Rock On

There used to be a problem with rock music. It once was a genre played at only the most niche nights, nights where you’re guaranteed to be surrounded by huge gangs of long-haired metal fans screaming and headbanging their way through song after song by Metallica.

For anyone who remembers Sabotage at the Zodiac you may know what I’m talking about.

But this is no longer the case; that night has been revamped, repackaged and reclaimed by the general populace (the ‘rockulace’ if you will) on a Saturday night in the form of Room 101.

Luckily the fantastic DJs recognise that rock music does in fact encompass a huge range of music, and is not limited to old and decidedly hairy metal, but through the four hours I’m present they take us on a journey through too many genres to count.

The night plays as a sort of alternative hit parade as smash single after smash single are marched out one after the other to the continually adoring crowd.

I honestly can’t remember the last time I heard such a solidly successful set, where each and every new track is greeted to a deafening chorus of cheering.

The night wears on and the brilliantly priced £2.50 pints start to take their toll on me, and thus on the unfortunate people who were forced to watch me dancing.

Luckily, however, I’m not sure anyone was taking any notice, as all those around me seemed to be in a similar frame of mind.

On taking a break to have a chat with the DJs (OK, I was requesting a ton of songs they wouldn’t be able to play), I got a chance to look at the astonishing dance floor from the outside.

The throng of jumping bodies and happy faces was huge, I really had no idea how popular the night had become, which frankly is an astounding achievement.

Being as it’s part of the biggest club night in Oxford, the fact that Room 101 holds its own at all is brilliant, but that the room is far busier than either Transformation or Trashy is genuinely quite fantastic.

I’m well aware that this success is achieved through rolling out the biggest singles of the biggest rock bands on the planet, but by the end of the night I was hungering for a slightly more eclectic take on the genre. Indeed, while rewarded with some exceptional and slightly lesser known music towards the end of the night, I could have used a little more of that sort of attitude with the bigger bands.

Lots of the bands being played have had a great many wildly successful singles, and it isn’t always necessary to play what is expected. But this is a personal gripe, and it wouldn’t be fair to apply it to the night itself.

That enormous crowd thrashing about looking like they’re about as happy as they will ever be is enough to shut me up and come to the final conclusion that there really really is (really...) no better place in Oxford to rock out than Room 101.