Demo Versions

If there is one thing we like to do when DJing, it’s to get a dance floor moving to something they haven’t heard. That’s usually a pretty tall order. Party-goers are usually drawn to dance by the familiar. “THAT’S MY JAM!!!” Since the advent of Serato and other digital DJ software, we are no longer limited to what songs are on vinyl. We can record and share songs from tapes and VHS cassettes, and play them to dance floors.

Demo tapes, or “demonstration tapes” are rough versions of songs made by artists to show labels and producers what they are working on. Often, they are rerecorded and changed for public consumption. Sometimes entire sections are removed, lyrics are changed, solos are added, or entire songs are trashed. Lucky for us, some people saved these tapes and shared them with the world. Now we can play “Thriller” and have people ready to sing along, only to have them thrown for a loop when the original chorus comes in…

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Or hear Blondie as they sounded in their Manhattan practice space…

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Or an unpolished version of The Talking Heads hit…

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Or an unreleased Police song…

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