Today at work we’re having an open house to celebrate our awesome new digs. They asked me to put together the music. EEP!

I used to DJ a lot of dances in high school (you know, back before everything got so ridiculously formal and commercial) and my giant bible of CDs was an expensive but worthwhile investment. A friend and I would tag team so we could spin and dance, and we had strict rules. Requests trump prepared playlists, period. If you pick a stinker and it clears the floor, swallow your pride and change it ASAP. Play three or four fast songs and then throw in a slow dance, but pick slow songs shorter than four minutes long. (Anybody remember the social agony of trying to make small talk through the long version of November Rain?) In fact, as a general rule, try to change up what’s going on often. Perfect dance songs are two and a half minutes long, three tops. And first and foremost, don’t play the stuff you like if it isn’t what the crowd wants to hear.

This is a little different — I need to provide ambient happy sound for people in a way that stimulates good vibes and friendly conversation and a general hum of energy, but I can’t pick songs that are too noisy or obtrusive. They need to be there to contribute to the background but not actually draw attention. Even trickier, I won’t be there to make adjustments as I’ve got a plane to catch later on. So let’s get the constraints . . . hmm humm hrmmmm . . .

Genres: Electronica, Classic Rock, Blues, Funk, Soul, Indie, Shibuya-kei, and just a dash of New Wave and Glam for flavor.
Constraints: Must be happy and energetic but not attention-grabbing. No screaming, no foul language, no overtly sexual language. Must be able to last several hours without requiring attention or a second thought. Not too many of any one artist so we can just hit random and let her rip.

So here’s what we ended up with:

Can’t Take My Eyes Off You — Muse
Hungry Like the Wolf — Duran Duran
Short Skirt Long Jacket — Cake
Drive My Car — The Beatles
Modern Guilt — Beck
Rock The Casbah — The Clash
Help Me, Rhonda — The Beach Boys
That’s Too Bad (Byron Jam) — Donavon Frankenreiter
Viva La Vida — Coldplay
Such Great Heights — The Postal Service
Wonderful Night (feat Lateef) — Fatboy Slim
Different Colors — Fantastic Plastic Machine
Nothing Better — The Postal Service
Good Vibrations — The Beach Boys
My Mustang Ford — Chuck Berry
Dance the Night Away — Van Halen
Susie Q — Creedence Clearwater Revival
Here It Goes Again — Ok Go
Ramble Tamble — Creedence Clearwater Revival
Human — The Killers
Que Onda Guero — Beck
Higher And Higher — Jackie Wilson
Middle of Nowhere — Hot Hot Heat
And The Beat Goes On — The All Seeing I
Journey Of The Sorcerer — Eagles
Clark Gable — The Postal Service
Black Tambourine — Beck
Code Monkey — Jonathan Coulton
Up Around The Bend — Creedence Clearwater Revival
E-Pro — Beck
Numa Numa — O-Zone
Twiggy Twiggy — Pizzicato Five
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough — Marvin Gaye
Runaway — Jamiroquai
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da — The Beatles
One Way or Another — Blondie
Let’s Stay Together — Al Green
Canned Heat — Jamiroquai
Electric Lady Land — Fantastic Plastic Machine
Move By Yourself — Donavon Frankenreiter
You Must Learn All Night Long (Dauerfisch Remix) — Fantastic Plastic Machine
Sudden Stars — Stereolab
We Will Become Silhouettes — The Postal Service
Bobby Dazzler — Sons Of Silence
Sweet Pea — Amos Lee
Mustang Sally — The Commitments
September — Fantastic Plastic Machine
Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp — Mercury Rev
Frank Sinatra — Cake
Something Happened To Me Yesterday — The Rolling Stones
Brown Sugar — The Rolling Stones
Robot Rock — Daft Punk
All Summer Long — The Beach Boys
Coconut — Harry Nilsson
Bandages — Hot Hot Heat
Love and Wonder (Club Edit) — DJ Earworm
Love Like Rockets — Angels and Airwaves