Baba's Reviews > Superstar Djs Here We Go!

A no holds barred look back at how dance music, starting with acid house, changed the shape of clubbing and indeed maybe the UK itself, via the story of the rise and fall of the super star DJs. With detailed stories and interview snippets with the likes of Sasha, Pete Tong, Danny Rampling, Fatboy Slim and many more, as well as documenting the emergence of Ministry of Sound, Cream and under super club franchises.

The dance music journalist Dom Phillips who put this book together, personally knows most of the big players, so a reader really gets the true inside track of how the acid house raves of the last 1980s mutated into the all conquering dance music scene of the 1990s creating millionaires DJs and clubs with global recognition! On a personal note, I was a house music DJ and promoter back in the late 80s, and it's interesting to see how this book can cover this part of clubbing history by mentioning only one person of colour in depth and only as a negative - Lisa L'Anson. From my personal experience this is just the elitists' part of the dance music story and it sort of side-sweeps all the amazing stories, clubs and DJs of colour that were part of this. He couldn't even get a few quotes from the likes of Frankie Knuckles, Carl Cox, Fabio, Grooverider?

Above: Carl Cox
For anyone that 'went out' in the 1990s, or that likes dance music, the DJs, the radio DJs and or has an interest in modern cultural history this book is an absolute gem of a must-read though albeit through the lens of white males... although the Liverpool stories featuring mostly men from working class backgrounds rule this book! 8 out of 12 from me. Trigger warnings for a huge amount of talk of drug and alcohol abuse.

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