Happy Friday. Experimenting with the chat function here.
What years were you most active in the underground? Or what years did you discover, or were introduced to, the most meaningful records and music in your life? What five-year period is your favorite for music? Share a thought in the chat.
I've had several impactful moments in music. 1) Early '80s where I was introduced to heavy metal (Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, etc.); 2) The mid-'80s when hip-hop came into my life and I discovered the power of the DJ as curator and entertainer; 3) When I found house/dance music in the late '80s/early '90s and found my way into the underground. And then 4) when I became a "junglist" and started promoting, spinning, and advocating for drum n bass (late '90s to early '00s). And if I were to go back to the beginning, my mom had a supply of 1970s music in the house from Tom Waits to Led Zeppelin, to Pink Floyd. That, soft rock, doo-wop, and disco were my jam as a kid.
I forgot to mention my obsession w doo-wop during high school, in the mid-80s. Listened to stations like KRLA constantly, and had a deep love for doo-wop (50s and 60s). Even had a pair of fuzzy dice in my car. Might have been the influence of movies like Grease, and American Graffiti, or just watching Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley as a kid. Still love the music.
For me it’s ‘95-‘99. Formidable years 15-20 but still amazing music. Hip Hop remained solid from the early ‘90s with classics from Big L, De La Soul, Wu-Tang & Outkast. The Electronica albums that went mainstream Chemical Brothers, DJ Shadow, Daft Punk, Roni Size. I also really liked some of the Metal of the time to Rage Against the Machine, Tool, Helmet, Pantera. My last one is more local to me. Also for me it was the The guys from Detroit putting out stuff that sounded way more like House Music than the Techno the city is known for Moodymann, Rick Wade, Mike Huckaby, Marcellus Pittman. Enjoyed reading everyone’s. Thanks for sharing!
1993-1998- Meat Beat Manifesto, Luke Vibert( Wagon Christ, Plug), Aphex Twin, Beastie Boys, Wu- Tang Clan, Digable Planets, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Madlib, Squarepusher, U-Zig, So many acts that were birthed, styles etc.
Oh wow. What a great question. 94-99 was so great for electronic— the drum & bass, the big beats and breaks. The rise of the Underworlds/Orbitals/Chem Bros into semi-fame here in the US.
Also mid ‘80s to early 90s with Madchester, the fusion of acid house sensibilities into post-New Wave. So I’m pulling a Roker here and pulling a few phases together 😁
94-99 for electronic was nothing short of pivotal. From my perspective, a few things in play: 1) the emergence of jungle out of hardcore and breakbeat. 94 was when you really started to feel that--all the way to the turn of the end of the decade. 2) in 1994, things started to shift in house music with a tougher techno influenced sound coming from NYC and elsewhere. I know the Brits were influenced by the Sound Factory and what Junior Vasquez was playing. 3) In 1997 we heard that electronic(a) was the Next Big Thing. That era definitely hit above its weight.
My interest started building in the late 80s as the Madchester sound brought in the breakbeats and the crossover from Alternative Rock to what became Rave. Feeling the teenage rebellion and counterculture of punk and grunge - the jeans got wider, the pockets got bigger, and the flannels became Fresh Jive tees. The 91/92 era was filled with stage dives and mosh pits during the week, and with the bubbling up of the scene, the launch of MARS-FM, and electronic music hitting the Melrose record shops, the excursions to dingy warehouses via map points became the weekend outings.
The discovery of 140bpm piano breakbeats thanks to the Suburban Bass "Base For Your Face 2x LP, mixed with the overwhelming hoovers of 808 State's Cubik & The Bassbin Twins sampling the Beatles rattling my both my chest and my brain via "30,000 Watts of Pure Tonka Sound" made me never want to leave.
That pattern continued and engulfed large swaths of my life through college in Arizona, and feeling the draw to both participate and document, I scene reported for URB, Music Directed for my college radio station, DJ'd, threw raves, & filmed and documented the scene in the US and Europe pretty heavily - until the dot com crash of the early 2000s.
It prob started when a friend brought over a VHS cassette of videos from Massive Attack's Protection. eventually continued weekly at Louis XIV, and culminated singing the words "Reach Inside" somewhere along Schrader Blvd. A solid run in which I'm glad I did not have more fun but got to see Timewriter perform live.
Hm - OK. Hard to say, really. Like so many - my Mom and Father-figure were pretty heavily into music - so I grew up in true surround-sound.
This isn’t about that. I would say it started in 1980. I grew up in Venice, CA in the 1970’s/80’s, so my tastes were as eclectic and eccentric as my environment. In 1980, my Uncle came bacl from a stint in the airforce. He’d been stationed in the UK and all that he had when he got back was a dishonirable discharge, a bad attitude… and a stack of 45s full of the new-fangled Ska from a label and scene called 2-Tone. I. Was. In.
1979 had been a CRAZY good year for music and my Mother started tryung to conmect to me, musically when it was suddenly just the two of us. That year saw the release of some of my favorite albums to this day [too many to mention - check it out]. However - 1980 was my introduction to “Music Tribe Identity”.
.
That was also the year my Mom moved me from the toney public schools of North Santa Monica and transfered me to Audubon Jr. High… near the corner of Martin Luther King and Crenshaw - in a brand new [and much darker] situation. That is when and where I first tried my hand at dancing.
Any in here that know me might know what that turned into.
So… yeah. For the purposes of this convo - the first job as a kid [at a little store called NaNa] in Santa Monica - lead to years of clubs like Odessey1 / Seven Seas / Florentine Gardens and Cathay de Grande… then -
Powertools / Water the Bush / 45 Crash / Dirtnox / Plastic Passion / BBC / Jamaica House / Peace Posse…
Finally… Got to where we’re lookin’…
.
Brass / Bossa Nova / Science / oh… my
.
Top Years? Probably about 1985-2005. I know - I kniw…. Long ride - I’m almost ready to get off.
My interest in music began in the 60's listening to my grandmother's 45's from Motown artists and my parents Doors & Beatles albums with a little Herb Alpert tossed in (that Whipped Cream album cover was bananas to this prepubescent boy!). My favorite 5 year period was probably 1973 - 1978. The whole decade, really.
I was mostly into Rock n Roll and guitar heroes like Page, Beck, Jimi etc. but was intrigued with the Punk Rock scene when it erupted.
I was particularly fond of lyrics and story-tellers which is also why I loved the early years of Hip Hop too. I realize I covered more than 5 years 🤓
I found the rave scene in 1994 or 1995, completely by accident. I went with a friend who needed to go to the art department's computer lab to print a project, and the Mac that I randomly sat down at to kill time had a desktop icon - "Vrave." It was a telnet chat, and in those days, I was as fascinated by the notion that I could befriend strangers on the internet as I was with this "rave scene" that everyone on the chat was obsessed with; the rave scene may as well have been Mars in mid-90s Delaware. But through those friends, I wound up visiting NYC and experiencing my first real club night in '96-- Together, at the Roxy. That began a 5-year period of everything from the Ultraworld parties in DC/Baltimore, to moving to NYC in Jan 98 and covering everything at the intersection where the underground and NYC club club culture was beginning to meet the music industry and the mainstream. All because I picked the right, random computer at which to sit.
Love that this was your gateway to the rave scene. That was a very fertile time to be introduced. The question is, when did you pick up a pen to start documenting it? And what were those early outlets for writing?
Several key phases in my music upbringing: 1) High school I was all about hard rock: Van Halen, Rush, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and so many more. Saw all of these artists and countless others live and had all their records (vinyl of course). Nothing can replace the joy of opening an LP, putting it on, and reading the liner notes as you listened. 2) Became a DJ on the air at KSCR (USC) where I was playing mostly New Wave. Got turned on to the Cure, New Order, etc. 3) as an offshoot of that I really took a shine to some Punk and Goth (Bad Religion and Sisters of Mercy, as examples). 4) after graduation (1989) and then in the early 90’s I heard of something called “underground parties” and started to check out some of those early warehouse raves. Madchester sound, 808 State. Kept loving it and attending events and then 5) in 1995 I got chance to throw my own weekly, Reactor and everything escalated dramatically. Going out nearly every night to distribute flyers for Reactor I met so many other promoters and club kids and really started to feel like I was part of the community. I felt like I knew everyone (including Raymond). So for a while I was hitting clubs and raves several times per week and getting in for free, avoiding the lines and getting smiles and hugs from the people working the door. That was probably the peak.
I've had several impactful moments in music. 1) Early '80s where I was introduced to heavy metal (Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, etc.); 2) The mid-'80s when hip-hop came into my life and I discovered the power of the DJ as curator and entertainer; 3) When I found house/dance music in the late '80s/early '90s and found my way into the underground. And then 4) when I became a "junglist" and started promoting, spinning, and advocating for drum n bass (late '90s to early '00s). And if I were to go back to the beginning, my mom had a supply of 1970s music in the house from Tom Waits to Led Zeppelin, to Pink Floyd. That, soft rock, doo-wop, and disco were my jam as a kid.
I forgot to mention my obsession w doo-wop during high school, in the mid-80s. Listened to stations like KRLA constantly, and had a deep love for doo-wop (50s and 60s). Even had a pair of fuzzy dice in my car. Might have been the influence of movies like Grease, and American Graffiti, or just watching Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley as a kid. Still love the music.
For me it’s ‘95-‘99. Formidable years 15-20 but still amazing music. Hip Hop remained solid from the early ‘90s with classics from Big L, De La Soul, Wu-Tang & Outkast. The Electronica albums that went mainstream Chemical Brothers, DJ Shadow, Daft Punk, Roni Size. I also really liked some of the Metal of the time to Rage Against the Machine, Tool, Helmet, Pantera. My last one is more local to me. Also for me it was the The guys from Detroit putting out stuff that sounded way more like House Music than the Techno the city is known for Moodymann, Rick Wade, Mike Huckaby, Marcellus Pittman. Enjoyed reading everyone’s. Thanks for sharing!
1993-1998- Meat Beat Manifesto, Luke Vibert( Wagon Christ, Plug), Aphex Twin, Beastie Boys, Wu- Tang Clan, Digable Planets, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Madlib, Squarepusher, U-Zig, So many acts that were birthed, styles etc.
Oh wow. What a great question. 94-99 was so great for electronic— the drum & bass, the big beats and breaks. The rise of the Underworlds/Orbitals/Chem Bros into semi-fame here in the US.
Also mid ‘80s to early 90s with Madchester, the fusion of acid house sensibilities into post-New Wave. So I’m pulling a Roker here and pulling a few phases together 😁
94-99 for electronic was nothing short of pivotal. From my perspective, a few things in play: 1) the emergence of jungle out of hardcore and breakbeat. 94 was when you really started to feel that--all the way to the turn of the end of the decade. 2) in 1994, things started to shift in house music with a tougher techno influenced sound coming from NYC and elsewhere. I know the Brits were influenced by the Sound Factory and what Junior Vasquez was playing. 3) In 1997 we heard that electronic(a) was the Next Big Thing. That era definitely hit above its weight.
My interest started building in the late 80s as the Madchester sound brought in the breakbeats and the crossover from Alternative Rock to what became Rave. Feeling the teenage rebellion and counterculture of punk and grunge - the jeans got wider, the pockets got bigger, and the flannels became Fresh Jive tees. The 91/92 era was filled with stage dives and mosh pits during the week, and with the bubbling up of the scene, the launch of MARS-FM, and electronic music hitting the Melrose record shops, the excursions to dingy warehouses via map points became the weekend outings.
The discovery of 140bpm piano breakbeats thanks to the Suburban Bass "Base For Your Face 2x LP, mixed with the overwhelming hoovers of 808 State's Cubik & The Bassbin Twins sampling the Beatles rattling my both my chest and my brain via "30,000 Watts of Pure Tonka Sound" made me never want to leave.
That pattern continued and engulfed large swaths of my life through college in Arizona, and feeling the draw to both participate and document, I scene reported for URB, Music Directed for my college radio station, DJ'd, threw raves, & filmed and documented the scene in the US and Europe pretty heavily - until the dot com crash of the early 2000s.
There needs to be a deep dive on the Tonka sound system in a future installment.
It prob started when a friend brought over a VHS cassette of videos from Massive Attack's Protection. eventually continued weekly at Louis XIV, and culminated singing the words "Reach Inside" somewhere along Schrader Blvd. A solid run in which I'm glad I did not have more fun but got to see Timewriter perform live.
Hm - OK. Hard to say, really. Like so many - my Mom and Father-figure were pretty heavily into music - so I grew up in true surround-sound.
This isn’t about that. I would say it started in 1980. I grew up in Venice, CA in the 1970’s/80’s, so my tastes were as eclectic and eccentric as my environment. In 1980, my Uncle came bacl from a stint in the airforce. He’d been stationed in the UK and all that he had when he got back was a dishonirable discharge, a bad attitude… and a stack of 45s full of the new-fangled Ska from a label and scene called 2-Tone. I. Was. In.
1979 had been a CRAZY good year for music and my Mother started tryung to conmect to me, musically when it was suddenly just the two of us. That year saw the release of some of my favorite albums to this day [too many to mention - check it out]. However - 1980 was my introduction to “Music Tribe Identity”.
.
That was also the year my Mom moved me from the toney public schools of North Santa Monica and transfered me to Audubon Jr. High… near the corner of Martin Luther King and Crenshaw - in a brand new [and much darker] situation. That is when and where I first tried my hand at dancing.
Any in here that know me might know what that turned into.
So… yeah. For the purposes of this convo - the first job as a kid [at a little store called NaNa] in Santa Monica - lead to years of clubs like Odessey1 / Seven Seas / Florentine Gardens and Cathay de Grande… then -
Powertools / Water the Bush / 45 Crash / Dirtnox / Plastic Passion / BBC / Jamaica House / Peace Posse…
Finally… Got to where we’re lookin’…
.
Brass / Bossa Nova / Science / oh… my
.
Top Years? Probably about 1985-2005. I know - I kniw…. Long ride - I’m almost ready to get off.
My interest in music began in the 60's listening to my grandmother's 45's from Motown artists and my parents Doors & Beatles albums with a little Herb Alpert tossed in (that Whipped Cream album cover was bananas to this prepubescent boy!). My favorite 5 year period was probably 1973 - 1978. The whole decade, really.
I was mostly into Rock n Roll and guitar heroes like Page, Beck, Jimi etc. but was intrigued with the Punk Rock scene when it erupted.
I was particularly fond of lyrics and story-tellers which is also why I loved the early years of Hip Hop too. I realize I covered more than 5 years 🤓
1973-78 was a great window. My most impressionable window for me as a kid was probably 78-82. And then again later when I was a teen/young 20s.
Um, the whip cream cover was way too much information (or just enough) for a young boy.
I found the rave scene in 1994 or 1995, completely by accident. I went with a friend who needed to go to the art department's computer lab to print a project, and the Mac that I randomly sat down at to kill time had a desktop icon - "Vrave." It was a telnet chat, and in those days, I was as fascinated by the notion that I could befriend strangers on the internet as I was with this "rave scene" that everyone on the chat was obsessed with; the rave scene may as well have been Mars in mid-90s Delaware. But through those friends, I wound up visiting NYC and experiencing my first real club night in '96-- Together, at the Roxy. That began a 5-year period of everything from the Ultraworld parties in DC/Baltimore, to moving to NYC in Jan 98 and covering everything at the intersection where the underground and NYC club club culture was beginning to meet the music industry and the mainstream. All because I picked the right, random computer at which to sit.
Love that this was your gateway to the rave scene. That was a very fertile time to be introduced. The question is, when did you pick up a pen to start documenting it? And what were those early outlets for writing?
Buzz at Capitol Ballroom!!
Several key phases in my music upbringing: 1) High school I was all about hard rock: Van Halen, Rush, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and so many more. Saw all of these artists and countless others live and had all their records (vinyl of course). Nothing can replace the joy of opening an LP, putting it on, and reading the liner notes as you listened. 2) Became a DJ on the air at KSCR (USC) where I was playing mostly New Wave. Got turned on to the Cure, New Order, etc. 3) as an offshoot of that I really took a shine to some Punk and Goth (Bad Religion and Sisters of Mercy, as examples). 4) after graduation (1989) and then in the early 90’s I heard of something called “underground parties” and started to check out some of those early warehouse raves. Madchester sound, 808 State. Kept loving it and attending events and then 5) in 1995 I got chance to throw my own weekly, Reactor and everything escalated dramatically. Going out nearly every night to distribute flyers for Reactor I met so many other promoters and club kids and really started to feel like I was part of the community. I felt like I knew everyone (including Raymond). So for a while I was hitting clubs and raves several times per week and getting in for free, avoiding the lines and getting smiles and hugs from the people working the door. That was probably the peak.