Dear DJs of the world

I’ve just about had enough.

I've endured your tired, uninspired musical shamblings for too long now and feel it's time for a little tough love. I have compiled the following shortlist for handy reference purposes - apologies in advance if it renders your career behind the decks obsolete, but the simple truth is that if you voluntarily play any of these songs under circumstances which don’t include violent coercion with a bread-knife, you are a clueless, bumbling idiot who has no place in a DJ booth. You have failed in your quest to bring music to the masses and have been reduced to a performing chimp whipping out his cock because the crowd finds it funny.

Please pay attention, as I will list these 15 key atrocities only once. The next time it has to be mentioned will be in the form of a broken bottle upside your head while the crowd obliviously goes about that slow-clapping bit in Come On Eileen.

DAVIS McLELLAND'S DJ SHITLIST

1) Queen – Don’t Stop Me Now

Or, to put it more accurately, “Don’t stop me now - it’s the work ’do, I’ve had five vodka-lemonades and I suddenly feel an uncontrollable need to tell everyone how I’m havin’ a good time, havin’ a good time…” Not even a posthumous appearance in Shaun of the Dead is enough to redeem the kicking I’d happily dole out to Freddie Mercury for crimping out this stinking turd of a song. The most overplayed record in the history of mankind, bar none. Scientific teaser: if a deadly virus was worming its way into your system and you had the power to stop it, would you do your darndest to be rid of it or simply let it have its way with you? Mr DJ, just because the people demand it, doesn’t mean you have to play it. "The people" are idiots.

2) Whitney Houston – I Wanna Dance with Somebody

Pop quiz, hotshot. There are 500 idiots in the room, every single one of whom describe their music taste as “eclectic” because they listen to artists as diverse as Alicia Keys and Nickelback. Whaddayou do…? Yes, you do what any third-rate hack would in your situation - you reach for the Whitney. That intolerable but ever-reliable scream of excitement goes up when its opening bars ring out, but there’s a hollow feeling deep down inside that you just can’t seem to shake. A nagging voice starts to whisper deep in your subconscious, repeatedly asking the one question you can't bear to answer: you’re not really trying at all, are you?

3) Usher – Yeah!

You can always spot the stupidest individual in any club – it's the platinum-blonde with jet-black roots who’s just tottered up to the DJ in a pair of unwieldy heels and requested Yeah! Don’t humour her. It’s the only song she knows.

4) Guns’n’Roses – Sweet Child o’ Mine

A serious contender for the very worst record ever made, and a prime example of rock music for people who don’t like rock music but think they have a bit of an edge because they once bought a T-shirt from Topshop that had “BAD GIRL” written across the tits. This song was the sole reason why Nirvana had to happen. Show Kurt a bit of respect by refusing to propagate Axl’s vile tripe any longer.

5) Bryan Adams – Summer of '69

Yeah, man. “Classic tune”. Got my air guitar out and everything. Pointing to the ceiling like I was actually there that fine summer. Whoooo! Isn’t it great to work for Price Waterhouse Cooper? LEGEND! (See also Jovi, Bon - Livin' On a Prayer).

6) Robbie Williams – Rock DJ

Not even Robbie Williams – a man who can barely bring himself to sing half his own output without wanting to hack his wrists with a copy of Rudebox – can stomach this song. That should tell you everything you need to know. Can I kick it (hard in the crotch)? Yes, you can.

7) Reef – Place Your Hands

“Can you play Put Your Hands Up by Supergrass...?” No, love, and I’ll tell you why not. Firstly, because you don’t even like the song enough to bother learning its title, and secondly, because that isn’t even what he’s singing. Frankly, you shouldn’t even be allowed to listen to music. Here, have some John Zorn instead.

8) Dolly Parton – 9 to 5

Bona-fide anthem for a generation of idiots conditioned to believe that it’s okay to give your entire life over to a job you have no emotional connection with or interest in. Hey! It’s just like Dolly’s singing about you! No doubt one of Paris Hilton’s favourite songs to bust loose to at the end of another hard week. 

9) The Proclaimers – I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)

Perennial pox of a song, much beloved by cunts who can never seem to figure out where the first “Da-ba-da-da!” bit comes in. Try to set an example by not playing it for once. No-one will miss it, because they don’t actually like it that much. They only sing along because it’s there. (See also Hawkes, Chesney - The One and Only).

10) The Clash – London Calling

Dull, plodding, snarl-by-numbers thud-along much beloved by floppy-haired Smiths fans that find the likes of White Riot a bit too hard to stomach. Hey, aren’t you clever? You played The Clash. Shame you couldn’t summon the good sense to plump for Janie Jones instead, you guileless piss-wit. Which leads us nicely onto…

11) The Smiths – This Charming Man

The very worst of Morrissey and Marr’s many continued offences against the indie disco. Tuneless, directionless amble of a song which also sounds utterly anemic when pumped through any form of amplifier. This, over Bigmouth Strikes Again or Ask? You don’t really know anything, do you?

12) The Cure – Lovecats

Formerly a quirky, subversive exercise in pop music’s outer limits, now reduced by DJ overkill to a shit, annoying tune terrifyingly reminiscent of The Hoosiers. For the love of God, play In Between Days or Close to Me, you dolt. Or A Forest. Hell, play Worried About Ray for all I care... (Actually, don’t. A friend of mine met The Hoosiers’ drummer in a club once and he said he was only wearing gold shoes because the record company told him to).

13) S Club 7 - Reach

Great pick if you’re playing to a roomful of 10 year-old children ingesting Haribo as if it were crystal meth at the school disco. Except you’re not playing to a group of 10 year-olds, are you? You’re playing to a troupe of pissed-up 30-somethings in Zanzibar with no fucking interest in music whatsoever. They really ought to know better by now, but of course having all the self-awareness that comes with the highlight of one's week being the £2/min phone vote on Britain's Got Talent, they don’t. Is being humoured when they ask for this song really what these fine specimens of humanity deserve? No. Chemical castration would be more fitting. Save a little for yourself while you're at it.

14) Wham! – Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

“ 'Scuse me, can you play sumthin’ a bit more cheesy, y’know, that everyone can dance to?” Oh, I see you’ve gone for Wham!, sir, a band who weren’t any good in their heyday and certainly don’t fair any better now. Excusable only by virtue of the fact that it’s marginally preferable to the execrable Club Tropicana, though even that's a fairly moot point when everyone thinks this song is actually called "Jitterbug". Who is it that keeps buying George Michael records? I know these people exist somewhere. They have to.

15) The Foundations – Build Me Up Buttercup

Of all the great records made in the 1960s, this is the one you go for? Oh, just end it all now, you worthless cunt.

...Here comes Dexy's... !

Warmest personal regards,
Davis.