Put the needle on the record when the drum beats go like this...

October 18, 2011 11:07 AM

I Was There When Acid House Hit London and This Is How It Felt by Charles Mudede
posted by Artw (22 comments total)

I'm pretty sure that Charles Mudede is the only person in North America other than me who knows who Derek B was.
posted by Artw at 11:12 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

for some forgotten reason, the b-boys in our neighborhood believed that hiphop had only two paths: one presented by Run-D.M.C. and one by the Fat Boys, you had to choose

This is the key plot point of Harry Turtledove's next alternative-universe novel.
posted by GuyZero at 11:12 AM on October 18, 2011 [11 favorites]

Here's 12 Hours of House music from this era on Spotify.


Put it on shuffle while reading.
posted by empath at 11:12 AM on October 18, 2011 [6 favorites]

Charles Mudede is just an excellent writer, so I am very glad you posted this.
posted by KokuRyu at 11:23 AM on October 18, 2011

Why would you smack a drumhead with your hand when you could program a beat with the tips of your fingers?
posted by gurple at 11:41 AM on October 18, 2011

He captures the excitement of the era, but misses the excitement of ours: You can do more than merely name the songs and talk about how grand they were. You can actually link to them and let people discover it for themselves.

Tribute (Right On) by the Pasadenas
Stop This Crazy Thing by Coldcut
Buffalo Stance by Nineh Cherry
Drop the Boy by Bros
Left to My Own Devices by the Pet Shop Boys
Beat Box by Art of Noise
AJ Meets Davy DMX by Kurtis Blow
Bite This by Roxanne Shante
"Shout" by Craig G
Jack Your Body by Steve "Silk" Hurley
No UFOs by Model 500
Clear by Cybotron
My Mic Sounds Nice by Salt-N-Pepa
Slave to the Rhythm by Grace Jones
Theme from S'Express by S'Express
Fine Time by New Order
Land of Confusion by Armando
Voodoo Ray by A Guy Called Gerald
Big Fun by Inner City
Good Life by Inner City
Strings of Life by Derrick May
Born This Way by Cookie Crew
Talkin' All That Jazz by Stetsasonic
Hey Young World by Slick Rick
In Time by Jungle Brothers
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 11:44 AM on October 18, 2011 [43 favorites]

Great post....Artw and Bunny Ultramod combined for the win.
posted by nevercalm at 11:47 AM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

But does he have The Power, and is his beat Technotronic?
posted by Artw at 11:53 AM on October 18, 2011 [3 favorites]

What a bizarre ending. Thanks for the post.
posted by mannequito at 11:55 AM on October 18, 2011

Quite enjoyable to read a travelogue by a posh African lad about a bit of the seamier side of London; it's like the mirror image of endless Sunday supplement articles.
posted by Abiezer at 12:00 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Needs some Happy Mondays
posted by KokuRyu at 12:02 PM on October 18, 2011

So was this guy the only person on the scene in 87/88 who didn't actually do one?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:03 PM on October 18, 2011

This is a great capper to the hour-long interview with Pete Tong I just happened to hear on the radio. Thanks Artw.
posted by infinitewindow at 12:08 PM on October 18, 2011

That was a great article. Also, Stakker Humanoid.
posted by exogenous at 12:11 PM on October 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

Quite enjoyable to read a travelogue by a posh African lad about a bit of the seamier side of London; it's like the mirror image of endless Sunday supplement articles.

Sometimes I find Mudede, who is a Stranger regular, downright bizarre or objectionable, but he' s always got a differnet point of view.
posted by Artw at 12:17 PM on October 18, 2011

Artw: Here is the key to Charles' articles, posted by PEM on SLOG, to make it all simpler!

Mudede's non-Amanda Knox features are lovely. It's his Slog posts that are borderline insane. I propose a system of emoticons to help us parse his often inscrutable approaches to tone.

:-)
I have noticed something magical on the way to work about birds.

;-)
I am provoking you to get a reaction. Slog is my tickle machine.

:-(
Shitty things about kids and dogs.

:-( ™
Shitty things about my kids.

XX
Shitty things about women

:-o
Space! Rainbows. F*ing magnets, how do they work!

8-o
Philosophy!

$
Marxism.

$$
Marxism rocks.

$$$
The futility of Americans who buy things

$$$ :'-(
Marxist reasons why it's okay someone middle class is sad.

$•$ :'-(
The fact that a robber of color made them sad puts me in an awkward place philosophically.

$•$ :'-( ™
He took your wallet?!? Yet again my children embarrass me!

†
Amanda Knox did it.

††
Or maybe not.

†††
No, she really did it.

†††††††††††††
She's white and has sex, people! Stabby, stabby!

\m/
I have heard of a band.
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 12:23 PM on October 18, 2011 [5 favorites]

It is kind of amazing Hey Young World and In Time came both came out in 1988

Seems like 1988 was a pretty good year though:

It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Straight Outta Compton
Strictly Business
By All Means Necessary
Straight Out the Jungle
posted by Ad hominem at 12:33 PM on October 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

"Was there more to house music than the jacking of the body? We were not impressed with jacking."

Ha. So serious about fun.

But seriously, if jacking your body to Steve Silk Hurley doesn't feel sufficient and necessary to you, we're not going to agree about a lot of things.
posted by LMGM at 4:02 AM on October 19, 2011

Oh come on! No D Mob...?!? weak sauce...

ahem...

ACIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDD!
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 7:13 AM on October 19, 2011

The Stone Roses are getting back together. Someone who knows them better than I should do a FPP.
posted by empath at 9:33 AM on October 19, 2011

hades - I think one time he flipped out about architecture in the arab world because muslims don't deserve buildings or something. It was kind of weird.
posted by Artw at 10:01 AM on October 19, 2011

'Songs For Acid Edward' by Mr.B
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:37 AM on October 19, 2011 [1 favorite]