Parties and Music

Let’s talk party planning

The most important detail of a party (after people and booze) is the atmosphere. While you can easily fix screw-ups like bad lighting or room temperature, bad music can ruin a night in ways that aren’t easy to come back from. People will laugh off one bad song, but two or three bad songs in a row and now people are dissing your party, and it will take at least a few top tier songs in a row to recover. God forbid you play a song so bad that everyone stops dancing or starts to leave. Bad music can be the death of a party, so I’m here to help you out.

This playlist is guaranteed to start and sustain the party.

Note: this is for an upbeat party with at least twenty to thirty people mingling and dancing. Smaller gatherings or more intimate parties should not use this playlist, it’ll just seem weird.

Second note: I don’t want to hear any questions or complaints about the amount of Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana on this list. I’m the expert here, so trust me.

Final note: This isn’t a complete list, these are just essential songs to include. You’re welcome to screw it up with your own choices between.

Hour One: Kicking Things Off

You might be tempted to start things off big, get the party going with a bang. That’s a mistake. There’s a reason bands don’t open with their hits. Not everyone is there; people aren’t really in full party swing yet. You want to start building a groundswell, this is the warm up.

Setlist

• Seal – Fly Like an Eagle (Space Jam Soundtrack)
• Lou Bega – Mambo No 5
• Poison – Unskinny Bop
• Ludacris – Roll Out
• Hannah Montana – Pumpin’ Up The Party
• Fastball – The Way

Hour Two: Get Pumped

This is when things really get going. You’ll start to play some more high energy tunes here, interspersed with some crowd pleasers that will get everyone singing along. That’s the key here: get people involved. You want them singing along, dancing, or at least bobbing their heads and tapping their feet.

Setlist

• Bowling For Soup – High School Never Ends
• Black Eyed Peas – Pump It
• Pink – Get The Party Started
• Miley Cyrus – Party In The USA
• Panic! At The Disco – High Hopes
• Will Smith – Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It
• Tevin Campbell/Powerline – I2I (A Goofy Movie Soundtrack)
• Big & Rich – Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy)

Hour Three/Four: Party Hard

We’ve reached the time when you can coast and just play the hits. People are drinking and having a great time, and you can break out the boy bands. But now is also when you have to be careful, because the wrong song can completely screw things up. A slow song or two are okay here, but they have to be solid songs people can sing along to.

Setlist

• Spice Girls – Wannabe
• Britney Spears – Baby One More Time
• *NSYNC – Bye, Bye, Bye
• Aaron Carter – I Want Candy
• Hannah Montana – Let’s Do This
• Will Smith – Fresh Prince of Bel Aire
• Sir Mix-A-Lot – Baby Got Back
• Flo Rida feat. T-Pain – Low (Apple Bottom Jeans)
• Bubba Sparxxx – Ms. New Booty
• Whitesnake – Here I Go Again
• Garth Brooks – Friends in Low Places
• The Scorpions – Rock You Like A Hurricane
• Usher – Yeah!
• Kelly Clarkson – Since U Been Gone
• Poison – Nothin’ But A Good Time
• Bon Jovi – Livin’ On A Prayer
• Van Halen – Panama
• Ying Yang Twins – Salt Shaker
• Third Eye Blind – Jumper
• Goldfinger – 99 Red Balloons
• Harvey Danger – Flagpole Sitta

Final Hour: Cool-down

This is to let people know the party is drawing to a close. You’re still playing great songs, but with a lower energy to wind things down. People should start getting coats, calling cabs, and just getting ready to leave in general. Some of these are clichés, but they’re solid songs to end the night on.

Setlist

• Hannah Montana – The Climb
• Dusty Springfield – Son of a Preacher Man
• Elton John – Daniel
• The Beatles – Hey Jude
• Rolling Stones – Beast of Burden
• Semisonic – Closing Time
• Vertical Horizon – Everything You Want
• Poison – Every Rose Has Its Thorn