Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey (Deep Cuts)
£23.80£28.50 (-16%)
‘Literally changed the course of my life’ James Murphy
‘The chapter on Larry Levan alone transformed me into wanting to be your favorite DJ’ Questlove
‘The original and still the best’ Gilles Peterson
‘We can’t tell the story of dance music without speaking the names of Sharon White and Judy Weinstein, so I welcome this vital update’ The Blessed Madonna
When someone says, ‘You have to know your history…’ this is it. This classic book is the whole unruly story of dance music in one volume. It recreates the dancefloors that made history, conjuring their atmosphere with loving detail and bringing you the voices of the DJs and clubbers at their heart – from grime, garage, house, hip hop and disco, to techno, soul, reggae, rock’n’roll, and EDM. Whether musical outlaw, obsessive crate-digger or overpaid superstar, the DJ has been at the spinning centre of nightlife for a century, making parties wilder, pushing clubbers harder, and driving music into completely new shapes and styles. In 1999 this was the first book to do justice to the DJ’s rollercoaster ride. Twenty years later, it’s fully refreshed, carefully updated and filled with even more stories, including two brand new chapters. This edition comes with a new foreword by James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem).
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Additional information
| Publisher | White Rabbit, 1st edition (7 July 2022) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Hardcover | 848 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1474625592 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1474625593 |
| Dimensions | 15.6 x 5.8 x 23.6 cm |
by J Milbank
Informative!. I though I knew it all, but this proved I didn’t, well written, all it needed would be QR codes in it so you could scan and listen to the records that they talked about, as most tunes that were mentioned in the book, I hunted down on youtube and had a good listen as well as a good read! Well worth reading if you are into Music in any of its Genre’s!
by P Monk
One of the best books I have ever read
by C. M. Perkins
I started clubbing and DJing in 1986 and had a whole new world open up to me with the arrival of acid house soon after. Nicky Holloway, Danny Rampling, Johnny Walker, etc provided the soundtrack to my clubbing baptism. This book documents how that scene was almost an end point in the evolution of the DJ. Everything we know the DJ for now has sprung from very humble beginnings, which this book has researched painstakingly thoroughly (trainspotters will love it – especially the club charts for all the great places, in the UK and US).
For example, you will not believe who the world’s first club DJ was!! Read this book to discover one of the club scene’s best kept secrets….
This is a fascinating book, full of amazing stories, interviews and snippets of history so colourfully described you almost feel like you’re there – at the Loft, Paradise Garage, Wigan Casino, the Music Box, Hacienda, the list goes on.
The two things that stand out for me about this book are: the discovery that, for a culture that so innovatively recycles great forgotten sounds, all the people you thought were pioneers were just borrowing from someone before them. What they do so brilliantly is make it sound original. This book goes right back to the source for ALL the classics, whatever your dance music interests.
The second thing is: I now finally understand what Northern Soul is! Clubbers I got to know in the eighties who were into the Northern Soul scene in the seventies talked about stuff that made no sense to me. Now it’s all clear – and it sounds like it was an incredible time to be dancing.
So if you’ve ever wondered about a great sample, buy this book and discover what made it so great in the first place.
by G. Ormrod
Out of all the many books that I have read charting the musical evolution surrounding disco through to todays dance scene, this is by far my favourite one. It’s not just for people who are into dance music, but is a good book for anybody who likes music at all. It discusses musical and cultural change.
The book is thoroughly enjoyable to read, full of great humour and affection for the scenes being discussed, right from nothern soul through to acid house and more recently.
The book is weighted with disco and hip-hop histories and the only gripe is that the last few chapters breeze through the 90s dance scene (for this try ‘adventures in wonderland: a decade of club cuture’). But you couldn’t hope to find a more insightful summary of 70s and 80s music.
by III II I II III
…and completely fulfills the expectations of learning about the specific sub-culture, which was my personal intention. Given a copy by a friend, I greatly enjoyed reading a detailed, chronological patch from the first vynyl mentioned, through the history of House music, Northern Soul and into the days of Japanese crazyness when it came down to the checks for a night of playing records.
Definitely worth all of your time, plenty of great moments, very informative – I am waiting for my copy to arrive as I type! Makes a great gift to anyone who has ever been fascinated with music.
by Cameron Parker
I had the original edition years ago, and dance music has evolved and changed considerably over the years between the first publication and today.
It has been updated and it is still a fantastic and informative read.
by mr a.
Fantastically written, exhaustingly research. If you have even a passing interest in the history of the DJ, but this book.
by Arthur Daley
A brilliant book that was recomended to me by Pitsea disc jockey Bobbie Anderson.
I bought it and now I want to be a MC.
If its good enough for Bobbie Anderson who looks like a winning combination of Amanda Holden, Ola Jordan and Kate Moss then its good enough for me.
This book tells you where to start and what to buy.