't all be winners ya know?

For similar jams also see: Pointer Sisters - Neutron Dance; Huey Lewis & The News - Power of Love

Young Turks
Rod Stewart
Tonight I'm Yours
1981

Ever been at a party with a bunch of hipsters who don't really know how to party? Like they want to party but they keep thinking it has something to do with scarves? So they end up standing around trying looking bored on purpose? No, me neither I don't hang out at those places man, weak scene. However if you were at such a lame party by accident, play Young Turks and watch the smiles creep across everyone's faces as they sing along and eventually dance along with this amazing party jam.

Rod Stewart may not be the first name you think of when I say the words PARTY JAM but one of the craziest dance parties I've ever been a part of started with this song and got to the point where people were coming in off the street because the house was rocking so hard. In short, ROD STEWART now equals PARTY JAM.

For similar jams also see: David Bowie - Modern Love; Phil Collins - Sussudio

So next time you throw a party and are thinking of music to really get it bumpin, don't be so fast to ONLY play your favourite Lil' Jon Krunk-inspired mashups or your CD of Jock Jamz 97, try on a few upbeat songs that maybe people have forgotten about or just underestimated, you'll see a marked improvement in babes to dudes ratio and you just might have a wicked dance party.