Leading Ibiza club promoter Danny Whittle was ‘sick in his own mouth’ when he heard of TV impresario Simon Cowell’s plans for a ‘superstar DJ’ X Factor style talent show, he revealed this week, and vowed that Pacha will have nothing to do with the concept.
“How likely is it Pacha would get involved? We wouldn’t, it has nothing we would want,” said Danny.
“What impact will the show have on club culture generally, none at all,” he continued “certainly not the side of club culture that actually matters.
Handling Pacha’s bookings since the late 90s, Danny helped David Guetta and more recently Swedish House Mafia and Luciano become bona fide international stars off the back on weekly residencies at Pacha though predicted established DJs will have little to fear from Cowell’s contestants.
“They will just create some shit DJ who will probably make a fortune playing in shit clubs,” he predicted.
Details of the show emerged via a press release Simon Cowell released in which he promised it will "capture the incredible rise of the DJ phenomena’ and discover ‘the world's greatest DJs’
“DJs are the new rock stars,” the multi-millionaire TV presenter declared,“ It feels like the right time to make this show".
Underground tech-house type Danny Howells was as unimpressed as Danny Whittle about the show, telling Skrufff he was ‘pretty repulsed’ when he heard about it.
“Hasn't he done enough damage to music as it is? I can't see how this would be entertaining either - I don't think the X-Factor fans are gonna’ be flocking to this and I won't be giving up Corrie (Coronation Street) to watch it,” he said.
“He's obviously seen the rise of the pop DJs, and as a result this will be nothing at all to do with music. It will be about pretty boys who have marketability and play lowest common denominator shite, like the pop DJs who are already polluting the world. If it would throw up a new DJ Shadow or Grandmaster Flash, it would be interesting. But you know that isn't going to happen,” said Danny.
Unlike Danny Whittle, however, Howells predicted the program will have a wider impact on wider club culture.
“I dread to think what it will do actually, but I think we already live in an age where the word "apprenticeship" doesn't seem to exist,” he pointed out.
“This show will just reinforce that and we will see more pop DJs come out of nowhere with a great "light show" and gimmick and who, hopefully, disappear just as quickly.”
“Looking at it positively “ABBA rose to prominence after being in a talent show (Eurovision Song Contest), so you can't dismiss the possibility of someone talented coming out of this. But I really don't think they'll be looking to find a new David Mancuso or Larry Levan.
They'll be looking for someone who looks good being papped (photographed) on a jet-ski, who can tell an engineer which Electro Sample pack to use, and who knows how to raise his arms into a Jesus Christ pose. I rarely get booked alongside those guys, sadly,” he sighed.
“Anything to add? Where do I apply?” he laughed.
Danny Whittle concurred.
“Can I enter?” he chuckled, “I have some records and I could be called "Danny Double Dex".
British techno legend Dave Clarke was similarly unimpressed.
“What’s my reaction to this story? Disbelief followed by resignation,” said Dave.
“The fact is, the art of the ‘DJ’ has been denigrated in the commercial light to such lows that this was inevitable. Too many commercial DJ's worry about image and many feign "performances" so that it either enables their light jockeys to have a strict programme at best or it's feigned because of a lack of real time talent (a lot of 'producers" don't even make their own music; this has been true for 10 years or more). “
“Smoke and mirrors have always been around . . .BUT . . . does X-Factor or any of the other shite have any effect on cool music?....Not at all. So aside from the pride in being in an industry that for all intents and purpose didn't really exist when I started except as a dream, an aspiration this DJ TV thing it is just a direction that was inevitable for the marketing people to follow.”
Dave’s expectation of the show’s impact on wider club culture fell somewhere in between the two Dannys.
“The commercial clubs will fall over themselves to feature this shite, but then they never followed the underground anyway,” Dave predicted.
“Certain magazines will no doubt push hard to be part of this to validate their "polls" but mostly I have always found the term "Club Culture" an oxymoron in 90% of cases in the commercial world. Go to Ibiza and show me the "Culture", it's more about "Vulture".
“What impact on superstar DJs?” he sighed.
“There are two types of DJs ; those that care and represent a belief, an integrity and those that care only about money and fame, the term ‘superstar DJ’ is a lazy term by lazy journalists,” he grumbled.
“I can't wait to see all the fragile ego past-it DJ's trying to line up to be a "judge",” Dave concluded.
“I also bet there will be some shite intellectually challenged hacks phoning up now to see if they can be involved.”
http://bit.ly/cu0uiL (Simon Cowell in action on X Factor)
http://bit.ly/AkbTuu (Danny Whittle on Ibiza-voice (2004 interview): WHAT IS IT DANNY WHITTLE DOES EXACTLY? - Brand Director? Musical Director? Content Director?”)
Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff
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