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January 2007
FOR THE LOVE OF HOUSE
(a.k.a. DISCO) MUSIC
By DJ Mark Bisson
I cannot imagine life without music, especially dance music. I remember the fist time I went to a disco. It was 1980; the club was in Atlanta and called Backstreet. I remember walking in and making my way over to the dance floor where there were hundreds of people, mostly guys, dancing on the packed floor. But what impressed me the most was the music. I had never heard anything quite like it. These weren’t just the same songs I had been hearing on the radio or listening to on my stereo. These songs had the most incredible energy and vocals; you couldn’t listen to them without moving to the beat. I felt transported to a whole New World on the dance floor. The songs flowed from one to the next, and moved me in a way I had never experienced from music before. I remember feeling so uplifted and energized, as well as feeling such a sense of unity and connection with everyone else on the dance floor. I know that I had the biggest smile plastered on my face that lasted even after the last song faded out and I made my way home.
Little did I realize that night how much the DJ in the booth above the dance floor was responsible for creating the magic that night. Now, as a DJ myself, I have never forgotten that magic I felt on my first night at Backstreet. The main objective of a DJ is to create that same kind of effect that I felt that night, through the music that they play. While there has always been an abundance of amazing dance music produced, the average person never hears the majority of it. Most people are familiar with dance remixes of top 40 songs from artists like Madonna, Justin Timberlake and Mariah Carey, but probably have never heard of some of my favorites like Bob Sinclar, Freemasons and Shapeshifters. Granted, there are great remixes of popular top 40 songs, and part of the fun of dancing and listening to music, is hearing songs that are familiar, and that you can even sing along with. But, on the flip side, hearing new, fresh songs that you may only hear on the dance floor can add a new dimension to the whole experience. I like to use the analogy of big, mainstream movies as the top 40 remixes, while the smaller, independent movies would equate with those irresistible, lesser know dance songs. The goal of the DJ is to search for those hidden gems and share them with their listeners.
In addition to playing great songs, the objective of a DJ is to create a magical journey for the listeners. Jukeboxes, CD players and even an IPOD can play a random selection of great songs. But the objective of a DJ has always been to sequence the songs in some kind of order that makes sense, blending them together to tell a story. Most music authorities consider Larry Levan (Paradise Garage) to be the greatest DJ of all time. He summed up the objective of the DJ best with his following quote. “There is actually a message in the dance, the way you feel, the muscles you use, but only certain records have that. Say I was playing songs about music---“I Love Music” by the O’Jays, “Music” by Al Hudson---and the next record is “Weekend” by Phreek or Class Action. That’s about getting laid, a whole other thing. If I was dancing and truly into the words and the feeling and it came on, it might be a good record, but it makes no sense because it doesn’t have anything to do with the others. So, a slight pause, a sound effect, something to let you know it’s a new paragraph rather than one continuous sentence.”
In our time of computer technology, it is important that we don’t lose the art of what true DJ’ing is about. While computer programs can mix songs together in sequence, they can never replace someone who is truly passionate about music and knows what each song is about and can use that knowledge to meld those songs into a story for the listeners. For some examples, refer to my website (www.djmarkbisson.com) Live Mixes page where I have 6 CD length live mixes which each tell different stories or follow specific themes. I have included descriptions about each mix on my website as well.
I would like to share an experience from my life that is probably the biggest driving force in my desire to share the dance music that I love with others. My previous partner and best friend, Gregory Mark Dillaha, who passed away from AIDS in 1995, loved music and dancing more than just about anyone I have ever met. We went dancing together just about every chance we got. We would spend hours on the dance floor, feeling the uplifting power of the music. Shortly before his passing, Greg lost most of his vision to CMV Retinitis, and he had to rely on me to “be his eyes”. His doctors attempted surgery to try and restore some of his vision, but it didn’t help. The Saturday night after the failed surgery, Greg wanted nothing more than to go out to the Probe to go dancing. I was reluctant, but eventually gave in since I knew how much he wanted to go. With Greg hanging on to me, we made our way to the dance floor and as soon as he heard the music, he was able to move like always as if his vision was totally unaffected. That was the last time Greg ever danced here on Earth. Never have I seen the amazing power of music demonstrated more beautifully than the happiness radiating from Greg that night on the dance floor.
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