The Eighties

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

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

Return Of The Prodigal – DJ Harvey

DJ Harvey (aka Harvey Bassett) makes his long awaited UK return tonight at Oval Space in London (followed by a Manchester date, at The Warehouse Project, next Thursday). It’s his first UK appearance since 2002 when he re-located to the USA, and where visa problems conspired to restrict his movements, meaning that it was almost a decade before he was able to leave the country.

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:51+00:00October 19, 2012|DJ / Club Culture, DJ Appearances, The Eighties, The Nineties, Video|27 Comments

Video Blog – Happy Mondays ‘Wrote For Luck’ & ‘WFL’

Happy Mondays ‘Wrote For Luck’ & ‘WFL’ Filmed at Legend, Manchester 1988 & 1989 […]

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:51+00:00October 11, 2012|Black Culture, DJ / Club Culture, Manchester, Records, Remixes / Edits, The Eighties, The Nineties, Video Blog|7 Comments

How Clubbing Changed The World

Last month I was over in Chicago chilling out in my hotel room ahead of my first gig in the city, at Smart Bar, a venue with a rich tradition, which opened back in 1982. Chicago is, of course, along with Detroit, Philadelphia and New York, revered as a key US city when it comes to the evolution of dance culture (and, indeed, black culture, with, way before House, a deep heritage in Rhythm & Blues, Blues and Jazz, dating right back to the ‘great migration’ of black workers from the southern states, beginning just over 100 years ago).

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:52+00:00September 14, 2012|Black Culture, Books, Disco, DJ / Club Culture, Documentaries, Read, The Eighties, The Nineties, The Seventies, The Sixties, TV|70 Comments

Beware The Moon

Tonight something happens that only happens every blue moon – a blue moon. This provides the perfect excuse for me to watch a favourite film of the early 80’s, the John Landis comedy horror, ‘An American Werewolf In London’ (1981). David Naughton’s famous metamorphosis from man to werewolf made a major impression on Michael Jackson, who’d subsequently work with Landis on what’s now regarded as the greatest music video of all ‘Thriller’ (1983), complete with Jackson’s own werewolf transformation. He even referenced the disclaimer from the closing credits – ‘any similarity to actual events or persons, living, dead, or undead, is purely coincidental’.

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:52+00:00August 31, 2012|Film, The Eighties, Video|0 Comments

Sit Down! Listen To This!

Whilst DJ obsessives in this country could tell you the minutia with regards to New York’s celebrated club culture of the 70’s, I’m often surprised to find that they know precious little about what was happening here in the UK at the same time David Mancuso, Nicky Siano, Larry Levan and the other NY legends of the 70’s were bringing Disco to the fore. Maybe they think that there wasn’t much happening here, and that UK DJ’s were simply following the US lead, whilst, to the contrary, nothing could be further from the truth – go back into the 70’s, before Disco hit its stride, and you’ll find hugely influential figures including Ian Levine, Colin Curtis and Les Spaine in the North, Chris Hill, Bob Jones and George Power in the South – DJ’s with a wealth of knowledge between them, who made their mark on popular culture here at root level. These are giants, upon the shoulders of which subsequent generations of British DJ’s stand, whether they know it or not.

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:53+00:00August 21, 2012|Black Culture, Books, DJ / Club Culture, Manchester, Merseyside, Read, The Eighties, The Seventies, The Sixties|23 Comments

Living To Music – Talking Heads ‘Stop Making Sense’

This Sunday (June 3rd) at 9pm, you’re invited to share a listening session with some likeminded souls, wherever you might be. This can be experienced either alone or communally, and you don’t need to leave the comfort of your own home to participate. Only the 2nd live recording selected for Living To Music, ‘Stop Making Sense’ is the soundtrack to a brilliantly original stage performance, which is available on DVD and highly recommended.

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:54+00:00May 30, 2012|CD’s / Digital, DVD, Hear, Live Performance, Living To Music, Records, Remixes / Edits, The Eighties, The Seventies, Video|12 Comments

The Haçienda – 30 Years On

One of the world’s most celebrated clubs, The Haçienda in Manchester, opened 30 years ago today, on Friday May 21st 1982. In June 2007, a little after the 25th anniversary, the inimitable Manchester-based writer / musician, John Robb, author of books including ‘The North Will Rise Again: Manchester Music City 1976-1996’ (2009), ‘The Stone Roses And The Resurrection Of British Pop’ (1996) and ‘Punk Rock: An Oral History’ (2006), did a short interview with me about the club’s legacy:

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:54+00:00May 21, 2012|Articles, Black Culture, Books, DJ / Club Culture, DJ Appearances, Manchester, Photography, Read, Records, Remixes / Edits, The Eighties, The Nineties|8 Comments

Chuck Brown

Only just heard that a third black music icon died this week - Chuck Brown, the Godfather of Go-Go, the Washington DC Funk style that came to prominence during the 80’s, and which, for a short time, stood alongside the newly emerging Hip Hop genre at the cutting edge of black music.

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:54+00:00May 18, 2012|Black Culture, DJ / Club Culture, Hear, RIP, The Eighties, The Seventies|2 Comments

Previous 678 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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