• Search
• Subscribe
• RSS

Everyone has their own summer anthem. Over at Ibiza Rocks the kids jump and shout to Dizzee Rascal and Armand Van Helden's hoodie mash-up "Bonkers" while the Joris Voorn's "Sweep The Floor" does just that at Space and Cream puts its hands in the air for Oceanlab's "Lonely Girl".

Trying to pick a single mega-tune that unites all these disparate dancefloor factions is tricky business. What moves 18-year-old Tiësto fanatics leaves the 30-somethings chilling to the sounds of Jon Sa Trinxa colder than their crushed-ice cocktails.

Despite the obvious difficulties the DJ Awards - held the end of every season in Ibiza for the last 11 years - rushes in where angels fear to tread and every year picks a track of the season.

You might expect it to be an exercise in cheesy has-beens, one-hit wonders and toe-curling embarrassment - after all, only a relatively small percentage of records still sound great ones the lights go up and the chemical buzz fades. Remarkably, it's not.

In fact, a trawl through the annals of the DJ Awards archives turns up a pleasantly surprising selection of tunes that suggests that despite certain quirks (Adam Beyer, best Minimal DJ?!) the long-running awards ceremony has its ears firmly tuned to the dancefloor. Here's a quick look at the DJ Awards Track of the Season greatest hits.

Modjo "Lady Hear Me Tonight" (2000)
Love it or hate it, you're head will start bobbing when you hear the opening chords of this French filtered-house classic. The tune that launched a thousand Gallic-sound-alikes, it has continued to hang around compilation CDs, wedding discos and MTV Dance re-run shows, a reminder of the sunny days when disco and Daft Punk got it together on the left bank.

Tim Deluxe "Just Won't Do" (2002)
Self-professed "little ginger club kid" Tim Deluxe captured the sound of the summer with sassy, funky house beats that reverberated from the sands of Bora Bora to the belly of Amnesia. "Just Won't Do" is one of those tracks that still commands sing-alongs and much shaking of bikini-clad bottoms.

Junior Jack "E Samba" (2003)
Sexy Italian house served up with a generous helping of hip-waggling Carnival flavour, "E Samba" built up a swirling storm of hype for Junior Jack's superb LP "Trust It" which came out the following year. Unlike a lot of DJs Junior Jack had no false modesty about his commercial mega hit, reportedly saying his plush house and fast car more than made up for any critical sniping.

M.A.N.D.Y. vs Booka Shade "Body Language" (2005)
Dancers skittered and bounced like water-drops on a redhot stove when the distinctive "dum-dum-dum-dum" opening chords of "Body Language" shot through soundsystems. Co-created by Get Physical compatriots M.A.N.D.Y. and Booka Shade, it took the cool, clean, underground sound of German electronica mainstream - the world hasn't been the same since.

Axwell "I Found U" (2007)
If there were an award for cramming the most styles of house music possible into one tune Axwell's whoomping anthem would have been a double-winner. With its plinky piano-opening, glossy synth stabs that nod back to Modjo, a glass-shattering diva vocal and punishing electro kick drums thrown in for good measure this tune pushes every imaginable button.

This year's summer anthem title is up for grabs until the DJ Awards on 24 September - will it be another vintage year?

 www.djawards.com