Spinning Decks and Shifting Norms: This Week’s Unmissable Articles on Dance Music, DJs, and Gender Equality

Check out this short round-up of articles from this week that focus on dance music, music history, DJs and the struggle for gender equality in dance music.

How The Cost Of Living Crisis Is Impacting DJs And Producers
mixmag.net • Patrick Hinton

https://mixmag.net/feature/how-cost-of-living-crisis-impacting-djs-producers-musicians-dance-music-nightlife-impact-investigation

This is a sobering long read about the current crisis facing the night economy. Perhaps wisely, the article doesn’t just focus on the impact of the covid lockdowns but looks deeper into changing lifestyles and even the effect of right wing populism on clubs and DJs. A particularly heart breaking quote comes from North East DJ, Man Power who highlights a often overlooked aspect of the struggle ie class war:

The North East of England has been having a cost of living crisis since the 1960s. This is just the latest phase of a similar problem that happens for everybody in this region, and other regions with a similar profile,…As such, we’re gonna see a real drain on artists from impoverished areas, because they simply can’t afford to be an artist. The amount of artists who I’ve spoken to who were eking out a relatively reasonable career in the North East pre-pandemic and cost of living crisis, who have now had to turn towards full-time work… I know people who have gone onto working in call centres, other people have gone onto working offshore, for the oil and gas industry, which is a story as old as time for people in the North East.

The Forgotten Women Who Built a 90s Rave Scene www.vice.com

https://www.vice.com/en/article/3akbp3/90s-manchester-rave-scene-hacienda-women

This article shines a light on NYC native, Audrey Golden’s research into the forgotten pioneers of Manchester’s rave scene. In particular, the article focuses on Factory Records and the Hacienda and the contributions made by women in a time where gender inequality was rampant.

How Kelly G’s remix of Tina Moore’s ‘Never Gonna Let You Go’ laid the blueprint for 2-step garage djmag.com

https://djmag.com/features/how-kelly-gs-remix-tina-moores-never-gonna-let-you-go-laid-blueprint-2-step-garage

On a more positive note, this article covers the success of the famous Kelly G 2 step remix of Tina More’s ‘Never Gonna Let You Go’ including the role played by the late Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley in making it happen.