The History Of Pop Part 30 aka In this new frame of mind a thousand flowers could bloom

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Now 30, like 1995, starts slow but then explodes into full-on dance mania as high street clubbing meets pop and a flood of great, blink-and-you-miss-them hits follow. Handbagmania! In amongst the dance tunes we have dadpop, Britpop, a bit of r'n'b and a sprinkling of trip-hop. It's a big poll with some big questions: have at it.

One of the big questions is - what's going to win Now 29? Kylie and Shampoo were tied on 34 votes each, just ahead of Whigfield and Corona, so there's a straight choice to be made here. Meanwhile Oasis highpoints clustered around Cigs and Boose, Live Forever and Supersonic: Wasis make the first of several reapparances on today's poll.

1995 - what were are we thinking?


[Poll #686986]

Comments

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

1995 is the year that Muzik magazine started which was a huge epiphany for me with dance music generally. Because although I was already well into it, I still had no idea about people like Juan Atkins or Masters At Work at that point. They made me feel very bad for not knowing tracks like 'Hardtrance Acperience' too. I guess the founding Muzik writers were crazy-purist but from a Dance Music perspective this was quite refreshing as they were, for me, the first to write about Dance Music and Rave Culture as History. I guess Reynolds was starting to do this around this time too, but alas I was not aware of his work (and would remain unaware until ILM!).

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Yeah I bought the first dozen or so issues of Muzik and drooled over the specialist reviews without ever actually setting foot in a dance shop. Ben Turner had been the Melody Maker dance 'guy', he hated jungle at first though. Muzik was v.down on handbag.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

yeh they kinda were although they loved HARDBAG which is basically what the likes of Rollo & Sister Bliss were doing when they DJ'd at Trade or wherever. And Faithless initally perceived as quite AG and cred in clubland at first.

[plumsbitch.livejournal.com]

ha. whereas I blew much of my grant (which dates me) on Underground Resistance, Renegade Soundwave, Juan Atkins, Derrick May et al :)

Muzik was very very serious the culture it was recording. Which really appealed to me at the time, as it managed to combine indepth analysis with massive enthusiasm for the things it DID like.

But as you say, was very down on anything 'light' or 'merely' fun, which in retrospect, also suited me as it's a bit wanky and so was I,

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The big thing for me at the time was my girlfriend going to university in Leeds and all her friends going out to handbag clubs and dancing to Graham Gold sets etc., which I would do too when I visited, so my reading about electronic music was all UR and Juan Atkins and Hardfloor but my actual (still quite limited) clubbing experience was De'Lacy and "Fee Fi Fo Fum" and whatnot.

[plumsbitch.livejournal.com]

Yesyesyes.

All of the above. See also 'graduating' slowly from listening to the Orb with friends at home, which were, like many people, my 'gateway band' for electronic music, to *going to* free parties, and to things like Tribal Gathering, the first one of which was massively influential.