The Dance Years 1989

Welcome to CD two of the Dance Years. 1989 was a hell of a year, when acid house parties became raves, moving from clubs and warehouses to outdoor events and the M25 at night was full of clubbers trying to find the location of the next big rave. The deal was you had to usually tune in to a pirate radio station to find out the location of the event and they would keep teasing you, saying the location would be announced in four hours, three hours, etc. and then the announcement would come on and convoys of cars would descend on the site. Often, the police would be following the convoy hoping to discover the event. There was a massive backlash in the media and a bit of a tabloid frenzy. The acid house album I signed, 'Urban Acid', was featured on News at Ten and I found myself getting a grilling on BBCTV London News trying to defend the music against allegations that we were somehow subverting the nation and pushing everyone into taking drugs. You can see the clip on YouTube if you type in "Dave Pearce Acid House Rave 6 Music Fight Our Corner". There was a great sense of optimism with the Berlin Wall coming down and America and Russia declaring an end to the Cold War. Musically, more new styles developed. The fusion of hip hop and house with hip house from the likes of 'Tyree Cooper - Turn Up the Bass' - in the UK, Jazzie B was creating his own soulful clubbing vibe with Soul II Soul and seminal records like '808 State - Pacific State' and 'The Beloved - Sun Is Rising' and in the summer along came 'A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray'. D