The ninth edition of my ‘Discotheque Archives’ series for DJ Mag is now online, featuring more landmarks in pre-Rave club culture:
CHRIS HILL – Arguably the UK’s first superstar club DJ, Chris Hill ruled the roost between the mid-‘70s and mid-‘80s, lauded as the head honcho of the southern based Mafia DJ collective, very much a showman, Hill’s DJ style was microphone based – utilizing his gift of the gab.
SOLAR RECORDS – Founded in 1977 by Dick Griffey, SOLAR (Sound of Los Angeles Records) was the West Coast’s strongest response to the East Coast dominated Disco movement, instigating a distinctive Funk oriented Disco sound – born out of Don Cornelius’ famous Soul Train TV show.
THE SAINT – The brainchild of Bruce Mailman and Charles Terrell, The Saint was like nothing that had come before it – a huge dance arena, which held 2,800 people, complete with its own ‘planetarium’! The club operated an expensive membership system, giving the venue an exclusive aura despite its huge capacity.
TRANS-EUROPE EXPRESS – Düsseldorf-based Kraftwerk’s seminal work had a profound impact across the Atlantic – influencing the likes of Afrika Bambaataa and his Bronx block parties, plus esoteric Detroit radio DJ, The Electrifying Mojo, resulting in the birth of New York Electro, and subsequently Detroit Techno.
Read this month’s column here:
http://djmag.com/features/greg-wilsons-discotheque-archives-9
Read all pieces in full here:
https://blog.gregwilson.co.uk/greg-wilsons-discotheque-archives/
Great series of articles and very true about Chris Hill’s position as the country’s first superstar DJ. I was too young to remember the legendary alldayers and the swing revival days but just old enough to see him at the end of the Jazz-funk era in 1982-84. Although obviously not anywhere near as big outside the region in London and the South East back then he was pretty legendary and to see him at the Goldmine or the Caister finale back then was an experience up there with the very best raves I went to a few years later.