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Generally speaking, there is nothing in my taste in music that would suggest that I would have any interest in DJ Hero. I have long enjoyed Eric Prydz's "Call on me" remix—although in that case it admittedly has more to do with the video! But all in all, I have very little interest in or knowledge of hip-hop, and only a passing awareness of dance and techno.

If I may be allowed a small digression here, I should say a bit about my taste in music. To a lot of people, my musical library, which is composed primarily of classical, opera, and jazz, would be considered 'snobbish'. I don't see it that way. To me, the crucial factor is of musical talent. Thus, I favour genres where the musician actually plays his or her music—the less studio remixing, autotune, or other artificiality involved, the better. Beyond that, I also like music that is technically impressive and interesting, which is why classical and jazz float to the top.

This is why, although new country is probably the musical genre I hate the most, two of the last five albums I bought were bluegrass—hardly a musical genre one would call 'snobbish', but one which showcases some of the most impressive, real musicianship in the world.

End digression. So, given my attitudes towards music, what on earth could have persuaded me to buy DJ Hero, and think I might enjoy it? In part, it was precisely because I knew so little about the music and about DJing as an art form, and was hoping that playing through this game would allow me both to widen my horizons and to gain an appreciation for DJing—something which up until now, I had considered to be nothing more than cutting and pasting sound samples on a workstation, and hardly a performance art.

That is not to say that I was going into this completely blind, though. I have listened to plenty of Fatboy Slim, Moby, and Eric Prydz before. And the second album I ever bought (on vinyl!) was He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. While we see enough of Will Smith nowadays, the chance to play through a DJ Jazzy Jeff setlist in DJ Hero somehow felt like an appropriate way to give him his due :-)

What really sealed my willingness to be open to this game, though, was the fact that my go-to "coding music" is in fact a 31-minute long live mix by Japanese DJs Denki Groove (the opening of which can be seen here). Having watched this, and listened to it often, was the only real evidence I had going in that live DJing was a real thing.

So, I was somewhat open to DJ Hero, and hoping that it would widen my horizons. That would not be enough to make me buy the game, though. What really pushed me over the edge was just seeing it—being played in the video game store. The controller is a nice piece of kit—significantly nicer than the very fisher-price Guitar Hero controller. The game looked fun (and it is fun), and that is as important as the music.

So, what do I think? This is best music game I've played since Guitar Hero III—and I sunk a lot of hours into that one. I'll be doing the same with this one, as well. It is fun, and it does help gain an appreciation for DJing, although I think it is necessary to do some outside research as well (since the game is more of a game than a realistic representation of what a DJ does). But the game helps inspire you to look into the real thing (I've spent a lot of time on the Korg and Roland websites in the last few days.) I am still not ready to put DJs on the same level as the instrumental musicians that I primarily listen to and admire. But I am less dismissive of their music, and do appreciate dance and hip-hop more now (for what they are), than I did before.