Revolution Girl Style Now!

Riot Grrrl was probably the ultimate zine-driven scene. While punk, for instance, threw up fanzines written by people who wanted to document the new music of the late 1970s, with riot grrrl the zines came first. Molly Neuman and Allison Wolfe, who formed key scene band Bratmobile, first put out Girl Germs zine in 1990. They then gave a name to the emerging movement with Riot Grrrl zine, the first issue of which came out in June 1991. Toby Vail, meanwhile, put out Jigsaw zine as a result of which Kathleen Hanna got in touch and they started Bikini Kill – inevitably the best-known of the Riot Grrrl bands also put out a zine of the same name.

Riot Grrrl – revolution girl style now! (Black Dog Publishing, 2007) gives due weight to the zine and DIY dimensions of the movement, with a chapter by Red Chidgey on Riot Grrrrl Writing. She argues that the zine ‘manifestoes were a form of wish fulfilment, conjuring up in words whatever the authors wanted to see happen in real life… “Riot Grrrl was about inventing new titles”, says Jo Huggy, ”you think up some name for a fantasy revolutionary group of girls, spread the ideas of it about and hope, for someone, it’ll come true”'.

In England, key riot grrrl band Huggy Bear declared in their Her Jazz manifesto (printed in their Huggy Nation zine, 1992): ‘Soon truckloads of Girl Groups and Girl/Boy Groups will be arriving to storm onto our platforms to start the riot they’ve been dreaming and plotting in the many hours spent waiting, growing taller with anticipation’.

Thus the bedroom dreams of a post-punk feminist youth movement gave birth to just that, initially in early 1990s Olympia and Washington DC and then in the UK and elsewhere.

The scene struggled to cope with a media onslaught, and the record industry was soon repackaging a diluted form of girl power with The Spice Girls. Nevertheless, Riot Grrrl inspired girls (and boys) across the world to form bands and write, and there continue to be riot grrrl networks to this day.

Riot Grrrl was also one of the final pre-internet movements. As Beth Ditto notes in her foreword to the book, it was ‘Built on the floors of strangers’ living rooms, tops of xeorox machines, snail mail, word of mouth and mixtapes’. In the pre-internet world ‘the main means of communicating and networking… was through exchanging zines and writing letters’ (Julia Downes). Erin Smith, who published the early Teenage Gang Debs zine recalled, there ‘was something special about having this pen-pal and then kind of calling on the phone, and then hearing about this other person, and then reading their zine, and then mailing your zine out to people and just hoping somebody’s going to understand it’.

Internet communication is much quicker and broader – I know that within minutes of writing this somebody on the other side of the world will be reading it. But arguably communication is often shallower than the exchange of gifts implied by sending tapes, zines and letters to kindred spirits.

This book is a good start at documenting Riot Grrrl, though inevitably there are gaps. In the chapter Poems on the Underground, Cass Blaze covers the UK music influenced by riot grrrl in detail. She considers Huggy Bear, Mambo Taxi, Voodoo Queens and the crossover with the indie-pop scene. I would have liked the US Riot Grrrl music scene to be treated in similar depth. The link with the related queercore scene could also have been explored more, with bands like Sister George in the UK and Tribe8 in the US.

There's lots of good Riot Grrrl stuff out there online - you could start with The Riot Grrrl Manifesto, The Riot Project and Riot Grrrl Online Blog.

More disco police action

England: "Illegal ravers stayed behind to tidy up!" (Northampton Chronicle, 11 June 2008)

'The 500 ravers who broke into a farm on the outskirts of Northampton for an illegal party stayed to tidy up the mess before police moved them on. The partygoers managed to hack through a metal clasp and open the steel gates into the field near Sywell off the A43 where they remained for almost 24 hours over the weekend. Landowner Michael Bletsoe-Brown said he could hear the music from his home, at least three miles away.

He said: "It's the third time this has happened in three years, and we really thought we had got the gates secured because we put a metal clasp on, which you're not supposed to be able to break. Somehow they managed to get in and once they're in, there's very little anyone can do about it. The police don't have the resources to be able to come and herd them all off and, if they did, we would be left with all the ravers' mess and rubbish, which was our biggest concern. As it was, the best way to deal with them was to leave them until they decided to move, which finally happened at about 4pm on Sunday." Mr Bletsoe-Brown said the rave, which resulted in two arrests for drugs offences, was well organised...

Northamptonshire Police detained six people for causing a public nuisance, as well as seizing two vans with sound equipment and stopping two motorists who were driving without insurance.

England: Immigration Disco Raid in York (Yorkshire Post, 9 June 2008)

A restauranteur targeted in an immigration raid thought she was the subject of a stag night prank when 30 police officers poured in and handcuffed her and five other people. Soo Fong, the owner of Cantonese restaurant the Willow, in Coney Street, York, was questioned alongside her husband and four members of staff, including the chef. Mrs Fong, who has had the business for 35 years, was in her office when the officers, in black and wearing balaclavas and helmets, stormed the building on Friday night.

She said: "The disco starts at 10pm and I thought they are coming early tonight. "When they handcuffed me I found it hilarious. At first I thought it was a stag night and I played along with it. My husband was very worried because they got him handcuffed and wouldn't tell him what they were doing." Mrs Fong said police checked her staffs' papers before they were released. She claimed: "Three of my full-time staff have work permits and the other staff are legally resident or students. They arrested nobody and after an hour and a half we managed to get the restaurant opened."... The joint operation between North Yorkshire Police and the Borders and Immigration Agency followed tip-offs about the alleged employment of illegal immigrants and legal immigrants disbarred from working.

USA: Detroit Police bust funk terrorist cell (Detroit Free Press, June 3 2008)

Officials at a west-side art gallery were consulting with attorneys Monday after a Detroit police raid Saturday morning left 130 partygoers with loitering tickets and 44 vehicles impounded. Police said the raid targeted illegal after-hours alcohol sales.

Patrons described commando-dressed copss, some heavily armed, bursting into a popular monthly party at the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit - widely known as CAID - about 2:20 a.m. and forcing people to the floor at gunpoint. Some patrons described police as abusive, said Aaron Timlin, CAID's executive director. "There were serious civil liberties issues here," said Timlin, who said the crowd was composed largely of young suburbanites.

One patron, identifying himself as Derrick, posted a detailed account on MySpace. It read in part: "One man claimed he was an attorney. The man stood on his knees, asking the police what was happening, explaining his occupation as an attorney. He was promptly kicked in the back, and forced onto his hands."

... The raid took place in its gallery in a 119-year-old building on Rosa Parks Boulevard north of West Warren. The party under way Saturday morning was the monthly Funk Night, at which gallery members dance to funk music. The party usually starts at midnight and lasts until about 5 a.m. The reported heavy-handed police presence elicited derision on some art and music Web sites. The Metro Times' music site carried a headline that read: "DETROIT POLICE BUST FUNK TERRORIST CELL."

News of the World, UFO and the Rolling Stones 1967

This week's protest at the Daily Mail put me in mind of another series of music-related demonstrations against a right wing British tabloid newspaper: the News of the World. In February 1967 the News of the World tipped off police about drug use at a party at Redlands, the Sussex country home of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. The police raided the house and in June 1967 Richards and fellow Rolling Stone Mick Jagger were jailed for drugs offences.

In his book Watch Out Kids (1972), Mick Farren put the event in the context of a wider police crackdown in the period:

"The authorities weren't slow, either, in getting their shit together to deal with the hippies. As early as March 1967, regional drug squads were formed to deal with the "drug problem" (the only drug problem most of us experienced was not getting enough). In a grand showcase on the first weekend of their operations, this new glossy narc squad managed to bust over 150 hippies, including the Rolling Stones and the IT offices. In subsequent weeks hundreds more kids were busted, in their homes, on the street, or in clubs.

A club being raided by the narcs is a strange experience. One moment there is music, lightshows, dancing: everything normal, and then, suddenly, the band falls apart, the house lights come on and hundreds of people are shuffling about, dropping pills and pieces of ·dope. There are uniforms everywhere. The audience is hastily segregated by sex and dividing screens are erected. Everyone is then searched. This can be a swift frisking or an order to strip, this depends totally on the individual cop's attitude. It is sad that a lot of pigs tend to adopt the manners of Gestapo officers in B-­feature war movies. If you're clean it's okay to leave, in fact, you are forced to leave, and even to go home, by police stationed in the street outside. It doesn't matter that you've broken no law, and paid for a good deal more entertainment. In the eyes of the drug squad you are guilty by association and lucky not to have been arrested. In this kind of raid it's women who suffer most. Women of 23 and 24 without means of proving their age find themselves hauled in on suspicion of being under age…'

On the day Jagger and Richards were convicted (29 June 1967), Farren was involved in organising a protest:

'The general opinion was that a protest should be made the same evening at the News of the World building. Everyone split to spread the word, and agreed to meet at midnight for the demonstration. Those of us who were left went to the house of one girl's parents where there were two phone lines which we were confident were not tapped. For the next three hours we called people solidly telling them (a) to show up at midnight in Fleet Street, and (b) to start calling people they knew to tell them about it.

At about a quarter to twelve we arrived at the News of the World to find that about fifty freaks had shown up. It was disappointing, but it didn't last. From then on hippies began to show up in droves, until by twelve-­thirty the narrow streets around the newspaper building were thronged with a weird assortment of people. Hippies came with drums and flutes, political heavies in leather jackets. Superstars drove around the building in limousines. A rock band equipment manager blocked the street with his truck.

The police were totally unprepared. Accustomed to protests that were planned and publicised for weeks in advance, they had no rules for dealing with these dial-a-mob tactics. It took them at least an hour to raise a force capable of dealing with the 1,500 freaks paralysing the newspaper building. So unprepared were the police that most of the people they did arrest had to be released because the arresting officers could not be found in the confusion.

The protests continued for two more days. The second day (Friday) the audience at UFO, the weekly rock/multi-media concert, left the club and marched to Piccadilly, where they found the police, equipped with dogs, waiting for them. After an hour of scuffles and abuse the crowd returned to the club, where a number of people were treated for cuts, bruises and dog bites.

On the Saturday things got a little heavy. Late in the evening between two and three thousand kids showed up in Fleet Street again, with the intention of blocking the street so the Sunday newspaper could not be shipped out. The police, this time, really had their shit together. In addition to uniformed pigs operating in force, hurling people back on the sidewalk and attempting to split the crowd into small groups, detectives and plain clothes men mingled with the demonstrators with orders to "pick out the ring leaders." As I was pushed across the road by the uniformed squad four of these infiltrators grabbed me, dragged me into a door way and worked me over with their fists and boots.

Joe Boyd, like Mick Farren, was involved in running the UFO club in London's Tottenham Court Road. In his book 'White Bicycles: making music in the 1960s' (2005) he recalled the night of the second protest, Friday 30th June 1967 as the peak of the sixties:



For the UFO audience, the Stones' bust represented the sinister collusion of circulation-seeking editors, treacherous grasses and killjoy drug squads. Jagger and Richards may have been wealthy superstars, but they were counter­culture heroes, too. Hoppy had also been busted that spring (after a plainclothes man reached, conjuror-like, behind his sofa and pulled out an evidentiary plum) and had just been sentenced to eight months in Wormwood Scrubs. Ads and editorials in the International Times, posters around UFO and graffiti in Notting Hill Gate reminded everyone of the injustice. A bucket was circulated at the club, the money going to a legal defence fund for drug busts.

We decided to close the club after the first set and parade through the West End, finishing off with a protest in front of the News of the World building in Fleet Street. The West End at 1 a.m. on a Friday night was nothing like as busy as it is today, but there were quite a few 'normals' about, and they gaped as we rounded Piccadilly and headed for Leicester Square, then down through Covent Garden towards Fleet Street. Our destination was a letdown: the News of the World building was dark and silent. Firebrands among us started planning a blockade of the Sunday paper and an assault on their vans the next night.

The long walk in the night air, the hostile stares from the 'straights' and the threats from the police had energized everyone, so the club was packed and buzzing when Tomorrow hit the stage about 4 a.m. The unity of spirit between audience and musicians was tremendous: Twink had been at the head of our two-hundred-strong column. Tearing into 'White Bicycle', they had never sounded tighter. At some point Skip from The Pretty Things took over on drums as Twink grabbed the microphone and plunged into the audience. Howe's playing moved to another level of intensity, sending the dancers leaping into the cones of light as Twink crawled along the floor, hugging people and chanting 'Revolution, revolution'. Everyone was high - on chemicals or adrenalin or both. You really did believe in that moment that 'when the mode of music changes, the walls of the city shake'. The tide of history was with us and music was the key.

The bill for this glorious moment was presented a month later. The News of the World may not have known who we were before that weekend, but they certainly did afterwards. The fruits of their plotting burst forth on the last Sunday in July: beneath a grainy, out-of-focus shot of a bare­breasted girl, the front page screamed that she was fifteen years old and that the photograph had been taken at the 'hippy vice den' known as UFO. Our normally stoic landlord buckled under police pressure and evicted us.

A London Drag Ball, 1930s

"If you went to clubs in those days before the war, you'd have been arrested and put in prison. I know personally a case where a woman, who I knew very well, started this gay club. Now I am talking many years ago, before the war, and I could see the danger. I said, you've got to stop it. But she took a house in Holland Park. It was known as the Holland Park case. They just danced, nothing so blatant as they do now. And one Saturday night the whole of Holland Park, reaching up to Shepherd's Bush I should think, was simply full of black marias and police. People thought the war had started or something. And there were two young policemen who were dressed up. Of course they gave the evidence. And everyone was arrested.

Now what I'm saying is history. They took them all to Brixton prison. And kept them there, they were not given bail. When they went up to the Old Bailey, it was top news, they had placards then, you know. The Evening News used to have a placard on, and everyone was talking about it. The judge made them wear a placard. He said there's too many to deal with these terrible people, put a placard on them and a number. And so they were numbered, with the indignity of this bloody placard. And then the trial came to the time of the sentences and he sentenced them to imprisonment.

When it was all over, the judge called these two detectives and praised them. He said, I am going to recommend your promotion for dealing with this horrible case. I feel so sorry, it must have affected you mentally. And I direct now that under no circumstances must you ever be involved in a case again of any description with homosexual men because no human being could stand it. It just shows you the scathing bitterness they had for it" (Roy, born in Brixton in 1908).

Source: Between the Acts: Lives of homosexual mean 1885-1967, edited by Kevin Porter and Jeffrey Weeks (London: Routledge, 1991).

The Holland Park Avenue drag ball raid is also covered in Matt Houlbrook's excellent book 'Queer London', where its is reported that 60 men were arrested in the raid leading to a trial in March 1933:

“The ballroom had been let for a series of dances by Austin S. – more commonly Lady Austin – a twenty-four year old barman, John P., a twenty-two year-old waiter, and Betty, who ran other West London dance balls. Publicized via word of mouth and a flyer advertising ‘Hotel Staff Dances’ within a network of friends working in nearby hotels, the events were run “only for our love for each other”. In court, arresting officers described a “blatant” spectacle of sexual transgression: men had danced together, kissed, and been intimate: they had worn women’s clothes and makeup and called themselves “Lady Austin’s Camp Boys”… David M [one of these arrested] asked of one policeman: ‘Surely in a free country we can do what we like? We know each other and are doing no harm… it is a pity these people don’t understand our love. I am afraid a few will have to suffer yet before our ways are made legal’’

Source: Matt Houlbrook, Queer London: Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis, 1918-1957 (University of Chicago Press, 2005)

Konono no. 1

Congolese band Konono No 1 were supposed to be playing at Tate Modern in London tomorrow night as part of their Long Weekend event. Now comes news from Tate: "We are sorry to announce that due to difficulties in securing European visas, the Congolese band Konono No 1 are unable to travel from Kinshasa to the UK to perform at Tate Modern this weekend". '

How many (mainly white) US/European artists are refused entry to Britain to exhibit/talk/perform at Tate? How many (mainly white) US/European artists are refused entry to African countries when they're looking for a bit of exotica to spice up their careers?

While you're pondering these questions here's some of their African 'electro-acoustic trance music' to keep you going:



See also No One is Illegal; NoBorder.Org

Police raids international

England: Norfolk rave shut down (Norwich Evening News, 14 April 2008)

'Three people were arrested when an illegal rave was shut down by police in the early hours of yesterday morning. Norfolk police received information that the unlicensed music event was taking place at Horsey Gap.... A police spokesman said: “The event was shut down and two arrests were made in relation to persons being concerned with the organisation of an unlicensed musical event. A large amount of sound equipment was seized and a further arrest was made subsequently in relation to excess alcohol.”'

China: police raid gay clubs (Gay City News, 10 April 2008)

'on March 9.... police invaded Destination, Beijing's most popular gay nightspot. Police pretended the nightclub was "over-crowded" and ordered it closed, and it remained shuttered for several days... the raid on the Beijing club Destination took place the same night as a raid against PinkHome of Shanghai, where a number of gays were arrested. Such repressive measures taken so rapidly in such a short time span against places frequented by gays has never before been seen in China, and justifies our being afraid."

Vietnam: 300 arrested in disco (Vietnamnet, 4 April 2008)

'The Hai Phong city authorities began legal proceedings against Nguyen Truong Thinh, the owner of the UFO disco, for illegally storing and using drugs, and are holding the suspect under provisional detention... Police on March 1 made a sudden raid on the UFO disco, the biggest club in the northen port city, and confiscated a number of ecstasy tablets, cannabis and a shotgun.
They seized nearly 300 people but did not apprehend Nguyen Truong Thinh, the owner of the club, and could not find him at his home in Ngo Quyen District'.

USA: Dallas police raid rave

Heavily armed police raided the Candy Mountrain rave at Afterlife Dallas at the beginnng of April. According to someone who was there: 'Out of nowhere Dallas Swat, PD, Constables, and Sheriffs were swarming the area with assault rifles and other scary weapons demanding that everybody sit on the ground. Choppers were swarming overhead and the cops were NOT out to be anybody’s friends. The problem was apparently not with the party as much as with the venue owner. The police apparently had a major boner for busting the venue owner on something (He already has a case against the city pending for being unfairly treated in the past) so they did so in the flashiest way possible. Most of them who weren’t brandishing weapons were chuckling and taking pictures on their camera phones. Not exactly the image of professionalism'.

Women and Rave

Carrying on the discussion about gender and dance music, here's an extract from 'Women and the Early British Rave Scene' by Maria Pini, originally published in 'Back to Reality? Social Experience and Cultural Studies', edited by Angela McRobbie (Manchester University Press, 1997). Maria Pini based this work on interviews with women in the rave scene, and later expanded on the subject in her book Club Cultures and Female Subjectivity: from Home to House.

In general, I would argue that rave's appeal to women is tied with its opening up of new modes of 'looking', its set-up of particular interpersonal relations and its encouragement of new understandings of 'self'. Women within this context feel freed from traditional associa­tions of dancing with sexual invite, and in this sense rave seems to repre­sent an 'alternative' space… many of these women articulate their involvement within rave, and the pleasures it is seen to afford, in terms of an implicitly feminist dissatisfaction with traditional sexual relations and particular forms of masculinity. For instance, Jane speaks of other social-dance scenes as 'pick-up cities', and describes the kind of feelings she associates with these:

‘There was always a feeling that you could fail- if you didn't get picked-up, and also, if you didn't get picked-up by the right person - then what was the point? There was always the idea, when you got approached of 'oh God, are they going to demand something from me that I'm not going to give­ - meaning a snog, or a fuck, or a date, or a phone-number or whatever’.

The rave dance-floor, I would argue, is one of the few spaces which afford - and indeed, encourage - open displays of physical pleasure and affection. Explicit displays of 'ecstatic' happiness, and the relentless drive to achieve this, have never been so central to a youth culture's meaning. Arguably rave represents the emergence of a particular form of 'jouissance', one which is more centred on the achievement of phys­ical and mental transformation and one which is possibly best under­stood as a non-phallic form of pleasure. Many of the interviewees did speak of rave pleasures as being 'sexual', but many had difficulty in clearly 'languaging' what this 'sexual' was. I would suggest that this is because these pleasures do not dearly 'fit' standard, patriarchal defini­tions of sexuality, and eroticism. To illustrate this difficulty:

“I kind of see it as a place where I can feel sexually about other people, but it doesn't actually go anywhere ... It doesn't have to go anywhere 'cause that's it really: (Catherine)

“It's not sexual, but orgasmic .. I wouldn't say it was sexual. It's different from being sexual. It's orgasmic in the sense of being very intense and reaching a peak”. (Miriam)

“Well it's sexual kind of ... no, it's not sexual- it's different. (Helen)

“When I go raving ... it's very ... um ... well, one word that really comes to mind is auto-erotic ... because you're getting off on yourself. And you can dance quite sexily and you can enjoy it ... and you can get really into being a sexual being. It can be sexual, but it's a kind of self-contained sexual, so that auto-erotic spreads out- out of the erotic- and into a whole personality thing”. (Jane)

Also Jane points out that although she might normally feel 'guilt' around certain forms of self-pleasure (and here, she mentions masturbation), auto-eroticism within rave is normalised:

“But, somehow it's sanctioned more in a club - 'cause if you look round you think other people are doing it too so, it's OK. It's normalised because like, everyone is doing it and you can always see somebody out there with less clothes on than you and dancing way more sexy than you - and all you think is 'wow, they look like they're having a good time' - and it actually helps “.

Hence, what seems to emerge within rave is a space for new modes of femininity and physical pleasures. In terms of how this space fits within a wider life-context, many interviewees described the rave scene as pro­viding a space for the expression of 'other sides' of themselves. As Jane puts it;

“It's about letting go of being conformist, and being professional and proper and ... 'together'. It's 'other' to presenting that face of you. It's not necessarily the dark side of you - but it's the messy side of you ... It's about something you do which isn't about working. It's about the time you spend doing things which are about freedom”.

To close then, despite women's relative absence at the levels of rave pro­duction and organisation, at other levels rave can be seen as indicating an important shift in sexual relations, and indeed might suggest (with its emphasis on dance, physicality, affection and unity) a general 'femi­nisation' of 'youth'.

Clubbing in Manchester 1984

From i-D magazine, no.21. December 1984/January 1985, Manchester listings by Wiganovski:

Berlin, King Street: Ballroom Blitz every thursday, adm.75p for members. 15 years of glitter from Bolan to Bauhaus, all drinks 60p till 10.30. Friday House Of Noise, the ultimate dimension in terror! Subversive and underground classics from the last decade.

Cloud-Nine, 15 Cross St: Sats, Alternative party night, Alan Maskell & Dave Booth DJ. Wed &: Thurs bands and disco, only £1.

The Ritz, Whitworth St, round the corner from Oxford Rd station. Monday night.
Archway 66 Whitworth St West, Mon-Sat 10-3 (bar to 2am) Hi tech, macho men and trendies. Tues: men only, free membership with UB40.

Heroes. Ridgefield St, off John Dalton St. Wed-Sat 10-2, Sunday 9.30-2 (special sunday membership). Thursday (Powerhouse) mixed. Other nights mainly men and mainly High HRG.

Jilly’s Rock Club, 650 Oxford St Manchester. Fri &: Sat rock music 8-2. Alternative night every Thursday 60p admission, drinks 60p.

Hacienda, 11-13 Whitworth St West. Fridays when no gigs adm.50p before 11pm, most drinks 60p, special offers on cocktails. Tues: l hometown gig.

Band on the Wall, 25 Swan Street, live music 6 nights a week.

See also 1984 clubbing in London, Luton and Sheffield

Clubbing in Sheffield 1984

Article by Marion Moisey from i-D magazine, no.21. December 1984/January 1985.

'It seems that at some point or other everyone in Sheffield goes to The Leadmill - and for good reason. It's practically the only place that offers varied live entertainment. Open 9am-2am, Day and Night, every day a different treat. During the day are a whole array of workshops, going from music, video, drama, pottery, jewellery, graphic design, circus training (fire-eating to juggling) ..... most of these workshops are free, and if not they will cost you just the price of the materials you use. While having a drink or a meal at the cafe, take in the entertainment:

Friday & Sunday see jazz or blues, other days anything from lunchtime theatre to string trios or school brass bands. Things really hot up at night though: Monday is theatre night. Tues: "Name" bands. Wed: Jazz 8-11pm, then 60s disco. Thursday: The Famous Door Club, adm. 50p. Friday: La Videoteque club. Saturday: Live bands (preferably local) & club. Sunday: 'Punk' gigs. The Leadmill, 6/7 Leadmill Rd.

Other clubs to check out:

- SIN BIN at Turn Ups, Wed 10pm-2am, adm. £1. The sort of music you might hear is The Sweet, Mud, T-Rex etc.
- THE LIMIT, on West St. Best nights Monday (free before 10, £1 after that) and Friday (£1.50 before 11 , £2 after that)
- WIG WAM, Saturdays at Mona Lisa's, 9pm-2am, adm. 75p. Hot Funk!
- ROCKWELLS on West St has live bands on Mond & Wed, pub hours.
- GAY BOPS: Every Friday at Stars on Queens Rd; Once a month on Friday at the Top Rank.

JYM, D.J. at The Leadmill top 10:

Dr Beat, Miami Sound Machine
Get Up Offa That Thing, Tony Baxter
Walk Alone, Sisters Of Mercy
In The Mood, Glen Miller
Out Of The Flesh, Chakk
Sensoria, Cabaret Voftaire
Ignore The Machine, Alien Sex Fiend
We Are Family, Sister Sledge
I Like Plastic, Marsha Raven
Gutter Hearts, Marc Almond

PAUL, D.J. at The Limit top 10:

Out Of The Flesh, Chakk
Sensoria. Cabaret Voltaire
Attica, Spear of Destiny
Walk Away. Sisters Of Mercy
I'm So Beautiful. Divine
Heartbeat. Psychedelic Furs
Why, Bronski Beat
Slippery People. Talking Heads
Fever Cars, Hula
Bonnle & Clyde, Papa Levi

Photo caption: ' Wendy and Yasmin make clothes - Just for friends and things like that. They listen to Bauhaus, U2, Siouxsie and The Cramps, go to The Limit, and given a chance to make good in a second life, would give it all up to be ‘another punk’. They're showing off their self-made clothes, self-styled hair and shoes at Rebino'.

See also: Clubbing in London 1984 and Manchester 1984 and Luton 1984

Clubbing in London, 1984

The following club listings come from i-D magazine, no.21. December 1984/January 1985. I wasn't around then but even allowing for i-D's selectivity, there doesn't seem to have been a lot going on. This impression is confirmed by an item in the magazine by Nick Trulocke, i-D's club correspondent:

‘Saturday has always been the night for dressing up, getting down, and putting the Big F into Fun. So no surprise that the biggest small-talk subject around town is about Saturday night bops - or rather the lack of 'em. Confirmed liggers are making do with hard times and a host of unoriginal and uninteresting, not to mention, uncomfortable warehouse parties. The Meltdown. Club Somethin’ Else, Fallout Shelter, The Dirtbox (again) and Where’s Johnny? all cashing in on helpless liggers and messing up those pretty paisley threads. Needless to say – somethin’ better change!’

Monday

- Club Sex run by Vodka Posse. DJ Danny and John play music across the board. Admission £3.00 Burlington Arcade, 52 Piccadilly W1.
- The Snatch. Fun and Funk. Admission £2.50 at Legends, 29 Old Burlington St.

Tuesday

- Straight night at Heaven. Admission £.300. 10 pm – 3am. Under the Arches, Villiers St. WC2

Wednesday
- Kit Kat Club, run by Simon Hogart. Punk funk for £3.00 10 pm-3am. Fouberts, 18 Fouberlt Place W1
- Batcave, nocturnal entertainment, admission £3.00 9pm-3am at The Cellar (behind Heaven). - H.E.D.S, at Crazy Larry's, 533 Kings Road SW1. 9.30pm-2am, admission £3 or £2 before 11 pm.

Thursday

- Fresh on Thursday run by Neville and Spike, Funk and disco 9.30pm-3am. £2.50 al Legends 29 Old Burlington St.
- Asylum at Heaven. Admission £3, Hi-Energy and Disco.
- Pink Panther DJ Graham Vine plays Hi-Tac, from 12.00 – 5.30am admission £3. 57 Wardour St.

Friday

- Black Market at the Wag, admission £4. Electro, soul jazz and reggae. 10pm-3am. 35 Wardour St, W1
- Mud Club run by Phillip Salon. DJ Jay Strongman and Tasty Tim, 10pm-3am. Busby's, 157 Charing Cross Rd, WC2
- Life run by Steve Swindle. DJ John plays Hi-Funk. 10pm-3am, admission £3 at Fouberts, 18 Fouberts Place W1.

Saturday
- Do-Do's at Busby's, 157 Charing Cross Rd, London WC1. 10pm-4am, admission £4 or £3 before 11 pm.
- Culcross Hall, music across the board played by DJs Noel and Morris, 11 pm-4am, admission £2.50. On Battlebridge Rd, off Pancras Rd, Kings Cross.

Sunday

- The Boudoir at the Donmar Warehouse, Earlham St, London WC2, admission £2.50.

Meanwhile, here's a few Christmas Dos NOT TO BE MISSED in the capital: The Mud Club Christmas Ball at Heaven, Dec 24th, The Wag Club Christmas party, Dec 20th. Do-Dos’s Santa Claus Soul party at Busby's, Dec 11th. The Circus- Date'n' Venue to be announced and don't forget! The Wharehouse.

- Function at the Junction at the Wessex Suite Clapham Junction, Dec 14th, Christmas Party night, members £2.50, guests £3.00. An evening of 60s soul, a dab of R'n'B and the best footstompers.

- Calling all Bowie Fans - Starzone, official David Bowie fan club magazine, is throwing a pre-Christmas bash at the Wag on December 4th. Live music from Boysie surprize guests, adm. £5.

- i-D night no.1... location DoDo's at Busby's, Charing Cross Rd, Tuesday December 4th, time 11 pm - late, Adm. £3.

See also Clubbing in 1984 in Sheffield, Manchester and Luton.

Pop! What is it Good For?

Lots of programmes about English pop music since World War Two on BBC4 in the past couple of weeks, some of them featuring the usual lazy mix of received wisdom and the same old clips of footage you’ve seen a million times before. Paul Morley though can usually be relied on for some intelligent perspective and I enjoyed his Pop! What is Good For?

At one point Morley asked Robert Wyatt what a pop song is for, in the context of his memories of the first wave of pop in the 1950s and specifically Adam Faith’s What do you want? (1958). Wyatt’s answer, aside from some time and place-specific details, could surely still apply today: “it connects you with other people. You’ve got the scene here, you’ve got the cafe, the jukebox... you’ve got girls there with their pink lipstick on. And silence, except... awkward conversations. Then you put on the jukebox then suddenly the whole room, everybody knows it, everybody can tap their feet to it. It makes a big full warm living thing out of the room where it was cold separate isolated individuals before”.

Clubbing in Kings Cross - end of the line

The beginning of this month saw the final closure of three clubs in the old Goods Yard by Kings Cross station in north London - The Cross, Canvas (formerly Bagleys) and The Key. For the past 15 years this zone of old warehouses and railway arches was one of the key areas for London clubbing, attracting up to 4,500 people between them in any one night, but in an area being massively redeveloped it was never going to last.

My first visit was there in March 1995 for Glitterati at The Cross, a glammed-up house night with Danny Rampling DJing (flyer pictured). The Cross had a small terrace with palm trees and seats from fairground rides. On that night it did indeed feel very glamorous, no mean feat for a couple of railway arches, but I guess that was down to the crowd.

The glamour had worn off by the time I went back the following year for a Renaissance night, perhaps because Renaissance had built up such a hype about the incredibly luxury of their events. My diary of Saturday 20th January 1996 records "First the highlights. The bloke passing round a bottle of champagne on the dancefloor at 2 am... the (German?) women who said to me'Luuuuvvly shirrrt oooh from Hyper Hyper!.. The people from Dublin who took our picture''. On the negative, there was the door policy: "two blokes in front were turned away because one had steel toe caps; so did one of our party but the bouncers didn’t even look at this boots. Was it because he had pink trousers on... perhaps, though my pink hair wasn't a problem. In fact I was only asked one question - how many of you are there, and how many are girls?". The night was billed “The Italian Renaissance” on account of Italy’s Alex Neri being on the promised DJ line up along with Boy George and Ian Ossia. It was £15 in and the famous Renaissance decor consisted of "a couple of polystyrene cherubs, a tatty cross and some red material".

Bagley's was much more messy, definitely more like a rave than a club. My main memory of it is going there for me and my partner's joint stag-hen do in June 1997. The night was Freedom (which ran from 1996 to 2001), based on the premise of having different kinds of music playing rather than a single style. I wrote at the time 'Bagley’s is a huge place with at least four big rooms playing a range of music from garage to techno. Unfortunately this meant that at any one time about half the people there were wandering from place to place looking for something better (with little joy in my case). Although the place was busy, there wasn’t much of an atmosphere, and it all felt a bit grim. The venue itself felt like a squat party without the imagination. There were no hangings or interesting decor, just a few sad trees in one room. One of the few things in its favour was that there was plenty of fresh air, with access to an open air terrace outside. I’m sure on a starry summer night it would be great, but it was too wet to appreciate'. Not one of my best nights then, but I know other people had some great times there.

It is the nature of club spaces that they come and go, but there are broader questions about what happens in a city when the marginal, semi-derelict zones where nightlife flourishes are replaced by the bright shining surfaces of redevelopment. There are apparently plans for new clubs in the area, but another chapter in the history of dancing in London has definitely come to an end.

Do you have any good Kings Cross stories? Post in comments.

Happy New Year

Tonight is a big party night in many parts of the world, we wish everybody a safe and happy new year and hope that anybody going out tonight can avoid being ripped off by outrageous ticket prices or having their unofficial alternatives closed down. Here's some global party policing news from December.

England: Rave returns to Slough area (Slough and Windsor observer, 31.12.07)

‘Patrols have been stepped up around an industrial estate after an illegal rave saw 500 revellers take over an empty warehouse.Police have been forced to beef up their prescience on the Poyle Industrial Estate after they were unable to break up a massive event. The rave in an empty warehouse saw an estimated 500 party goers descend on David Road, Colnbrook on Saturday, December 8. Officers were called to the event but decided it was too established to break it up prefering to monitor the situation safely and help disperse it the following day.

Slough East Neighbourhood Inspector, Andy Boomer, said: “This is the first rave that we have had in a number of years. Officers who were called to the scene estimated that there were some 500 people at the event. On s occasion it was decided to monitor the event rather than break it up. Since the rave we have increased patrols in the area to prevent a reoccurrence.”

India: police plan to stop New Year's Eve parties

'The Mumbai police's cyber crime cell is monitoring the Internet for information on rave parties being planned... The Mumbai Police is hoping that in the city, the Internet will yield information on not just venues but also who's been invited and the source of drugs. Rave parties are normally organized in places like Madh Island, Aksa beach, both in Mumbai, Yeoor Hills in Thane, Lonavala, Sinhagad and Mulshi in Pune are also hotspots. The Pune Police busted a rave party in March this year where 289 youngsters were picked up from a rave party in Sinhagad. The Mumbai police itself had raided a rave party in September 2006 at a Borivali farmhouse and arrested 80 people including 13 drug suppliers and prosecuted them under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. Now they are hoping to take that a step forward by prosecuting even those who advertise and publicise such events. The Mumbai Crime Cell says that once a rave party invite is found on the Internet on a cellphone, they use IP address and SIM card details to trace the identity of the sender and members of his group. With this pre-emptive measure they hope to bust the party even before it begins' (NDTV, 26 December 2007)

'After hundreds of youngsters were caught with drugs in a rave party, early this year, Pune registered 40 more cases of drug seizure. This is, however, an indicator of how susceptible the student city has become to drug peddlers. Keeping the city away from such unwanted elements, during the biggest party time of the year is a challenge, which the Pune Police is getting ready for... Pune crime branch will coordinate with excise and customs department for information on drug smugglers. Security forces will pair with home guard force to beef up security. City borders, too, will be covered with 13 check posts. Every entry lane to Pune will bear heavy security on the New Year eve. The police here is making sure that no matter how heavy the traffic be, no vehicle will enter the city without a security check.

Event managers are also hit by the tough stance taken by the city police. Last year Pune had twelve major events on the New Year eve, this year only six have managed to pass the necessary license tests. A club owner and event manager says, "After the trans party that really shook the city, this New Year eve is not going to be that big a celebration that it normally is for a lot of event managers."(IBN Live, 30 December 2007)

Australia: police criticised after overdoses (News.com, December 12, 2007)

'A police raid on a dance party at a medieval tourist attraction near Ballarat in central Victoria caused the overdose of 14 young people, a drug users association has claimed. Fourteen people were treated at Ballarat Health Services Base Hospital for drug overdoses at the Ultraworld rave event at Kryal Castle on Saturday, with three of them spending time in intensive care.

The head of drug users organisation VIVAIDS, Damon Brogan, blamed police for the mass overdose, saying rave-goers swallowed their drug stashes rather than risk arrest as police with sniffer dogs entered the party.He told the Herald Sun the arrival of more than 70 police at the rave party was “over-zealous”.

Nigeria: police raid Kuti family 'Shrine' club (AFP, December 16, 2007)

Nigerian police late Saturday raided the New Shrine nightclub in Lagos founded by two of the children of the late Fela Kuti, Nigeria's most reknowned musician, the Kuti family and police said Sunday. "They stole money, they stole drinks and they broke instruments," Fela's daughter, the dancer Yeni Kuti told AFP.

"I can confirm that a raid took place," Lagos state police spokesman Frank Mba told AFP. "It started at 2300 (2200 GMT) and ended at around 0500 and 331 persons were arrested," he said. Mba said the club was suspected of being a "safe haven for criminals" who met there to plan their "nefarious activities." He said he had also received complaints from residents of the area about "Indian hemp (marijuana) and other kinds of illicit drugs" being consumed on the premises. Mba said all of those arrested but found to have no link to any criminal activity were being released.

Yeni said the police broke down half of the door to the room where her musician brother Femi Kuti keeps his saxophones. "When you see what they did there, it's terrible," she said. Femi said he and his sister had been cleared of any involvement in robberies but were still at the police station trying to secure the release of more of the club's patrons.

"People are telling us we should be careful -- that they just want to victimize us," Yeni said. The New Shrine is a vast hangar decorated with fairy lights and Fela Kuti memorabilia. Most of the regular Shrine patrons are boys and young men. The atmosphere is friendly and electric with Femi Kuti often playing non-stop for several hours, and the club is something of a Lagos institution. The smell of marijuana there is so strong that visitors joke about it not being necessary to smoke oneself as "just breathing in is enough to get high". But the club has no reputation for hard drugs.

Fela Kuti himself, an outspoken critic of the then government, had several run-ins with the security forces. In the worst of several raids on his home, in 1977 his mother was thrown out of a window and died the following year from the injuries she sustained. His son Femi is also extremely critical but tends to attack Nigeria's political class as a whole rather than individuals'.

Morris Dancers Against the Nazis

Bit of a kerfuffle amongst English folk dance enthusiasts about Observer columnist Jay Rayner's comment that "For some reason, whenever I see Morris dancers I assume a pogrom can't be far behind." Richard at Baggage Reclaim is amongst those rightly miffed by the suggestion that their dancing pleasure has fascist associations. Judging by Richard and others I have met, people in the Morris scene tend more to the left than to the stiff right arm tendency.

As shown by the row about Simone Clarke, 'the BNP Ballerina' at the English National Ballet, present day fascists are to be found in other forms of dancing - but nobody would say that whenever they see a tutu they assume a pogrom can't be far behind.

Incidentally, Surrealdocuments has a good quote from G.F. Foster querying the notion of pure folk culture existing in splendid isolation from other parts of the culture, stating the following in relation to folk dance: 'In the 17th and 18th centuries the Western European dance masters introduced folk dances to social dancing, adapting them to the needs of the courts. English country square dances played a role in the development of the French quadrille, which was then introduced back into London. These folk dances then became the forms around which composers, then and now, created important works. Folk dances, now become court dances, spread from Spain and France to Latin America, and the process began anew whereby little by little they became the property of the folk. The current American rage for square dancing also reflects this process: after a suitable time the folk entertainment of yesteryear becomes the pastime of the artistic avant-garde". The last point is surely relevant to morris dancing, many of whose practitioners are more likely to be slightly aging ex-punks and hippies than right wing rural traditionalists.

Burial vs. Bauhaus

Popped into People’s Republic of Disco in Brixton for a little while last night, couldn’t stay for the messy mash up that was just getting going when we had to leave but spent some time listening to the music leaping across genres with, for instance, Burial’s South London Boroughs being followed shortly afterwards by Surfin’ Bird and I was made for lovin' you baby by Kiss. Thing is that’s exactly how my brain works, which is how the following occurred to me...

Has anybody else noticed that the bassline on Burial’s glorious dubstep anthem Archangel sounds remarkably like that on Bauhaus’s 1979 proto-goth classic Bela Lugosi’s Dead? The similarity doesn’t stop with the bassline either, the Bauhaus track has a very dubby feel, lots of space and reverb.

Lets’s take this flight of fancy a step further. Was the real origin of dubstep not South London in the last few years, but Northampton (home of Bauhaus) in the late 1970s? And what of Burial’s famed anonymity – could this be a ruse to disguise the fact that he is none other than Bauhaus’s Pete Murphy or maybe Daniel Ash?

Anyway I have spliced together a couple of samples from Archangel/Bela Lugosi so you can decide for yourself:

Bauhaus and Burial: samples from Bela Lugosi/Archangel (MP3)

Another point, if Burial’s Untrue is to dubstep what Goldie’s Timeless was to drum’n’bass in 1995, the crossover album that gets reviewed in the broadsheets etc., isn’t it interesting that both feature a key track referencing celestial beings – Archangel in the first case, Angel in the latter? Is there something about this ethereal aesthetic that smooths the way for acceptance more readily than say urban Londonism? A question rather than a criticism, I love both these tracks. Mind you I also love Bela Lugosi's Dead.

Ten Years On: 1997, a year of dancing dangerously

This chronology of raves, clubs and policing was compiled from the dance music press at the time (Mixmag, Muzik, Eternity, DJ etc.). Much of it is the familiar story of cat and mouse chases between police and sound systems in East Anglia, Wales etc. - just as happened in 2007. But some things have changed - no more Reclaim the Streets parties in England, and more positively people being able to go out dancing in the north of Ireland without having to worry so much shootings and plastic bullets.

January 1997, Scotland: Fusion close down operations in Grampian after police threaten the licence of any venues allowing them to put on events

January 1997, London: Club UK in south London loses its licence. The club had appealed against the council withdrawing its licence, but this was upheld by a magistrates court.

February 1997, Holland: Police confiscate vans containing tripods, sound systems and banners to prevent a Reclaim the Streets party outside the Amsterdam motor show. After police baton charge the crowd, there is free food, music and dancing with a huge bonfire in a market square [Earth First Action Update, March 1997]

February 1997, USA: A nail bomb explodes at the Otherside Lounge, a lesbian club in Atlanta, Georgia, injuring five people. The attack is claimed by the far right Army of God saying it is aimed at “sodomites, their organisations and all who push their agenda”.

February 1997, London: Battersea police licencing section announce they are to oppose the renewal of the public entertainments licence for the club Adrenalin Village, up for renewal by Wandsworth Council.

February 1997, Leicester: Hardcore club Die Hard raided by 50 police - everyone searched.

February 1997, London The Cool Tan the building in Brixton, previously evicted, is resquatted for two parties and then evicted after a fortnight.

April 1997, London: A man dies from a heart attack and 8 people are arrested when riot police raid a squat party in Putney.

April 1997, Luton: The Exodus collective win the right to appeal against eviction from their site by the Department of Transport

April 1997, London: Linford Film Studios in Battersea, south London loses its licence

April 1997, N.Ireland: Robert Hamill a 25 year old Catholic father of two, is kicked to death by Loyalists while on his way home from a dance at St Patrick’s Hall in Portadown. The attack happens in full view of police who refuse pleas to intervene. In March 1999 his family’s solicitor, Rosemary Nelson, is killed by a car bomb. She has been preparing to bring private prosecutions against those involved and the Royal Ulster Constabulary

April 1997, London: 5000 party in Trafalgar Square at the end of march for social justice in support of Liverpool dockers, organised by Reclaim the Streets. Police seize sound system at the end and arrest four people in the van, charging them with conspiracy to murder for allegedly driving through police lines (charges later dropped). 1000 riot police clear people out of the square

May 1997, London: Southwark Council refuse licence to Urban Free Festival (formerly held in Fordham Park, New Cross), after earlier given permission for it to take place in Peckham in July
May 1997, Wales: Police use helicopters and road blocks to stop free party at a disused quarry in North Wales, seizing the T.W.A.T. sound system and dispersing a 4 mile convoy of party cars to the English border (despite this two parties go ahead later)

May 1997, Manchester: Police and bailiffs evict treetop and tunnel protesters, including the Zero Tolerance sound system tied into the trees, at the site of the proposed Manchester Airport Terminal 2

May 1997, Brighton: Police action prevents parties at three venues in Brighton, but one goes ahead on a travellers site at Braepool on the outskirts of town. A Noise Abatement notice is served, and the Council begins legal action to evict the site [Big Issue, 4.8.97]

May 1997, Hull: 300 party at Hull Reclaim the Streets, with sand pits and dancing for three hours (no arrests)

June 1997, Bristol: Police make 22 arrests at Bristol Reclaim the Streets and confiscate the Desert Storm sound system

July 1997, N.Ireland: Police open fire with plastic bullets on young people returning from a teenage disco on the Falls Road, Belfast. A 14-year-old boy is left in a coma.

July 1997, USA: The Stonewall Inn in New York is once again under threat, scrutinised by the city’s Social Club Task Force because of concerns about noise levels and ‘illegal dancing” [Pink Paper, 8/8/97]

August 1997, Wales: Two people on their way to set up an open air party in Deiniolen, North Wales are stopped and strip searched by police, who set up road blocks to prevent the party going ahead.

August 1997, London: Local councillor calls for the Dog Star pub/club in Brixton to be closed, claiming it is a magnet for drug dealers.

August 1997, Surrey: Hundreds of people turn up at a free party in old chalk pits in the Mole Valley in Surrey by the time police turned up the next morning to serve a notice under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act most people had gone home [Guilfin, September 1997]

August 1997, Portsmouth: Police with dogs and video surveillance teams ring a common in Portsmouth and search people trying to attend the Smokey Bears Picnic; council byelaws banning music on the common are enforced and 10 people are arrested [Guilfin, September 1997]

Summer 1997, Surrey: Police close down a free party in a forest near Guildford put on by Timber sound system.

September 1997, France: Police in Paris close down five mainly gay clubs supposedly because of ecstasy dealing (Le Queen, Le Cox, L’Enfer, Le Scorp and Les Follies Pigalle). 2000 people march in protest with one banner declaring “Paris, capitale de l’ennui” (Paris, capital of boredom).

October 1997, Russia: Moscow gay club Chance is raided by “a team of men wearing special troops uniform, black masks and carrying automatic guns”. The special police claim to be searching for drugs; dancers are beaten up and abused a 90 people are arrested [Pink Paper, 17.10.97]
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October 1997, Wales: 24 police raid a party in a private house in North Wales and impound the sound system. The Country Landowners Association have set up a Rave Watch scheme in the local area encouraging local farmers to tip off the police about possible parties

November 1997, Greece: police violently raid the ACID trance club in Thessaloniki.

November 1997, Norfolk: Police bust squat party at Thelveton Hall, an unoccupied country house in Norfolk, seizing the Brighton-based Innerfield Sound System and carry out intimate body searches. The house belongs to Sir Rupert Mann, but had been empty for seven years.

November 1997, Oxford: Police use a helicopter and horses in an effort to stop Oxford Reclaim the Streets party. Despite the seizure of the solar powered sound system, and the Rinky Dinky Sound System being escorted out of the city, 400 people party in the road [Peace News, December 1997]

December 1997, N.Ireland: Loyalist Volunteer Force open fire on a disco in Dungannon, County Tyrone, killing a doorman. Another man is killed in an attack on a bar in Belfast.

December 1997, Scotland: Street party halts traffic for 1.5 hours outside the Faslane nuclear submarine base . Several people injured by Ministry of Defence police.

December 1997, Wales: 22 arrests in police drug raid on Hippo Club, Cardiff.

December 1997, Israel: Trance outfit Juno Reactor are deported from the country, where they were due to be playing at a 5000 capacity rave, prompting the launch of a Freedom to Party organisation. “Indoor parties are usually legal, as opposed to outdoor parties which are usually not. But even so, many of the indoor parties are constantly being raided by the police” (Dream Creation July 1997)

December 1997, N.Ireland: Edmund Treanor killed and five injured in a Loyalist Volunteer Force attack on New Year celebrations at the Clifton Tavern, Belfast.

December 1997, Brighton: 27 people arrested as police try and close down New Year’s Eve squat party in Brighton; people throw bottles at police.

Electric Ballroom to be Demolished?

Camden Council in north London seem to have agreed last week to the demolition of The Electric Ballroom. I must admit I haven't been there since some acid jazz club in the 1990s, but it is a music venue with a long history. It apparently opened up as the Buffalo, an Irish dance hall in the 1930s, became The Carousel in the 1960s, and then The Electric Ballroom in 1978. Famous gigs there included 2 Tone nights in 1979 (with Madness, The Specials, Dexys Midnight Runners), followed by Joy Division, The Clash, Talking Heads, The Pogues, The Smiths in 1983, Public Enemy and loads of others. Clubwise, it hosted Jay Strongman's Warehouse funk sessions from 1983 then in the early 1990s the gothy Full Tilt and the housey Crush.

Its apparently impending demise follows the closure earlier this year of another famous London venue, the Hammersmith Palais.

Any good Electric Ballroom stories/memories?

Dancing Questionnaire 7: Jeff, California

Our latest questionnaire has been completed by Jeff, who works in the wine trade in California, something that sounds very enticing on a grey October morning in South London (although looking at the news about fires in California, they might be envious of a bit of rain).

Can you remember your first experience of dancing?

Don't remember this, exactly, but there's a picture of me dancing at a Grateful Dead show in 1973 or 1974, when I was 2 or 3. I do remember using a tennis racket as an air guitar and jumping off my toybox was I was 4 or 5. I think I had seen Elvis on television and was aping him, but now, for some reason, I always associate this memory with Ray Davies and Paul Weller.

What's the most interesting/significant thing that has happened to you while out dancing?

Finding the ability to be absolutely at peace with myself, and losing all sense of self-consciousness, in a large crowd while dancing energetically, bizarrely, etc. And making a coupe of great friends.

What's the best place you've ever danced in?

There's a bunch... but went to a rave in La Paz Bolivia in 2000 where the dj was playing really good hard acid in an old colonial building at 3500m elevation. Great evening.

You. Dancing. The best of times….

Josh Wink dropping "Fool's Gold" just as the sun was rising over the Nevada desert at a big rave there in the mid-90s. Dancing with my dad at Burning Man in '98, when we were both off our heads on an assortment of things. A girl turning to me in the middle of Richie Hawtin's set at Glastonbury '95, and, smiling, asking "What have we done to deserve this?! " Wink, again, just after "Don't Laugh" came out, playing at a tiny club in LA. Dancing to James during their 2000 tour at MEN Arena. Weatherall at Heaven.

You. Dancing. The worst of times…

Taking something really, really weird at Glastonbury, and losing it a bit while Eat Static looped "Let them eat static" at volume ten. Tried to recover by focusing on a really kind - and gentle-looking girl to pull myself out, and telling her that she'd really helped me out. She looked at me, laughed me off, and walked away. Bad trip. Having parties shut down by the police. Having big parties canceled- the usual stuff...

Can you give a quick tour of the different dancing scenes/times/places youve frequented?

My first party was a Doc Martin gig at a dis-used Vet's Hall in California in 1990. I became involved in the Southern California rave scene in the early-late 90s. Enjoyed several trips to check out the New York acid/hardcore scene during this time. Several trips to the UK for parties/dancing/records. Desert parties. Good raves in Peru and Bolivia...

When and where did you last dance?

Rather bizarrely, perhaps, to Morrissey, live, two weeks ago.

You're on your death bed. What piece of music would make your leap up for one final dance?

Very tough call. "Fool's Gold', probably... Or Vapourspace's "Gravitational Arch of 10".

All questionnaires welcome- just answer the same questions and send to transpontine@btinternet.com. Previous questionnaires here.

Blues Dance, West London, 1980s

'Blues dance is walking on the edge of Babylon and claiming cultural space. Black youth articulate their experiences and forge alternative aesthetics in opposition to dominant culture. On a winter's night when the moon is frozen and chill breeze take a walk, music drop from sound system like heavy lead. Dub voices chant all de while shaking the roof in full charge. The youth dance in combat formation, back to the wall and forward motion only. They've come from all over the Grove and beyond; for this is a vigil of testimony and incantation threaded through Reggae rhythms. The trumpets take a turn and they come with force. The sounds, dub wise, jus stretch big and broad…

Voices saturate the cramped basement and rise with the morning mist. The people here are below ground level and socially they occupy strategic locations for all of society is within scope. There are few real opportunities for the youth to fulfill their potential in Babylon so they walk the edge of downpression and focus their visions beyond the dreadlines of the night. Seeds of hope grow in their hearts and the Dee Jay chats with a fresh surge of melody…

The echo chamber hits the words unto the concrete walls and the bounced sound, a receding thud races across the area. Blues dance transcends mere cultural opposition. It is particularly significant for the ways in which Black Youth explore and create musical forms and textures using available technologies. Many sound systems own equipment they have partly constructed or adopted to suit their own needs. Speakers are built with appropriate wood to achieve desired sound densities. The sound chamber is made tight to maximise the sound output. A good speaker should be able to accommodate the bass line and drum calls and give them appropriate tone and resonance…

The microphone is the symbol of dialogue. The Dee Jay engages the past and present simultaneously, livening up the session with varying delivery styles and subjects. The Blues dance is a school of social and political education and everyone comes with something to give and take away. They come for a communal affirmation of their own personal experience and they celebrate with spirited choruses when the Dee Jay calls.

The history of the sound system in Britain has produced many styles and forms popularised by two generations of Dee Jays and sounds. They include Coxsone Outernational, Unity, Sir Lloyd, Turbo Supreme, People's War, Channel One High Power, King Tubby's HiFi, Saxon, Sister Culcha, Lorna Gee, Smiley Culture, Ranking Ann, Pato Banton, Mad Professor, Asher Senator, Sister Audrey, Macka B, Martin Glynn and Tippa Irie. The Dee Jay tradition echoes that of the Calypsonian and hip hop rapper. Historically they are all rooted in the role and function of the African griot as the eyes and ears of the community’.

From: Behind the Masquerade: The Story of Notting Hill Carnival – Kwesi Owusu and Jacob Ross (London: Arts Media Group, 1988)

All Night Rave, London 1966

We’ve previously noted how the word ‘rave’ was used in the late 40s and 50s for late night jazz parties in London and elsewhere. Moving into the 1960s, ‘rave’ continued to be used for parties on the emerging psychedelic scene

In October 1966 there was an ‘All-Night Rave’ at the Roundhouse in Camden (North London), a disused railway engine shed. The event was held to mark the launch of the underground newspaper International Times . On the bill were Pink Floyd and Soft Machine, both playing one of their first London gigs. In his ‘Watch Out Kids’ (1972), Mick Farren recalled the night:

‘It was a new kind of celebration. The Roundhouse, then, was a vast, filthy circular building. Loose bricks, lumps of masonry and old wooden cable drums littered the floor. Slide and movie projectors threw images on a screen of polythene sheeting that had been hung at the back of a rickety, makeshift stage. The only way into the building was up a single flight of shaky wooden stairs. At the top Miles and Hoppy passed our sugar cubes. According to legend one in twenty was dosed with acid. Mine wasn’t.

A Jamaican steel band played on the stage… Paul McCartney came by in an Arab suit. For the first time in my life I saw joints being passed around openly in a public place… A band called Soft Machine played from the floor as a weird biker rode round and round them… Across the room an Italian film crew filmed a couple of nubile starlets stomping in a mess of pink emulsion paint. As we lurched into shot we were told by the producer ‘Fuck off, you’re spoiling the spontaneity’. We stumbled off to watch a bunch of freaks dragging an old horse-drawn cart around the building’.