The Beat Surrender

When I launched this feature last issue I mentioned that one of the areas I might talk about would be a movement or an era of music. I like to think of myself as someone who doesn’t follow trends or fads or necessarily buys into what is supposedly cool at a particular period in time.

However some era’s I just could not help myself but be completely enveloped by them. But that wasn’t anything to do with the fact they were particularly hip at the time, they were just churning out damn good music and I loved being a part of them in my own little way whether that be buying the records or trying to preach the virtues of them to my, as yet, undecided fellow school mates.

Whether it be the battle of Britpop predominantly spearheaded by the Blur vs Oasis irrelevant chart battle, or the rise of baggy/indie through the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays (aaaahhh good times !) or the birth and death of seattle based grunge through Nirvana and many others, these were all iconic era’s that played a massive role in my musical upbringing and education. But they get talked about a lot, an awful lot. And although this nostalgic attention is undeniably well deserved there is another era, mixed in and amongst, that sometimes gets overlooked. Early 90’s dance!

You see this came at a time when things had gone a little quiet on the indie front. The Roses and The Mondays had gone away for what was to be a very long holiday, Inspirals had gone quiet, Primal Scream were there in the background (but then again when haven’t they been) and James were suffering burnout from releasing single after single. Britpop was nearly 5 years away. Was my musical education entering a wilderness period – far from it.

It began with the vision of one man…A Guy Called Gerald. Ok crap gag but Voodoo Ray was the first record that seeped into my consciousness through the airwaves of my very modest first proper radio. I had heard dance music before sure, some I liked (S-Express, Salt & Pepa, Cookie Crew) and some I really didn’t care for at all (Black Box, Sabrina and er….Jive Bunny!). But this was different, it was sooooo much better! But Gerald was only the beginning and my musical landscapes had been widened considerably, and now the floodgates opened.

808 State, Utah Saints, Altern 8 (pictured above) all came in a seeming cavalcade of absolute quality dance tunes. I don’t remember listening to much else at this point in time. These bands seemed to have maintained the cool detachment from the mainstream that indie had but were also totally dominating the charts, that used to mean something you know. I found the bizarre tie dye colours (808 State) or the very strange toxic chemical style safety suits (Altern 8) mesmerizing and they all seemed to compliment this new sound.

And boy were there some anthems at this time, Oceanic with “Insanity”, Bizarre Inc “Playing with knives” and a debut from a band that went on to do rather well for themselves, you may have heard of them….The Prodigy. They arrived with their pseudo road safety warning song “Charly”. It blew me away- I had never heard anything like it, but I knew music would never be the same, thankfully and I became part of the latter day jilted generation.

But for me the apex of this time came one day when I was watching the Chart Show (remember that? When Spaceman 3 were number one in the “Indie Chart” for 4 years!!!!!!). A song called Pro-gen came on by the Shamen. I had heard the radio mention The Shamen before and wondered why Halifax Town FC were getting the oxygen of publicity so much and now it became clear…wrong Shamen. Only local football fans will get that one!

Continue