A dinner party playlist is no simple thing. It takes planning. Too many are afterthoughts; throwaway mishmashes that hold no substance and do nothing to add to the atmosphere of a dinner party. These crimes must stop. To that end, we’ve produced the definitive dinner party playlist for you to use at your next casual gathering of friends. Here’s why it’s the best.
Dinner Parties are Defined
A dinner party isn’t something open to interpretation. It has concrete elements that make up the whole. To begin with, there’s food. If you aren’t serving food, it’s not a dinner party. Then there’s conversation. A successful dinner party is epitomised by good conversation. Further, there’s usually alcohol. To be honest, if you aren’t serving wine with dinner I’m probably not that interested in coming.
Then, to accompany all of this, there’s music. Because of the unique environment, it can’t just be any music. It has to compliment all the elements of the gathering. If you’re eating, drinking and chatting, the last thing you want is overdriven guitars or pulsating bass drops. So yes, there is a right and wrong way to make a dinner party playlist.
Some Genres Just Work Better
Because a dinner party playlist needs to all at once relax the guests, foster conversation, and enhance the natural buzz of a drink or two, some genres are inherently better than others. Folk, Soul and Ballads are always at the core of a truly brilliant dinner party playlist. Lounge Jazz can be inserted with ease if it’s your taste. Outside of that, it comes down to the individual song. Anything too aggressive, fast, loud or profane should be avoided.
Happy is good, providing it’s not too boisterous. There’s nothing wrong with upbeat, but avoid songs that are too fast or might overpower conversation. Sad is OK, as long as it’s reflective or philosophical; not grim or dark. Soft is generally a winner, but let’s not put people to sleep.
Minor key dirges and overtly disheartening songs should also be avoided. The last thing people want in the throes of a pleasant evening discussing the finer points of neo-liberalism is background music that makes them want to give up hope.
Lyrics Matter
In addition to sound considerations, lyrical content also needs to be vetted. There’s more leeway here. Thought provoking lyricism is encouraged, but wistful and even silly lyrics can be used strategically. The key is balance. Lyrics should be serious enough to subconsciously prompt your guests during meaningful conversation; but not maudlin, scary or overly negative. Nothing kills the vibe like Jason admitting he thinks Charles Manson was unfairly treated and actually something of a visionary. (It probably goes without saying but if Jason does do that, please stop being friends with him.)
All of this is to say that you need to use some discretion. No topic is off limits – what’s important is the way in which the song approaches it. For example, I Started A Joke by the Bee Gees contains fairly tragic lyrics. But they’re poignant. At it’s heart it’s a song about how we deal with regret – a noble topic for dinner table chat.
Our Version
So you see there’s really quite a lot to consider when designing a dinner party playlist. Any old song won’t do. You want a playlist that is guaranteed to hit all the right notes without trying to steal the show. Now, you could take all of this into consideration and give building your own a go. Or, you could just use ours. It won’t cost you anything, and we’ll update it from time to time to keep it fresh!
It’s designed to be played on shuffle without any need for attention from you during the evening. You do the cooking and the eating and the drinking and the enjoying yourself, we’ll handle the tunes.
