90’s Freak Dance Playlist

It was December 2018 at an agency holiday party when the DJ put on a song that sent me 25 years years into the past. With the help of the Shazam app I had a song and a concept for a playlist that began a two year journey trying to capture lightning in a bottle.

During the initial discovery phase my only rule for the playlist was the song had to be from the 90’s and it had to channel the spirit of the “freak dance” from high school. I quickly realized I need more parameters to truly make this a work of art and decided on a new set of guidelines:

• Everything had to be released during the 1990’s.
• Everything had to have less than 1 million total plays on Spotify
(a couple songs were grandfathered in).
• Everything had to be music that could be played in a club, but could not be a “club mix” of any song.

I’ve always loved music. I played in concert band and marching band for 8 years from junior high until I was in college, so I’ve been around music my entire life. I’ve recently started to love the puzzle that is creating a playlist and this was my first try. Many more to come.