Reminiscing about olden times, The Guardian presents “the story of the UK’s biggest rave anthems.” Here’s A Guy Called Gerald on “Voodoo Ray”:
When Voodoo Ray was in the charts, I was still working at McDonald’s. There were all these excuses [about why the money didn’t come through]. I thought, something’s gone wrong here: I’ve got two tracks in the charts – Voodoo Ray and [808 State’s] Pacific State [which Simpson co-wrote] – but I’m still having to walk to the centre of Manchester from Longsight with a bag of equipment because I can’t afford to get a bus.
… and Garry Cobain of The Future Sound of London on “Papua New Guinea”:
Name me another period of music when way-out instrumental music could be hits. People were talking about the deepest bassline like it was a hooky vocal. The further out we went, the more people would trip out and the more people would buy it, and that’s a complete inversion of how pop usually works. We didn’t feel like we could work with exotic musicians but we wanted to bring that level of depth into sampling, which was the ability of two skint boys in their early 20s to seem exotic and worldly without asking anybody’s permission.
But then, unrelated – or is it? – comes this bit of unintentional nostalgia from Los Angeles via Billboard Biz:
Following the death of two teenagers attending the HARD Summer electronic music festival — held at the Los Angeles County-owned Fairplex — the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors yesterday (Sep. 1) unanimously approved the formation of an “Electronic Music Task Force” that would provide recommendations on ways to make electronic music fests safer for attendees. The motion also states a ban on electronic music festivals “remains a possibility.”
Everything old is new again?
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