In this series we’ve decided to go back down memory lane and reminisce on all the tracks that laid the foundations for the music we all love today.

Every once in a while we’ll dig up four classics that will bring you right back to the early days of raving. Last year we caught up with Altern 8’s Mark Archer for his top 4 classics that shaped his career, and with Altern 8 playing in Dublin this Friday with the Techno & Cans crew it seems an appropriate time to dig this up.

Here’s the event page and all the info you need here.

Mark has seen the ins and outs of the rave era so there’s no better man to ask for his four classics. Enjoy…

 

Dance Dance Dance – Chic

This was one of the tunes where it started for me (even though I didn’t know it at the time) I was about 8 or 9 and this was on the radio as my dad always had the radio on either at home or in the car, and I began to realise that although I liked a lot of music, the funkier stuff really was what I liked the most, so with Chic and Earth,Wind & Fire constantly being played this was ground zero.

The Message – Melle Mel & The Furious 5

This bloke (didn’t realise it was Melle Mel and Duke Bootee at the time) is talking rather than singing, this is different! One of my first memories of hip hop alongside Rappers Delight and a lasting one to this day. This just sum’s it up for me, no matter what the subject matter – there’s a message (and the fact it said pissing in it which was mental back in 1982).

 

Buffalo Gals – Malcolm McLaren

Probably the first introduction to electro and hip hop for a lot of people and with B-Boying (breakdancing as it became known) djing and graffiti in the video it was everything all at the same time. Still stands up as an out and out classic now and it’s between this and Herbie Hancock’s ‘Rockit’ that brought hip hop to a whole new audience.

Kraftwerk – Numbers

My brother had the album when it first came out and I honestly didn’t get it at all, all these calculator bleeps and bloops but after a while, the track Numbers stood out because of the drum programming which pretty much laid the foundation for electro with the Soul Sonic Force’ Planet Rock straight reprogramming it with an 808. even though it’s 35 years old it still hits hard.

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