Pattaya’s Rum Runner goes all disco Sunday, marking the “21st night of September” with a daylong soundtrack of dance-floor classics.
Why September 21 Keeps Coming Back Around
Sept. 21 is etched into music culture through Earth, Wind & Fire’s 1978 hit September. Its opening line – “Do you remember the 21st night of September?” – returns annually as DJs, radio stations and fans spotlight the date.
The single first appeared on the band’s The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1, which went 5x Platinum in the U.S. and Platinum in the U.K. and Canada. The song itself climbed to No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 3 in Britain.
Beyond the opening hook, its joyous refrains – “Ba-de-ya, say do you remember,” “Ba-de-ya, dancing in September” – and closing line “never was a cloudy day” turned it into a perennial party starter.
According to ChartMasters, September has sold more than 8 million paid downloads and ringtones globally and now boasts 2.1 billion Spotify streams.
In music circles across the U.S. and U.K., Sept. 21 has become an unofficial “holiday,” celebrated with club nights, radio marathons, and social media memes built on the track’s irresistible groove.
As Rum Runner boss Phil “Mr. Egg” Ross put it, it’s the one song guaranteed to get everyone on their feet – and an easy anchor to build an all-disco set around.
Rum Runner’s Music Stays in Step in September
For Ross, a former DJ from England, Sunday’s “disco all-dayer” is a natural extension of Rum Runner’s carefully curated sound.
From the start, he built the playlists around beats per minute, not release dates. Songs sit between 110 and 140 BPM, allowing dancers to keep step and customers to keep sipping.
“The girls may moan they don’t like the music,” Ross said, “but if it’s got the right rhythm, they can dance to it.”
He keeps the system dynamic – songs that sound thin get dropped, others rotate in, and requests are considered so long as they fit the bar’s tempo.
Ross recalled programming an initial set of 400 songs before opening, only to refine them daily.
“We’re always mixing it up,” he said.
A crash in the first week proved the value of saving playlists in the cloud, and he still adds fresh tracks he stumbles across while walking with YouTube Music.
This method is why Rum Runner’s soundtrack stands apart from the electro and hip-hop-heavy mixes in other Pattaya go-gos.
Rock staples, ‘80s pop, and disco deep cuts form the core, with Earth, Wind & Fire among the most reliable crowd-pleasers.
