Yikes, a bit behind am I? So Seattle Gay Pride was something like five months ago (almost half a year!) and I am just now getting around to posting my “Gay Pride 2006” mix.

Compared to Music Make You Lose Control and Destroy Rock (And Roll), this mix is tremendously better. I have a few theories on why it’s better: First, pretty much every one of these songs are club/dance mixes — they are designed (good intros/outros) for DJs and mixing; second, I am getting better at this — I know when to start mixing songs together, what types of songs go good together, etc.

As for the songs, when I first envisioned a gay-themed mix I had planned to do songs with gay themes (lots of stuff from Le Tigre and Scissor Sisters). Then I realized that finding all the songs and putting them together was going to take a while… and that a gay mix could be done at any time and wasn’t necessarily “2006” or “Pride” oriented.

So I decided that it might be more fun to make a mix of all of my favorite songs that I had heard at Neighbours over the last year. In the end that idea worked and I think this mix turned out to be a lot of fun.

I started the mix with Basement Jaxx’s remix of Missy Elliott’s “4 My People.” This song was a perfect opener for two reasons: First, the title “4 My People” sorta signaled that this was a gay mix for my “gay” people or whatever. Second, Elliott’s …So Addictive album (where “4 My People” appears) is a totally gay album (themes of clubs, drugs, sex, etc.) and “4 My People” is Elliott’s most club-friendly song. A great way to kick things off.

Kelly Osbourne’s “One Word” was one of the first songs I remember really starting to love at Neighbours. Being rather unfamiliar with pop music at the time, I had to try to hear some of the lyrics (“it’s not the way that I want it/it’s just the way that I need it”) and text message them to myself so that I could search for the song and download it. I’m not sure that I’ve actually heard Dannii Minogue’s “Perfection” at Neighbours despite the fact that it’d be a perfect pick. The song samples “Turn the Beat Around” and is so high-energy.

My favorite moment of the mix is around the 22:00 mark when toward the end of Gabriel & Dresden’s remix of “The Wings” (theme song to Brokeback Mountain) Madonna’s “Hung Up” starts to creep in. The two songs have this similar “reverso beat thing” (I don’t have a more technical term) that matches up perfectly. In addition to the musical synergy of the two songs, I firmly believe that “Hung Up” and Brokeback Mountain were the two biggest gay events of the year, so placing them side-by-side/ontop of each other just seemed perfect.

Speaking of perfect, “Since U Been Gone” is a perfect example of how Neighbours has influenced my taste in music. When Kelly Clarkson was touring sometime last year, I walked by The Paramount and saw her tour bus. I was one the phone with my friend at the time and made some comment like, “Ugh, Kelly Clarkson. I hate her.” My friend responded something like, “Well you sure seemed to love her song at the club the other night.” And sure enough, he was right. I love “SUBG” and it’s inclusion on this mix was an absolute must. For some of the songs, I opted for edited/shorter remixes or did a lot of overlapping. For “SUBG,” though, I really needed to get the whole song in there so I went with the full-length version of Jason Nevins’ perfect (and in my opinion, his best work ever) remix.

It’s funny, I think, that of all the artists on this mix, only Dannii Minogue appears twice. As I mentioned before, “Perfection” wasn’t even a song that I heard at the club, but I loved it so much I couldn’t do the mix without it. Not the case with “Put the Needle On It.” I always loved it when this song came up. My favorite part is the voiceover going, “Dirty hands do demand” or whatever. Originally I planned to use Tiga‘s remix, but in the end the Jason Nevins mix just worked better. I kind of regret putting two Nevins mixes back-to-back, but what can ‘ya do?

My friend Troy would kill me if I didn’t credit him with turning me on to the Gabriel & Dresden remix of “Don’t Leave Home” by Dido. So there: Everyone: Give Troy credit for this. The funny thing about this song is that finding a “good” MP3 of it took quite a while. Most of the mixes you find on the p2p networks come from various compilations (such as Bloom) and aren’t the “pure”/”official” version that I wanted. (Since I don’t have vinyl, getting the official “Sand In My Shoes” / “Don’t Leave Home” single wasn’t feasible.) I immediately fell in love with the song, especially the part that comes in toward the end of the song (or around 45:22 in the mix) where the song takes a break of sorts and goes all electro/robot/whatever.

The same Troy who loves “Don’t Leave Home” hate’s “Cha Cha Heels.” That’s sort of why I put the songs next to each other — I thought it was funny. This song really has no substance or anything likable, but it’s fun when it comes on at the club and some people (such as me) pretend that they know how to cha-cha.

If “The Wings”/”Hung Up” don’t make this the perfect gay mix, then “Don’t Cha” better be what it takes. With the exception of “Hung Up,” I don’t think I’ve seen any song make the gay boys at the club more excited than this song (or maybe this is me projecting since this song makes me so excited?). There is something about being at a gay club and the lyrics, “Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me” that is just too great. It’s a pretty common gay fantasy to seduce and get with the hot straight guy, and in a gay context this song seems to be the anthem for getting with the straight guy who has a girlfriend. Due to this song’s perfect thematic role in the mix and the fact it’s great to dance to, I had to use Ralphi’s full-length 12″ vox (i.e., vocal) mix.

“The Sound of San Francisco” was another one of the first songs I really loved to hear at the club. The fact it sampled/covered “San Francisco” by the Mamas and the Papas made it all the better, and turned me on to the idea of finding other techno songs that did the same thing. In the end, “The Sound of San Francisco” was the best (though the Global Deejay’s “Flashdance” is great, too).

I always thought that the Global Deejays songs used the same beats that Benny Benassi did, so that’s why I put his remix of Goldfrapp’s “Ooh La La” after “The Sound of San Francisco.” I admit, the transition here is a little sloppy, but I think the fact that both songs have that heavy beat/organ sounding thing helps hide a bit of the slop. Funny story about this song: The remix that the DJ at Neighbours usually played was Peter Rauhofer (a pretty big “gay DJ”). His mix was sort of dark, however, and didn’t climax very well. Although my friend Troy and I frequently requested “Ooh La La” (being as how we were Goldfrapp fans), we were always disappointed with the results. Finally we took things into our own hands and I specifically requested the Benny Benassi remix (I had downloaded all the songs from and eventually purchased the purchased the “Ooh La La” club promo CD single) and it helped us finally realize the awesomeness of “Ooh La La” in a club setting.

Toward the end of this mix, I admit, I got a little sloppy. I wanted to include “Inspiration” and “The World Is Mine” because I remembered them from the club and they were good, danceable songs. I wish I would’ve included Scissor Sisters’ “Filthy/Gorgeous” earlier in the mix and done a better job incorporating it, because this is easily my favorite Scissor Sisters’ song. At least it closes the mix?

So in the end, how many of these songs did they play at Neighbours during Pride weekend? Well, I went out Saturday night and I definitely remember “The Wings” (which surprised the hell out of me), “Don’t Leave Home,” and “Ooh La La.” Others may have been (and probably were) played earlier or at other times.

00:00 — “4 My People” (Basement Jaxx remix) by Missy Elliott
02:56 — “One Word” (Chris Cox remix) by Kelly Osbourne
08:55 — “Perfection” (Dancing DJs remix) by Dannii Minogue
14:00 — “The Wings” (Gabriel & Dresden’s Organized Nature remix) by Gustavo Santaolalla
20:24 — “Hung Up” (SDP extended vocal mix) by Madonna
26:39 — “Since U Been Gone” (Jason Nevins club mix) by Kelly Clarkson
32:49 — “Put the Needle On It” (Nevins Club Creation) y Dannii Minogue
39:13 — “Don’t Leave Home” (Gabriel & Dresden remix) by Dido
48:11 — “Cha Cha Heels” (Ralphi Rosario radio edit) by Rosabel
51:02 — “Don’t Cha” (Ralphi’s Hot Freak 12″ vox remix) by the Pussycat Dolls
59:37 — “The Sound of San Francisco” (progressive extended mix) by the Global Deejays
64:30 — “Ooh La La” (Benny Benassi extended remix) by Goldfrapp
70:44 — “Inspiration” (radio edit) by Ian Van Dahl
73:25 — “The World is Mine” by David Guetta
75:54 — “Filthy/Gorgeous” by Scissor Sisters

  Download “Gay Pride 2006” (very low-quality)