The twelfth edition of my ‘Discotheque Archives’ series for DJ Mag is now online, featuring more landmarks in pre-Rave club culture:
GRANDMASTER FLASH – Seminal hip-hop DJ who developed beat juggling and finessed Grand Wizzard Theodore’s scratching. He set up his own crew, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, pioneers of freestyle rap battles, who went on to create groundbreaking records like ‘The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel’ and ‘The Message’.
SALSOUL RECORDS – Founded by the Cayre brothers and based in New York, Salsoul Records is widely acknowledged as NYC’s most essential label of the disco era – its percussive slant setting it apart, whilst celebrating its Latino foundation. Its golden era is seen as the late ‘70s but it would release a steady stream of dance floor favourites throughout the early ‘80s,
TRINITY – A slice of the Big Apple in Hamburg, Trinity was designed to be Germany’s answer to Studio 54. Opened in ’78, the club introduced mixing to Germany via US DJ Sharon Lee, who passed the baton on to German mixing pioneer Peter Römer, who took the club further in an electronic direction. The club hosted performances including Gloria Gaynor, Level 42 and Depeche Mode.
GREEN ONIONS – The epitome of cool on wax, it never ceases to amaze that this classic instrumental was recorded as early as 1962. A twelve-bar blues that grooves around keyboardist Booker T. Jones’ killer Hammond organ, whilst featuring Steve Cropper’s Fender Telecaster guitar stylings. This was underpinned by Lewie Steinberg’s walking bass, with ‘the human metronome’, Al Jackson, locking down the beats.
Read this month’s column here:
http://djmag.com/features/greg-wilsons-discotheque-archives-12
Read all pieces in full here:
https://blog.gregwilson.co.uk/greg-wilsons-discotheque-archives/
so good, awesomer thanks greg, we love you!