DjHistory Podcast: Mike Pickering (DJH038)

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A Disco Pogo Tribute To Andrew Weatherall

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DjHistory Podcast: Crazy P (DJH037)

DjHistory Podcast: Crazy P (DJH037) » Listen Here

DjHistory Mystery Mix - tomjsly (DJHMM038)

DjHistory Mystery Mix - tomjsly (DJHMM038) » Listen here

DjHistory Podcast: Fish Go Deep (DJH036)

DjHistory Podcast: Fish Go Deep (DJH036) » Listen Here

DjHistory Podcast: Jamz Supernova (DJH034)

DjHistory Podcast: Jamz Supernova (DJH034) » Listen Here

NORMSKI: The Man With the Golden Shutter

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Michael Cook – a tribute

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Latest

Andrew Weatherall was our compass

A most instructive and singular DJ, remixer and music-maker. With humour and humility he reminded us: Music’s not for everyone

CLASSIC CLUBS: The Hordern Pavilion

With a huge gay party scene to build on, Sydney held some of the greatest events of the acid house explosion.

Pete Wingfield hit the Soul Beat

From running an early soul fanzine to pre-empting Brit-funk, Pete Wingfield played keys with the great and the good.

Michael Cook – a tribute

Saluting a great friend and a most particular DJ, a driving force on the early Los Angeles rave scene

Alex Rosner broke the sound barriers

The foundational figure in nightclub audio, Alex Rosner laid down the blueprints for club sound that we use till this day.

Grandmixer DXT scratched up a Grammy

From funky drummer to groundbreaking turntablist, DXT took the art of the scratch all the way to the Grammys

CLASSIC CLUBS: The Starck Club

Grace Jones, Dallas Texas, a not-yet-legendary French designer and a huge supply of legal ecstasy. Mix and serve.

Jeff Young let the music play

A big beast of the soul scene, Jeff Young filled British airwaves with dance music across the ’80s and ’90s, pioneering shows on Radio One and Capital.

CLASSIC CLUBS: Crackers

With the hottest black music, the wildest dancing and a view of a multiracial future, Crackers was foundational for a generation of London tastemakers

Francis Grasso started the journey

One of the architects of DJing as we know it, Grasso showed the world the difference between playing some records and performing a set.

Slim Hyatt and the birth of New York DJing

Slim Hyatt was America’s first discothèque DJ, schooled in the French art of ‘spinning’ by Oliver Coquelin proprietor of New York society hotspot Le Club.

Cleveland Anderson sowed the soul

Starting as a wild jazz dancer, Cleveland Anderson made his name DJing jazz-funk across the south east and the soul capitals of the north.

CLASSIC CLUBS: Sub Club

Opened in 1987 and still going strong, the Sub was the epicentre of house and techno in Glasgow, and to this day is one of the world’s finest dancefloors.

Book club: lost in the library special

The best music books money can buy. A compendium of short reviews from the original DjHistory site

Do Not Sell at Any Price – The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World’s Rarest 78rpm Records

Exploring the weird world of 78 collectors and the stories of the artists they collect. Filled with loveable obscurities and tales of the early recording industry.

James Hamilton’s Disco Pages 1975-82

An essential volume of charts and reviews detailing seven crucial years of pure history at the ground zero of UK dance music.

Larry Levan's 70th birthday

Larry Levan and the Lost Art of DJing

The wild man of disco, Larry Levan showed just how much power and emotion a DJ can wield, setting the bar high for all who followed.

Judy Weinstein made dance music count

Perhaps New York’s greatest industry figure, Judy Weinstein built the structures behind much of the modern dance business, not least with her famous Def Mix productions.

Danny Krivit rolled through disco

The edits legend, rollerdisco ruler, Body & Soul founder, and 718 Sessions supremo started as a pint-sized selector in his father’s bar, aged nine.

Johnny Dynell is the Daddy of Downtown

Johnny Dynell has all the best stories – from accidentally becoming a DJ at the Mudd club, learning the craft from the great Larry Levan, to making the first vogueing record and living next to Sid Vicious.

Tony Smith played Barefoot

Pioneering New York disco DJ Tony Smith remembers the early 70s superstars of the scene, including Walter Gibbons and Larry Levan.

Electronic Pioneers

The Radiophonic Workshop saw the sines

Thanks to the labyrinthine BBC, from 1958 onwards a number of maverick music-makers found themselves in an electronic playroom with all the latest gear.

Martyn Ware built Electric Foundations

First with The Human League, and then with BEF and Heaven 17, Martyn Ware turned electronic experimentation into pop hits.

Strange Things Happened To Richard Norris

Pete Bellotte got everything in synth

Best known for his work as writer and co-producer for Donna Summer’s many hits, Pete Bellotte based her concept albums on English literature. He went on to write over 500 songs for the great and good of popular music.

Giorgio Moroder electrified us

Giorgio Moroder is electronic music royalty. By sequencing notes from the Moog synthesiser, with Pete Bellotte and Donnna Summer, he gave us ‘I Feel Love’, the blueprint for making songs with just electronics and a voice.

Don Lewis changed electronic music

Before passing away in 2022, Don Lewis helped shape and define electronic music with his work on drum machines and synthesisers

Richard Burgess changed the electronic landscape

Richard Burgess has been at the vanguard of electronic music from the days of house-sized synths

Ibiza '89

Andrew Weatherall was our compass

A most instructive and singular DJ, remixer and music-maker. With humour and humility he reminded us: Music’s not for everyone

Michael Cook – a tribute

Saluting a great friend and a most particular DJ, a driving force on the early Los Angeles rave scene

Lisa Loud turns up the volume

The hard house star on learning her craft in front of 25,000 ravers and her formative years as a Balearic Amnesiac.

Ibiza ’89

This brilliantly evocative time capsule captures scallies dancing with princesses and pop stars under the Ibizan sunshine.

Dave Swindells snapped it up

The veteran nightlife writer and lensman talks us through his incredible four-decades archive of after-dark London.

Nancy Noise brought Ibiza home

One of our favourite DJs regales us with stories from her formative years soaking up the Balearic beats at Amnesia, Ibiza.

Trevor Fung invented Ibiza

Soulboy and acid house blockbuster DJ, Trevor was instrumental in bringing the Ibiza spirit to London.

Shovell summons the gods

For Shovell, drumming is life, a way of transmitting power, positivity and gratitude. His hand percussion has summoned the gods on everything from the deepest tribal house tracks to Primal Scream, Jamiroquai and Nightmares on Wax.

Celebrating Black British Music

Eddy Grant defined the frontline

Eddie Grant arrived in Britain on a mission to define its musical future. From the multiracial pop of The Equals to the much-sampled grooves of ‘California Style’ he ignored boundaries and expanded possibilities.

Normski shot the stars

Well over 30 years at the coalface of street culture, Normski guides us from his Camden Town roots, through to Dance Energy, snapping amazing photos along the way

Norman Jay has his groove rare

London legend Norman Jay takes us through a guided tour of some of London’s greatest parties

Jazzie B took his sound to the world

With Soul II Soul, Jazzie B took the ’80s soul-driven confidence of black Britain, crystallised it into a sound and took it to the world.

Fabio went into the jungle

Drum and bass pioneer Fabio talks us through the jungle laboratory of Rage and the extended musical journey that led him there.

The Four Aces: Legacy in the Dust

The Four Aces was an international soul stage, iconic home of London reggae, the birthplace of lovers’ rock and Hackney’s acid house temple.

50 Years of Wigan Casino

Keb Darge dug for gold

It started with northern soul, but Keb’s restlessness introduced the world to his deep funk sets and his current love, garage

‘Farmer’ Carl Dene had all the tunes

Before northern soul and post-mod, Farmer Carl Dene, joined the dots, helping lay the path for DJ connoisseurship and rare records

Colin Curtis led the way

Colin Curtis has been at the forefront of DJ culture from the early 1970s right through to today (he appeared on Boiler Room in 2022), here he explains his 50 year journey

Roger Eagle spun the Wheel

In ’60s Manchester at the Twisted Wheel all-nighters, tastemaker Roger Eagle sowed the seeds of Northern soul by playing the hottest imported rhythm and blues.

Ian Dewhirst keeps the faith

As memories of Wigan Casino turn 50, the fast-talking DJ, compiler and label boss regales us with a barrage of atmospheric stories from the northern soul years.

Dancefloor Pride

CLASSIC CLUBS: The Hordern Pavilion

With a huge gay party scene to build on, Sydney held some of the greatest events of the acid house explosion.

Boy George broke all taboos

Though born a superstar, George didn’t immediately realise you had to actually do something in order for the rest of the world to notice. So he quickly became a singer.

CLASSIC CLUBS: Taboo

Mark Moore was a true believer

Switched on by punk and the Blitz and the eclecticism of the ’80s, Mark Moore cut to the future and adopted an all-house soundtrack as soon as it was possible.

Fat Tony doesn’t take requests

DJing with supermodels is all in a day’s work for Fat Tony, a DJ with four decades of celebrity-splattered mischief behind him. Read how clubland’s best-connected spinner pulled himself back from the abyss.

Kath McDermott preaches pride and passion

Homoelectric and Haçienda shero Kath McDermott is a firm believer that dancing is political action.

Gay Bar – Why We Went Out

Jeremy Atherton-Lin’s brilliant history of gay public spaces is worth it for his hilarious turn-of-phrase alone.

Tallulah paved the way

The trailblazing London DJ soundtracked London’s coming out. Raucous tales of gay life from the ’60s to the ’00s

Ballroom Blitz, 1991

Tens across the board! Hit the runway for a glimpse into the ’90s New York ballroom scene, complete with a collection of competion programmes. You better work!

DJ Paulette fleshes it out

After 30 years behind the decks, DJ Paulette is surveying the scene and writing a book. We spoke about her inexorable rise to fabulousness, and why there still isn’t a female David Guetta.

DjHistory
Podcast

Every month Bill Brewster delves deep with the biggest names in dance music.

Crazy P

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