to flesh that post out further, July ´90 was effectively where it all began for me. Twas the world cup of course and Italy was very much in fashion across the board. The night of the Arg-Italy semi, I got invited to a Thames riverboat party with some European exchange students we were hosting (easily distinguished by their matching fluorescent backpacks) followed by a yoof thing at mentioned “Park Avenue” club on Richmond Bridge, one of those late night carpet dives where the DJ constantly talked over everything. Remember having a mad crush on some Italian girls who were there. On a musical level, that was when I discovered the sheer euphoric power of piano house / chart anthems. “black box everybody everybody” “49ers girl to girl” “Step On” “World in motion” etc Whilst on nothing stronger than Tizer.
An unlikely epiphany perhaps but as someone who gets obsessive about these things, it unleashed years of fascination with Italian music, even staring wistfully at a map of the country to find out where those students came from. Sadly never did see them again, but still have fond memories busting silly moves to Chad Jackson, FPI Project and Snap in a desperate bid to impress…
The music quickly lost its cool as everything got darker or more ravey but it still meant the world to an innocent teen. I guess that night had extra salience because West London was otherwise pretty grim. Still too young for the Top Hat in Ealing, the Palais of course, but my folks already weren’t mad keen on the music blaring out upstairs (my mum took one look at an XXXXL psychedelic dayglo hooded tshirt I picked up in Twickenham and I never saw it again…)
It wasn’t until many years later, after returning to London that I discovered the interesting stuff going on around Ealing and Acton (such as the George & Dragon and its suspended motorbikes on the ceiling, that you accessed via a stepladder) but by then, everything was shifting East.
Tiffany’s Junior Disco, Leeds Merrion Centre, early 1987. Ricky’s Leeds summer 1987 first proper adult club aged 15! I looked about 13 so god knows how I got in.
The Garage , Nottingham , upstairs , early 1987
Graeme Parke
Mind properly blown
Close behind that were the Sunday alldayers at The Powerhouse in Brum that had a right mix of DJs from around the Midlands and Manchester
i was lucky to grow up in a town with a number of “teen” dance clubs. i think that the first one i went to, it wasn’t even a destination - we were just picking up weed from a friend’s girlfriend, or something like that. that club was skoochies, and if i remember right, the first song i heard in there was magazine 60’s “don quichotte”. i don’t think we were in the club for more than an hour, and i remember thinking it was equally fascinating and corny.
the club changed hands a couple of times. i was newly 18 when they hired me as a dj. i once did some back-of-the-napkin math, and determined that between going to the club and working at the club, i spent way more time in that building than i did in high school.
Had been going to the local “disco” (Carlton Suite in Liskeard) since i was about 15. The underage drinking and end of night fighting was off the scale. We plucked up the courage to venture into Plymouth, and its notoriously Union Street, in 1986. We queued for ages to get into The Academy, got past the scary looking bouncers (very much shirt,tie and shoes to get in) and, wow, were hit by the big sound system, dry ice, lasers with DJ’s playing funk, soul and early hop (no mixing mind, and still introducing each track), but i was hooked. The high point of the night was an instrumental version of “I Can’t Wait” by Nu Shooz in which one of DJ’'s got up on stage and freestyle rapped over the top of it. My love of clubbing and dancing had started.
