The playlist is great, but we're missing a HUGE event from 1988 - certainly in the UK anyway.
1988 was the "Second Summer of Love" and whilst I was a few years too young to appreciate it, our mates older brothers weren't and they introduced us to the music and videos of that era. They were telling us of these amazing clubs, venues and this madness of not sleeping
The news was frequently headlines by the new 'folk devil' - youngsters on Ecstacy who were staying up till the morning after. The Police chased around the fields and warehouses trying to stop raves but it didn't matter.
Stakker Humanoid - Stakker Humanoid
It's hard to describe how these tracks sounded to my younger ears at the time. They literally sounded like nothing else - it was infectious, didn't seem to have anything about it like melody or lyrics but it just sounded amazing. It also annoyed by that my cheap Yamaha PSR keyboard couldn't produce anything like it!
When you heard this on a VHS video and watched these crazed people in bright colours, throwing limbs all over it just looked like nothing we had seen before. On the news, these songs soundtracked this new 'problem'.
One thing I do think about with these rave tracks is that they remind me of punk - if you had the equipment and half an idea, you could have a hit.
I remember watching TOTP back in the day and seeing them perform this. I think those performances were bizarre looking back. This was rave music played on the 'nice' TOTP show but it was just so out of place and it made it sound even more dangerous!
Def Con One -Pop Will Eat Itself
These tracks started to bring the gaps between Indie music and Rave music. Is it a rock song? Yes, but that's a drum machine in the background and drops samples in for fun like Crazy Horses and Funky Town. It was a massive melting pot of styles and music.
PWEI and their ilk seemed to open up a new type of music in Indie where these 'mash ups' could mean blending anything in. Again, nothing else sounded like this at the time and - like we saw in the 60s - the counter culture of Rave, Indie, Rap and generally alternative music was where the zeitgeist was. Although hair rock and the like might have topped the charts, it was being eaten away.
The Pixies - Where Is My Mind?
The Pixies released Surfer Rosa which - in some ways - lays the blueprint for what happens next to rock music: Grunge.
At the time, you would have the 'Indie Chart' on The Chart Show and see these bands you'd never heard of. You'd then go to Oldham Library, borrow the tape and tape it. I was introduced to so much music from the library, some good and others not so good but it was exciting hearing the Indie chart in particular as it was so random. You'd hear The Pixies then Napalm Death then Stakker Humanoid then something else! The styles were incredible!
Hearing these songs for the first time opened my mind up to 'modern' rock. I wasn't into the Bon Jovi's and all that hair rock, THIS was rock! I love Bon Jovi nowadays, but The Pixies still blow them out of the water and we're hugely influential on Nirvana.
The Happy Mondays - Wrote For Luck
You can't imagine how this sounded either back in 1988. Introduced to it by my mates older brother, we couldn't tell if this was the future, a joke or if it was any good. Shaun Ryder has a voice that NO ONE can imitate and I absolutely love it. Of course, once these songs get remixed they become club classics but there's a real beauty in the rawness of it and just how 'mad' it sounds.
Tyree Cooper - Turn Up The Bass
Sorry, I'm going to cheat and slip in another one!
This song just sums up the era in some respects - that piano sound from House music, the drums from Acid House, the 'woh/yeah' from James Brown, 'Bring The Noise' maybe from Public Enemy or something, the rapping and I think it's sampling "Annie I'm not your Daddy" as well. The whole track screams energy and even now just sounds amazing.
What a year 1988 was for music.
I hope the above show that 1988 was a crucial year in music. Rave culture explodes - national news, moral panics and a demand for something to be done. The arrival of acid house, raves and ecstacy transform music and in time will transform British society. Ecstacy will be taken on football terraces and is generally recognised for help to reduce hooliganism. It helped to break down social barriers and bring in a culture where it's more important to have a good time and love each other than what shoes and shirt you're wearing. Laws would be changed about how many people could gather and there would be the ridiculous spectacle of people trying to define a rave. There was an energy in this period where it felt like things were changing - politically, socially, drugs and music wise. You can understand where the "Second Summer Of Love" comes from as it is very similar to the summer of 68.
Nothing the authorities did mattered - everything changed anyway.
I just wish I was about 5 years older to have fully appreciated it at the time!
