"Great DJ" is the debut single by English
indie pop
Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...
band
The Ting Tings
The Ting Tings are an English indie pop duo formed in Salford, Greater Manchester, in 2007. The band consists of Katie White (vocals, guitar, bass drums, bass guitar, cowbells) and Jules De Martino (drums, lead guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, ...
. The song was originally released as a double A-side with "
That's Not My Name
"That's Not My Name" is the debut single of British musical duo the Ting Tings. The song was originally released as a A-side and B-side, double A-side with "Great DJ" by independent record label Switchflicker Records on 28 May 2007. After heavy ...
" by independent record label Switchflicker Records on 28 May 2007.
Composition
Vocalist Katie White states that the song was written by "playing a D chord on the guitar for hours, because that's all I could play. And then I put my finger on the wrong string, and got what I discovered was an augmented chord. And that was the riff!" The single was originally released as a
double A-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...
along with "
That's Not My Name
"That's Not My Name" is the debut single of British musical duo the Ting Tings. The song was originally released as a A-side and B-side, double A-side with "Great DJ" by independent record label Switchflicker Records on 28 May 2007. After heavy ...
".
Re-release
When "Great DJ" was re-released on 3 March 2008, it did not enter the
UK Singles Chart until one week after the individual re-release of single "That's Not My Name" went to number one.
The cover sleeves for the single were recycled:
Katie White
Katie Rebecca White (born 18 January 1983) is an English musician and member of the indie pop duo the Ting Tings. After some success with a girl group punk trio TKO, which supported Steps and Atomic Kitten, her father David White brought in Ju ...
and Jules De Martino gathered old 7-inch records from numerous car boot sales and charity shops in and around
Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, turned the sleeves inside out and customised them to create new sleeves for this single.
iTunes free single
"Great DJ" was featured on
iTunes
iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
' free single of the week in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
where it received an average of 3½ stars.
Track listings
7-inch vinyl (2007, Switchflicker Records)
# "That's Not My Name" – 3:43
# "Great DJ" – 3:23
One-sided 7-inch vinyl (2008, Columbia)
# "Great DJ" – 3:23
CD 1 (2008, Columbia)
# "Great DJ" – 3:23
# "Great DJ" (Calvin Harris remix edit) – 6:37
# "Great DJ" (7th Heaven radio edit) – 3:31
CD 2 (2008, Columbia)
# "Great DJ" (Calvin Harris remix) – 7:05
# "Great DJ" (7th Heaven remix) – 6:38
# "Great DJ" (7th Heaven dub) – 6:53
Digital EP
# "Great DJ" (Calvin Harris remix) – 7:05
# "Great DJ" (7th Heaven remix) – 6:38
# "Great DJ" (Demo version) – 3:23
Charts
Certifications and sales
Release history
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Dj
2007 songs
2008 singles
2009 singles
Columbia Records singles
Songs written by Jules De Martino
Songs written by Katie White
The Ting Tings songs