Thread: What DJ inspired you when you was younger???

Right bit of a tricky one here but i have to say mine have to be Sy, Ratty & Tango

Reasons...
Sy

Because the guy is mental scratcher and no matter what or how he plays he always seems to get the crowd rocking ...

Favorite sets Fantazia NYE , Obsession The Dream , Dreamscape 9, Dreamscape X, Dreamscape 15 vs 16

Ratty
What can i say? the guys a master of the darkside, and not least played some obscure and hard to find or possibly dubplate tracks ..

Favorite sets .. The edge 1993, Amnesia house, Dreamscape 6 .....

Tango
The killer track says it all and made some wicked tracks seen him live and he plays some top tunes ....

Favorite sets ..
Dreamscape 8, Dance planet .....

I was more influenced by the whole cultural aspects of the DJ scene rather than by just one or two. That said I did have DJ's I liked more than others. SY, Ellis Dee and Mastervibe where DJ's who I liked.

I'm definitely of the newer generation DJs. After living in Berlin for a couple of months I discovered so many amazing DJs, that made me get up myself and get gear and practice. One being Kyle Hall for example or Ben UFO. It's not necessarily about the mixing for me but the choice of tracks/building-up.

a bit of a negative answer i know but...i was inspired to get mixing primarily because i saw and heard djs on the radio or at parties and often thought "i can do better than that!". once i got turntables i very rarely listened to other djs mixes purely because i didnt want to be influenced by their mixes or style.

that's not to say i've not admired some djs for their ability and tune selection over the years. dj sy, easygroove (at times) and ratty from the hardcore; sasha & digweed, then later lawler and zabelia on the house front ; dj food, dk, kid koala & the scratch perverts on the hip hop/downtempo vibe.

tbh though, some of the most inspirational mixing i've heard over the years has come from total unknowns playing warmups or in bars...

i was pulled in and inspired by the local pirates and guys on them in 1990-1992

dance zone / cyndicut / pressure

djs that done it for me and got me buzzin in no particular order

drum acid zoid
m a double t
emmbee
just jones
'sur' vibes (most you know him as the happy hardcore dj vibes now)
denzil & the nephew
tms1
robin e
flyin dr c
philly k
jess
red (know known as red1)
dj henrys cat
dj chicken n mushroom pie


happy days

Ed Doolan.....

ed_doolan203_203x152.jpg

I was never really inspired by Dj's just loved the tunes they played but if i had to choose one Dj its gotta be Fergus hes a legend as far as im concerned his tune selection rocks it for me big time.

Originally Posted by Renegade Radio

dj henrys cat
dj chicken n mushroom pie

ah the good old days before dance music got all serious!

The first proper 'Oldskool' tape i was given was Sy at Obsession - The Third Dimension & i was hooked... I wanted to do what he did... I got a single deck & scratched the shit out of any vinyl i could get my hands on to practice my scratching

Next up is Easygroove... He's done some stinkers, granted... But he has done some amazing sets that i love & appreciate & listen to, to this day

G E Real mixed erratically, fast & precise (on most of the mixes i've heard of his) & that was the style of mixing i was destined to travel on

Top Buzz for the darker side of things in the early 90's which i loved... There are so many DJ's that i listened to that defined how i appreciate music, how i listen to tracks & think 'that tune would go perfectly with that one' & the mixing styles for how to use those two tracks to become a perfect mix & also listening to the DJ's mixes on how to use samples to their best within a mix.

Originally Posted by haze

ah the good old days before dance music got all serious!

innit

Think it was music played by Sy, Slipmatt and Seduction that first inspired me.

These days though my horizons are now broadened and theres plenty of DJs who I find inspire me and I love to listen to such as Randall (whos obviously too hot to handle)!!

i read this at work and thought i would ponder this before posting (just for a change)

i was inspired by ratty for his choppy style and manic mixes, he just blew me away in 92. went a bit off him towards the end of 93 when he started getting darker to the point of just boring breakbeats and dirty sounds. his mixing stopped being as mad as it used to be.

top buzz were the perfect combo, i only remember 2 bad sets from them, one was at the Eclipse reunion and to be fair, the problem was the shit P.A kept losing the bass and they were understandably not trying very hard when it sounded wank. the room was half empty. i always wanted to be the 4th member

i also liked easygroove for his sporadic fits of wierdness by swapping styles mid set. sometimes he was awesome, others downright shite but always different. i like to throw the odd wierd tune in to my sets but he did get a bit carried sometimes hahaha

for scratching i was impressed by a 1991 slipmatt studio tape i had (which i bet is on here if i look) but i never could spend the time practising my scratching, i was dj'ing out in pubs/clubs 3 nights a week as well as selling party prescriptions, but this is something i addressed recently by buying some lovely deck to scratch away at theres no pressure anymore, its all purely for my own enjoyment and my families chagrin

and finally but no means least is the man..sasha. he is the reason i chose my dj name back in the summer of 91. he used to play the Eclipse pretty much every week and also had a residency at shellys lazerdome, my two most visited clubs. that dude would mix tunes together you would never even would think about trying, but he pulled it off with aplomb. the obvious examples are whitney housten with leftfield, sinead o'connor with d'shake techno trance but he done many more sets that never got heard if you wasn't there. a proper intelligent and innovative, and in my opinion, a seminal dj on the scene.

Every DJ back in the day inspired me & i forgot to add the legendary Mickey Finn

Can't be arsed to name them... But you & they know who they are... Whoever inspired you back then inspired all of us... It was a time that should now still be

Well for me it was listening to my mates mixing in their bedrooms and also listening to Touchdown FM and Eruption FM.

As for the well known DJs i like Sy, Clarkee, Dave Angel, Loftgroover, Ratty, Randall, Tango and Carl Cox (when he mixed hardcore).

bukem, easygroove and ellis dee

Like haze, I heard Poorider, sorry - Grooverider - drop some clangers on an old Mythology tape and then I heard Donovan Bad Boy Smith on another (Amnesia?) tape with a poor set and I thought, "I could do better than that!".

Quite weird really as it was that Smith set that finally made me want to mix properly when he was known for tight sets BITD along with Randall when I've heard ropey sets from the pair of them

For me it would have to be Carl Cox, Hype and Brisk.

Brisk is from my town (Southampton) and I heard many of his mix tapes before he was a big name. Amazing DJ

For the OP question, the DJ's which inspired me when I was younger (cue old age jokes) was :

John Peel
This bloke was amazing, played everything from mental belgium techno to japanese death metal to reggae.

Robbie Vincent
Yes another radio 1 DJ, but really good and from the era when Radio 1 was decent.

Rankin Miss P (Reggae)
Legend nuff said

Red Alert & Chuck Chillout (USA HipHop)
My mate had relatives in the USA, and they sent him cassette recordings of these playing their shows on Kiss Fm over there. This was early to mid 80's, and we all copied the tapes for ourselves, some amazing music and mixing/scratching.

Sasha
The first mixtapes I got were sasha from shellys, I love the music even tho he wasnt the greatest mixing talent at the time.

Eazy D
Playing live on trent fm 1990, brilliant DJ.

Originally Posted by swipezster

Like haze, I heard Poorider, sorry - Grooverider - drop some clangers on an old Mythology tape and then I heard Donovan Bad Boy Smith on another (Amnesia?) tape with a poor set and I thought, "I could do better than that!".

Quite weird really as it was that Smith set that finally made me want to mix properly when he was known for tight sets BITD along with Randall when I've heard ropey sets from the pair of them

I agree the rider is the king of the clang. Can't say i've ever heard a ropey set from Randall though.Every set i've heard he's as solid as a rock.

My first proper hardcore tape was Fabio and Grooverider at the Eclipse. Didn't know much about mixing back then, absolutely brilliant!! Asides from them it was local dj's Ben Howard and DJ Harv (Mark Harvey). This was 1991. In 1992 it was Ratty. Now I rate Top Buzz as the best, some of the tunes they dropped in these years were just sublime!!

watching carl cox on four decks down the angels once a month, dj sasha, vertigo, welly, matt bell, top buzz, ellis dee, chris baker .. the list goes on

The 2 DJ's that inspired me the most to get my own decks and play the tunes I love were/are..

Glenn Aston & Gershwin

i'm friends with all 3 dj's from the RJW Crew ... being at their houses while they mixed was fooking ace ... if i have an inspiration it would be those boys ... though the 1st time i had a go on decks was at a pals caravan ... they were soundlab belt drives ... i sounded crap but fell in love instantly ... i bought the decks the same day and took them home ... i had a full set up and no tunes

Slipmatt, Andy C, Randall

Originally Posted by oothe

i'm friends with all 3 dj's from the RJW Crew ... being at their houses while they mixed was fooking ace ... if i have an inspiration it would be those boys ... though the 1st time i had a go on decks was at a pals caravan ... they were soundlab belt drives ... i sounded crap but fell in love instantly ... i bought the decks the same day and took them home ... i had a full set up and no tunes

RJW Crew and Craig Carmichael big down the Carlos II wih JF on the mic