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A new study has revealed that the quickest way for a human to move from a state of excitement to a state of disappointment is noticing the words ‘DJ Set’ on a poster or flyer.
“We showed subjects a fairly busy poster for an imaginary festival,” explained Simon Williams, Professor of Made-Up things at Oxford University.
“Next to the headline act, who has not played live for several years, we inserted the words ‘DJ Set’ in very small print.
“In every case, subjects initially rated the festival ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ exciting. However, on spotting the ‘DJ Set’ disclaimer, that rating fell straight to ‘disappointing’. That change could take place in a matter of moments, there was no stopping at ambivalence. It just went straight from excitement to disappointment.”
One respondent summed up the feelings of many.
“Well, they’d have been great to see live. But a DJ set? That’s just them playing some records. I can do that myself. Also, how does it even work, do they all take turns to play the records or something? Whatever, if I’m going to a festival, the least the headliner can do is bring their instruments and play a couple of tunes.”
Interestingly, the prospect a DJ playing a DJ set did not see the same move from excitement to disappointment.
“No, we think that’s because it’s someone who’s good at their job doing their job,” explained Professor Williams.
“A band or singer doing a DJ set is like having a plumber come round to cook dinner. What’s the point?”
The only things in the study that came remotely close to the speed at which the words ‘DJ Set’ turns excitement to disappointment were the Star Wars prequels and Brexit.
