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When Did You Seriously Get Into Dance Music?

C

CHRles

Even though I was exposed to a good dose of Dance music in 87 and 88, I think it was towards the end of 89 that I really got into it. Black Box "Ride On Time", 49ers "Touch Me", Technotronic "Pump Up The Jam", Cathy Denis & D- Mob "Come On And Get My Love", etc. were among my favorites.
It only got bigger for me afterwards with Snap "The Power", KLF "What Time Is Love", U-96 "Das Boat", EMF "Unbelievable", 2 In A Room "Wiggle It", and so on. By the time Quadrophonia "Quadrophonia" KLF "3 AM Eternal", Opus III "It's A Fine Day" came out I was totally hooked.
Even when some of my friends started to listen to anything but Hard Rock and Metal, or to some Modern Rock (all music that I was into as well) I could never abandon my love for Dance music.

I've managed to stay a fan of this ever-evolving music for decades, all without ever taking any drugs to enjoy it.

So what about the rest of you? How long have you been a fan of Dance/EDM/Electronic music?<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by CHRles on 03/18/06 02:43 AM.</FONT></P>
 
Well my passion for Dance goes back to 1974 when I was 10. Thats when the genre evolved from a word that wasn't dirty, and I don't mean the "Parental Advisory" label. It was called Disco. "Rock The Boat" anyone?
 
My sister got me into it roughly around the age of 13, my first favorite dance tune was 'More and More' Captain Hollywood Project. Ever since, i've grown into one of the biggest dance enthusiasts of all time.

5 more days till conference week! BRING IT!
 
I've always been a fan of dancable music from R&B (O'Jays) to New Wave (all of it) to the CHR flavor of the month from the early 70's till today but my main shift to "Dance" music came in 1985 when we switched my college station to a 24/7 Dance station. I received a quick education from one of the most knowledgable people I ever met, Bobby B and ran with it.

jp
 
I remember my cousin introduced me to the Bee Gees in 1977 (I was 6 years old then) and then throughout the mid-80s, I'd tune my walkman to B-96 on our way from Michigan to Illinois (grandma's house!) and I won't ever forget hearing JoBo's booming voice on Chicago's Hot Mix!

What really hooked me for good - B-96 coupled with Lansing's new hit music station in 1988 - WLNZ - Z-92 (Zero talk, 12 in a row) and lots of rhythmic hits I still haven't heard anywhere else. That's the first I heard of Sweet Sensation, Nia Peebles, Narada, Pet Shop Boys, S-express, etc... But it was always B-96 through 1995 (KZ-93 Peoria in 1993, 100.7 MIX-FM 1995-96, then the internet explosion and now Q-96 in Champaign - doing lots of dance and people are liking it!)
 
> Even though I was exposed to a good dose of Dance music in
> 87 and 88, I think it was towards the end of 89 that I
> really got into it. Black Box "Ride On Time", 49ers "Touch
> Me", Technotronic "Pump Up The Jam", Cathy Denis & D- Mob
> "Come On And Get My Love", etc. were among my favorites.
> It only got bigger for me afterwards with Snap "The Power",
> KLF "What Time Is Love", U-96 "Das Boat", EMF
> "Unbelievable", 2 In A Room "Wiggle It", and so on. By the
> time Quadrophonia "Quadrophonia" KLF "3 AM Eternal", Opus
> III "It's A Fine Day" came out I was totally hooked.
> Even when some of my friends started to listen to anything
> but Hard Rock and Metal, or to some Modern Rock (all music
> that I was into as well) I could never abandon my love for
> Dance music.
>
> I've managed to stay a fan of this ever-evolving music for
> decades, all without ever taking any drugs to enjoy it.
>
> So what about the rest of you? How long have you been a fan
> of Dance/EDM/Electronic music?
>
Oh man,,, this is going to back so far its actually funny. Actually my older brother got my into it at an early age, basically before I had a chance to hear, or accept anything else. This is gonna sound funny to those who know me, but some of my first Dance Songs I was exposed to as a kid were... The Jets-Crush on you,,, and Rockit to you... As well as pointer Sisters, with Jump, and Automatic,,, An R&B/Dance act called Klymaxx-Meeting in the ladys room,, Which at the age,,, A song about a Bath Room was considered quite Humourous. Also, Shannon-Let the music play, was another one I distinctly remember.. Their was also an Early DETROIT TECHNO song called (ITS-Automatic) with a Freestyle-Electro beat,,, Anyone remember that song, or who did it????? Anyway, my Liking of Dance escalated in the summer of 1991, just after the first Gulf War. Thats when WHHH-Hot 96 signed on the air,,,,, But not quite hardly the same Hot 96 that exists today, Back then, they were a Dance Leaning Rhythmic Chr. They played alot of Dance songs, and 12 Inch extended mixes along with Rhythmic pop from Color me Bad, Natural Selection, Amy Grant, Johnny Gill, Bobby Brown,,, But didnt play much Actual RAP music, except later in the evenings. I gained even more knowledge about Dance Music sometime around 93, thats when I found the First all Dance Station that I had ever heard before, it was Dance-108 and later Energy-108 in Torronto Canada. It was one of the few stations actually streaming this early on, the sound quality was horrible, but I was just Histerical over listening to a station that far away from here, and hearing Live Dance Music mixed in with the local Whether Reports, traffic and commercials. Something else I can remember is,, In the 80s, my Dad my brother and I, were at a car show in Houston Texas on vacation,,, Their was a radio station broadcasting live from the event,, It was playing Dance music,, and I think I remember seeing Banners, and T-Shirts that said (ENERGY).. Either Energy 91.5, or maybe Energy 98.5,,, This was in the 80s, in HOUSTON and I havent been able to find any info on this station to confirm what I remember,,, but this station was pretty close to being pure Dance, but I do recall hearing some R&B on their,,, No rock though.
 
I seriously got into dance music in 1992. "Rhythm Is A Dancer" by Snap! and "It's A Fine Day" by Opus 3 were my 'gateway records.' I discovered both while on a trip to India in '92. On their MTV channel, both of those videos were in heavy rotation at the time. I couldn't even describe the Opus 3 video now because I have not seen it since then. But when I came back to the States, I ran out and got those songs. I never looked back. <P ID="signature">______________
check out http://energybayarea.blogspot.com and http://bayareadanceradio.blogspot.com</P>
 
>
> So what about the rest of you? How long have you been a fan
> of Dance/EDM/Electronic music?
>

*coughsinceKNRJlaunchedcough* Thats when I *REALLY* got into it..

Pop was officially DEAD by that time... and being gay I guess it was just a matter of time anyway..

HAHAHA<P ID="signature">______________
__________________________________________________
Pay TV, Rogue Traders, Robyn, Sugababes, Girls Aloud, Dragonette

Heard of em yet?

You will by the time im through.</P><P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by aaryn on 03/18/06 10:01 AM.</FONT></P>
 
> Also, Shannon-Let the music play, was
> another one I distinctly remember.. Their was also an Early
> DETROIT TECHNO song called (ITS-Automatic) with a
> Freestyle-Electro beat,,, Anyone remember that song, or who
> did it????

Sounds like you're referring to "It's Automatic" by Freestyle (same act that did "Don't Stop The Rock").<P ID="signature">______________
Will Calder
www.ninetwoproductions.com
www.ipartyradio.com

[email protected]</P>
 
Ugh, at the risk of dating myself here... any Chicago native here will appreciate this:

I remembered watching my parents taking disco lessons at the local park district, and my sister and I imitated their dance moves whenever we popped "Saturday Night Fever" or K-TEL compilations onto the record player. Imagine my awe when I finally saw an actual lighted dance floor in a hotel near Chicago's Magnificent Mile!

I started collecting 12" vinyl in junior high. My first 12" singles were Yaz "Situation", Alisha "All Night Passion", and Freez "I.O.U." I picked up mismatching pitch-bend turntables (one was an OLD Technics turntable--not a 1200-- and the other was a Gemini), and matched it with an Atus 4-channel mixer that I picked up at HIGHLAND SUPERSTORE. I used to ride my 10-speed for half an hour to RECORD CITY in Skokie, where they had a very decent array of 12" singles.

I was a MAJOR vinyl junkie, visiting record stores everywhere. Once I learned to drive and got a car, I would drive to the legendary GRAMAPHONE RECORDS on Clark Street when it was a tiny hole in the wall. That's where I completed my Chicago house collection. How pathetic was I? I would only eat candy bars and soda at school so I could save up as much cash to buy vinyl!

I also drove to downtown Chicago to visit IMPORTS ETC, where I would pick up euro or synth pop imports at expensive prices (close to $12!). Or I would drive to other record shops such as HOT JAMZ in the south side, HIP HOUSE on the west side, and VINTAGE VINYL in Evanston.

When I visited New York, I checked out this awesome record store on Broadway near Times Square to pick up doubles of house tracks like Wee Papa Girl Rappers "Heat It Up", Royal House "Can You Party", Jungle Brothers "I'll House You", and others. I don't remember the name of the shop, but I believe it's no longer there.

Spinning at high school and house parties, I eventually landed gigs at Chicagoland teen dance clubs such as MEDUSA and MCGREEVY'S spinning synth-pop like OMD, New Order, Depeche Mode, Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, Book of Love, and Camouflage. That is, until I turned 21 and eventually spun at KA-BOOM!, SHELTER, ERIK'S NORTH, and others.

To support my vinyl habit, I eventually got a job at MUSICLAND, then at SOUND WAREHOUSE which had a great amount of 12" vinyl at employee discount. I joined subscription services such as HOT TRACKS and ART OF MIX, and record pools such as the CHICAGO/WISCONSIN RECORD POOL (based at DJ INTERNATIONAL's studios) and LET's DANCE/IRS MUSIC POOL.

All this time, I was listening to 102.7 WBMX and POWER 107.5 WGCI to listen to the HOTMIX 5. I also got hooked onto HIGH ENERGY 88.7FM WLUW, which eventually became ENERGY 88.7. I finally joined that station in 1993. My dance music career has taken off in crazy directions ever since.

Ah, memories...<P ID="signature">______________
radioinfosignature.gif
</P>
 
> Well my passion for Dance goes back to 1974 when I was 10.
> Thats when the genre evolved from a word that wasn't dirty,
> and I don't mean the "Parental Advisory" label. It was
> called Disco. "Rock The Boat" anyone?
>
Wow Robert, I hope we can all one day say we've been listening to Dance music for as long as you have :)
 
> Ugh, at the risk of dating myself here... any Chicago native
> here will appreciate this:
>
> I remembered watching my parents taking disco lessons at the
> local park district, and my sister and I imitated their
> dance moves whenever we popped "Saturday Night Fever" or
> K-TEL compilations onto the record player. Imagine my awe
> when I finally saw an actual lighted dance floor in a hotel
> near Chicago's Magnificent Mile!
>
> I started collecting 12" vinyl in junior high. My first 12"
> singles were Yaz "Situation", Alisha "All Night Passion",
> and Freez "I.O.U." I picked up mismatching pitch-bend
> turntables (one was an OLD Technics turntable--not a 1200--
> and the other was a Gemini), and matched it with an Atus
> 4-channel mixer that I picked up at HIGHLAND SUPERSTORE. I
> used to ride my 10-speed for half an hour to RECORD CITY in
> Skokie, where they had a very decent array of 12" singles.
>
> I was a MAJOR vinyl junkie, visiting record stores
> everywhere. Once I learned to drive and got a car, I would
> drive to the legendary GRAMAPHONE RECORDS on Clark Street
> when it was a tiny hole in the wall. That's where I
> completed my Chicago house collection. How pathetic was I? I
> would only eat candy bars and soda at school so I could save
> up as much cash to buy vinyl!
>
> I also drove to downtown Chicago to visit IMPORTS ETC, where
> I would pick up euro or synth pop imports at expensive
> prices (close to $12!). Or I would drive to other record
> shops such as HOT JAMZ in the south side, HIP HOUSE on the
> west side, and VINTAGE VINYL in Evanston.
>
> When I visited New York, I checked out this awesome record
> store on Broadway near Times Square to pick up doubles of
> house tracks like Wee Papa Girl Rappers "Heat It Up", Royal
> House "Can You Party", Jungle Brothers "I'll House You", and
> others. I don't remember the name of the shop, but I believe
> it's no longer there.
>
> Spinning at high school and house parties, I eventually
> landed gigs at Chicagoland teen dance clubs such as MEDUSA
> and MCGREEVY'S spinning synth-pop like OMD, New Order,
> Depeche Mode, Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, Book of Love, and
> Camouflage. That is, until I turned 21 and eventually spun
> at KA-BOOM!, SHELTER, ERIK'S NORTH, and others.
>
> To support my vinyl habit, I eventually got a job at
> MUSICLAND, then at SOUND WAREHOUSE which had a great amount
> of 12" vinyl at employee discount. I joined subscription
> services such as HOT TRACKS and ART OF MIX, and record pools
> such as the CHICAGO/WISCONSIN RECORD POOL (based at DJ
> INTERNATIONAL's studios) and LET's DANCE/IRS MUSIC POOL.
>
> All this time, I was listening to 102.7 WBMX and POWER 107.5
> WGCI to listen to the HOTMIX 5. I also got hooked onto HIGH
> ENERGY 88.7FM WLUW, which eventually became ENERGY 88.7. I
> finally joined that station in 1993. My dance music career
> has taken off in crazy directions ever since.
>
> Ah, memories...
>

Talk about hardcore passion for this music! See, it's posts like these that made me start this thread.
 
That was Energy 96.5
I'm not sure if they were the first to use the letters KNRJ.
That station, as well as 93Q and Power 104 (both somewhat dance friendly) were the stations I was into back then.
93Q turned country in late 91 and still is with the same name.
Power 104 dropped the Power in early 91 and is still CHR, though not dance friendly.
I was always into dance, and started buying 12"s in 93.
Wanted to be a dj, but that never happened.

knrj.gif


> In the 80s, my Dad my brother and I, were at a car show in
> Houston Texas on vacation,,, Their was a radio station
> broadcasting live from the event,, It was playing Dance
> music,, and I think I remember seeing Banners, and T-Shirts
> that said (ENERGY).. Either Energy 91.5, or maybe Energy
> 98.5,,, This was in the 80s, in HOUSTON and I havent been
> able to find any info on this station to confirm what I
> remember,,, but this station was pretty close to being pure
> Dance, but I do recall hearing some R&B on their,,, No rock
> though.
> <P ID="signature">______________
Because you dance to disco but you still like rock.</P>
 
> That was Energy 96.5
> I'm not sure if they were the first to use the letters KNRJ.

Yes, they were! Eventually, the calls got picked up at Payson, AZ.

Energy 96.5's logo inspired WLUW Chicago to change its name, logo, and slogan from
HIGH ENERGY 88.7FM "Chicago's Only 24-Hour Stereo Dance Radio"
(unfortunately, I don't have a logo for that on hand) to become
ENERGY 88.7 "Chicago's Best Music". The logo featured the same font as KNRJ's, except the lettering was blue with red edging on a white background like this:

energy887clubjam.gif


ENERGY 88.7 then hired MARK DRISCOLL for imaging and JAM PRODUCTIONS Z100 package for jingles! One of the sweepers used was, "Dropping the high... dropping the point, dropping the bass! Energy 88-7!"

Alas, Houston's ENERGY 96.5 KNRJ didn't last very long. If I recall correctly, the owners changed within a year. Also around the same time, Toronto had their dance/CHR, ENERGY 108.<P ID="signature">______________
radioinfosignature.gif
</P>
 
Haha JD, you and I have a few music parallels. I think I visited the Imports store once or twice... it wasn't around for long after I had really started getting seriously into dance music. Thankfully, I discovered Gramaphone (it was actually someone at the Tower Records store that was at Fullerton & N. Clark who tipped me off to that :) lol), and I was also spending a lot of cash on vinyl at Hiphouse and Jumpin Music as well (the two were just down the street from one another).

Back to CHRles' topic, there were a lot of electro & new wave songs that I really dug in the 80's (yeah, I'm pretty damn old, too lol) but the one track that really turned me onto house was "Big Fun" by Inner City in late '88. I was on my college christmas break visiting my mom in Chicago and I remember both Z95 and B95 were playing the living hell out of that song at the time. I found the entire album a few weeks later and loved every second of it. A lot of really good dance tracks followed that kept my hunger for dance music going, but if I have to pick a turning point in my music tastes, that was probably it!
 
Don't think that dance music was my only thing when I was in junior high and the beginning of high school! I actually did like OLD SCHOOL rap before the negative gangster crap came about. I also was a big fan of VAN HALEN (with Sammy Hagar) and MOTLEY CRUE! HAHA<P ID="signature">______________
radioinfosignature.gif
</P>
 
Starting in the late 80s I noticed artists such as Black Box..& around '94 w/ La Bousche tracks that were receiving Top 40 airplay.

Then Beat Radio started in Minneapolis where I was living at the time.

By the time XM's BPM hit the air my love of Dance music was cemented.

> I've managed to stay a fan of this ever-evolving music for
> decades, all without ever taking any drugs to enjoy it.

Same here.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by saladdressing on 03/19/06 12:02 AM.</FONT></P>
 
> Don't think that dance music was my only thing when I was in
> junior high and the beginning of high school! I actually did
> like OLD SCHOOL rap before the negative gangster crap came
> about. I also was a big fan of VAN HALEN (with Sammy Hagar)
> and MOTLEY CRUE! HAHA
>
Yeah I liked a lot of the Hard Rock/Metal bands that were on MTV in the late 80s(Remember Dial MTV with Adam Curry? LOL). I also loved some of the Rap out back then as it was more dancey. I even liked some of that "negative gangster crap" in the early 90s b/c I felt like Public Enemy and N.W.A. were both very original, raw, and fresh.
 
> I've always been a fan of dancable music from R&B (O'Jays)
> to New Wave (all of it) to the CHR flavor of the month from
> the early 70's till today but my main shift to "Dance" music
> came in 1985 when we switched my college station to a 24/7
> Dance station. I received a quick education from one of the
> most knowledgable people I ever met, Bobby B and ran with
> it.
>
> jp
>
OMG, John you listen to Dance music too??!! Who knew? ;)
 
I was listening to Energy when I was still in high school and always wanted to be a part of the fun. So, instead of going to DePaul, I decided to go to Loyola where I hooked up with Jammerz at Energy. The rest as they say, is history. Ahh the memories... of kniting sweaters out of.... HA HA HA!<P ID="signature">______________
Rob Austin
Vice President
JamTraxx Media Inc.
http://www.jamtraxxmedia.com
"Major Market Solutions for Your Radio Station's Needs!"</P>
 
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