The fourth edition of my ‘Discotheque Archives’ series for DJ Mag is now online, featuring more landmarks in pre-Rave club culture:
Tag Archives | Malcolm McLaren
Mutant Disco
Been meaning to get this amended article onto the blog. It’s something I originally wrote back in 2003 for Grandslam magazine as a feature revolving around the release of 2 No Wave compilations at the time, one on the re-activated ZE label, the other on Soul Jazz. The piece was originally published under the title ‘When Punk Met Funk’.
From Garrard To Technics – How British DJs Began To Mix
In 2009 I wrote an article on the history of mixing in this country called ‘How The Talking Stopped’. It was the most in depth piece I’d ever written, the research alone had taken many months, including a couple of trips to the British Library in London to comb through the copies of Record Mirror they have archived there, for it was within this magazine that the person who I’d certainly argue did more to promote UK DJ culture than any other human being, connected (via his essential weekly dance column) with fellow DJs in every corner of the country. This was the literally larger than life James Hamilton (1942-1996), and if you’re a British DJ, whether you’ve heard of him or not, you can’t have escaped his influence, for he’s part of the very fabric of our DJ / club heritage.
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.
Video Blog – Wild Style At The Amphitheatre
Double Trouble / Rammellzee & Shockdell / Rock Steady Crew / Grandmixer D.ST
From ‘Wild Style’ 1982
DJ X Factor
Found myself unwittingly drawn into the debate about Simon Cowell’s proposed ‘DJ X-Factor’ programme via an interview I did with Digital Spy, the media news website, last month, which had been arranged as part of the promotional push for the sadly cancelled Vintage Festival in Northamptonshire, which was supposed to have taken place this weekend.
Living To Music – Paul Simon ‘Graceland’
ARTIST: PAUL SIMON
ALBUM: GRACELAND
LABEL: WARNER BROTHERS
YEAR: 1986
This Sunday (5th February) 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. Full lowdown here:
//blog.gregwilson.co.uk/2010/06/living-to-music/
Celebration Of The Mediocre
This was meant to be the first post-ideological generation, right? This was meant to be the generation that never thought of anything bigger than our Facebook profiles and our TV screens. This was meant to be the generation where the only thing that Saturday night meant was X Factor. I think now that claim is quite ridiculous. I think now that claim is quite preposterous.
Barnaby Raine 27.11.10
Bumblebee Land
A well observed comment on the state of popular culture taken from John Niven’s Malcolm McLaren obituary in Q Magazine (June 2010):
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