the main point i'd make (echoing what gutterbreakz said) is that the amount of freedom a dj has, to play what s/he wants, what s/he thinks will constitute a coherent set, and not submit to the "have you got anything i can dance to?" brigade, is in inverse proportion to the stature of the dj. so when villalobos turns up to play, the crowd respect his track selection - because most of them know who he is - and even tho he might surprise them by playing a harder/funkier/deeper set than they expected people are prepared to give him artistic licence. at the opposite extreme you have the wedding dj who is not expected or allowed to have any independent musical taste or ability and so has to be slave to the crowd...with a few excpeptions like mms' experience.
at my office christmas party last year the dj, who was playing a very standard commercial house set, was bombarded with so many requests and complaints that after about an hour he packed up and left...his parting shot being "i've played reading to 3,00 people, this doesn't mean shit to me!". so we were left with kasabian and justin timberlake from people's ipods (the philip sherburne mix i put on lasted about 6 minutes)...
at my office christmas party last year the dj, who was playing a very standard commercial house set, was bombarded with so many requests and complaints that after about an hour he packed up and left...his parting shot being "i've played reading to 3,00 people, this doesn't mean shit to me!". so we were left with kasabian and justin timberlake from people's ipods (the philip sherburne mix i put on lasted about 6 minutes)...