Record Mirror Disco Charts
Record Mirror Disco Charts is hosted by Mike Atkinson alongside Greg Wilson and a special guest. Each episode focuses on a randomly selected Record Mirror Disco Top 20 from a week between 1975 and 1989. The charts were compiled from dancefloor reaction reports sent in by DJs across the UK. The hosts also discuss how Record Mirror's James Hamilton reviewed the tracks at the time, drawing on his published disco and dance pages. Every episode comes with its own playlist so listeners can hear the songs continuously.
Episodes
Early Chicago House Classics, with Marshall Jefferson
For this special episode, Chicago house pioneer Marshall Jefferson joins co-hosts Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson, as we take a look through a list of eighteen early Chicago house classics: compiled and supplied to James Hamilton by Jesse Saunders and Vince Lawrence, and published in Record Mirror in October 1986."You may be amazed", James said at the time, as these tunes - played by Frank
16th December 1989, with Terry Farley
For the final Club Chart of 1989, we are joined by Terry Farley: DJ, remixer and producer, whose career was in the ascendant just as James Hamilton was on the verge of ceding full control at Record Mirror. Hip house was waning, Italian house was the new big thing, piano riffs were everywhere, and while some acid house pioneers were slowing their BPMs right down, others were emerging from the wareh
23rd November 1985, with Luke Una
By late 1985, Luke Una had started to immerse himself in dance music and club culture – initially in his native Sheffield, just ahead of a move to Manchester – and so many of the tunes in this chart served to lay the foundations for his pioneering and influential DJ career. At the end of a year largely dominated by glossy, polished, but still fairly orthodox soul/funk productions (some of which ap
11th February 1984, with Kerri Chandler
As the son of a New Jersey DJ, Kerri Chandler started mixing records in public in his early teens, and so many of the tunes in this chart – published when he was 14 years old – are part of the soundtrack of his formative years. Then again, as we discover, there was often a disparity between the UK and the USA in terms of which tunes became successful: a high-charting track on the Record Mirror cha
9th May 1987, with Mark Moore
A year before his first single "Theme From S-Express" topped the UK charts, Mark Moore was DJ-ing at Philip Sallon's Mud Club, and at Pyramid (formerly Asylum), Heaven's midweek alternative gay night. He joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson to take a look at a Record Mirror Disco Top 20 from May 1987: a time where London was still "rap city", while the rest of the country was becoming a "house nati
18th March 1989, with Simon Dunmore
Before co-founding Defected Records in 1999 and Glitterbox in 2014, Simon Dunmore was working behind the counter at Rayners Lane’s Record & Disco Centre in 1989, where James Hamilton was one of his regular weekly customers. In this Club Chart Top 20 from March 1989, you'll hear about some of the tunes that opened Simon's ears to soulful garage house, which was in the ascendancy in the aftermat
8th January 1983, with Colin Curtis
Colin Curtis joins Greg WIlson and Mike Atkinson for a countdown of the first Disco Top 20 of 1983: a time when electro-funk was in the ascendant, and even long-established soul/funk acts were incorporating electronic elements. Scratching was this month's new thing; jazz-funk was on the wane, club hits weren't always guaranteed pop crossover hits, a superstar's follow-up was briefly struggling, an
4th October 1986, with Graeme Park
Graeme Park joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a look at the dance music of October 1986: a time when Graeme was the resident weekend DJ at The Garage in Nottingham, blending Chicago house with hip hop, soul/funk and Washington DC go go. Listed in James Hamilton's columns as the first British DJ to routinely feature house music in his sets, Graeme provides us with expert guidance through this
10th September 1988, with Lisa Loud
Having spent all of summer 1987 in Ibiza, dancing to Alfredo at Amnesia and experiencing an epiphany, Lisa Loud returned to London with a new-found determination to break into the music industry. By the time of this chart, she was DJ-ing at major venues and working in promotions for Virgin Records, where she was responsible for breaking acts such as Neneh Cherry, Massive Attack, Soul II Soul, and
26th May 1979, with Bill Brewster
Bill Brewster – DJ, writer, music consultant and dance music historian – joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a look at the Record Mirror Disco Chart of 26th May 1979.To accompany this episode, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.Further listening: * Other tracks mentioned in this episode (Spotify)* James Hamilton at Gullivers, 18 Augus
12th April 1980, with John Morales
John Morales - remixer, producer, DJ, and best known in the 1980s for his M&M mixes with the late Sergio Munzibai - joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a look at the Record Mirror Disco Chart of 12th April 1980.To accompany this episode, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.Further listening: other tracks mentioned in
17th July 1976, with Peter Hook
Peter Hook (Joy Division, New Order, The Light) joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a countdown of a Record Mirror Disco Top 20 from the fabled long hot summer of 1976. As the country sweltered, Peter was finding his true path, having witnessed the Sex Pistols at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall a month earlier. Meanwhile, this chart mixes pop and rock crossover hits with disco classics, fu
8th May 1982, with Arthur Baker
For our second visit to 1982, Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson are joined by Arthur Baker: producer, remixer, songwriter, DJ, and one of the prime architects of electro-funk (Planet Rock, Walking On Sunshine, Play At Your Own Risk, Confusion, IOU etc). In this Top 20 countdown, we can see these electronic elements starting to emerge, with some well-established funk acts already embracing the changes.
25th April 1981 Futurist/Electro-Disco, with DJ Paulette
DJ Paulette joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a detailed look at the last of James Hamilton's short-lived Futurist/Electro-Disco charts, from April 1981. Not only an award-winning DJ, but also a writer and broadcaster, Paulette's earliest clubbing roots lie within the Futurist/New Romantic scene, in which she was an active and enthusiastic participant. This gives her a unique personal insig
2nd September 1978, with Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson to take a look at a Disco Chart from September 1978: a time when, in the wake of Saturday Night Fever's enormous success, certain UK DJs were starting to plot a different way forwards, with jazz-funk in particular emerging as a significant new force. As we discover, many of these US tunes, although huge on British dancefloors, did not enjoy the same
28th June 1975, with Alexis Petridis
To mark the 50th anniversary of James Hamilton's first Disco Page in Record Mirror, Alexis Petridis (head rock & pop critic for The Guardian) joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a countdown of the first ever Disco Chart that James compiled, based on DJ returns from around the UK.To accompany this episode, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter
25th July 1981, with Leee John
Leee John joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a Disco Chart Top 20 countdown from July 1981. Already a committed clubber and an active member of the Britfunk community, Leee had just started to find success with his band Imagination, who had been signed to Morgan Khan’s R&B label, and so he has vivid memories of this particular period: a transitional time, when the disco era had ended, the
8th December 1979, with Morgan Khan
Morgan Khan joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a countdown of the biggest dance tracks of December 1979. As the disco backlash was taking hold in the USA, British dancefloors were experiencing a shift in styles, as dance music started to prepare itself tor the 1980s. Already a key figure in the UK music industry, well ahead of his success with the Street Sounds compilations that cemented his
24th September 1977, with Jeff Young
Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson are joined by Jeff Young: "funk mafia" DJ, presenter of BBC Radio One's first ever specialist dance music show, remixer, studio owner and music industry professional.To accompany this episode, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.Further listening: other tracks mentioned in this episode.Further reading: James H
20th September 1980, with Dave Lee
Dave Lee joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson, for a look at the biggest UK dance tunes of September 1980.To accompany this episode, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.Further listening: other tracks mentioned in this episode.Further reading: James Hamilton's Disco Pages 1975-1982.Mike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is
28th August 1982, with Norman Cook
Norman Cook joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson, as we take a detailed look at what was happening on UK dancefloors in August 1982: a time of significant change, as the dominant post-disco sounds (retrospectively known as "boogie") were starting to make way for groundbreaking - and divisive - electronic innovations. With underground import tracks rubbing shoulders with crossover pop hits, this par
