Roni Size
Photo: Island

MIAMI — In the era of MP3s, CD-Rs, iPods and the ubiquitous mix-CD, everyone from Starbucks to your parents has tried their hand at the DJ game, often with perfectly positive results. But after four arduous days of hearing dance music permeate every sonic inch of the Winter Music Conference, this cultural development bolstered the status of every DJ — the real kind — that performed, laying plain the artistry of their craft.

That said, the vast majority of WMC parties fell into the risk-free category of monochromatic, genre-based music, whether progressive house, tech-house or any other permutation in between. DJs who differentiated themselves from the pack — live performers were virtually nonexistent this year — dug deep into the roots of dance music, effortlessly incorporating soul that was intangible as well as unmistakable.

At what's become an annual treat, the cream of Chicago's crop, DJ Sneak and Derrick Carter, kicked it up a notch Tuesday night at a party announced solely by a handwritten cardboard sign outside the venue, with Sneak himself standing out front at 2 a.m. to dispel any notions of a scam. Faithful to the chunky, funky house music that made the Windy City scene famous, the turntable supermen matched rhythms and melodies with dexterity. For flourishes, Sneak dropped nasty piano and horn riffs from Latin and African palettes, while Carter snuck in a snippet of Oingo Boingo's goofy "Weird Science" and closed with Prince's "Little Red Corvette," complete with the song's extended coda jam.

Earlier Tuesday evening, a party thrown by the emerging record label Chez Music and its sister, Wave Music, transported the New York house scene's patented pancultural vibe to South Beach. In one room, Matty Heilbronn turned the crowd loose with a smoking track that combined a chugging house rhythm with James Brown's classic "Super Bad." Just a few steps away, Chicago veteran Roy Davis Jr. infused his energetic set with the warm analog synth lines indispensable to New York house since its early-'80s inception.

It was attention to this history that distinguished a Tuesday night set by 22-year-old drum'n'bass newcomer High Contrast as one of the conference's most innovative. By layering the same blanket of analog synths so intrinsic to house over complex but smooth drum'n'bass patterns, High Contrast (Cardiff, Wales, native Lincoln Barret) not only provided a signpost for a scene looking for new directions, he also revealed himself as a producer at a surprisingly advanced level. One track he spun symbolically appropriated the vocal hook from First Choice's disco classic "Love Thang," whose timeless lyrics and infectious rhythm have been referenced or sampled by countless house and techno artists over the years.

Roni Size also turned in a refreshing drum'n'bass set on Tuesday, albeit against the sunny 1 p.m. hotel penthouse backdrop of bagels, coffee and mimosas. The "early" start seemed aimed at people fresh from the tightly packed Space club, where Danny Tenaglia was commandeering the decks for 20 consecutive hours (from 11 p.m. Monday to 7 p.m. Tuesday) at his annual marathon. Aside from his typically broad breadth of styles, Tenaglia invited Yoko Ono to sing "Open Your Box" just after sunrise and had Deep Dish and Carl Cox cheerleading vociferously from atop the speakers.

Though overshadowed by the Tenaglian juggernaut Monday night, a diverse bill at Goddess included a technically impressive hip-hop set by Roots drummer ?uestlove as well as a slinky-smooth set by fellow Illadelphian Vikter Duplaix that touched on cornerstones of soul music ranging from the '70s Philly heyday to the "broken beat" style centered around West London and Berlin's Jazzanova collective.

Perhaps reflecting the troubling times of the past six months, many DJs returned to dance music's foundation as uplifting and empowering soul food. Dark, pounding beats were noticeably less common, and some artists spoke more directly through their record selection. Roy Davis Jr., a deeply spiritual man, was not alone in spinning tunes that emphasized self-confidence and peaceful coexistence in their lyrics, while Derrick Carter responded to a 5 a.m. cry for more by playing an emotional track with the chorus "No more pain, no more tears."

• Oingo Boingo
• Prince
• Derrick Carter
• Roni Size
• Danny Tenaglia

Alien Ant Farm's Dryden Mitchell and Terry Corso
Photo: MTV News

"Things are different now," a news anchor commented last Tuesday while covering the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

Those words continue to resonate a week later, with sports, travel and entertainment all vastly affected by the East Coast tragedies.

In the music industry, the biggest changes are occurring on the air as radio and music video outlets around the country alter their playlists to reflect the radically different context in which pop music is now heard as compared to when the music was originally written and recorded.

As Bob Buchmann, program director at WAXQ in New York, put it, "The Steve Miller Band's 'Jet Airliner' doesn't evoke the same feeling it did last Monday."

Radio and music video stations are rethinking the music they play, removing songs dealing with violence and questioning just about everything else.

Program directors at Clear Channel Communications, the country's largest owner of radio stations, compiled a list of more than 150 songs that might be considered questionable following the attacks and distributed it to the company's nearly 1,200 stations. The list includes songs with references to explosions, terrorism, airplanes, skyscrapers, New York, the Middle East and even the day Tuesday.

The songs range from rock anthems such as AC/DC's "Shot Down in Flames" and Stone Temple Pilots' "Big Bang Baby" to oldies such as the Gap Band's "You Dropped a Bomb on Me" and Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party." Other, less obvious songs on the list include Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York," Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Tuesday's Gone" and Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water."

Pam Taylor, a spokesperson for Clear Channel, stressed Monday that this list is not a corporate mandate and does not ban the songs from the company's airwaves.

"It's something for programmers to consider," explained Jim Richards, general manager of several Clear Channel stations in San Diego, who helped assemble the list.

While the radio and record industries seem to agree on the necessity for heightened sensitivity following the attacks, several musicians and their representatives are puzzled by the inclusion of songs on the list. Some even thought the list was a joke.

" 'Smooth Criminal' is like the funnest song out there," Alien Ant Farm singer Dryden Mitchell said. "We sing in falsetto. It's supposedly about murder, but nobody really knows what that song is about, including me. The last thing we are is some serious band. We're just positive and funny."

The Michael Jackson cover is among a batch of new metal tracks that includes P.O.D.'s "Boom," System of a Down's "Chop Suey!," Slipknot's "Left Behind" and "Wait and Bleed," Mudvayne's "Death Blooms," Fuel's "Bad Day" and everything by Rage Against the Machine.

Adam Raspler, co-manager of 311, whose "Down" is on the list presumably because the song's title could imply airplanes or buildings coming down, echoed Mitchell's sentiments. "I realize this is a very sensitive time for many Americans and I'm definitely sympathetic to that," he said. "I really don't understand [including] 'Down.' The song is a thank-you note to 311's fans. The chorus says, 'We've changed a lot and then some/ But you know that we have always been down/ If I ever didn't thank you/ Please just let me do it now.' 311 have always prided themselves on having a positive message, one that promotes unity and tolerance. I really don't think there's anything insensitive or controversial about 'Down.' "

Roy Laughlin, general manager of the Clear Channel-owned KIIS in Los Angeles, said the songs should be looked at as potentially provocative rather than questionable. Laughlin and Taylor said program directors know what music is appropriate for their markets.

"Of course there are songs on there that could be construed as insensitive given the events. But does that mean all stations in all markets are going to think so? Of course not," Taylor said.

Buchmann said the roster has had no impact on his playlist or that of most classic-rock stations he has talked to. Classic-rock songs on the list include Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust," Kansas' "Dust in the Wind," Elton John's "Rocket Man" and Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire."

"The program directors who made the list had good intentions," Buchmann said, "but we didn't follow much of it." In fact, WAXQ has been playing John Lennon's "Imagine," which is on the list, in heavy rotation since the September 11 attacks.

Radio stations not owned by Clear Channel have also altered their playlists during the past week.

Chicago alternative-rock station WKQX has not played Drowning Pool's "Bodies," Saliva's "Click Click Boom" or Foo Fighters' "Learn to Fly" since Tuesday's attacks. The station's announcers have also stopped mentioning the title of Jimmy Eat World's "Bleed American" when they play it.

" 'Learn to Fly' doesn't seem offensive," Brian Paruch, of WKQX's programming department, said. "But when you consider the video, which is about breaking into a cockpit, it just didn't seem right. We had to do a lot of other adjusting after this happened. For instance, we're not playing funny songs such as 'Because I Got High' after serious PSAs [public service announcements]."

WKQX also temporarily stopped spinning one of its most requested songs, Sugarcult's "Stuck in America," but started again after the band changed a line in the song from "Everyone's talking about blowing up the neighborhood" to "Everyone's talking about waking up the neighborhood."

" 'Stuck in America' is not a political song," Sugarcult said in a statement. "It is about being an adolescent from a small town, wanting to leave for a bigger city but feeling trapped in suburban life. It is simply a song about youthful boredom and rebellion. We are proud Americans and are overwhelmed with sorrow by the events that have taken place."

WNNX, an alternative-rock station in Atlanta, has also ceased playing "Bodies," and program director Chris Williams said he couldn't imagine a time when it feels right to put it back on the air. "It's just too much," said Williams, who has seen the list and called most of the choices "silly."

"Bodies" mostly repeats the chorus, "Let the bodies hit the floor," but also includes the verse, "Skin against skin, blood and bone/ You're all by yourself, but you're not alone/ You wanted in, now you're here/ Driven by hate, consumed by fear."

" 'Bodies' was never about violence," said Steve Karas, vice president of publicity for Wind-Up Records, Drowning Pool's label. "It was rather a call for togetherness. As a New York-based company we are very sensitive, as we have all been affected by the tragedy. But that doesn't change the simple fact that from the beginning this song was always about the simple call for kids to mosh."

Drowning Pool's debut single received 654 fewer spins from September 11 to September 18 than it did the previous week, according to Broadcast Data Systems, the company that tracks radio airplay for Billboard. Second to "Bodies" in decreased play on rock radio formats was Staind's "It's Been Awhile," down 266 spins from the week before.

On all formats, "It's Been Awhile" was played 1,748 fewer times the week following the terrorist attacks. Afroman's "Because I Got High" took the biggest hit, down 2,180 spins.

Because most radio stations changed to news programming on September 11, total spins were down more than 100,000 last week from the week before. Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A." was the biggest gainer, up 4,267 from the less than 100 spins the week before. Whitney Houston's "The Star-Spangled Banner," which was not played the week before, received 1,653 spins.

Programming on MTV and VH1 has also changed since the tragedies, with more news coverage taking up airtime and several videos being pulled from regular rotation, according to executives at the channels.

MTV's playlist has been largely determined by viewer e-mails and calls requesting songs of comfort, the network said. Somber videos including Coldplay's "Yellow," Sting's "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free," Mariah Carey's "Hero," Five For Fighting's "Superman (It's Not Easy)" and a live version of Wyclef Jean's "Gone Till November" have received repeated play on MTV since the attacks.

"In an effort to provide the kind of comfort that only music can give and, at the same time, be sensitive to content and images in videos that after September 11 had new, unintended meaning, both channels created playlists that contained messages of hope, peace, strength and healing," MTV Networks said in a statement.

VH1 has ceased playing Staind's "Fade," Dido's "Thank You," U2's "Elevation," Gorillaz's "Clint Eastwood" and Creed's "With Arms Wide Open" because the clips contain explosions or buildings crumbling. Afro Celt Sound System's "When You're Falling" and Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris," which both feature people falling, have also been pulled.

"Violence, explosions, death, collapsing buildings or even airplane themes were looked at," said Rick Krim, executive vice president of talent and programming for VH1. "Anything that we felt would be insensitive. For the immediate aftermath, we decided better to be safe than sorry."

The channel has added a live clip of Sting's "Fragile" — with a dedication by the singer to the victims of the attacks — and has shown montages of news footage set to Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" and Live's "Overcome."

VH1 will consider re-adding the pulled videos on a case-by-case basis, Krim said. "We will re-evaluate all of them week to week," he said. "I'm sure some will go back on soon, maybe with some minor edits. Others may take a while, or may never be aired again."

Laughlin said he and other radio program directors are reassessing the need for heightened sensitivity daily. "That's one of the advantages of radio," he said. "We can make changes at any moment."

(This story was updated at 5:17 P.M. ET on Thursday, September 20, 2001.)

• Alien Ant Farm
• Drowning Pool
• Led Zeppelin
• Stone Temple Pilots
• The Gap Band