Continuing my run down of the 40 greatest ever pieces of dance music ( see here for numbers 40 to 31 yesterday ) here is today's list from 30 to 21:-
30. USURA – Open Your Mind
By picking two icons of the 1980’s in Arnold Schwarzenegger and Simple Minds, USURA produced a definitive dance. Updating New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) as a musical template interspersed with samples from the film Total Recall, Open Your Mind is an empowering epic of the early 1990’s dance floor.
29. Starlight – Numero Uno
Like USURA, yet more Italian disco. Despite its title, Numero Uno feels less chic and continental than other such tracks though. In fact, it typifies happy days on a wet Norfolk seaside holiday rather than larger it on the Balearics. Hitman and Her sort of stuff!
28. The Shamen – Move Any Mountain
Whereas the Shamen are most well-known for Ebeneezer Goode, Move Any Mountain is a better example of the group’s blend of experimental electronic techno. The essence of the track is simple - that anything is possible, you are brilliant and you can do anything. An inspiring message whether you are on drugs or not.
27. 808 State – In Yer Face
By 1991 Madchester was effectively on its last legs. 808 State were the one exception from the city still producing noteworthy material however. In Yer Face shows a group that have moved on from Acid House/rave and discovered a harder edge techno which would become the most commercially popular form of the art of dance over the next decade. Like all good dance anthems, it still sounds like the future despite being over 20 years old. As the intro says “there are new forces in the world, a conflict between generations, a powerful feeling that the American system is failing to deal with the real threats to life”. This is a bold statement coming immediately after the fall of communism. The quotation is particularly relevant today as the western world as we know it appears to be falling apart.
26. KLF – 3am Eternal
The first single by any artist I ever bought. Subversion is what the KLF are most remembered for yet it should not be overlooked just how good the material they produced was. Combining soul, rap, techno and Acid House 3am Eternal was rightfully a number one single. The KLF’s chart debut asked what time is love, their answer was 3am Eternal.
25. MARRS – Pump up the Volume
To my mind, Pump up the Volume is one of the most important number one records in the history of the charts. By getting to number one, Pump up the Volume emphasised that sampling and dance culture was now very much part of the mainstream. A product of the great indie label 4AD and utilising part of their roster talent like Colourbox and AR Kane, Pump up the Volume was an experiment that paid off. It managed to irritate and inspire in equal measure, the charts have never been quite the same since MARRS got to number one.
24. Underworld – Born Slippy
The early 90s were noted for being a period of indie-dance crossovers, yet it was only by the mid-90s that dance music appeared to be totally accepted by followers of alternative music. Born Slippy played a significant part in getting indie kids to accept dance, largely due to the Underworld track featuring heavily on the sound track to the film Trainspotting, sitting alongside such Britpop luminaries as Pulp, Sleeper and Damon Albarn.
23. Utah Saints – Something Good
I would somehow describe Utah Saints as stadium dance. Big epic sounds which would easily fill an arena. If dance was ever (and some would argue that in acts such as the Orb it has) evolve into something like prog, then it could be traced back to tracks like Something Good. The fact that they sample Kate Bush’s Cloudbusting reinforces Something Good’s otherworldliness. On a list of dance anthems, it is without doubt one of the most anthemic.
22. Josh Wink – Higher State of Consciousness
It is the buzzing melody line, if that is what you can call it, which makes Higher State of Consciousness so special. The way that it builds up, grows, falls back again, before speeding up and changing pitch. Bleeping away and always there pounding in your head. The climax comes eventually, and you know when you are there, by that point it is all over the place and you fail to care about just how measured and controlled the melody was at the beginning.
21. The Prodigy – No Good (Start the Dance)
Music for the Jilted Generation period Prodigy is the most artistically interesting period of their career. The rave template of Experience has been replaced by a more mature sound, yet it is still dance music at its core and without the pantomime dance rock of what was to become. This is clearly an updated version of Hithouse’s Jack to the Sound of the Underground, yet the Prodigy’s approach is fresh and they produce something harder edged and unique for the 90s.
Tomorrow numbers 20 to 11 on the top 40 dance ever countdown.
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