An oral history of London warehouse parties pre-acid house

January 22, 2018 2:06 PM

Before acid house dramatically transformed British nightlife at the tail end of the 80s, there was the warehouse party scene. Terry Farley, Jay Strongman, Norman Jay (MBE), Soul II Soul's Jazzie B, Paul Trouble Anderson and more talk about the parties, venues, music and lifestyle of the London party scene up until the music began to change. Plus: An oral history of one warehouse party on the cusp of the change, Hedonism, out in the terminally unfashionable London suburb of Alperton. Plus plus: Drum n bass pioneer Jumpin Jack Frost talks to Casper Melville about growing up in sound system culture in London in the 70s and 80s and what happened when the rave hit.
posted by criticalbill (4 comments total)

Very nice, thanks!

Bonus³: BBC Four - The Last Pirates: Britain's Rebel DJs (YouTube "mirror"), an hour long documentary focusing on the radio stations that fostered the urban music, though focused on reggae and rap, soul and R&B, and not much about rave or jungle (and for a tangent taking us waaay back, a short clip on Radio Caroline marking fifty years since it hit the [air]waves)
posted by filthy light thief at 2:47 PM on January 22, 2018

Love hearing this history.
posted by bongo_x at 12:37 AM on January 23, 2018

For me it brought back very specific memories of getting a flat-top haircut on a Saturday morning in the amazing (and intimidating) Kensington Market - almost certainly one delivered by somebody who went on to be famous by the sound of the article.

...And having enough hair to make that a viable proposition. Sigh.
posted by rongorongo at 2:09 AM on January 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

Oh man, I used to live near Ken Market, I had no idea it had disappeared. I still have a giant box of all the velvet and silver goth crap I bought there as a waify adolescent.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 12:30 PM on January 23, 2018