Is This a Wedding Song?

The Lonely Island is on a boat.

My wife & I went to a wedding last weekend, where the DJ absolutely crushed it. He had a great mix of classics, of somewhat off-the-beaten-path indie, and a solid stable of standard bangers. And, for some reason, he played “I’m On A Boat” by The Lonely Island.

Dear Reader, I am here to tell you the crowd went nuts. I am wildly out of touch, so for all I know this song is the next “Don’t Stop Believin’.” I sure hope so.

While we had a wonderful time, Jess & I also noticed that the DJ only played two slow songs, back-to-back. Neither one of us are big dancers, but we were looking forward to a few opportunities to sway slowly on the dance floor, and we were a bit disappointed that we didn’t get more chances to do so.

I was chatting with the wedding photographer, who said she’s noticed DJs are playing fewer slow songs than they were five or 10 years ago. That’s one anecdote, and now it’s got me really curious about trends in wedding music.

I’ll leave it to wedding industry professionals to look into data on the average beats-per-minute of the 1,000 most popular wedding songs over the past 20 years. I think it’s certainly possible that there’s a trend. But I also think it’s likely that I’m looking for something different from a wedding DJ than I was 5 or 10 years ago, when many of my friends were getting married.

There’s curmudgeon inside me shaking his fist at the youth on the dance floor, with their slim-fit clothes and good knees, dancing well into the night. But rather than give into that grouchy side of myself, I instead took pleasure in taking a seat, in watching others revel in the excitement of the moment. There’s a special joy of seeing your peers begin their lives together, maybe only a few steps ahead or behind yourself. That moment is exuberant, and heady, and raucous, and probably a little drunk.

And that moment definitely does not want another slow song.