I DJ’ed Dance Dance Party Party last night and here is my mix. When I signed up to DJ, songs like “Blurred Lines,” “I Love It” and “Get Lucky” were much less omnipresent so I struggled with trying to make my mix less “obvious.” I really overthink this sometimes. Anyway, I think it turned out pretty good. Enjoy!

“Tusk,” Fleetwood Mac

Is this song dancey? I don’t know for sure. I think it is. It has a nice build. So I made it the warmup song. I do know that Stevie Nicks marching around in her summer dress while twirling a baton is one of the sexiest things I’ve ever seen.

“C’mon,” Ke$ha

I am not a robot. This is fun. I like the “feeling’ like a saber-toothed ti-grrr!” part.

“Indestructible,” Robyn

I think my favorite song of hers. Maybe. It’s hard to choose. I love her. Make me new music, Robyn!

“What You Waiting For?” Gwen Stefani

This is currently one of my favorite running songs, both for beat and content. I want to play this song for a few people I know.

“She Bop,” Cyndi Lauper

Don’t you think that Gwen was a little like a second coming of Cyndi? Anyway this a song about female empowerment if there ever was one (and a lot more clever about sex than Madonna ever was. Yes, I pit Madonna vs. Cyndi Lauper in my head and Cyndi always wins.) It is essential to lipsync Cyndi’s little laughs in this song because there is no way for the average human being to recreate them.

“Back to the Life,” Spoon

Speaking of Gwen Stefani, this song reminds me a little bit of “Hollaback Girl” in that it is stomp-clappy and sounds like a tell-off song. It was a good brief palate-cleanser.

“Party Up In Here,” DMX

The pleasure of this song is being a girl and singing the penis-oriented lyrics very loudly and feeling ready to fight someone by the end of it.

“Jamie’s Crying,” Van Halen

My favorite Van Halen song and of course the sample for “Wild Thing,” which I heard on the radio the other day and made me wonder why “wild thing” hasn’t become a more mainstream euphemism for sex and also is a reminder that people have been writing songs that are pretty explicitly about sex for much longer than just the last year or two. 

“Set It Off,” Diplo

I stole this from somebody else’s running mix. Had I just heard the song on its own I might not have liked it that much but I am obsessed—obsessed!—with the music video. It’s so visually compelling and has this strange grace and beauty and sadness to me. And the women’s bodies—wow.

“Don’t Bring Me Down,” ELO

I go through periods where I think it’s possible that this is the best rock song ever written. I wasn’t sure if this would be a good song for dancing but the girls at DDPP didn’t let me down…Brrrruce.

“Dare,” Gorillaz

This was a last-minute substitution for Hall & Oates’ “Family Man,” which just added a bit too much old-school dad rock to the mix for my taste. Maybe next time. People got a kick out of the song’s fakeout.

“Long Cool Woman” The Hollies

This is also one of my favorite running songs of late. I always feel well-paced and relaxed when I listen to it. Seemed like one of those good songs to put after a faster or more aggressive one.

“Maneater,” Nellie Furtado

You know how some songs compare dancing to working? The girls did good work to this song last night.

“Right Back Where We Started From,” Maxine Nightingale

I like a song with clapping. This is cheesy but fun.

“Blurred Lines,” Robin Thicke

Look, I don’t know what to tell you. I know people have issues with this song but it’s still catchy and I didn’t get to dance to it nearly enough this summer. I regret nothing.

“Self Control,” Laura Branigan

My friend Wendy McClure just included this on a list recently about how this is one of the most WTF videos of all time but to be honest I have wanted to include this on a mix for forever so last night it was the cooldown. Also, I think about this video anytime I put on boots. As the current top Youtube comment on this video says, “I love 80s music! Make me feel so powerful!” RIP Laura.