Loving L’Oreal When David talks about people who’ve not seen him DJ having the wrong image of him, he’s undoubtedly right. And it’s incredibly easy to pinpoint where this happened: that L’Oreal advert for hair gel. At the time opinion was split. TouchĂŠ summed up some of the feeling in the underground when he told DJmag he thought, “making yourself the centre of attention is a little crassâ€?. Meanwhile Paul Woolford said bluntly: “At a time when a lot of young people are turned off by dance music I don’t think this sort of thing helps.â€? Pete Tong was in Guetta’s corner, however, saying: “David getting picked and the music getting used by a company of L’Oreal’s clout and global reach can only be a good thing.â€? When we ask Guetta what the long-term effects of the ad are he claims that there are none — that no one remembers it — but everyone we mention his name to before the trip has a sly dig at the promo. It’s perhaps true that his fans and the people who have regular contact with him have forgotten the perfectly coiffured air punching, but those outside his orbit who think he’s cheesy continue to use it as a stick to bash him with. But that in no way means to say he was wrong to do it. Without a shadow of a doubt, the adverts pushed him into the superstar DJ realm. “I think it helped me in the very beginning, in a global way, and that’s what I was trying to get from that,â€? he admits. “Because they put it to me to play ‘The World Is Mine’ in the ad, and that became my first big worldwide hit. It’s so hard to get your music played on the radio or on TV when you make dance music, and especially at that time. It’s getting much better now, but I think that’s because some of us made a few steps like that, to show that this music is not only for ‘crackheads and gays’.â€? It’s easy to take money to be yourself in an advert, but if you’re going to be portrayed as some caricature, that could be tremendously damaging, not just personally, but professionally. Was he
worried they were going to paint him as something he’s not? “I was very scared,� he recalls. “I had a discussion with the ad guys and I made sure that the director was right and that we were going to do it the way I wanted to do it. This is why I did it. I didn’t want to be a puppet, I wanted to be a part of the creation process. When they respected that, I thought that it would be fine.� At this point Guetta quotes a DJ friend who asserts that there’s no point in being credible, you should try to be incredible. It’s easy to see why the phrase resonates with the Frenchman. POQY :cYS AbSdS /\USZZ] :OWR 0S .JY.BTI 8cWQS Ab`W\U Wf 4UFBMUI ASf ESSR :OWRPOQY :cYS @S[ 2OdWR 5cSbbO EWbV 2O\\g 8IJUF 1Z]aW\U A^OQS B]QORWaQ] AV`W\S 4VQFSTUBS
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“It’s a game,� he says. “I’m who I am, and people have to take me how I am. I don’t fit in the little squares and I don’t care. I try to be true to myself without worrying what people will say. Of course I take risks — like every time I do a primetime TV show.� David says that when he goes on a big television show, his website and MySpace ignite with DJs saying: “Why are you doing this? This music is for us.� “But I tell them, it’s still my music that you love, I’m just trying to share it with more people,� he says. “Our community is a little self-destructive. Anytime someone is getting to a certain level of success, we need to kill it. I don’t understand that.� B][ AbS^VO\ Wf $IVNCP.VOEP 3`c^b :OWRPOQY :cYS @S[ 0S\\g 0S\OaaW @]QY @OdS 8IJUF 8]OQVW[ 5O``OcR B]] Ab`]\U 8IJUF
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FREE with DJ MAGAZINE
ISSUE 458
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6. John Dahlbäck Blink
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Pickadoll
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Someone wiser than us once said that dance music is a subculture that went mainstream but was never supposed to. For many people in the dance world the mechanics of mainstream success are detrimental to the music. That’s very much debatable but it is true that it’s easier to be underground and stay in your safe ghetto. “It’s very easy to be underground because you just have to obey a set of codes,� Guetta says with insight. “It’s very formulaic. But it’s also very easy to be totally pop, because it’s very formulaic too. I’m trying to do something different. What I hate is all those formats. All those guys that are working so hard to look like somebody they are not. Sometimes I look at them and think, ‘My god, you must be so tired when you get home, because you’ve been acting all day’. The biggest luxury is to be happy, true and free and I’m getting there, finally.� For a man that looks like he drips luxury, it’s reassuring to hear that these things are what matters to him. And he means it too. As one of the most rounded people we’ve stumbled across in the dance world, there’s very little of the pop star in the David Guetta we met, despite the paparazzi-esque camera flashes when he takes to the decks. Fuck me, he’s good.
Track by track 11/1/08 16:20:59
David takes us through the tracks he’s picked for this issue’s covermount CD‌ 1. Steve Angello & Laidback Luke Be
“Another genius Swedish producer. What’s going on in this country?! Is it something they eat?�
7. David Guetta Love is Gone Virgin
“No comment on this one: it’s so big now I don’t need to play it for more than a minute to make the people scream.�
Mixmag
“This has a proper old-school vibe and is huge on the dancefloor. Steve, Sebastian and Axwell are like my surrogate brothers.�
8. Tom Stephan
2. Juice String
9. Benny Benassi Rock & Rave
Stealth
“Benny is back with a great new sound, and I’m glad.�
Sex Weed (Laidback Luke Remix) “Laidback Luke is one of my favourite producers lately and we are both fans of Timbaland.�
3. David Guetta
Closing Space with Danny White
“I made this track on my laptop right after playing at the Space closing in Ibiza with Danny Tenaglia last summer. I never gave this track to anybody, so it’s really exclusive.�
Erupt (Laidback Luke Remix)
ChumboMumbo
“Very nice — dark and funky.� White
10. Joachim Garraud
Too Strong White
“My production partner is preparing a solo album and this is one of the tracks exclusively — even before it’s totally finished.�
11. Dada Life
This Machine Kills Breakfast Alphabet City
4. Tocadisco Shrine
“This is pure modern funk to me.�
“I love that it’s constructed in the way I like to create my tracks: ruffness and emotion at the same time, happiness meets sadness. He’s one of my favourite producers.�
12. David Guetta Joan of Arc
Superstar
5. David Guetta Delirious Virgin
“This track is on my album ‘Pop Life’ and is receiving massive support from lots of DJs even though I never promoted it. It raises hands in the air every time I play it. “
www.djmag.com DJ458.davidguetta 37
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Producby Christof Maeder for BlackburnBenassi, a great night. Recorded live Benny John Dahlbäck, Dada Life, and all @ Q Club Zurich for Ruedi Ryf of Imperiale ProductionsAngello, Sebastian Ingrosso, Laidback Luke, Tocadisco, – especially Olga Heijns @ Unmanagable Thanks to Fresh & Stable, Steve so quickly &Š Garraud, Soulwax, Justice, the labels who turned it around Scand/Double LL Publishing/Talpa Music. (P) tions. Cheers to Joachim music. And thanks to all by Universal Music Publishing Tenaglia for sharing your Published by Urban Dubz/Westbury Tom Stephan and Danny & Laidback Luke. Published Mark James & Charlotte Hodson. P & C 2007 Stealth & produced by Steve Angello 2. Written by Jeremy Sylvester, James and Charlotte Hodson. Jones. Published Artists. Track 1. Written o.tv www.laidbackkluke.com Sylvester. Vocals by Mark R. MixMash 2007. www.steveangell Copyright Control. Produced and recorded by Jeremy El Tocadisco. Music by El Tocadisco. Text by Chelonis Carl Ryden, by & KG. 5. Written by Tara McDonald,Garraud and Music, Hero Music Publishing by David Guetta. White label. 4. Written & produced Entertainment GmbH & Co. Joachim Records. 3. Written & ProducedLicensed by Superstar Recordings - a division of Superstar Copyright Control. Produced by Sven Kirschner, Rivoli Suare by Published Publishing. Riesterer. by Universal Music Publishing. Published by Notting Hill Music, Square Rivoli Garraud/David Guetta/Frederidrecorded by Tom Stephan (Cage Music) and Joachim Garraud, David Guetta. 6. No credits supplied. 7. Written by Chris Willis/Joachim 9. Written by A. Riesterer. 8. Written, composed Carbonell. Records. Frederid & Gum Jennifer for Garraud by Guetta Vocals Joachim David for Seductive Records. Sri. 10. Written Music. Producers & remixers Accorsi (Copyright Control) courtesy of Energy Production Publishing – Whistling Angel geable Artists and Martin Energy Production Sri. Licensed Published by Container / Scandinavian Songs. for ChumboMundo Records/Unmana by Energy Production/Off Limits p & c 2008 Engblom. Rivoli PublishPublished by Olle CornĂŠer and Stefan Guetta. Published by Square Benassi/M. Benassi/P.Sears 11. Written and produced Linquist/Joachim Garraud/David Written and produced by Xavier De Rosnay, Garraud for Gum Records. by Alexander Perls – Marc and produced by Joachim 2007. 13. performed Alphabet City. 12. Written Garraud for Gum Records Contains a sample of ‘Tenebrae’ www.dadalife.com P + C 2007 Songs. Produced by David Guetta and Joachim Publishing/Because Editions. Because Music. – Perls ing – Natoarts Music Ltd Soulwax. Published by Headbangers under exclusive licence to Additional Production by is owned by Ed Banger Records Gaspard Auge. Remix and copyright in this sound recording by Goblin. [P] & Š 2007 The
Live. As much as he loves that software he says that playing in a club with it feels “too much like being in an office�. So despite such skill in the booth, why do we not think of David as a technical DJ? “If someone hasn’t seen me play they probably have the wrong image of me,� he ponders with no malice. “Maybe a lot of people like to talk about me, but they don’t know who I am. They might have heard some big tracks on the radio and they think that’s it. I see myself as being a DJ even before being a producer. I started producing music because I was a DJ, so I feel my field is larger as a DJ than a producer.�
Gum
“Again, a track from my album ‘Pop Life’. A rockier side of me that only the clubbers that stay for my late sets know.�
13. Justice
Phantom (Soulwax Remix) Ed Banger
“Amazing harmonies from Justice and craziness of a couple of my favourite spinners: 2manyDJs, aka Soulwax.�
037 22/1/08 18:53:17