I’ve been at 95.7 The Rock for almost 14 years. Most of my DJ career has been in rock radio. But I’ve spent a good amount of time as a wedding DJ, a nightclub DJ, a former raver, video game fanatic, and general music fan.
I’ve come across a lot of good tunes in my day. While rock is clearly my favorite genre, my musical DNA runs deep through all genres of music, and I’d like to share some with you. Some of these are songs you’ll immediately recognize that will bring back some great, old memories. Some of these will be songs you may have once loved, but have since forgotten. Others will be brand new to you, and perhaps you’ll feel bad that you missed them.
So every week, I’ll toss you 3 of my favorite non-rock songs.
Let’s get to our first 3.
1. “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire
I’ll start this list with one of my favorite artists of all time. I LOVE me some Earth, Wind & Fire. They teeter on multiple lines between Funk, R&B, Soul, and Disco, and they do it beautifully. Seriously, you can throw on any of their songs, and I’ll be a happy man. But the one song from them that I find to be a cut above the rest is “September”. Strangely, but happily, I have found this song getting requested at more and more weddings lately. And I do weddings primarily for people under 30. People who weren’t even around when this song was made. It truly has lasted the test of time.
2. “Going Back to Cali” by LL Cool J
Ladies love cool James, and so does Bags. You’ll find as I make these lists from time to time, that old school Hip Hop will be prevalent, so get used to it. I was lucky enough to catch Cool J live in concert at Summerfest in the early 2000’s. My girlfriend at the time only knew one song from him. The one with Jennifer Lopez. She geeked out to that song, but was clueless for the rest. Meanwhile, I was completely losing my mind when he started playing his classics, and I rapped this song right along with him as my girlfriend starred at me completely clueless. Her loss.
3. “Satisfaction” by Benny Benassi
As a former rave goer and nightclub DJ, I have a pretty big soft spot for Techno and EDM of all kinds, but particularly from the 90’s and 2000’s. This jam is one I thumped in the club on numerous occasions. The nightclub I worked for had a music video system, apart from our normal turntables. So I always made sure to play the video for this song. I mean, it’s pretty easy on the eyes.
