Dartmouth, we have an addiction problem. I'm not talking about Blitz or Keystone. This addiction finds us in our rooms, in basements, even on DOC Trips. We are hopelessly, shamelessly addicted to Top-40 music.
With a social scene that revolves almost solely around Greek life, it's no surprise that our musical taste is centered around frat basements. And while the basements themselves may be underground, the music being played in them is not.
"People just want to play pong to played-out songs with catchy beats," said Blair Randall '11, who DJs at Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity, and is known as DJ Kemmik.
Randall is a member of The Dartmouth business staff.
Dance parties, another key feature of the fraternity scene, determine a large portion of the music that gains popularity on campus. According to Trey Roy '09, a campus DJ who goes by the name DJ Enzo, the majority of the music played at dance parties is either Top-40 or electro remixes of Top-40 songs because that's what's danceable.
"There's very small diversity I haven't been to too many parties where the music is radically different," Roy said. "I would encourage student groups to go past the norm, try something different. It broadens people's exposure to different types of music."
Certain houses are known for playing specific types of music most notably Phi Delta Alpha fraternity's constant blasting of music outside its house much of which is at least 20 years old.
Andrew Rayner '10, a member of "Dartmouth's only supergroup" Clusterfunk, said that he spends the most time in basements where he enjoys the music that is playing. He wishes, though, that more students were involved in making their own music, he said.
"The fact that we have nine a capella groups and only two or three campus bands is crazy to me," he said. "People need to celebrate music more and do it in any way possible. You don't have to do the mainstream thing."
Rayner also said that more practice spaces would encourage the creation of new student music groups. Because Clusterfunk is an independent music group, it gets last priority for reserving practice space, he said.
With the notable exceptions of Filligar, Young Ivy and Clusterfunk, Dartmouth students don't seem to be making their own live music.
Part of the reason for the lack of bands on campus could be the D-Plan. After the creation of Clusterfunk during the members' sophomore summer, the group had trouble staying constantly active as band members were gone during different terms, Rayner said.
"I have friends at other colleges who have house parties with college or local bands," Greg Dona '10 said, who recently opened at the Mike Posner, Wale and Gym Class Heroes concert under the name DJ Whack-a-Tone. "If a fraternity is looking for a band, they only have so many options."
Other students simply want there to be a wider variety of musical genres available on campus. Mbumbijazo Katjivena '12, a native of Namibia, said that he wishes there was a larger international music scene.
"All the frats play the same thing the whole term," he said.
Roy, for his part, said that one of his favorite parties of last year was one that played exclusively reggaeton. Roy added that he wishes that more people were willing to step outside the box with the music they play.
Jennifer Williams '12, a member of the women's soccer team, said she listens to a lot of "pump-up music." Other than that, she said she agrees frats "completely" dominate the music scene. After a year here, Williams said that the music she listens to in social situations is different than what she chooses when she's by herself.
"I can still maintain my own likes," Williams said. "On my own I choose to listen to other stuff more alternative."
Without clubs or concert venues in Hanover, it can be hard to find non-mainstream music, several students said.
Friday Night Rock, a group that brings local, alumni and national underground bands to Dartmouth, is trying to combat this problem.
"Because Dartmouth is so far away from the centers of underground music right now, we don't get a lot of that culture," said Chris Randall '12, the FNR historian. "FNR offers a venue for those sort of bands to come through and play and get exposure here."
Bands featured in the past have included Girl Talk and Of Montreal.
"A lot of people aren't as hip to the underground stuff because we're so isolated," Randall said. "By bringing those types of bands to campus, it offers a completely different musical perspective. It's those smaller bands that might not attract a huge crowd, but there are definitely people on campus who want to hear them."
While Dona describes the music scene as "very, very behind," he acknowledges that students are unusually open to hearing unfamiliar electro and house music.
"People are really open-minded here," he said. "I've played parties at other colleges and generally they don't want to hear anything remotely underground. If you're passionate about it, people will give it a shot."
Except for electro and house, though, basement playlists rarely stray from the mainstream. While a few houses are known for playing specific genres, the overall music scene lacks the diversity seen on larger campuses or in urban areas.
The lack of radio stations available in Hanover forces most students to find new music on the Internet and share it with friends over BlitzMail. According to Dona, when live acts are coming to campus or a frat, people build hype by blitzing out that artist's songs. He said that if people relied less on Blitz, music events would be better publicized through the use of more flyers and other advertising methods.
Several of the DJs on campus said that Programming Board started the year off well with last week's free Mike Posner, Wale and Gym Class Heroes concert. Wale performed at Dartmouth a week after he performed at the MTV Video Music Awards, Dona pointed out, saying PB did a "splendid job."
Several students said that bringing live music to campus is a huge step in the right direction of diversifying and expanding Dartmouth's music scene.
"Having artists play is great for new musical input," Jan Gromadzki '10, who is also known as DJ Swizz, said. "It helps connect us to the outside world since we're in our little bubble."
When they leave the bubble, students often find their musical preferences are out-of-sync with their friends back home.
"We kind of create our own musical world," Rayner said. "When I go home, what I hear on the radio isn't what I heard at Dartmouth."
Everyone interviewed for this article agreed that our musical world needs to diversify. As Roy pointed out, we attend a liberal arts college with the goal of being well versed in a variety of subjects.
"Why should it stop at music?" he said.
