Student disco suggestions

[Dusty Substance]

After twelve months of hardly any DJing (two in the last year), I've been asked to do a weekly Student Disco night at a local venue.

Although the notion of a Student Disco is a little out my remit (I usually go for a 70s disco/80s,90s pop kind of vibe), I leapt at the chance after such a long drought of disc spinning.

So I'm looking for recommendations and suggestions for what a Student Disco means to you. Of course, student discos have always changed, depending on what year someone was at college or uni, but there have always and will always be staple bands and songs.

I'm a vinyl only DJ, so most of my stuff will be from the 70s-90s but so far this is the kind of selection I've thought about so far:

Talking Heads
The Cure
The Smiths
MGMT
Franz Ferdinand
Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs
The Strokes
Blondie
LCD Soundsystem
Belle & Sebastian
Bowie
Iggy Pop
The Clash
blur

Who else? Which other essential bands and songs would you expect to hear at a Student Disco?

Thanks.

[BlodwynPig]

bodypopping alone on the dance floor to this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQvTuB22uH4

[thecuriousorange]

Black Lace - P&O is school-disco memory of mine, along with Livin La Vida Loca and the Friends theme.

[Jockice]

Every student disco I've been to in my life (and lest we forget although I left school in 1984 I had mates from there who went to university then I was a mature student in the late 90s and early 2000s who would occasionally go to such events just to be sociable) has played Blue Monday.  Every single one

.

[Glebe]

There's a top pop group called Buck's Fizz, hey they're really cool!

[Pauline Walnuts]

What are the real floor fillers they play at Bang Face these days?

And Abba's Dancing Queen.

[Corduroy Castle]

The Birdie Song

[chveik]

Rolf Harris

[lazyhour]

The Bangles: Walk Like An Egyptian
Fleetwood Mac: Everywhere
Bruce Springsteen: Dancing In The Dark

And something off Hotter Than July. These young students seem to gravitate towards that particular Stevie LP. It's the one you see in Urban Outfitters. Funny, cos it used to be worth about a pound.

[Epic Bisto]

Two Man Sound - Charlie Brown
Two Man Sound - Que Tal America
Lou & The Hollywood Bananas - Kingston Kingston

[bgmnts]

WAP

[Absorb the anus burn]

Liquid Liquid - Cavern.
Magazine - Shot By Both Sides.
B.A.D - E=MC2.

[gib]

are they really old students

[monkfromhavana]

N-Trance - Set You Free

[The Mollusk]

Something off those two most recent shite Tame Impala albums

[rue the polywhirl]

Chainsmokers - Something Just Like This (with Coldplay)
Blinding Lights - The Weeknd
Old Town Road - Lil Nas X
Now That's What I Call Music 101-108

[imitationleather]

Introduce them to some real music and play the entirety of Dark Side of the Moon all night.

[Pauline Walnuts]

Rock n' Roll Part 1.

And part 2.

[Better Midlands]

Matthew Wilder - Break My Stride

Seriously, Gen Z love it.

[Pauline Walnuts]

Introduce them to some real music and play the entirety of Dark Side of the Moon all night.

Introduce? They've probably already got it. On vinyls.

[peanutbutter]

Prob lean a bit heavier into pop, feel like the indie heavy era of the Smiths/Strokes/etc in student discos has surely (thankfully) died?



From the last decade or so maybe...
Grimes
the Weeknd
Bicep (just Glue)
Dua Lipa
Kendrick
Charli XCX
Carly Rae
Caroline Polacheck
Frank Ocean
the 1975 (they have some good singles)



Rather grimly the Eagles seem to be quite popular with very normie gen z types too, not sure anything by them would fit a student disco though

[the ouch cube]

Mr Brightside is still inexplicably considered essential at every student union I've ever been in.

[Dusty Substance]

Every student disco I've been to in my life (and lest we forget although I left school in 1984 I had mates from there who went to university then I was a mature student in the late 90s and early 2000s who would occasionally go to such events just to be sociable) has played Blue Monday.  Every single one

Nice one. Blue Monday is a must. I've also got a few Blue Monday mash-ups that would work well at a student night.

And Abba's Dancing Queen.

Thing is, I fucking love ABBA and know that they are no longer seen as the "cheesy" disco band you'd hear at a 70s night where the DJ might wear a multi-coloured afro, but I still find it difficult to separate the sound of Dancing Queen from a gaggle of Karens on a hen night. As much as I love them, I'm not sure if they'd fit into a student night.

The Bangles: Walk Like An Egyptian
Fleetwood Mac: Everywhere
Bruce Springsteen: Dancing In The Dark

I've spun all these at various nights over the years and they've always gone down well with the kids, Bangles less so but it can still get a great reaction.

are they really old students

Not sure. I'm assuming they'll all be 18-22 but there's bound to be one or two older student.

Prob lean a bit heavier into pop, feel like the indie heavy era of the Smiths/Strokes/etc in student discos has surely (thankfully) died?

From the last decade or so maybe...
Grimes
the Weeknd
Bicep (just Glue)
Dua Lipa
Kendrick
Charli XCX
Carly Rae
Caroline Polacheck
Frank Ocean
the 1975 (they have some good singles)

Rather grimly the Eagles seem to be quite popular with very normie gen z types too, not sure anything by them would fit a student disco though

Thank you! This is the kind of answer I was looking for.

Mr Brightside is still inexplicably considered essential at every student union I've ever been in.

Don't own any Killers albums on vinyl but I've been eyeing up their singles collection. Might buy it especially for the student nights.


Cheers, everyone. I'll ignore the helpful quips about Birdie Song, Rolf Harris etc*. Great work :)


(Although, I would fucking love to drop Rock n Roll Pt.1&2 one night. If Simon Price can get away with it, why can't I?)

[SteveDave]

Students read love s4c stuff like "Africa" by Toto. Just play that all night and they'll be Tik-Tokking the fuck out the place and saying it's so random.

[lazyhour]

Africa is fantastic though?

[Darles Chickens]

Yes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSvWSYgSM-g

[boki]

Africa is fantastic though?

If there's going to be Lynx, I'd go for Intuition

_{I'll see myself out}

[idunnosomename]

lostprophets

[SteveDave]

Africa is fantastic though?

It is not a song for dancing. It's a song for laying down and avoiding.

[Dr Rock]

Groove Is In The Heart
Billy Jean
I Want You Back
Louie Louie
Heart Of Glass
Lust For Life
Rapper's Delight (and you can have a piss break)
Tainted Love (Soft Cell or Gloria Jones)
Let Your Love Flow
More Than A Feeling>Smells Like Teen Spirit