So what were Germans actually dancing to before Techno? Of course to as many different styles as in other countries. But a good glimpse at what was getting down in West Germany before house music happened was the club Moroco in Cologne. Located at Hohenzollernring, the club ran from 1982 to 1986, and both the club interior and its crowd were determined to look as posh as possible. In contrast to Post Punk counterculture, the materialistic 80s decade manifested itself in the culture of the “Popper”, foppish youth dressed up to display as much wealth and taste as they could. But what distinguished the Moroco from other similar clubs across the land was its status as favourite leisure and inspiration spot of the Kraftwerk members. Carol Martin, credited as CGI artist on their “Computerwelt” album, was a resident DJ at the club and guides us through the sound of the Moroco and how it was connected to the Kraftwerk canon.
James Brown – It’s Too Funky In Here (Polydor, 1979)
Be it Kraftwerk or Miles Davis, everybody seemed to be inspired by James Brown. Bootsy Collins, whom Kraftwerk also cherished, started his career with him. „Boing Boom Tschak“ is also a tribute to Bootsy’s concrete bass.
Earth,Wind and Fire – Fantasy (CBS, 1978)
Funky, emotional and wonderful to dance to until today. I went to see them with Kraftwerk by invitation of the concert promoter Fritz Rau at the Phillips-Halle in Düsseldorf. It was a magnificent show with perfect sound and effects and all of a sudden the bass player was hanging 20 metres up in the air.
The Gap Band – I Don’t Believe You Want To Get Up And Dance (Oops, Up Side Your Head) (Mercury, 1979)
Danceability was typical for Moroco, and you could play this anytime. There was a nine minute extended version of it, so the DJ could leave to „wash hands and powder the nose“ and when he returned the floor was still as packed.
Skatt – Walk The Night (Disconet) September – The Lover In Me (Razormaid) Sharon Brown – I Specialize In Love (Disconet) Nathalie – My Love Won’t Let You Down (Razormaid) Hazell Dean – They Say It’s Gonna Rain (Razormaid) Brenda Taylor – My Heart’s Not In It (Disconet) Janet Jackson – When I Think Of You (Disconet) Stephanie Mills – Pilot Error (Hot Tracks) Donna Garraffi – I’ve Got You Covered (Disconet) Regina – Baby Love (Disconet) Skyy – Show Me The Way (Disconet) B. B. Band – All Night Long (Disconet) Chas Jankel – Glad To Know You (Disconet) The Human League – Fascination (Hot Tracks) The B-52’s – Girl From Ipanema Goes To Greenland (Hot Tracks) Tanz Waffen – Subversion (Razormaid) David Bowie – Let’s Dance (Disconet) Kid Creole – Caroline Was A Drop-Out (Razormaid) Telex – Raised By Snakes (Razormaid) New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle (Hot Tracks) Depeche Mode – Strangelove (Razormaid) Vivien Vee – Blue Disease (Razormaid) Section 25 – Looking From A Hilltop (Razormaid) Tantra – A Place Called Tarot (Disconet) The Love Unlimited Orchestra – Welcome Aboard (Hot Tracks)
M.K.-Allstars – Bohemian Rhapsody (Acapella) Betty Boo – Catch Me (12“ Version) The Other Two – Selfish (That Pop Mix) Propaganda – Your Wildlife (Wet N Wild Mix) Led Zeppelin – Babe I’m Gonna Leave You Elton John – Rocket Man (Junior Vasquez Vocal Remix) Cher – Walking In Memphis (Shut Up And Dance Mix) New Order – Round & Round (Detroit Mix) Billie Ray Martin – Your Loving Arms (Tee’s Miami Club Mix) La Rissa – I Do Both Jay & Jane (Original Rave Mix) Freddie Mercury – You Don’t Fool Me (Queen For A Day Mix) Whitney Houston – The Greatest Love Of All (Club 69 Remix) Sybil – The Love I Lost (Unrequited Mix) Mama Cass – Make Your Own Kind Of Music (Yum Club Mix) John Paul Young – Love Is In The Air (Strictly Dance Mix) Jamie J. Jones – Why (Extended Club Mix) Deacon Blue – Will Will Be Lovers (DB Mix) The Sugarcubes – Hit (Pinstripe Mix) Betty Boo – Thing Goin’ On (MK Underground Mix) Saint Etienne – Who Do You Think You Are (Strobelight & Platform Shoes Mix) D:ream – U R The Best Thing (Def Klub Mix) Rozalla – Faith (In The Power Of Love) ABC – Love Conquers All (The Morales Mix) Gloria Estefan – Tradición (Musto Traditional Mix) Bee Gees – Paying The Price Of Love (The Ocean Drive Mix) Michael McDonald – All We Got (Never Enough House Mix) The Party – Free (Hurley’s 12“ Without Rap) David Bowie – Real Cool World (Cool Dub Overture) Commanding Language – Einsamkeit (Peter Alexander Mix)
In discussion with Hardrock Striker on “I’m A Cult Hero” (1989).
Do you have a past acquainted with this music? Is this the compilation that nailed down musical preferences you already had, or did you have a different background and were you just looking for something in that direction?
This is clearly the music I was listening to as a kid. Back then, my biggest dream was to be in a rock’n’roll band, no way I wanted to become a DJ (“what a joke I could have thought”) as this meant nothing to me, imagine playing guitar and being on stage screaming in front of a crazy crowd or mixing records, even a monkey could do it! Obviously, it’s only when I started DJing that I understood the power of it and realized my immaturity.
I chose this compilation because even if it looks like a pure rock record, many of the bands inside are using electronic, though I had no clue about it while I was listening to them. I discovered house in Los Angeles in the late 90’s, I went there to form a heavy rock band but I ended up going out with some friends who were doing house, especially Peter Black who introduced me to Doc Martin, the Wax connection, DJ Harvey. We started being friends, speaking about art, music and I discovered that he was also into New Order, Front 242, Ministry, Echo and the Bunnymen, Joy Division and that he was doing house too, so I thought this music finally wasn’t that bad! I started digging, to sum it up, New Order leads me to italo, italo to chicago, chicago to techno. We did a record company called Parisonic / Square Roots where I was doing reissues (already in 2003) of obscure stuff such as It Ain’t Chicago’s “Ride The Rhythm”, Mickey Oliver “In-Ten-Si-t”, Ralphi Rosario “In The Night” etc. I educated myself through the records I was putting out.
“I’m A Cult Hero” is a bootleg compilation with 80’s dark synth pop music, originally released in 1989. Why do you think such a record was released at a time when acid house ruled the clubs? Was this a reminder to what was going on a few years before, or even a counter-reaction to what followed? What might have been the motivation of the label to do this record?
I think that even if house and acid were blowing up at that time, dark synth-pop and minimal wave were still huge. Remember in 1989, Depeche Mode was also on the verge of getting the biggest rock stars in the world with the 101 Rose Bowl concert and the release of one of the best trio of singles of the 80’s: “Strangelove”, “Behind The Wheel” (Mmmh, the Shep Pettibone Mix!) and “Personal Jesus” which was a combination of rock guitars and electronic so it makes totally sense.
The motivation of these guys was primarily cash I guess but I honestly think they did an amazing job! There are two categories of bootleggers: the creative ones and the thieves, I guess they belong to the first one. Read the rest of this entry »
Im Gespräch mit Boris Dlugosch über “Dance To The Music” von Junior Byron (1983).
Hast Du Junior Byrons “Dance To The Music” zum ersten Mal gehört, als Du anfingst ins Front zu gehen?
Ich glaube, ich hatte den Titel zuerst auf einer Front-Cassette, die ich von einem Freund bekommen hatte. Also nicht ‘live’ im Front.
Du warst ja damals noch ziemlich jung. Wie bist Du eigentlich darauf gekommen dort hinzugehen? Hattest Du von Freunden gehört, dass man dort Musik zelebrierte, die Dir gefiel?
Also es war 1984, ich war 16 und die Schwester meines besten Freundes kannte den Kassierer des Front, Boris Breit. Er gab uns Front-Cassetten und hatte zwei Plattenspieler und ein Mischpult. Bei ihm zuhause verbrachten wir dann die Nachmittage nach der Schule und versuchten uns an seinen Plattenspielern und dem Mischpult. Er hatte vor allem Disco-Platten, kaufte aber auch fleißig aktuelleres Zeug bei Tractor-Schallplatten, dem damals besten Laden in Hamburg für Dance-Musik. Er hatte also die Musik, die im Front lief, bei ihm hörte ich die Sachen zuerst und dann wollte ich natürlich unbedingt einmal dorthin. Read the rest of this entry »
In discussion with Ken Vulsion on “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division (1980).
How did you first come across “Love Will Tear Us Apart”? Was it love at first sight the time it was originally released, or did you get to know it later on?
I grew up in a sleepy part of New York State. There was little access to new, alternative music there in the 80’s. Every Tuesday there was a New Wave radio show on the Ithaca College radio station, the DJ was Mike Weidner. He played “Love Will Tear Us Apart” on that show, which I recorded to cassette. This would have been in 1981 or 82. It was love at first listen.
The song is generally considered to be one of the best songs ever written. Did you have the notion that this song is exceptional, or was it just another song you liked very much?
It is exceptional. The newness and truth has never faded.
It seems that a lot of people attach very personal feelings to “Love Will Tear Us Apart”? Is it the same with you? Does the song offer more ties with the listener than others?
I was 18 and in a doomed love affair at the time, so it is full of associations – though I can now enjoy it as a perfect pop object, without feeling heart torn.
Would you say that “Love Will Tear Us Apart” is a perfect pop song in terms of composition? Is the music just catchy or does it also have other, maybe even more significant qualitities?
I think at its core there is a perfect piece of pop craft. But it is the execution that it is so unique. Just compare the original to Paul Young’s version (which I also like for my own perverse reasons!).
What place does “Love Will Tear Us Apart” hold in the works of Joy Division? Was it the exception to the rule or a logical consequence?
Certainly a standout, though I certainly have new favourites. When Anton Corbijn’s film “Control” came out I got really into Joy Division again, such a great little film. The same when “24 Hour Party People” came out, there were some songs that really stood out (another great pop music movie!!).
Would you like more music to sound this complex, meaning that a song can be sad, beautiful and wonderful at the same time?
Yes!
Of course it is absolutely not possible to separate the song from Ian Curtis. A lot of the fascination of “Love Will Tear Us Apart” lies within his personality, and the way he sings about these very intimate problems affecting his life. Yet it seems other of his lyrics are hinting more at the trouble he was really going through than these. How much of the song’s power actually stems from listeners relating to this analysis of a dysfunctional relationship, and how much stems from the legend surrounding his early death? Or is it both?
I wasn’t aware of Joy Division until after Ian’s death. Some of the lyrics (i.e. ‘were my failings exposed’) got into my head because of my own confusion in dealing with a first, difficult love and suicidal feelings. Ian’s own suicide amplifies every word.
Do you think that the song’s lyrics contain more hints at other of his problems than the description of his disintegrating marriage? Or are such interpretations just the consequence of his early death?
Some of his biography was unknown to me then (his struggle with epilepsy). Back then I was into the song, but not a “fan”….I didn’t own a Joy Division t-shirt.
A lot of Joy Divison’s legacy seems to based on him being handsome and charismatic, his distinctive voice and of course his actual suicide. Thus he became his generation’s prime example of the tortured artist. Is this unfairly neglecting his true abilities as an artist? And is his status just based on the fact that he died, or is there more to it? Was he as gifted as he was tragic?
I think the work holds up regardless, same with Kurt Cobain or River Phoenix. The ‘twice as bright’ flame club.
I always felt that “Love Will Tear Us Apart” is already part New Order part Joy Division, even if at the time it was written there was of course only Joy Division. Do you think the band could have made a change of direction musically towards a less darker sound if Ian Curtis would have lived on, or was the sound of Joy Divison always dependent on its singer’s condition?
The sound lived on and evolved. “Your Silent Face” by New Order is an interesting bookend to “Love Will Tear Us Apart” Softer vocal, sleeker production, but still that raw sad emotion.
I always found it very impressive how the rest of the band decided to carry on without him. At first they still clinged to the previous band but then they really re-invented themselves. Did you feel they had the potential to achieve this around the time it became clear that they would not stop?
New Order existed by the time I first heard “Love Will Tear Us Apart” so that timeline doesn’t exist for me. I may have bought the Arthur Baker version of “Confusion” before the 7″ of “Love Will Tear Us Apart”.
Tony Wilson, the head of Factory Records, was at first very concerned that Bernard Sumner would take up the part of the singer. But then he managed to develop a performer persona of his own, and the band did so, too. Do you think this was out of defiance, or was it out of trust in their own abilities? Or did it just evolve?
At the time I was singing lead vocals in a few bands (Identity Confusion and XOX were two of them LOL). I had an almost distorted confidence. I was shy, but defiant enough to get up in front of a small town crowd in leather jeans. Defiance can be a great motivator.
Since then, both Joy Division and New Order built up a legendary status in music history. Do you think their legacy can be told apart, or are they one and the same in the pop music’s canon by now, just with different phases?
Since everything happened so fast, the bands will always be connected.
Apparently Joy Division underwent a severe crisis due to Curtis’ condition. Do you think it could have happened that the others would have continued without him anyway?
Hard to say. Crisis is part of the band dynamic usually.
Are their elements of New Order that still owe to Joy Division, apart from being the succeeding band?
Maybe they were able to use the death as an opportunity to shift into a new direction.
On the other hand, would Ian Curtis have done a seminal track like “Blue Monday”?
I wonder if he was much into dance music. He was a very interesting dancer.
If “Love Will Tear Us Apart” is the timeless classic in Joy Division’s back catalogue, what would be New Order’s?
For sure “Blue Monday”. It’s perfection. And the record is a perfect object, just like “Love Will Tear Us Apart”. The sleeve designs by Peter Saville are sublime. He was as much a rock star to me back then as Ian.
Do you think it would be possible that another band would write a song similar to “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, and it would become as lasting, or will this history not repeat itself?
I live for new music that affects me as much. So, yes!
You once told me that you were raised on jazz fusion.
I was. That was the kind of music of my early and mid-teenage years. In those days that was grown people’s music, it was very sophisticated. If you wanted to feel cool and grown up and everything, you were into Weather Report and Chick Corea. Lenny White, who drummed for Chick Corea’s band Return to Forever, was one of my all-time favorites. This song, “River People,” was from Mr. Gone and Mojo used to play it every night. He really made a hit out of a track.
Would you say that Mojo kind of planted a seed in some techno heads with this music?
I would say so. Mojo, for the black community, was it. And this was in the pre hip-hop days where black people listened to everything in Detroit when I was growing up. It was that open atmosphere that allowed Detroit techno to form I think. And Mojo was definitely ground zero for the black community. I mean this guy would play The Isley Brothers, Prince, Alice Cooper, Weather Report. He was the first DJ to play B-52s in Detroit. He broke a lot of music to the black community that we would have never heard.
What was the main inspiration of the things that Mojo played for the first wave of techno producers in Detroit?
I would say the real ground zero for this music was Kraftwerk. Which Mojo also used to play. I was in high school—I’m really dating myself [laughs]—and they released “Man Machine” and “Numbers” back-to-back in America. In Europe, there was a gap, but in America they released those two records almost at the same time. That made a really big impact.
I played this because I wondered if there is some kind of connection between a lot of Detroit techno records and jazz. Juan, of course, said “Jazz is the teacher” at one point, and there are a lot of harmonies in Detroit techno that are pretty jazzy, really complex. I was wondering if Weather Report was the source for this connection.
I think it’s a source, but not the source. I think that Detroit techno came from a lot of different influences. You have to remember that, at the same time, Parliament/Funkadelic were big. So you had a lot of futuristic connections with those guys; Mothership Connection was a big thing. Detroit was a huge melting pot. If you look back, it’s pretty incredible. Everything now is just so market-tested.
Nitzer Ebb – Join In The Chant (Mute, 1987)
That was a classic. There used to be a club named Todd’s in Detroit. It was the big new wave punk rock bar in the ’80s. The main DJ was Charles English, and he had the new stuff all the time. When I was in college we used to go every Thursday. He broke that out, and that was it. I was like, “Wow, who are these cats?”
Later, I was hanging out with Derrick May over at his place. Derrick had just gotten back from London, and he was a pop star. I was doing a radio show at the time and he gave me the double pack, saying “Hey man, take this and play it tonight.” He was in with Mute, and they were giving him everything. I still play it out today, the original version.
I don’t know how much influence it had on Detroit techno, but back in those days we were listening to everything. So when Nitzer Ebb came down the pike, it was like, “Oh, that’s really good.” There was a radio show called Brave New Waves out of Canada on the CBC and we used to hear them play Nitzer Ebb.
This track is from 1987, when you began your own radio show, Fast Forward on WDET. That was a really important year for you.
Yes. I had done the artwork for Derrick [May]’s “Nude Photo,” got my radio show. The night of my first broadcast, I went over to Derrick’s place, and he gave me all these records. He said, “Play these.” All of these records are what turned out to be the first techno records, a bunch of white labels. I was playing Detroit techno, what was then industrial and EBM, jazz fusion, a little hip-hop. WBLS, Brave New Waves, Mojo; those guys were my influences. I would go to see Charles play on a Thursday night at Todd’s and buy those records and play them on Friday night on my show.
How did you get the show?
Well, I was an intern at the station the summer before. I was putting the records in order. I started talking to the program director, and told her how much I was into Lenny White. She was like, “You know who Lenny White is?” I was super young compared to her at the time. So I said, “Yeah, one of the greatest fusion drummers to walk the Earth. Lenny White, Tony Williams.” She was impressed, and she asked if I had a demo tape. Fusion jazz got me the job, so that’s why I kept playing it. It was a whole mish-mash of genres, though.
Were the listeners appreciating that, or did you get criticism for being so eclectic?
I was on super late. It was from 3 AM to 6 AM. The graveyard shift. People dug it, they dug it right away. I’ll never forget playing “Acid Tracks” from Phuture, and some guy called me on the phone and was going insane. “What is this called? What kind of music is this?” It was the early days of electronic music, so nobody knew anything.
In those pre-internet days, doing research wasn’t easy.
Luckily, I worked at radio stations. So they had all of these libraries where you could go in and listen to whatever you wanted. Read the rest of this entry »
Im Gespräch mit Falko Brocksieper über “Disco” von den Pet Shop Boys (1986).
Wie kamst Du erstmalig mit den Pet Shop Boys in Kontakt? “West End Girls” im Radio, in jungen Jahren?
Ich habe eine zwei Jahre ältere Schwester, deren beste Freundin hatte auch wiederum eine zwei Jahre ältere Schwester, und über diese zähe Nahrungskette gelangte einiges an kredibler Popkultur schließlich zu mir. Das waren zwar auch mal Sachen wie Wham! oder so, aber auch Depeche Mode, The Smiths, und eben Pet Shop Boys. Da muss ich etwa zehn Jahre alt gewesen sein. Ein eigenes Kassettenradio hatte ich erst gegen Ende der 80er. Die Mitschnitt-Zeit fing für mich also erst etwas später an.
Hattest Du generell eine Schwäche für den Synthpop dieser Zeit, und die Pet Shop Boys waren eine Facette davon, die Dir besonders gut gefiel?
Auch davor schon, auf diversen NDW-Compilations, die in unserer Familie kursierten, übten die Synthie- und Drummachine-geprägten Lieder eine große Faszination auf mich aus. Irgendwie Knöpfe drücken und Sachen bedienen erschien mir weitaus reizvoller als das handwerkliche Beherrschen eines Musikinstruments. Der Synthpop der 80er traf also ebenfalls diesen Nerv, auch wenn mein Fanverhalten da wenig systematisch war, geschweige denn von irgendwelchem Wissen gekennzeichnet. Ein eigenes Radio besaß ich wie gesagt nicht, das elterliche hochwertige HiFi-Equipment war tabu, und ich durfte auch eigenartigerweise ziemlich lang keine Bravo lesen. Mir kamen also nur einzelne Songs gelegentlich zugeflogen – wenn nicht von Freunden, dann etwa im Supermarkt, oder aus einem vorbeifahrenden, sportlich lackierten Ascona. Da gab es so ein paar schnauzbärtige Jungs in Netzhemden einige Straßen weiter, die schraubten an ihren Autos rum und hörten dabei Sachen wie Trans-X “Living On Video” oder Shannon “Let The Music Play”. Meistens wusste man aber natürlich nie wer/was/woher das jetzt war. Welches Lied nun von Bronski Beat, und welches von Kim Wilde war, das erfuhr ich oft erst Jahre später.
Die Pet Shop Boys aber weckten schon beim ersten Kontakt mein ganzheitliches Interesse. Neben der Musik gefiel mir auch einfach diese seltsame Unnahbarkeit und ihr nüchternes Auftreten. Gott weiß wie bunt auftoupierte Haare und komische Anziehsachen fand ich dagegen als Kleinstadt-Kind eher verstörend – damit wollte ich lieber nichts zu tun haben. Die Perücken- und Hut-Eskapaden der Pet Shop Boys kamen ja dann erst später, in den 90ern.
Was mich ebenfalls von Beginn an reizte, war das ganze Setup der Band, bzw. dass es eben gar keine richtige Band war, sondern nur zwei Leute, von denen der eine sogar nur sang. Denn das hieß ja, dass der andere Typ da hinten die ganze Musik quasi ganz alleine macht mit seinen Keyboards, von denen er teilweise sogar mehrere um sich stehen hatte. Ich nahm an, dass diese Geräte unglaubliche Komplexität und Leistungsumfang besitzen mussten, und dass derjenige ein Genie sein muss, der all das beherrscht und dabei auch noch so lässig rüberkommt. Von technischen Errungenschaften wie Playback ahnte ich also nichts.
Recent Comments