DJ Mag Top 100 DJs 2015 LogoIt’s that time of the year when the infamous DJ Mag Top 100 DJs polls are announced and everyone goes nuts with it, including the DJs (and their booking fees). This year’s polls came with much more amount of WTFs than expected with Carl Cox being at no. 64, Laidback Luke at no. 63, Knife Party at no. 100 and with one of the biggest surprises, Indian Bollywood DJ, DJ Chetas with a better rank than all the legends mentioned before, at no. 59! As the countdown began, the #Top100DJs debate started becoming hot on social media and some of the well known DJs took the liberty and expressed their feelings about the polls on social media. Let’s take a look at some of the most noteworthy reactions.

 

LAIDBACK LUKE

As one of the very first to comment on the polls, Laidback Luke reacted to his being at a spot just under Carl Cox positively. As the polls unveiled, Luke took to twitter with sarcasm.

While pointing us at Kaskade‘s twitter, he also threw a tweet against so-called “posers”.

 

KASKADE

Three years ago, Kaskade had seen it coming. In his editorial post on Tumblr about the lack of credibility and usefulness behind the DJ Mag Top 100 list, he writes:

While I do appreciate a person taking their time to vote for me, it’s ok if you’d rather spend your time doing something else. This type of competition, poll, award whatever is not on my radar. I don’t have the bandwidth to campaign for an event that mainly exists as a stunt for Facebook and website page views. And while the integrity of the voting process has never actually been solid, the bigger and somewhat embarrassing question is, does EDM actually need a Prom King or Homecoming Queen? I didn’t jockey for the title in High School, and I’m not doing it now.

Now, what seems to be DJ Mag’s reaction to this incident in addition to Kaskade’s denial for an interview yet another time for his post in the polls, is a highly unprofessional case of bad press. Stephen Flynn writes in the bio of Kaskade on the DJ Mag site:

Last year, Kaskade’s management made a song and dance about him answering a few simple questions for our poll. This year, they went one step further — insisting the main man was too busy on tour to answer the questions we put his way.

He’s not the only one, but all things considered this LA-based DJ/producer is fast becoming as notorious for his potty-mouth as he is his musical output. Last year, for example, he famously told us that “Anyone over the age of 30 is suspect in a nightclub” (Kaskade is 44), while this year he’s been taking pop-shots at rock royalty in the shape of Sir Paul McCartney.

To give you a bit of background, at this year’s Lollapalooza Festival, the sound bleed from Kaskade’s stage meant that it interrupted McCartney’s acoustic guitar during a tribute to John Lennon.

“I intended this,” McCartney joked as Kaskade’s bass crossed over to his stage. “It’s like a crazy mash-up of this song and whatever they’re playing over there.”
Kaskade’s response? “I love that!

There’s something irreverent about electronic music, that it’s very young and youthful, so the fact that I pissed some old guy off is very funny. Life achievement unlocked.”

Douche. He might be big business in Vegas and a regular fixture in the Top 100, but with this sort of outspoken carry-on it’s surely only a matter of time before this man’s antics relegate him to a bin marked ‘obscurity’. Kaskade, please, stick with the day job, mate.

STEPHEN FLYNN

Calling a person of this stature “potty mouth” and “douche” is nowhere near justifiable, especially coming from this level of a magazine. Kaskade is very liberal on speaking his mind on social media, but this series of tweets show that DJ Mag has pushed him way too far this time. Whatever the reason might be, DJ Mag loses its credibility even more.

 

3LAU & HARDWELL

As Martin Garrix and Hardwell were announced for no.3 and 2 respectively, their close friend, 3LAU took to twitter to voice his reactions.

To this tweet of 3LAU, even Hardwell replied by voicing his frustration with the alleged manipulation of voting system by the Belgian duo. This tweet later got deleted, but some people were successful in keeping a screenshot of the tweet.

hardwell-3lau-twitter-dvlm

 

Hardwell hardly voices negativity when it comes to publicly speaking but you know it’s serious when even Hardwell says something like that. The frustration is real.

 

AXWELL & INGROSSO

While some big names were voicing their opinions on the DJ Mag polls, Axwell & Ingrosso were playing at their event in Amsterdam. After they got to know they came 17th, Axwell took no time in announcing something at the live show itself, which was to-the-point and gave the right message to every party. While aiming at the no.1 duo, Axwell says:

“We do fuck*ng appreciate it, because being number 17 doing nothing but your love, is so much better than to be number 1 with a lot of f*cking work, you know what I mean?”

Axwell & Ingrosso shows their gratitude towards fans by acknowledging their fans’ love and acknowledging that it’s the only thing that took them to no. 17. Music speaks for itself and needs no iPads or hot chicks to draw attention towards it. Here’s a little over 1-minute video of the announcement that a fan captured and has surprisingly clear sound. Check it out!

 

HEADHUNTERZ & NICKY ROMERO

Willem Rebergen, better known by his stage name, Headhunterz took no issues with the polls whatsoever but also had a harsh experience with “highly” professional attitude of DJ Mag. Willem wanted to get his old photo in his bio changed to a newer one. He tweets the screenshot of the  mail reply. Eventually, DJ Mag replied but the damage had been done. DJ Mag took one more to the chest for their PR. The old photo was taken down from his page immediately, but Headhunterz’s bio still does not contain a photo which you can confirm from here.

Nicky Romero who drifted to no.18 position this year also had a bad experience with screw-ups of DJ Mag. Nicky Romero’s photo was uploaded on the page of Axwell & Ingrosso (no. 17) and there was no mention of no. 18 i.e., Nicky Romero on the site. Nicky took no time in calling out DJ Mag on twitter regarding the issue.

This mess has been fixed now, but the top 100 page still has issues. There is no mention of no.60 which happens to be  Danny Avila and there is still no name under Carnage‘s no. 80 post. You can confirm it here. Seriously DJ Mag, hire adequate professionals who gets things done.

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STEVE ANGELLO

After the reactions from his fellow professionals, Size boss Steve Angello called out to his colleagues and reminded what it is all about and what they can do about it. In a picture consisting of text, Steve clears out everything in only a few words.

Last but not the least, here are concerning points raised by Jono Grant of Above & Beyond, Norman Doray and our very own Pearl along with some witty jokes. Have you found some noteworthy reactions on social media which are not listed here? Comment them below!

H/T: We Rave You and YourEDM

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