Arts & EntertainmentJanuary 26, 1996

Rebecca Huntington

Grangeville teens might be dancing to the grunge rock of Nine Inch Nails while Lewiston teens want country tunes.

To satisfy the diverse and sometimes obscure musical tastes of today's teens, local disc jockeys pack up thousands of CDs before hitting the road.

"It seems like kids, as always, are looking to be on the outside edge," said Ronnie Blackwood, a former radio disc jockey on Moscow's radio station KZFN. She now lives in Pullman and owns Perpetual Motion, a mobile disc jockey business. She plays tunes for events like weddings, private parties and high school dances.

"I'd love to do more high school dances," she said. "They cheer when they hear the right song. High schools are a lot more reactive."

With MTV and so many new bands on the market, kids are demanding a wider range and more obscure music. That puts pressure on disc jockeys working the school dance circuit.

There are "so many different styles. I'm testing things out before I buy them now. If I think something is going to have a burnout factor I'll put it on cassette," she said, rather than buy the CD.

"Ten years ago there was pretty much four bands that were cool to listen to, and anything else was not happening," said Bob Thorson of Pepperland Records.

"Now it's really cool to find obscure bands," he said. "A lot of kids don't like it when their bands get real popular because it's not their secret any more."

Before Margret Close moved to Lewiston she played music at school dances for 10 years in the Seattle area. Close owns the Snake River Saloon at Lewiston and also works as mobile disc jockey.

"(Teens) have become very versatile with their music," she said. "I have over 2,000 CDs, and it's still not enough." She takes them all when she has a gig.

Ten years ago various forms of music all blended into the same top 40 format, she said. It wasn't unusual to have Paula Abdul, ACDC and Def Leppard on the same chart.

Now music has an array of categories including industrial rock, rap, R&B, hip hop, country, classic rock, heavy metal, soft rock and alternative.

While there is a wider selection of music today, Close said, there is also a dependence on artists from decades past.

Today's musicians "are remaking everybody's music," she said. But a remake is often new to the younger generations. Take UB40's remake of Elvis' "Can't Help Falling in Love."

"Most kids didn't know that that wasn't original," she said.

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Mobile disc jockey Gary Rosenberger of Lewiston's Moonlight Productions reads Billboard and other music magazines, listens to the radio and talks to teens to keep up on the latest party tunes.

Rosenberger has a degree in audio engineering from Eastern Washington State University and teaches part time at Walla Walla Community College. He sends out a catalog so the teens can indicate what kind of music they want to hear before the event.

"They want it mixed up. It seems to be the same mixture," he said, which generally includes pop, R&B, hip hop and country.

"Rock 'n' roll is always there," he said. "But it's not right there in that dance market."

Jim Nelly, a disc jockey for radio station KMOK in Lewiston, has worked in the mobile music business for about 20 years. He owns DJ Mobile Music. The business has 10,000 CDs, he said, and 10 systems that can go in the field at once. He has been providing music at the all-night graduation parties for Lewiston and Clarkston High Schools.

As far as the diversity in teens' musical tastes, he said, "MTV is great because they are exposed to new talent, newer cutting-edge music."

As well as being diverse, he said, a disc jockey has to set a pace.

"To keep it motivated to keep it fun," he said, "you have to keep the momentum."

Nelly and Close both mentioned theme dances as a popular choice among teens. One theme in particular is the latest craze: disco.

"YMCA" by the Village People is "the biggest song I can play for them," Close said.

Just to name a few others "Freak Out" by Chic and "Funky Town" by Lipps Inc. are back in force.

"I think it's a real exciting time for music even though I left full-time radio back in '93," said Keith Havens. "I still dabble in music."

Havens has a mobile music business, but he doesn't do high school dances anymore.

"Since I left radio I can't get the most current music anymore," he said. "They want the latest, and they want it now."

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