Content hosted for Greg Wilson's www.electrofunkroots.co.uk website.

Check out my label's music at: https://superweirdsubstance.bandcamp.com

www.electrofunkroots.co.uk

Best Collection

80 s

Mixes

new feb 2013

80's

Full set

80s Beats

(Club Remixes)Oldies 70s, 80s, 90s remix medley - Disco Dance Mega Mix(1)

The music from my teens. My tribute to Kool DJ Herc.

"He was a young Jamaican American and he just wanted to throw a party. His uncle had given him the best sound system in the neighborhood, yet he had no venue to play at and he was broke. What Kool Herc chose to do could have been done anywhere, but because it happened in New York, he forever changed the world.

Kool Herc brought the party to the people and set up his sound in the streets."

http://hackyourcity.com/2010/06/19/dj-kool-herc/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhisX4mVoDI&feature=player_embedded
 
TRACK LIST

Jazzy Jay - Cold Chillin in the Spot 1985
Just Ice - Cold Getting Dumb
u t f o- roxanne
t la rock - its yours
ll cool j - r ock da bells
z 3 mc's - triple threat
schoolly d - i don't like rock'n'roll
The B Boys - Cuttin Herbie
wiz kid - play that beat
man parrish - hip hop bebop
whodini - magic's wand
tyrone bronson - the smurf
newcleus - push the button
cybotron - clear
Riuichi Sakamoto - riot in lagos 1980
hashim - al naafiysh
project future - ray-gun-omics  1983
warp 9 - light years away
jonzun crew - pac jam
g force - feel the force
jonzun crew - space is the place
extra t's - e.t. boogie
newcleus - jam on it
pumpkin - king of the beat 1983
davy dmx - one for the treble 1984
afrika bambaataa & the jazzy 5 - jazzy sensation 1981
run dmc - sucker mc 1984
keith le blanc & malcom x - no sellout 1984
slick rick & doug e fresh - la di da di 1985
rammelzee vs k-rob - beat bop 1983
mantronics - get stupid fresh 1985
mc shan - marly marl sctatch 1985 
the escapades of futura 2000 - futura 2000 1982
Grand Wizard Theodore & Kevie Kev Rockwell - Military Cut-Scratch Mix
Wildstyle - Rap/Basketball Battle



Bboy 80's Hip Hop with A Guy Called Gerald

This Sunday (New Years Day 2011) the Living To Music selection is the self-titled debut album by The Stone Roses. This reminded me of the one and only time I’ve played the LP’s opening track, ‘I Wanna Be Adored’ in a club. I wrote:

“In Dec 07 I was the final DJ, bar the residents, to play at Manchester’s now fabled Electric Chair – one of the city’s most important club nights in recent memory. I wanted to finish off with a track that truly summoned up the spirit of Manchester, and settled on ‘I Wanna Be Adored’ – an ethereal anthem from an era that placed the city at the forefront of popular culture. Whilst ‘Fools Gold’ is obviously the Roses track most geared to the dancefloor (and the one I'd later feature in my Essential Mix), ‘I Wanna Be Adored’ evoked the unity evident in that E’d up epoch, subsequently echoing through to the Electric Chair and still dearly cherished by those who experienced it first hand, whilst becoming a source of continued fascination for those who didn’t.”

Full blog post here: http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2011/12/living-to-music-the-stone-roses-the-stone-roses/ 

I talk about the Electric Chair, and its legacy, in greater detail in the blog post ‘Manchester Vibes In The Area’: http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2011/10/manchester-vibes-in-the-area/ 

The aforementioned Electric Chair event, the ‘Last Supper’ as they called it, featured a whole host of previous guests, all playing for half an hour each. As I mentioned, I was the final guest to appear and, given the significance of the occasion, I wanted my selections to be symbolic of the city’s club heritage, linking back to the underground days of the early 80’s, when I was at Legend (and, just prior to my retirement as a DJ, The Haçienda). The 5 tracks I decided on consisted of a trio of classic home-grown tunes from the height of the Madchester era, along with a couple more tracks, one from New York and one from Italy, which had originally been associated with Legend, but would later gain a secondary association as massive oldies played at The Haçienda later in the decade.

Having had to rush across town from a previously arranged booking (as fate would have it, a Haçienda revival night at Sankey’s Soap), in time to make my 4.30am slot, it wasn’t possible for me to set up all my equipment at the Chair, so this was one of the rare occasions when I’ve played from CD. Aware of this ahead of the gig, and knowing that the time frame only enabled me to play a handful of tracks, in preparation I did some editing and overdubbing on the tunes I’d selected, the first of which, 808 State’s ‘Pacific State’, would prove to be particularly inspirational for me a little over 12 months later, as this was where I first used the Jesse Jackson ‘Wattstax’ invocation, which would play such a pivotal role in my Essential Mix , where it features in both the opening track, DFP’s edit of ‘Down To Love Town’ and the concluding one, which is, of course, my ‘Electric Chair Edit’ of ‘Pacific State’.

I uploaded it earlier this year, so you can get the full lowdown / download here
http://soundcloud.com/gregwilson/808-state-pacific-state-greg 
Here’s the link to the Essential Mix:
http://soundcloud.com/gregwilson/essential-mix-greg-wilson-mix-for-bbc-radio-1 

The ‘Last Supper’ selection continues with Hashim’s ‘Al-Naafiysh (The Soul)’, now an acknowledged Electro classic, but originally a tune that had first blown-up big time on my Wednesday nights at Legend, when I started playing it as an import on a brand new NYC label, Cutting Records, which, as the decade unfolded would bridge Electro and House, not least with the cult anthem, ‘Let’s Get Brutal’ / ‘This Brutal House’ by Nitro Deluxe, a clear hybrid of these styles.  I’d later include ‘Al-Naafiysh’ as one of 12 era defining choices on ‘Classic Electro Mastercuts’, which I compiled in 1994:
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/misc/classic_electro.html 

Hearing ‘Al-Naafiysh’ played at The Haçienda’ at the height of the Rave period always brought a smile to my face, as I was the first DJ to play it there, back in 1983 when the clubs regular indie / student type customers, who were pretty hostile to the ‘dance shit’ I was known for, and which was packing the floor at Legend and Wigan Pier, where I worked with a predominantly black audience. The Haçienda was slow off the mark, but when it finally got there a few years down the line, it really got there with a vengeance, so to see this track ecstatically embraced as a classic 5/6 years on was, for me, a respectful nod back to what had gone before. Only problem being that the Acid House / Rave explosion was generally being reported as something new, with way too many writers totally unaware that what was happening at The Haçienda linked directly back to the Electro era, and before. The influence of the underground black scene was, as a consequence, pretty much whitewashed out of the story, whilst the romance of the Ibiza myth was increasingly cited as the inspiration behind what was happening in the rainy city, and neighbouring House music hotbeds, like Sheffield, Nottingham, Birmingham and Leeds, previously Jazz-Funk / Electro-Funk strongholds.

The third track here is a perfect illustration of this. Klein & MBO’s ‘Dirty Talk’ would appear as the opening track on the 1997 compilation ‘Viva Haçienda – 15 Years Of The Haçienda’. Described as a ‘certified Haçienda classic’, the sleevenotes would state “released pre-house, this Italian electro-disco curio only really made sense after the Chicago invasion”. This obviously wound me up something rotten, for, in reality, whilst it might have become a Haçienda classic a few years down the line, it had originally been one the biggest tunes of ‘82 bar none at Legend, featuring in my ‘Best Of ‘82’ mix on Piccadilly Radio. Rather than not really making sense pre-House, this was a track that made perfect sense to the black crowd long before Chicago began to make its impact in the mid-80’s. The reason it took off at The Haçienda in the first place was due to its popularity on the black scene in Manchester.

When The Haçienda ‘s original resident, Hewan Clarke, played it there one night, New Order, who co-owned the club, asked him if they could borrow it as a reference for a track that they were working on in the studio at the time, which turned out to be one of the defining releases of the 80’s – ‘Blue Monday’.

I’ll always be grateful to Harry Taylor at Spin Inn for putting me on to ‘Dirty Talk’ – I wrote about it in my 12x12 Wax Poetics selection: http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/lists/12x12.html 

The version I include here is the one I used to play at Legend and Wigan Pier, the instrumental ‘USA Connection’. The following summer Flexx Records in Belgium approached me to put together an official edit of the track, which they’d licensed. This was issued on 12” in Sept ’08, and this would subsequently appear as one of the selections on my ‘Credit To The Edit Vol 2’ compilation in 2009.

The penultimate inclusion is the Paul Oakenfold mix of ‘WFL’ by the Happy Mondays (in the Essential Mix I went for the Vince Clarke version). Again, from my Wax Poetics 12x12 piece, here’s what I wrote about it:

“Following the introduction of the drug ecstasy to the city (the legend has it that Mondays dancer, Bez, was the catalyst), an ever increasing number of white kids turned on to the dance grooves previously associated with the black scene. The underground was about to go mainstream, and Manchester (or ‘Madchester’ as it would be temporarily re-named) was right at the cusp of things.

The Happy Mondays had anticipated this with the release of their 1988 single “Wrote For Luck”, an addictive downtempo groover and the key track in their memorable live sets of the period, which echoed back to the Punk-Funk ethos of an earlier time. They chose my old club, Legend, to record the video, which had a theme of a children’s party, with a multi-racial audience, which seemed to sum up the cultural melting pot that had been stirring in the city for a number of years.

“WFL” was “Wrote For Luck” remixed…and how! Not one, but two brilliant remixes back to back courtesy of Vince Clarke (then Erasure, formerly Depeche Mode and Yazoo) and Paul Oakenfold (assisted by Terry Farley) working alongside programmer / engineer Steve Osborne. The Oakenfold / Osbourne combination would go on to produce the bands most commercially successful releases.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw the video to “WFL” (which used the Vince Clarke mix). Once again it was shot in Legend, but this time the children had been replaced by a club full of what were now termed ‘ravers’. A brilliant visual representation of those early ‘E’ days, perfectly capturing the time and the vibe, this video obviously made a deep impression on me. Seeing the same dancefloor that had been packed with black kids on my nights earlier in the decade, now full of white kids, was hugely symbolic of the way youth culture in this country was changing.”
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/lists/12x12.html

Then, finally, it’s ‘I Wanna Be Adored’, which, on the night, very much had the desired effect, generating a tingling of emotion throughout the audience, especially, as I mentioned, the old school contingent who, hands aloft on the dancefloor, felt the intensity of those first time around feelings come flooding back for a few precious minutes. 

Highlighting the lineage between past and present, my hope was that this short mix would provide was a fitting personal homage to not only the Electric Chair, but to The Haçienda before it, and Legend before that.

Greg Wilson – December 2011


ELECTRIC CHAIR LAST SUPPER 29.12.07 (greg wilson live selection)

To tie-in with the re-launch of my Electrofunkroots resource I'm going to be uploading some audio content that was either recorded in the early 80's, or looks back on the era.

I hope you check out the To tie-in with the re-launch of my Electrofunkroots resource I'm going to be uploading some audio content that was either recorded in the early 80's, or looks back on the era.

I hope you check out the redesigned revitalized website, we've added loads of new stuff, and will continue to do so on a regular basis - your feedback would be very much appreciated: 
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk website, we've added loads of new stuff, and will continue to do so on a regular basis - your feedback would be very much appreciated: 
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/mixes/the_best_of_82.html 

There's also a blog post, which gives you the full lowdown - Redesigned Revitalized: 
http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2012/01/redesigned-revitalized/ 

Greg Wilson - January 2012

THE BEST OF 82: THE YEAR'S BIGGEST UNDERGROUND CLUB TUNES
In May 1982 I began putting together regular mixes for Mike Shaft’s Piccadilly Radio Soul Show, ‘T.C.O.B’ (Taking Care Of Business). The original mixes were as live, but as the year went on I began to utilise edits to a greater extent, using the station’s editing booths to try out some basic ideas. By the end of the year I’d bought my own equipment, so I could make the mixes from home, including two Technics SL1200 turntables and a Revox B77 reel-to-reel. Apart from allowing me to master the mixes and, of course, experiment further with editing, the simple dub effects on the mix were done via the Revox (which, as I’ve previously said elsewhere, was the best piece of equipment I ever bought).

Listening back to ‘The Best Of 82’, the first end of year mix broadcast by the station, I can’t help but cringe at the naivety of it, not to mention the general sloppiness! However, when this went out over the airwaves in December 1982 it would become part of local radio folklore. At the time you’d have thought I’d created a masterpiece judging from all the acclaim it received! It probably took me about 2-3 hours to put together, which, at that point, would have been the longest amount of time I’d ever spent on a mix, and it included 52 different tracks, some of which were just brief snippets. 

All of the tracks, as the title suggests, were major floorfillers at my venues during 1982. Apart from Wigan Pier and Legend in Manchester, which hosted the North’s top black music nights of the period, I also had two other successful weekly sessions during the second half of ’82 – Thursday nights at The Stars Bar in Huddersfield and Fridays at The Exit in Manchester. Apart from this I made guest appearances at the top All-Dayer events in the North and Midlands.

Copied from the original ¼” master, ‘The Best Of ‘82’ was one of the few mixes I managed to salvage from Piccadilly. However, due to damage at the end of the tape I had to fade-out before the final track, which was the US mix of 'Ease Your Mind' by Touchdown.

Also see The Best Of 83: http://soundcloud.com/gregwilson/the-best-of-83-by-greg-wilson

Check out my label's music at: https://superweirdsubstance.bandcamp.com

THE BEST OF 82 (by greg wilson for piccadilly radio manchester 1982)

To tie-in with the re-launch of my Electrofunkroots resource I'm going to be uploading some audio content that was either recorded in the early 80's, or looks back on the era.

I hope you check out the To tie-in with the re-launch of my Electrofunkroots resource I'm going to be uploading some audio content that was either recorded in the early 80's, or looks back on the era.

I hope you check out the redesigned revitalized website, we've added loads of new stuff, and will continue to do so on a regular basis - your feedback would be very much appreciated: 
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/mixes/the_best_of_83.html 

There's also a blog post, which gives you the full lowdown - Redesigned Revitalized: 
http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2012/01/redesigned-revitalized/

Greg Wilson - January 2012

THE BEST OF 83: THE YEAR'S BIGGEST UNDERGROUND CLUB TUNES
Although it may sound pretty rough around the edges by today’s standards, Greg Wilson’s “Best of 83” mix was viewed as groundbreaking back in the day (as was the previous year’s “Best of 82”), and revered as inspirational by a new generation of DJs who’d take up where he left off. These end of year mixes would become something of a tradition on Piccadilly Radio (later Key 103), which broadcast throughout the North-West of England, with the series continuing on into the next decade. Courtesy of Chad Jackson (84/85) and Stu Allan (86-92), including DJKA’s mix in '87.

The mixes focused on the biggest tracks played on the black music scene during the previous year, “Best of 83” cramming in as many floorfillers as possible (even if it only be a brief snippet) from the main clubs of the time, Wigan Pier and Legend in Manchester.

Also see The Best Of 82: http://soundcloud.com/gregwilson/the-best-of-82-by-greg-wilson

Check out my label's music at: https://superweirdsubstance.bandcamp.com

THE BEST OF 83 (by greg wilson for piccadilly radio manchester 1983)

NO SELL OUT - ELECTRO RETROSPECTIVE
LEGEND / WIGAN PIER MAY 1982 – DEC 1983
MIXED BY GREG WILSON FOR A GUY CALLED GERALD - SAMURAI FM 2005

This is the most involved mix I’ve ever put together, even more so than my Essential Mix in 2009, for which ‘No Sell Out’ very much provided the prototype. I intended it as a definitive document to the period May 82 – Dec 83, when Legend and Wigan Pier were at their most influential, the new Electro-Funk sound turning the black scene on its head as the old gradually gave way to the new.

As I wrote at the time:
“The tracks on this mix represent this now distant time of both musical and cultural change. I’ve selected the records that were regarded as controversial at the time within black music circles, the ones that the traditionalists were up in arms about. I’d originally chosen 50 of the biggest tracks played at Legend and the Pier, but this was upped to 60, all of which needed to be edited down to an average of a minute and a half in length, which was no small task in itself! Realising that there were still other tracks I wanted to include, I decided to keep it to the main 60, but drop in snippets of additional records from the period, not only Electro, but also other big floorfillers from my nights. I never played purely Electro, but mixed it in alongside Soul, Funk and Disco (or as people refer to it nowadays, Boogie), and this is reflected by the numerous ‘references’ sprinkled throughout the mix.

It’s good to be able to place some of these tracks back into their original context. Tracks like ‘The Message’, ‘Rockit’ and ‘Buffalo Gals’ would become big hits in the UK, but they were completely unknown when first played at Legend and the Pier. A perfect example would be ‘White Lines’, which was an underground favourite for many months before the penny finally dropped with the mainstream audience and they came to appreciate it as the wonderful record it is, resulting in a chart stay of over a year! Nowadays, ‘White Lines’ can be played pretty much anywhere to a great response. It’s a sure-fire floorfiller, regarded as a dance standard, but it wasn’t always that way - without the initial specialist support it could quite easily have ended up as just a minor hit.

The title of the mix, ‘No Sell Out’, comes from the opening track. It seemed an appropriate name, given the fact these records were very much regarded by the purists as the selling out of black music, rather than its salvation (something which pretty much everyone can now, with hindsight, clearly see). Listening back to these tracks you can trace the evolution of Hip Hop, Techno and House. This was the point in time when black music fully embraced the available technology and took dance to new dimensions. Hearing these records for the very first time, we knew that the future was upon us and that dance music had entered a whole new phase of its development.”

The ‘No Sell Out – Electro Retrospective’ page at Electrofunkroots gives the full lowdown and complete tracklisting. It includes an introduction by Gerald Simpson (aka A Guy Called Gerald), for whose Samurai FM podcast this mix was originally put together.

http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/mixes/no_sell_out.html 

Greg Wilson – February 2012

Check out my label's music at: https://superweirdsubstance.bandcamp.com

NO SELL OUT ELECTRO RETROSPECTIVE (by greg wilson for a guy called gerald - samurai fm 2005)

Sasha - Global Underground 013 - Ibiza -CD 1

Taken from blog post:
http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2012/05/it-was-back-in-82/

IT WAS BACK IN ’82:
One of the defining moments of my DJ career took place exactly 30 years ago, on Monday May 10th 1982, when my first radio mix was broadcast on Mike Shaft’s show, ‘T.C.O.B’ (Taking Care Of Business), on Manchester’s hugely influential Piccadilly Radio, which played a major part in bringing black / dance music to wider attention during the 70’s and ‘80’s - from Soul, Funk and Disco, through Jazz-Funk and Electro, and on into Hip Hop, House and Techno. I go into its rich legacy in greater depth here:
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/articles/dont_touch_that_dial.html   

The mix had been recorded a few days earlier, as live, one afternoon at Legend in Manchester (the club closed at the time). Mike Shaft had brought along a Revox B77 reel-to-reel to record onto, the machine being the portable unit of choice throughout the radio industry in this country back then. This was the first time the Revox, which has since played a constant role in my work, entered my life. At the time I had no means to record at home, but by the end of the year, following the runaway success of the mixes, which would subsequently become a regular feature on Piccadilly, I’d purchase a couple of Technics SL1200’s and a Matamp Super Nova mixer (this was at a time when, with the exception of London DJ, Froggy, who used them for his Roadshow, no UK DJ’s had such equipment at home). To top things off I bought my first B77, so I could put together my mixes at home, which would serve to lead me ever-deeper into my obsession with editing. So glory be to Mike Shaft and to Piccadilly Radio for facilitating this life-defining arc of continued discovery.

The reel of ¼ tape onto which that first mix was recorded onto was, as with most of my radio mixes (the final one, ‘The Best Of ‘83’, being aired in December 1983), lost – probably copied over at some point or other, having been stored at the station. I managed to salvage a few of these mastertapes, most importantly ‘The Best Of ’82, but the original mix wasn’t amongst these, and I only had it on an extremely lo-fi cassette recorded from the radio at the time.

As the author / DJ Dave Haslam once said, the mixes “were probably some of the most taped programmes in Manchester radio history”. These tapes would also spread further afield than the Greater Manchester region that Piccadilly broadcasted to, with copies, and copies of copies, finding their way into cassette players and ghetto blasters in all corners of the country, often without people having a clue about their source – this was the ‘mixtape’ in its earliest form from a British perspective. One such recipient of my mixes was Stafford based Pezz, then a 14 year old lad discovering his musical influences, and later of the fabled Nottingham-based soundsystem and DJ collective, DiY, who were amongst the pioneers of the UK free party scene, having formed in 1989.

I’d meet Pezz at the Liverpool offices of 3Beat, the record shop / label he worked for – this was in 2002, 20 years on from when my radio mixes first aired. My DJ comeback was still in the future, and I was very much an obscure name from the past at best, most people of Pezz’s age brought up on a later generation of DJ’s. So his excitement at meeting me was unexpected – he was talking about this tape from back in my Piccadilly days that had made a big impact on him and his friends at the time, as they set off on their own personal dance music odysseys, and asked me if I could identify a couple of the tracks featured (these id’s having eluded them for 2 decades). It turned out that one of his big mates back then was Dean Meredith, later of Bizarre Inc, who enjoyed chart success in the early 90’s, and more recently  Chicken Lips (whose ‘He Not In’ I edited on my first ‘Credit To The Edit’ compilation in 2005), and that this tape had been a major influence on the sound of his latter project, which, along with Bizarre Inc, was produced in collaboration with partner Andy Meecham.

Pezz takes up the story in the sleevenotes of a limited run CD (300 copies only) from 2007, to mark the 25th anniversary, which he called ‘It Was Back In ‘82’:

“As soon as I’d met Greg, an excited call was made to Dean. ‘…. Hey kid, guess what! I just met Greg Wilson – No way – I need you to send me a copy of the tape up as soon as possible….’ Then came the months of waiting more phone call’s hassling to get a copy before eventually with the bribe of digitally remastering it onto CD it finally arrived!

In the meantime I’d had many conversations with Greg and e-mail’s were exchanged, one of which contained a list of essential Electro-Funk releases. This list was full of records I, and anyone I showed it to, had never heard of, apart from some obvious classic’s such as the Peech Boy’s ‘Don’t Make Me Wait’, and Afrika Bambaataa’s ‘Planet Rock’. When I finally sent him a copy of the tape I’d got from Dean he identified mysterious artists and titles like The Gunchback Boogie Band’s ‘Funn’ and Jimmy Spicer’s ‘The Bubble Bunch’. I began hunting down these tracks on the internet, the first to arrive was Larry Graham’s ‘Sooner Or Later’, and the excitement of finally getting my hands on these tunes was unreal, mindblowing! I hadn’t had such a buzz from buying records in years. A goal was then set to collect every track on the tape. Gradually over the coming weeks all but a handful were found. In the meantime, Greg found the old tracklistings for his first ever mixes for Mike Shaft, which just happened to be the two mixes contained on the legendary tape. I was then able to find all but two tracks, or rather two small drum sections he used in the first of the mixes. Not even Greg can recall where these came from!

Before long it seemed obvious that listening to this 20-year-old tape was not enough. After collecting these, and a host of other early 80’s Electro-Funk releases, I decided that the only thing left to do was to re-create the mixes myself! Rather than just re-do them as Greg did back in ‘82 on the decks at Legends. I decided to use the computer to ensure the tightest of mixes and present them in today’s highly polished manner (I also lifted and cleaned the missing drum parts direct from the tape). The whole concept of taking someone else’s work and re-creating it is quite strange, and actually completing it and then re-presenting it to Greg felt even more bizarre. Thankfully he was really into what I’d done, especially as the original ¼” masters have been lost and, like myself, the only copy of these mixes that Greg had was recorded onto cassette from the radio.”

Pezz’s full sleevenotes can be read at:
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/it-was-back-in-82/

So, to mark its 30th anniversary, this reconstructed version of my first ever radio mix, which was painstakingly pieced together by Pezz, has now been uploaded onto my SoundCloud.

The mix would be the first of its type on British radio, and following the fantastic response to mix 1, Mike Shaft decided to make it a regular feature, with new mixes every 3-4 weeks. It would have an instant impact in the clubs, with Legend’s attendance, which was already on the up, going through the roof in a matter of weeks. It was a momentous month, which also saw the release of the seminal Electro track, ‘Planet Rock’ (see: www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/articles/when_the_planet_rocked.html) and the opening of a new Manchester club, which I’d DJ at later down the line, called The Haçienda.

My career was about to go into overdrive, and ‘The Greg Wilson Mix’, as Mike, in his distinctive mid-Atlantic drawl, would introduce it, was a major part of this process.

Greg Wilson May 2012

IT WAS BACK IN '82 (by greg wilson for piccadilly radio manchester 1982 reconstructed by pezz 2004)

One of the world’s most celebrated clubs, The Haçienda, opened 30 years ago today, on Friday May 21st 1982. I’ll be heading over to Manchester tonight for the anniversary celebrations, joining other DJ’s from the club’s history to play a few tunes at a ticket only event (proceeds to charity) in the car park where the club once stood.

To mark the occasion I’ll put some related stuff up on the blog later today, under the heading ‘The Haçienda – 30 Years On’:
http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2012/05/the-hacienda-30-years-on/

I also thought it would provide the perfect opportunity to upload my ‘Walking On Confusion’ mash-up here, which combines 2 Arthur Baker productions from New Order and Rockers Revenge – it’s origin was outlined by Peter Hook in his 2009 book ‘The Haçienda – How Not To Run A Club’, where the New Order bassist recalled the time I asked him if I could remix ‘Blue Monday’ back in 1983, when I was the club’s Friday night resident DJ. 

He wrote; “I remember him coming up to me, asking if he could remix ‘Blue Monday’. I told him to fuck off, thinking it was the most disgusting thing anyone had ever suggested – why should we let someone tamper with our work? How times change. Nowadays the remixes are often better than the originals. I don’t remember much of Greg beyond that episode, although I know he mixed ‘Walking On Sunshine’ by Rockers Revenge into New Order’s ‘Confusion’, which was ingenious. The first mash-up.”

A more comprehensive piece about ‘Walking On Confusion’ (via Nuphonic / Turk Records in 2005), called ‘Confused Beats For Electro Freaks’, can be read here:
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/confused-beats-for-electro-freaks/ 

Greg Wilson 21.05.12

Check out my label's music at: https://superweirdsubstance.bandcamp.com

New Order & Rockers Revenge 'Walking On Confusion' (greg wilson mash-up)

i made this mix about 8 years ago for fun. gave it away to friends of mine kinda for a joke.. hahaa, it ended up being a lot of peoples favorite mix for a while.. download it and CCCCccrank it up baby!!!!

KLEVER - FLASHBACK 80'S MIX (2004)

Edition #9 of Early 80’s Floorfillers takes a look back to September 82. 
You can see the Top 10, complete with label or record sleeve scans and individual track credits, here: 
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/greg-wilsons-top-10-floorfillers-sept-82/ 

Greg Wilson – September 2012

GREG WILSON’S EARLY 80’S FLOORFILLERS: 
A fascinating insight on how the fading Jazz-Funk scene gave way to the emerging Electro-Funk movement in the early 80’s, ‘Greg Wilson’s Early 80’s Floorfillers’, marks the 30th anniversary of when these tracks first appeared. Compiled from his record lists of the time, and unfolding month by month, Greg Wilson counts down the Top 10 Floorfillers played at his venues during the key years of ’82 and ’83. Featured, most notably, on his Tuesday sessions at Wigan Pier and Wednesday gatherings at Legend in Manchester, the most cutting-edge weekly black music nights of the era, these were the clubs most associated with the evolving Electro-Funk sound.

The majority of music played on the black scene in the UK was initially only available on import, mainly out of New York during this period, with the club nights described as ‘upfront’, meaning that the DJ’s were way ahead of the curve – what they played now, others played later, or not at all. Without these DJ’s, many now classic dance tracks would never have become UK hits (many without enjoying similar crossover success in the US) – the reason they were released here in the first place was because these specialist DJ’s were breaking them via the underground.

Things would change in a big way during those 2 years; we were entering the hybrid age for dance music, and the oncoming House and Techno and Hip Hop directions would all owe a huge debt to this era of dance alchemy and groove experimentation.

This podcast is also available on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad via the Radio ditto app, which is downloadable for free from iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/app/id464200632?mt=8

Check out my label's music at: https://superweirdsubstance.bandcamp.com

GREG WILSON'S EARLY 80's FLOORFILLERS - SEPTEMBER 1982

Edition #10 of Early 80’s Floorfillers takes a look back to October 82. 
You can see the Top 10, complete with label or record sleeve scans and individual track credits, here: 
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/greg-wilsons-top-10-floorfillers-oct-82/

There’s also a blog piece to accompany this edition:
http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2012/10/the-edm-from-way-back-when/

Greg Wilson – October 2012

GREG WILSON’S EARLY 80’S FLOORFILLERS: 
A fascinating insight on how the fading Jazz-Funk scene gave way to the emerging Electro-Funk movement in the early 80’s, ‘Greg Wilson’s Early 80’s Floorfillers’, marks the 30th anniversary of when these tracks first appeared. Compiled from his record lists of the time, and unfolding month by month, Greg Wilson counts down the Top 10 Floorfillers played at his venues during the key years of ’82 and ’83. Featured, most notably, on his Tuesday sessions at Wigan Pier and Wednesday gatherings at Legend in Manchester, the most cutting-edge weekly black music nights of the era, these were the clubs most associated with the evolving Electro-Funk sound.

The majority of music played on the black scene in the UK was initially only available on import, mainly out of New York during this period, with the club nights described as ‘upfront’, meaning that the DJ’s were way ahead of the curve – what they played now, others played later, or not at all. Without these DJ’s, many now classic dance tracks would never have become UK hits (many without enjoying similar crossover success in the US) – the reason they were released here in the first place was because these specialist DJ’s were breaking them via the underground.

Things would change in a big way during those 2 years; we were entering the hybrid age for dance music, and the oncoming House and Techno and Hip Hop directions would all owe a huge debt to this era of dance alchemy and groove experimentation.

This podcast is also available on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad via the Radio ditto app, which is downloadable for free from iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/app/id464200632?mt=8

Check out my label's music at: https://superweirdsubstance.bandcamp.com

GREG WILSON'S EARLY 80'S FLOORFILLERS - OCTOBER 1982

To tie-in with my 200th blog post, this was the last mix I ever tape edited, putting it together on my original Revox B77 reel-to-reel, which I’d bought 14 years earlier, back in 1982. See the post with accompanying images at the blog:
http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2012/11/the-monastic-mix/ 

THE MONASTIC MIX:
‘The Monastic Mix’ was very much a labour of love, gradually assembled in stages, as I bounced between reel-to-reel and DAT in order to add further textures. I did it in collaboration with a young DJ from Liverpool, Matt Shannon, who was into the Trip Hop / D’n’B vibes of the time, which I really liked myself, but didn’t have any of the records (I was, as you might say, on the bones of my arse brassic back then, so I wasn’t in the position to be buying anything other than the bare essentials). We fused Matt’s tunes with mainly older stuff from my own collection for the mix, which appeared on one side of a free cassette that was given away to everyone who attended the launch of 'The Monastery', an experimental monthly club night on Merseyside (plus a couple of Wednesday specials at London's 'Mars Bar' in conjunction with Microdot, the design company ran by Brian Cannon). We made things particularly difficult for ourselves, holding the night on a Sunday, and choosing an off the beaten track venue, Stairways, a Birkenhead Rock club, to which we bussed people through the Mersey Tunnel from Liverpool, as well as attracting others from The Wirral. However, despite all the drawbacks, we somehow managed to keep things afloat for the best part of a year, enjoying some great memories and much musical mayhem along the way.

‘The Monastery’ brought together a collective of DJ’s and musicians who were largely disillusioned with the local dance scene - Derek Kaye, Bernie Connor, DJ Trix, Phil Jones, Desa, Girls On Top, Phil Melia, Kerry Harrison, Ciaron Bell, Matt and myself all played our parts, doing it for the love rather than money, with Martin O’Shea (who, as it would work out, went on to manage the successful girl group, Atomic Kitten) promoting the nights. The basic premise was that we didn't go down the four-on-the-floor path, as this was being played pretty much everywhere else at the time, concentrating instead on groove-based music from the 60's to the 90's.  

Featuring Soul, Funk, Electro-Funk, Hip Hop, Indie-Dance, Trip Hop, Drum & Bass and more, ‘The Monastic Mix’ became cult listening for many of the people who got hold of the cassette, although I’m sure that others found it a bit too eclectic for the time and never gave it a second hearing. I’ve been told that it’s quite a demanding mix to listen to, dark in places and somewhat ‘druggy’ (‘one for the heads’ being a comment made about it back then). 

It’s close to my heart because it reflects my state of mind at the time it was made, which was pretty turbulent. Since my production work had ground to a halt a few years earlier, I was very much in no man’s land, completely detached from the music scene and with no means of expressing myself. I was still totally illiterate as far as computers were concerned and I remember feeling old and out of touch. There were moments when I wanted nothing more to do with the music industry, being punch drunk from the knocks I’d taken during recent years, but, having never had a ‘proper job’ in my life, I was pretty much in a catch 22 situation. I had no money and no prospects, life was passing me by and I was more or less washed out creatively. Suffice to say it was a very bleak period for me.

It was during this time that my friends, seeing how much I was struggling, were urging me to get back into deejaying, telling me that I could make good money by trading on my reputation of old. However, there was a big catch, which was that I’d have to decide what area of dance music to specialise in, which was an alien concept for me, having made my name playing the best of a whole range of styles, rather than just one narrow area. Thankfully (and I can only say this with hindsight) I resisted the temptation to take this option, which would have amounted to selling my DJ soul for a quick cash-in.

The idea behind The Monastery was planted in my mind by my friend, Kermit, who, following on from the Rap Assassins, had hooked-up with former Happy Mondays mainman Shaun Ryder to form the band Black Grape.  Just before they were about to do the final mixes on their debut album, ‘It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah’ (which would subsequently top the British charts), Kermit came to see me in Liverpool with a cassette of all their tracks. I was blown away with what they’d come up with, but it also served to highlight my own shortfallings. I commented that he’d done so much while I’d been wasting away at home doing nothing, but he told me that the time I was spending, in relative seclusion, with my music, books and videos, would prove to be time well spent. He likened my existence to being in a monastery – a comment that very much resonated within me and somehow gave me renewed hope for the future.

The following year, when the idea of a putting together a club night was put to me, I suggested it should be called The Monastery, with the music policy and presentation completely unlike anything else that was happening, combining DJ’s with live musicians. When it came to putting the mix together, I wanted to reference as many of my musical influences as I could, even if it only be a tiny snippet. I managed to cram a lot of them in and I can guarantee that, even after numerous plays, you’ll still recognise new elements hidden away in there. There’s a lot of stuff going on in the detail and, listening back to it later down the line, I became aware of a definite autobiographical slant that didn’t seem so obvious then, reflecting the struggle and soul searching that summed up my life at the point it was made. A mix will, obviously, always have something of yourself within it, but this is undoubtedly more personally revealing than anything else I’ve done – there’s some kind of twisted narrative in there, and I can hear me talking to myself via some of the samples I chose (for example, when you hear the words ‘does anyone remember who I am?’, I really meant it, trapped in obscurity as I was). Even the discordant parts, the bits that jar with me now, show me exactly where my head was at.

It was an important personal step for me, and I thank Matt Shannon for what he brought to the table – I didn’t have all the ingredients myself, and he was also pretty handy on the decks, so Matt was, of course, key to this. He no doubt reads it in a different way to me, but I know it has its own special symbolism for him, especially given he never followed the DJ route, and instead carved out a rewarding career working in the computer, rather than in club realm. 

‘The Monastic Mix’ very much informed what I did later, especially the Teenage DJ project, which built on that autobiographical slant I’d stumbled across. It’s echoes can also be heard via my use of samples in a live context - people who know my mixes from more recent times will, no doubt, recognise many of the samples I’ve subsequently used, which are spun from the same tape, but in a different context – from another time and place.

I think it’s a mix that’s most conducive to a chilled-out environment (and state of mind). I might have given the impression that it’s pretty heavy-going, but you’ll find lots of familiar stuff throughout (it makes for a great game of spot the sample) and I’m sure it’ll raise a smile, and perhaps even the spirit, here and there. 

Greg Wilson - November 2012

THE MONASTIC MIX (by greg wilson and matt shannon for the monastery 1996)

Edition #11 of Early 80’s Floorfillers takes a look back to November  82. 
You can see the Top 10, complete with label or record sleeve scans and individual track credits, here: 
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/greg-wilsons-top-10-floorfillers-Nov-82/ 

Greg Wilson – November 2012

GREG WILSON’S EARLY 80’S FLOORFILLERS: 
A fascinating insight on how the fading Jazz-Funk scene gave way to the emerging Electro-Funk movement in the early 80’s, ‘Greg Wilson’s Early 80’s Floorfillers’, marks the 30th anniversary of when these tracks first appeared. Compiled from his record lists of the time, and unfolding month by month, Greg Wilson counts down the Top 10 Floorfillers played at his venues during the key years of ’82 and ’83. Featured, most notably, on his Tuesday sessions at Wigan Pier and Wednesday gatherings at Legend in Manchester, the most cutting-edge weekly black music nights of the era, these were the clubs most associated with the evolving Electro-Funk sound.

The majority of music played on the black scene in the UK was initially only available on import, mainly out of New York during this period, with the club nights described as ‘upfront’, meaning that the DJ’s were way ahead of the curve – what they played now, others played later, or not at all. Without these DJ’s, many now classic dance tracks would never have become UK hits (many without enjoying similar crossover success in the US) – the reason they were released here in the first place was because these specialist DJ’s were breaking them via the underground.

Things would change in a big way during those 2 years; we were entering the hybrid age for dance music, and the oncoming House and Techno and Hip Hop directions would all owe a huge debt to this era of dance alchemy and groove experimentation.

This podcast is also available on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad via the Radio ditto app, which is downloadable for free from iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/app/id464200632?mt=8 

Check out my label's music at: https://superweirdsubstance.bandcamp.com

GREG WILSON'S EARLY 80'S FLOORFILLERS - NOVEMBER 1982

Edition #12 of Early 80’s Floorfillers takes a look back to December 82. 
You can see the Top 10, complete with label or record sleeve scans and individual track credits, here: 
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/greg-wilsons-top-10-floorfillers-dec-82-2 

Greg Wilson – December 2012

GREG WILSON’S EARLY 80’S FLOORFILLERS: 
A fascinating insight on how the fading Jazz-Funk scene gave way to the emerging Electro-Funk movement in the early 80’s, ‘Greg Wilson’s Early 80’s Floorfillers’, marks the 30th anniversary of when these tracks first appeared. Compiled from his record lists of the time, and unfolding month by month, Greg Wilson counts down the Top 10 Floorfillers played at his venues during the key years of ’82 and ’83. Featured, most notably, on his Tuesday sessions at Wigan Pier and Wednesday gatherings at Legend in Manchester, the most cutting-edge weekly black music nights of the era, these were the clubs most associated with the evolving Electro-Funk sound.

The majority of music played on the black scene in the UK was initially only available on import, mainly out of New York during this period, with the club nights described as ‘upfront’, meaning that the DJ’s were way ahead of the curve – what they played now, others played later, or not at all. Without these DJ’s, many now classic dance tracks would never have become UK hits (many without enjoying similar crossover success in the US) – the reason they were released here in the first place was because these specialist DJ’s were breaking them via the underground.

Things would change in a big way during those 2 years; we were entering the hybrid age for dance music, and the oncoming House and Techno and Hip Hop directions would all owe a huge debt to this era of dance alchemy and groove experimentation.

This podcast is also available on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad via the Radio ditto app, which is downloadable for free from iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/app/id464200632?mt=8

Check out my label's music at: https://superweirdsubstance.bandcamp.com

GREG WILSON'S EARLY 80's  FLOORFILLERS - DECEMBER 1982

I recently found a whole bunch of mixes I did between 1992 and 1997 and have started the long process of ripping the cassettes to mp3.&#13;
As I work through them in no particular order I’ll put them up for download.&#13;
Remember the sound quality isn’t great as they were all recorded on belt drive decks through a mixer with no EQ and committed to cassette on a shabby home stereo…But what the hell, it’s that authentic 90s sound through and through.&#13;
&#13;
You can get more 'From the Vaults' mixes at www.blumarten.com/mixes&#13;
&#13;
<b>Tracklist:</b>&#13;
DJ Hype &amp; Ganja Max - Rinse Out (ft. MC Fats &amp; Daddy Earl) [Ganja]&#13;
Ed Rush &amp; Nico - Guncheck [No U-Turn]&#13;
DJ Phantasy - 44 Mag [Easy]&#13;
?? - ??&#13;
?? - ??&#13;
IQ Collective - Rebound (Stretch &amp; Teebone Remix) [Trouble On Vinyl]&#13;
Sound Of The Future - Lighter [Formation]&#13;
Rude &amp; Deadly - Give Me A Dub [No Smoking]&#13;
Aquarius &amp; Tayla - Bringing Me Down [Good Looking]&#13;
T.Power - ??&#13;
Tonic - The Mack [Dee Jay]&#13;
Essence of Aura - So This Is Love [Moving Shadow]&#13;
?? - ??&#13;
DJ Zinc - Super Sharp Shooter (Remix) [Ganja]&#13;
?? - ??&#13;
DJ Ileagle - Testify [Dee Jay]&#13;
MA2 - Hearing is Believing [Formation]&#13;
?? - ??&#13;
Shabba Ranks - Shine Eye Gal (Shy FX Easy Does It Remix) [Epic]&#13;
The Outlaw - O.G. Call [Intalex]&#13;
PFM - Wash Over Me [Good Looking]&#13;
Fusion - Feelings [Kemet]&#13;
MA2 - Hearing is Believing (Remix) [Formation]

More Blu Mar Ten Mixes

Blu Mar Ten - From the Vaults Vol 11 - Jungle Mix - 1995

BPM EVENT:
Rebel Rave with Masters at Work, Damian Lazarus, Danny Tenaglia, Subb-An, Infinity Ink, Fur Coat, Francesca Lombardo

Saturday, January 12, 2013 : 10:00 pm - 6:00 am

Blue Venado 
Carretera Puerto Juarez Km. 278, Ejido Norte Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

BUY TICKETS: http://bit.ly/REBELRAVE_BPM
MORE INFO: http://www.thebpmfestival.com

Masters At Work Exclusive Mix for Rebel Rave

Beginning in the Summer of 2012 with his Low End Theory guest spots, DJ Shadow's "All Basses Covered" set has morphed and evolved to incorporate as many different contemporary genres of urban and electronic music as possible. From hardcore rap to footwork and juke and beyond, Shadow has combed the web to curate seamless and dexterous blends of the most progressive sounds bubbling up from the underground.  'Too hard?' 'Too future?' Or just too raw? As always, DJ Shadow has provoked crucial flashpoints of discussion about the discipline of DJ'ing that have defined our turbulent times.  -DJShadow.com Team

More

All Basses Covered (The Infamous South Beach Set, December 2012)

More fun for the dancefloor. 

Out now on wax, late jan digitally.

Jus' a teaser for now.. x

Tigerskin - Windfall (Preview)

"Fort What It's Worth (DC's Finest Remix)"
Fort Knox Five vs. Buffalo Springfield




For What It's Worth (DC's Finest Remix)

Edition #14 of Early 80’s Floorfillers takes a look back to February 83. 
You can see the Top 10, complete with label or record sleeve scans and individual track credits, here: 
http://www.electrofunkroots.co.uk/greg-wilsons-top-10-floorfillers-feb-83/

Greg Wilson – February 2013

GREG WILSON’S EARLY 80’S FLOORFILLERS: 
A fascinating insight on how the fading Jazz-Funk scene gave way to the emerging Electro-Funk movement in the early 80’s, ‘Greg Wilson’s Early 80’s Floorfillers’, marks the 30th anniversary of when these tracks first appeared. Compiled from his record lists of the time, and unfolding month by month, Greg Wilson counts down the Top 10 Floorfillers played at his venues during the key years of ’82 and ’83. Featured, most notably, on his Tuesday sessions at Wigan Pier and Wednesday gatherings at Legend in Manchester, the most cutting-edge weekly black music nights of the era, these were the clubs most associated with the evolving Electro-Funk sound.

The majority of music played on the black scene in the UK was initially only available on import, mainly out of New York during this period, with the club nights described as ‘upfront’, meaning that the DJ’s were way ahead of the curve – what they played now, others played later, or not at all. Without these DJ’s, many now classic dance tracks would never have become UK hits (many without enjoying similar crossover success in the US) – the reason they were released here in the first place was because these specialist DJ’s were breaking them via the underground.

Things would change in a big way during those 2 years; we were entering the hybrid age for dance music, and the oncoming House and Techno and Hip Hop directions would all owe a huge debt to this era of dance alchemy and groove experimentation.

This podcast is also available on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad via the Radio ditto app, which is downloadable for free from iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/app/id464200632?mt=8

Check out my label's music at: https://superweirdsubstance.bandcamp.com

GREG WILSON'S EARLY 80's FLOORFILLERS - FEBRUARY 1983

Read the insider's guide to Homework and find my brand-new TEACHERS video mix this way: https://djmag.com/longreads/daft-punk-s-homework-25-teachers-and-students

Daft Punk 'Teachers' influences Mix Vol II  (1977-1997)

Some real 80's classics with a 2013 twist to close. If you like this, let me know - I may do more in the future...

Tracklist:

Evelyn 'Champagne' King – Love Come Down (RCA) (1982)
Junior – Mama Used To Say (Mercury) (1981)
Gwen McCrae – All This Love That I'm Giving (Flame) (1988)
Sharon Redd – Never Give You Up (Prelude) (1982)
Jay W.McGee –  When We Party) (Uptown Downtown) (Ensign) (1982)
Herley Johnson Jr – Do It (Quality/RFC) (1982)
Teena Marie – Behind The Groove (Motown) (1980)
Skyy – Call Me (Salsoul) (1981)
Rene & Angela – I'll Be Good (Club) (1985)
Cameo – Single Life (Club) (1985)
Colonel Abrams – Trapped (MCA) (1985)
Patrice Rushen – Forget Me Nots (Elektra) (1982)
D-Train – You're The One For Me (Prelude) (1981)
Aretha Franklin – Jump To It (Arista) (1982)
Cherrelle with Alexander O'Neal – Saturday Love (Tabu) (1985)
Cheryl Lynn – Encore (Columbia) (1983)
Duke Dumont ft AME – Need You 100% (Skreamix) (Ministry of Sound) (2013)

MistaJam's 80's Disco & Boogie Mix Volume 1

Fresh from the Terrace Turntables, here's the set from the first of our 2013 We Love Sundays at Space. A blend of '12&'13 house to get the season started. (warning - contains new GA exclusive) The vibe and dancefloor were killer. Bring on the summer. Next session 30/6. Love A&T

Website: http://groovearmada.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Groovearmada
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GrooveArmada

Decks & Fx @ We Love... Space, Ibiza (June 16th 2013)

Bookings: matt@thepool-london.com 
Promos: promo@gregwilson.co.uk 
DJ Dates: https://blog.gregwilson.co.uk/upcoming-dj-dates/
Greg began DJing in 1975 and is regarded as one of the most important figures on the UK dance scene. He enjoyed hugely popular residencies in the early eighties at Wigan Pier and Manchester’s majorly influential Legend, having originally started out in his hometown, New Brighton. A pioneer of mixing in the UK, he became the first ‘dance music’ specialist hired for a regular weekly session at Manchester’s now legendary Haçienda club in 1983. Greg was instrumental in breaking the new electronic, post-disco records coming out of New York, a sound he has dubbed ‘Electro-Funk’.

In 2003 he set up electrofunkroots, a website documenting this crucial era in the evolution of dance culture. After a two decade hiatus from the booth, he returned to DJing and soon welcomed bookings throughout Europe and, subsequently, worldwide.

Greg was the first DJ to mix live on British TV, putting together the first UK radio mixes of their type for Piccadilly 261 in Manchester and showing a certain Norman Cook (later Fatboy Slim) how to scratch.

Nominated by DJ Magazine for outstanding contribution, and also named amongst their top twenty remixers of all-time, Greg’s remix credits include Grace Jones, The XX, Groove Armada, Bryan Ferry, Confidence Man, Gilberto Gil and Simian Mobile Disco, whilst he’s edited tracks by A Guy Called Gerald, Talking Heads, O.M.D., Electronic, Imagination and Missy Elliot.

In January 2009 Greg’s reputation was further enhanced when his Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1 received almost universal acclaim and was selected as one of 10 classics that spanned the show’s near 17 year history.

Greg’s Blog, ‘Being A DJ’, was launched in June 2010 for observations on various aspects of club culture now an online touchstone for an ever-increasing amount of dance enthusiasts and aficionados.

In August 2010 he co-curated areas at the inaugural Vintage Festival at Goodwood, which was named ‘Best New Festival’ at the UK Festival Awards.

He has produced a series of documentary podcasts, Time Capsule, Random Influences and Early 80’s Floorfillers, as well as the long-running blog series, Living To Music.

Greg has given talks on music and DJ culture at a number events at venues The Tate Gallery in Liverpool and London's Southbank and Institute Of Contemporary Arts, whilst in 2013 he was invited onto a panel alongside legendary figures Nile Rodgers and Giorgio Moroder @ ADE in Amsterdam. 

In 2014 he unveiled the multi-media label Super Weird Substance, focusing on recording and live events. In 2015, the label released 8 vinyl singles, brought together in the 2 CD comp, 'Greg Wilson Presents Super Weird Substance'. September 2015 saw a memorable Festival No.6 Happening in Portmeirion and Greg rounded off the year with the Liverpool-based celebration of the 40th anniversary of his first club date in 1975 as well as being presented with DJ Magazine's Industry Icon award.

Greg launched his Credit To The Edit club collective at 2016's Festival No.6 and since then has taken it to Liverpool, Berlin, Brixton, Bethnal Green and finally back to Portmeirion for Festival No.6 2017.

2017 saw his label host the epic 14 Hour Super Weird Happening at Liverpool's Florrie, following a mixtape collaboration with Alan Moore, who also appeared at the Happening, whilst it also saw the digital release of The Super Weird Society's 'Gone With The Vibe', released the following year on the first Substance Select 12" vinyl alongside 'The Ghosts Of Watling Street', 'The Best Is Yet To Come' and 'Summer Came My Way'. 2018 also saw the release of Vol.3 in Greg's long-running Credit To The Edit compilation series.

After a handful of further releases, the label was put into hibernation with the onset of covid. Diversifying, ‘Greg Wilson’s Discotheque Archives’ was issued during 2020 lockdown as a limited run paperback, with more books, both Wilson’s own projects and by other authors, now planned.