DJ Culture in the Commercial Sydney Dance Music Scene

Abstract

The development of contemporary, post-disco dance music and its associated culture, as representative of a (supposedly) underground, radical subculture, has been given extensive consideration within popular music studies. Significantly less attention has been given to the commercial, mainstream manifestations of this music. Therefore, this article examines the contemporary commercial dance music scene in Sydney, Australia, incorporating an analytical framework that revolves mainly around the work of DJs and the commercial scene they operate within. The ideas, opinions and interpretations of a selection of local DJs and other music industry practitioners who work in Sydney are central to the article’s analysis of DJ culture within the city and of, more specifically, DJ self-understandings with respect to choices of records and in relation to the twin imperatives of entertainment and education.