Monday, March 8, 2010

TONIGHT WE'RE GONNA PARTY LIKE IT'S 1991!

The '80s are so last year.

Long live the '90s!

That seemed to be the unofficial musical mandate last night at Eagle in Vauxhall, South London. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much when I arrived at the dark, dingy, divey joint with my friend Andrew. His pal Jeffrey was DJing, and he put us on the guest list, so if nothing else, I'd do a few tequila shots, have a good laugh and go home solo.

At first, I was unimpressed by what I saw and heard. I told Andrew to ask Jeffrey to play something by La Roux. "I don't think that's the kind of stuff he plays," Andrew offered before approaching the DJ booth anyway. I rolled my eyes, swallowed my tequila and prayed for a miracle.

If God is a DJ and life is a dancefloor, He delivered almost immediately. A great familiar beat kicked in, and I heard something I hadn't heard in nearly 20 years. It was Lisa Fischer singing her 1992 non-hit. "Oh oh oh oh oh, won't you save me?"

What the...?!?! Who even knows that song?

My interest was officially piqued, and from that point on, Jeffrey's playlist -- mostly early '90s dance music -- didn't disappoint: "Give It To Me" by Martha Wash. "Dirty Cash (Money Talks)" by the Adventures of Stevie V. "Uh-Uh Ooh-Ooh Look Out (Here It Comes)" by Roberta Flack. "Dreamer" by Livin' Joy. "Too Blind To See It" by Kym Sims. The sole dud: a really bad remix of "(I Wanna Give You) Devotion" by Nomad. The only thing missing was "Finally" by CeCe Peniston. But then, considering how eclectic Jeffrey's song choices were, that would have been entirely too obvious.

Though I ended up being distracted by an interesting bloke called Vaughan (you just don't get names like that anywhere but here in the UK), I did notice that I didn't hear a single Lady Gaga song all night.

And she most certainly was not missed.

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