THE RAVE TO END ALL RAVES

WELCOME

@ClassicPopMag Iwas a tad green to have been

MADONNA

THE SECOND COMING

BEATS INTERNATIONAL

THE 90S WAS A DECADE DEFINED BY HOUSE BANGERS, BLISSED-OUT  BEATS AND DEEP DROPS, BUT THESE CONCENTRIC WAVES OF SOUND  WERE BEGUN MUCH EARLIER IN CHICAGO, DETROIT, DÜSSELDORF, NEW  YORK AND LONDON. WE EXAMINE THE ROOTS OF THE DANCE TAKEOVER…

SCREAMADELICA

PRIMAL SCREAM

THE WHITE ROOM THE KLF

SUBSIDISED WITH THE PROCEEDS OF AN 80S NOVELTY HIT, THE ECCENTRICITIES, VISION AND AMBITION OF TWO MUSICAL MAVERICKS WITH A TASTE FOR ACID HOUSE AND ANARCHY RESULTED IN ONE OF THE FINEST DANCE-POP ALBUMS OF THE 90s…

THE ORB’S ADVENTURES BEYOND THE ULTRAWORLD

THE ORB

BLUE LINES

MASSIVE ATTACK

DEBUT

BJÖRK

DUBNOBASSWITHMYHEADMAN

UNDERWORLD

LEFTISM

LEFTFIELD

ENDTRODUCING.....

DJ SHADOW

HOMEWORK

DAFT PUNK

MOON SAFARI

AIR

PLAY MOBY

MOBY WAS ON THE VERGE OF PACKING IT ALL IN WHEN ALAN LOMAX’S ICONIC DELTA RECORDINGS INSPIRED HIM TO CREATE A SET OF BLISSED-OUT ELECTRONICA WITH THOSE INCREDIBLE, HISTORICAL VOCALS AS ITS FOUNDATION. REGARDLESS, PLAY UNIVERSALLY FELL ON DEAF EARS, UNTIL – OUT OF SHEER DESPERATION – HE TURNED TO ADVERTISING…

REMEDY

BASEMENT JAXX

VOODOO PEOPLE

THE PRODIGY COULD SO EASILY HAVE BEEN  ONE-HIT NOVELTY TECHNO WONDERS, BUT THEY  BECAME ONE OF THE BIGGEST BANDS IN THE  WORLD. CLASSIC POP EXAMINES HOW SWAPPING  RAVE FOR GRUNGE AND REGGAE HELPED THE  PROVOCATEURS MOVE ON FROM PUBLIC  INFORMATION FILMS TO HEADLINING FESTIVALS

CELEBRATE YOU BABY!

BORN OF BRIGHTON AFTER-PARTIES AND STUFFED WITH SAMPLES ARTFULLY LIFTED FROM THE ENVIABLE RECORD COLLECTION OF A TRUE VINYL MAGPIE, FATBOY SLIM’S ALL-CONQUERING 1998 RELEASE WAS A BIG BEAT CLASSIC THAT REVOLUTIONISED DANCE MUSIC…

SUPER SONIC LOVERS

A FORMER TROUBLED KID SAVED BY DJING BEFORE  TRANSFORMING HIMSELF INTO A DAYGLO SUPERSTAR,  MARK MOORE’S MUSIC WITH S’EXPRESS WAS EQUALLY  COLOURFUL – UNTIL HE HAD TO MAKE AN ALBUM. NOW  HAPPIER BACK ON THE UNDERGROUND SCENE, MARK  EXPLAINS THE BIZARRE RISE AND SUDDEN DISAPPEARANCE  OF THE ULTIMATE CARTOON BAND…

THE SPEED OF SOUND

RAVE CULTURE MAY HAVE BEEN  DEAD AT THE HANDS OF THE TORY  GOVERNMENT IN THE EARLY 90S, BUT  A SERIES OF SUPERCLUBS, SPEARHEADED  BY THE MIGHTY MINISTRY OF SOUND,  WERE ABOUT TO GIVE DANCE MUSIC  A NEW LEASE OF LIFE

PEOPLE HOLD ON

WHAT SEEMED LIKE A MASSIVE COUNTER- CULTURAL MOVEMENT AT THE DAWN OF THE 90S, DANCE MUSIC EMERGED INTO BEING THE DRIVING FORCE FOR POP MUSIC OVER THE NEXT DECADE . WE HAVE A LOOK AT HOW DANCE MUSIC REINVIGORATED POP MUSIC – AND VICE VERSA…

BROTHER'S GONNA WORK IT OUT...

FROM PLAYING RECORDS IN GROTTY PUBS TO BECOMING ONE OF THE GREATEST LIVE SPECTACLES OF ALL TIME, THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS REMAIN GIANTS OF DANCE MUSIC. 30 YEARS ON, THEY’VE AMASSED NO.1 SINGLES AND ALBUMS AND COUNTLESS AWARDS. WE CHART THE GIDDY RISE (AND RISE) OF THE SUPERSTAR DJS’ FIRST DECADE

BILLIE RAY MARTIN

ELECTRIBE 101, RAVE’S GREATEST CULT, WERE FORMED WHEN GERMAN SINGER BILLIE RAY MARTIN ASSEMBLED FOUR BANDMATES VIA A SMALL AD. HER SOULFUL VOICE PLUS PULSATING ELECTRO MADE FOR A PERFECT CONTRAST, BUT THEY SPLIT AFTER ALBUM NO.2 WENT UNRELEASED. NOW, IT’S ABOUT TO BE REVISITED…

DREAM WORLD

THERE WAS A MOMENT IN THE 90S WHEN BOTH THE SUPERCLUBS AND THE AIRWAVES WERE HELD IN A DREAMLIKE STATE AT THE FEET OF A SMALL GROUP OF SUPERSTAR DJS THAT SPUN THE SORT OF RECORDS SO EUPHORIC THAT ALL ELSE MEANT NOTHING  CLASSIC POP INVESTIGATES HOW TRANCE WENT FROM TINY CULT TO WORLD-CONQUERING PHENOMENON…

TOP 40 90'S DANCE ESSENTIAL PLAYLIST

You couldn’t move for the sheer number of

EURO BEAT

IT WAS A GLOBAL PHENOMENON THAT SWEPT THE CONTINENT AND BEYOND, STORMING THE CHARTS AND CRAMMING DANCEFLOORS WITH BIG BEATS – AND A CERTAIN KITSCHNESS. CLASSIC POP TRACKS THE INCREDIBLE RISE, REIGN, FALL AND REBIRTH OF EURODANCE

HOW THE WEST WAS WON

THE BRISTOL SOUND IS A MELTING POT OF GENRES THAT REFLECTS THE CITY’S VARIED  CULTURAL CORNERSTONES – AND IN THE 90s,  IT BECAME A WORLD-BEATING BRAND…

SWEET HARMONIES

THE BELOVED STARTED AS “A LITTLE INDIE BAND FROM  CAMBERWELL”, DISCOVERED HOUSE MUSIC AND MADE THE  ULTIMATE RAVE-POP CROSSOVER ALBUM. READY WITH  THEIR FIRST NEW MUSIC IN OVER 20 YEARS, JON MARSH  EXPLAINS WHY THE SUN TOOK SO LONG TO RISE AGAIN

PAUL HARTNOLL

FROM THE CLOSE CAMARADERIE OF THE UK’S EARLY DANCE MUSIC SCENE TO MAJOR MOVIE SOUNDTRACK WORK TO SUFFERING FROM NERVES AT GLASTONBURY, ONE HALF OF ORBITAL SHOWS US BEHIND THE SCENES

MIKE PICKERING

HE WAS THE CREATIVE FORCE BEHIND M PEOPLE, AND THE LEGENDARY A&R MAN WHO SIGNED THE LIKES OF CALVIN HARRIS, BLACK BOX, KASABIAN AND HAPPY MONDAYS. CLASSIC POP MEETS ONE OF THE DECADE'S GENUINE PIONEERS

BEACH BOYS

LED BY A BASSIST WITH A HUGE RECORD COLLECTION AND A KNACK  FOR HIT ASSEMBLY, BIG BEAT BOUNDED OUT OF BRIGHTON TO  DELIVER A RUN OF RECORDS THAT SHIFTED THE COURSE OF DANCE  MUSIC AND CREATED YET ANOTHER DELECTABLE HYBRID. CLASSIC POP CHATS TO SKINT RECORDS BOSS DAMIAN HARRIS

NORTH POLES

IT WAS A DECADE IN WHICH A GROWING ARMY OF FACELESS TECHNO ACTS COULD SUDDENLY MAKE  MUSIC ON CHEAP SYNTHS AND DRUM MACHINES. AS DANCE MUSIC BEEPED AND BLEEPED TO THE FORE, WARP BECAME A BEACON FOR THEM, SWEEPING UP THE BEST AND LAUNCHING THE CAREERS OF MANY A SEMINAL NAME, NOT TO MENTION THE VERY GENRES IN WHICH THEY OPERATED…