DJ Crazy Times and the Eurodance parody that captured a nation

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

All right. There is a new contender for the hottest song of the summer.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PLANET OF THE BASS")

CHRISSI POLAND: (As Ms. Biljana Electronica, singing) All of the dream...

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KYLE GORDON: (As DJ Crazy Times) Come on, come on.

POLAND: (As Ms. Biljana Electronica, singing) How does it mean...

CHANG: It's called "Planet Of The Bass," and it has all the trappings of those Eurodance hits from the 1990s - right? - including a catchy beat and, yes, an aggressive DJ.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PLANET OF THE BASS")

GORDON: (As DJ Crazy Times) Alert. Alert. DJ Crazy Times.

CHANG: DJ Crazy Times is a character played by comedian Kyle Gordon. The song and the music video came out this week.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PLANET OF THE BASS")

GORDON: (As DJ Crazy Times, singing) Life - it never die. Women are my favorite guy. Sex - I'm wanting more. Tell the world stop the war...

CHANG: And Kyle Gordon - I mean, DJ Crazy Times joins us now. Welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.

GORDON: Thanks so much for having me. I'm glad to be here.

CHANG: (Laughter) We're so glad to have you. OK, so you put out a clip of "Planet Of The Bass." It becomes this huge viral hit. And we're talking more than a hundred million views - right? - across all kinds of social media platforms. What has the last few weeks been like for you?

GORDON: Yeah, I mean, the last few weeks have been completely nuts. You know, I was really proud of the song, and I thought it was really funny. But did I think that it would find a fan base so far beyond fans who are nostalgic of '90s Eurodance music? No. So it's been - I've been completely blown away by how big it's gotten and how much people seem to be loving it.

CHANG: And although this is DJ Crazy Times' first huge hit, he's been around for a while. Can you just introduce us to the man? How did you come up with this character?

GORDON: Yeah, DJ Crazy Times is actually, funny enough, probably the oldest character I've done. You know, people who have been following me on social media for the last few years know that I do a ton of different characters. But DJ Crazy Times - I've actually been performing that character since college, and there's actually a CD that I put out with my acapella group...

CHANG: Oh my God.

GORDON: ...In college from 2013. Yeah. And DJ Crazy Times does the intro, like - (as DJ Crazy Times) you're listening to the Denison Hilltoppers' album.

And there's, like, crappy beatboxing underneath it.

CHANG: Wait, so in the 1990s when, like, Eurodance was huge, you were - what? - 10, 12?

GORDON: Like, 5, 6 years old? Something like that.

CHANG: Oh, OK. OK, so even younger. And, like, was this music, for you, just totally gripping or something? Like, why did it imprint on you the way it did?

GORDON: Gripping is a good word because it only ever would break through on American pop radio every now and then. And it sounded nothing else like American pop music or pop or rock music. So my biggest memories of this music from that time would be, like, going to the bar and bat mitzvahs of my friend's older siblings - you know? - 'cause that's the only time I would be on a dance floor. So if I was going to hear something like "What Is Love" or "Blue Da Ba Dee Da Ba Di" or...

CHANG: Yeah.

GORDON: ..."Barbie Girl," you know, that's where I would hear it. And it sounded so strange.

CHANG: Well, I want to talk about your big stage debut because the Jonas Brothers are on tour, and they brought you and Audrey Trullinger, the original Ms. Biljana Electronica, on stage to perform "Planet Of The Bass" in front of a huge stadium, right? How did that feel? What went through your mind in the moment?

GORDON: It was completely surreal. We knew that it was going to happen less than 24 hours before we actually got on stage. Before that night, the most I had ever performed in front of was 400 people. So the idea of performing in front of 20,000...

CHANG: Oh, man.

GORDON: ...It's, like, you can't even - the way I described it was, like, I was just playing pretend like I'm an 8-year-old, like, playing rock star. So I just - it didn't even feel real.

CHANG: OK, so as we say so often on the show, before I let you go, I have one more question. DJ Crazy Times, do you have a message for our NPR audience to carry them into this weekend?

GORDON: Absolutely. I think DJ Crazy Times would say, (as DJ Crazy Times) remember, when the passion of the night become the new way of the morning, let the rhythm become the way to go to heaven tonight.

CHANG: (Laughter) That was comedian Kyle Gordon, aka DJ Crazy Times. Thank you so much for joining us.

GORDON: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PLANET OF THE BASS")

GORDON: (As DJ Crazy Times, singing) Boom, hear the bass go zoom. Have a body, feel the groove. Cyber system overload, everybody movement.

POLAND: (As Ms. Biljana Electronica, singing) All of the dream... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.