23rd November 1985, with Luke Una
Show notes
By late 1985, Luke Una had started to immerse himself in dance music and club culture – initially in his native Sheffield, just ahead of a move to Manchester – and so many of the tunes in this chart served to lay the foundations for his pioneering and influential DJ career.
At the end of a year largely dominated by glossy, polished, but still fairly orthodox soul/funk productions (some of which appear here), new shoots were emerging that would grow into street soul, garage and house, while hip hop was on the brink of a commercial rebirth, and Washington DC go go influences were seeping into other areas. Social commentary “message songs” were popular with some, while others were seeking out a more elemental, stripped-down sound, via fully instrumental tracks and dub remixes.
To accompany this episode, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.
Further listening:
* other tracks mentioned in this episode (YouTube)
* random monthly megamixes, 1975-1989
Further reading:
* James Hamilton's Dance Pages 1983-1989 (800 page hardback book)
* James Hamilton's Disco Pages 1975-1982 (550 page hardback book)
Record Mirror Disco Charts mugs and T-shirts are available from our merchandise store.
Mike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is Tops For Pops?
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