Comments on: The Accidental Birth of the 12" Single

The Accidental Birth of the 12" Single

.kobayashi. — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:59:11 -0800

"You know why we did [that]? So a DJ could take a lunch break. When you have all three-minute records, you don't even have time to go to the bathroom. Or you just want to stop for a minute. So that's 19-and-a-half minutes of 'I don't have to worry about a thing.' But I didn't do it to create this thing. I just did it to help the DJs out."

By: Ice Cream Socialist

Ice Cream Socialist — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 15:06:34 -0800

That's an awesome story. And a super platter of grooves. Thanks, .kobayashi.! I always thought they invented the 12" single so that I could have seven minutes and eighteen seconds of "Things Can Only Get Better" to peg my pants to.

By: empath

empath — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 15:17:44 -0800

Great post :) And yes, having a few 10 minute records in your bag is essential for long sets. (or was, I guess)

By: Joey Michaels

Joey Michaels — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 15:18:32 -0800

OK that might be the truth, but I will always believe that this is the reason 12" singles were created.

By: eyeballkid

eyeballkid — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 15:21:51 -0800

OK that might be the truth, but I will always believe that this is the reason 12" singles were created Didn't that come on a 5.25" floppy?

By: oneswellfoop

oneswellfoop — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 15:24:27 -0800

19-and-a-half minutes? Geez, when I was a DJ, we could do bathroom breaks in a 7-minute "Hey Jude" (or if you worked at one of those square "M.O.R." stations, Richard Harris' "MacArthur Park"). If you couldn't go AND WASH YOUR HANDS in that time, you couldn't even get a 1st Class Radio License.

By: LMGM

LMGM — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 15:25:19 -0800

I love that the music clip is from Rico Passerini's Soundcloud account. That man is the master archivist of dance music.

By: .kobayashi.

.kobayashi. — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 15:26:49 -0800

Holy cow, LMGM, that link just made this post/thread infinitely better. Thanks for sharing! Looks like I've got a lot of listening to do.

By: Joey Michaels

Joey Michaels — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 15:53:06 -0800

Didn't that come on a 5.25" floppy? The cover artwork was a floppy, but I don't think the track was released on one. I remember a Parachute Club track that arrived at WRBC as a 5.25" but the only way to listen to it was to bring it to, you know, a computer, which were in short supply in our studio in the late 80's. Yeah, basically, we couldn't play it live on the air.

By: 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a

922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 16:04:14 -0800

Yeah I am sure the Station manager loved them until the first time a record started to repeat over and over and over and the DJ is in the loo taking a long tail view of the day, so to speak.

By: empath

empath — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 16:05:04 -0800

By: flaterik

flaterik — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 16:46:14 -0800

Half of whom don't realize that you're the DJ and if they don't let you go in front of them the music is going to stop in a couple of minutes.

By: Lazlo Nibble

Lazlo Nibble — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 17:22:04 -0800

...then there's the opposite of "let's put the 5:35 mix on a 12" so we can cut it really loud", better known as "let's cut the 16-minute mix at 45 so it can sound like an utter disaster". I swear that's the only record in my collection that'll mistrack due to the change in atmospheric pressure when a warm front blows through.

By: Jawn

Jawn — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 17:27:39 -0800

A buddy of mine is a vinyl DJ. He's got a handful of 15-20 minute songs he plays every set that I've never actually heard the middle of. Because that's when we're outside getting high.

By: barnacles

barnacles — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 18:43:40 -0800

Wow, I didn't expect to dig this article even half as much as I did. Excellent stuff! I had to look Moulton up -- I didn't expect him to have such a bitchin' 'stache.

By: misterbee

misterbee — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 20:13:50 -0800

The 12" single was invented so callow teenagers could skate around ice-rinks listening to interminable versions of 'Two Hearts Beat as One' (U2), 'Alive and Kicking' (Simple Minds) and 'Love's Great Adventure' (Ultravox). At the time I suspected these sample-heavy, big beat epics were naff, and I'm too afraid to revisit.

By: Paul Slade

Paul Slade — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:57:47 -0800

Paul Morley made an excellent BBC Radio 4 documentary on this subject recently.

By: marienbad

marienbad — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 03:50:10 -0800

"NPR: So James Brown was on the label by then? TM: Yes, God was on the label. NPR: Did you work with him directly? TM: No, but I did meet him. I was so nervous. He pulled up in a white limousine and had a white suit on. My boss opened up the door for him and goes, "Mr. Brown, I'd like you to meet our promotions man." [Brown] goes, "How you doin'? Gimme some skin on the dark side!" I swear: I was never going to wash my hand again because he touched me. Really." I think I would have cut my hand off and framed it!

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 06:22:02 -0800

Great article, and I, too noticed that the streaming mix was from R_co. Here's an interview with Rico, in which we learn he's just an avid music fan, no one special.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 08:54:55 -0800

The 12" single was invented so callow teenagers could skate around ice-rinks listening to interminable versions of 'Two Hearts Beat as One' (U2), 'Alive and Kicking' (Simple Minds) and 'Love's Great Adventure' (Ultravox). Or, they were invented in an attempt to dethrone "Stairway To Heaven" as the (Un)Official Last Song For High School Dance Playlists in the 1980's.