Records

The Complete Early ’80s Floorfillers

As outlined in the previous blog posts, the end of 2013 was all about 2 significant anniversaries for me – the 10th anniversary of my DJ return, swiftly followed by the 30th anniversary of my first time around ‘retirement’. Given that I stopped at the end of ’83, this brought my ‘Early ’80s Floorfillers’ series to a conclusion after 24 monthly episodes that spanned January ‘82 to December ’83, each edition appearing 30 years on from when I originally played these records. […]

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:46+00:00January 7, 2014|Black Culture, DJ / Club Culture, Records, The Eighties|2 Comments

Northern Renaissance

The Northern Soul movement has marked 2 significant anniversaries this year – the launch of the weekly All-Nighters at the scene’s most famous venue, Wigan Casino, in 1973, as well as the opening of its foundation club, Manchester’s Twisted Wheel, 10 years earlier. A new book, ‘Northern Soul – An Illustrated History’ was recently published by Virgin Books, its co-author, Bury-born Elaine Constantine, also the director of the upcoming film ‘Northern Soul’. The book has been well received by Northern aficionados, Constantine (and Gareth Sweeney) congratulated for their insightful overview of the movement, which is enhanced by the anecdotal offerings [...]

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:46+00:00November 21, 2013|Dance, DJ / Club Culture, Film, General, Records, The Seventies, The Sixties|21 Comments

Living To Music 33⅓

Following a run of 2 years 9 months I’ve decided to wind things down with Living To Music, perhaps making it an irregular feature of the blog from herein. Up until now it had been a monthly series, but something has to give and, as I’m currently stuggling to fit in all the things I need to be doing, I can’t maintain this commitment, although I don’t want to stop the series completely. […]

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:48+00:00May 24, 2013|CD’s / Digital, Hear, Living To Music, Records|5 Comments

How Do You Listen To Music?

I did an interview last July with James Thirkettle for a documentary project he’s working on called ‘How Do You Listen To Music?’ He’s just uploaded it to YouTube, where he describes it as follows: […]

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:50+00:00February 6, 2013|Hear, Interviews, Living To Music, Records|2 Comments

Early ’80s Floorfillers

Just uploaded the December ’82 edition of ‘Early ’80s Floorfillers’, which re-visits the biggest tracks I was playing on my nights back in ’82/’83, when I was a black music specialist, resident at venues including Wigan Pier, Legend, The Exit, Berties and The Haçienda in Manchester, and The Stars Bar in Huddersfield. The series is available to stream / download via SoundCloud and my Electrofunkroots website, which includes label / record sleeve scans for all the tracks that make the chart, along with a list of ‘other big tunes’ that month. […]

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:50+00:00December 28, 2012|Black Culture, DJ / Club Culture, Hear, Manchester, Records, The Eighties|2 Comments

Northern Soul – A Photographic Journey

I’ve mentioned Brian Cannon here a few times, we used to work closely together way back when, between the mid-80’s and early 90’s when he did the artwork for pretty much all of the records I produced, including those by the Ruthless Rap Assassins and Kiss AMC, whom I also managed, securing deals for them with EMI. Brian subsequently went on to become the best-known record sleeve designer of the Britpop era, working in-house for both Oasis and The Verve under his Microdot moniker.

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:50+00:00December 6, 2012|Books, Dance, DJ / Club Culture, Hear, Manchester, Photography, Records, See, The Eighties, The Seventies, The Sixties|4 Comments

Living To Music – Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan ‘Rufusized’

I’m going to indulge myself this month with an album that I don’t think has ever been given its full dues, despite selling over a million copies following its release in 1974. As far as I’m concerned, it should be recognised as one of the great Soul / Funk albums of the 70’s, but, having introduced it to so many people down the years, a fair percentage of whom I was surprised had never previously heard it, I’m aware that there’s a blind spot when it comes to ‘Rufusized’, which, to my mind, perfectly fits the description of ‘hidden classic’.

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:50+00:00November 27, 2012|Black Culture, CD’s / Digital, Hear, Living To Music, Records, The Eighties, The Seventies, Video|10 Comments

Kudos To Morgan Khan

During the 1980’s Morgan Khan was viewed as a ‘dance music mogul’, a true instigator who enriched British culture via his unyielding efforts, driven by ‘an ego’, as Blues & Soul once put it, ‘bordering on the manic’ – Khan was (and remains) a force of nature. The fact that his absolutely pivotal contribution to the UK dance movement is constantly ignored remains a great travesty. If you know nothing about his Street Sounds label your knowledge of how dance culture developed in this country is terminally flawed – it’s as simple as that.

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:51+00:00November 9, 2012|Black Culture, Dance, DJ / Club Culture, Records, The Eighties|9 Comments

Living To Music – David Bowie ‘Hunky Dory’

The second David Bowie Living To Music selection (the first being ‘The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars’ in Jan ’11, ‘Hunky Dory’ flopped on its UK release in Dec ’71 failing to even enter the lower regions of the chart (although it was a minor hit in the US, reaching #93), but in Sept ‘72, following the success of ‘Ziggy Stardust’, Bowie’s breakthrough album (which had been released just 6 months after, in June ’72), it would finally enter the chart in its slipstream, eventually peaking 2 places higher, at #3. It’s regarded by many as their favourite Bowie album – it’s certainly right up there alongside ‘Ziggy’ for me.

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:51+00:00October 29, 2012|Bowie, Hear, Living To Music, Records, The Seventies|13 Comments

The EDM From Way Back When

EDM (electronic dance music), as they like to call it in the US, has never been bigger, America now fully embracing it, having previously regarded it as a little more than a side-issue, always the bridesmaid and never the bride. Now, the more curious minded dance music enthusiasts Stateside, wishing to avoid the mainstream commercialisation of a previously more underground club culture, are, often for the first time, excavating the mid-late 80’s period, when Chicago House and Detroit Techno emerged (finding far more love at the time in the UK and Europe, than in the country of its origin).

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:51+00:00October 25, 2012|Black Culture, DJ / Club Culture, Hear, Magazines, Manchester, Read, Records, The Eighties|16 Comments

Previous 123 Next

2026 DJ DATES:

31.12 Todmorden – NYE @ The Golden Lion

17.01 Belfast – The Deer’s Head

23.01 Bristol – Lost Horizon

05.02 New York – Jeans

07.02 Upstate New York – Disco Chalet

13.02 Los Angeles – Spotlight

14.02 San Francisco – Great Northern

21.02 London – Fac 51 Haçienda @ Drumsheds

06.03 Brussels – C12 Brussels

08.03 Bognor Regis – Bugged Out

21.03 Leeds – Downtown Disco @ Archive

03.04 Carlisle – The Brickyard

04.04 Dewsbury – The Terrace

05.04 Liverpool – Gloria’s

18.04 Margate – Margate Arts Club

19.04 London – Jazz Cafe

24.04 Manchester – Manchester Cathedral

02.05 London – Disco Disco @ Queens Yard

16.05 Bristol – Where We Belong Festival

23.05 Hastings – The Print Works

30.05 Steyning – Steyning Festival

12.06 Stockport – Moovin Festival

20.06 Newcastle – Frate

27.06 Penzance – Golowan Festival

11.07 London – Brixton Freight Island

26.07 Manchester Freight Island

26.07 Hertfordshire – Campo Sanchez

31.07 Oxfordshire – Wilderness Festival

15.08 Newcastle- E-Soul Cultura @ Freight Island

15.08 Warrington- Brickhaus

18.08 Ibiza- 528

23.08 Dorset- We Out Here Festival

04.09 Lindisfarne Festival

05.09 Battle – Crafted @ Powdermills

10.09 Winchester – Mucky Weekender

I’m a DJ from Merseyside. I started out in 1975, but stopped for almost 20 years, between 1984 and the end of 2003, at which point I started again.

One night during the period I wasn’t deejaying, turning off my mind, relaxing, and floating downstream I had what might be termed a moment of clarity. Paradoxically, although I was no longer a DJ in the literal sense I suddenly became aware that I’d never actually stopped being a DJ, for even if I was in a room with just one person I couldn’t help but ask them ‘have you heard this?’, and not only ‘heard’, but ‘have you seen this / read this?’, for it goes beyond music. Already taken somewhat aback by this nugget of self-discovery, I realised, in true eureka style, that this all pre-dates my being a DJ and goes back as far as I can remember – I’ve always had an inherent need to share, it’s absolutely central to my nature. This was quite a revelation.

So it’s no wonder that I became a Disc Jockey, for once I fell in love with those circular pieces of magical plastic during my formative years, it wasn’t a matter of choosing this as a path, the path pretty much chose me.

I don’t intend this to be a DJ blog as such, but more a blog by someone who happens to be a DJ – a place where personal emphasis takes precedence over professional, although, as I’ve already explained, the two aspects are, of course, inescapably entwined.

If you want info about my DJ appearances, email greg@gregwilson.co.uk for regular updates.

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