Here’s a fascinating video clip of British legend Greg Wilson doing the first ever live DJ mix performance on UK TV.
Shot in 1983, Wilson’s ‘fro looks hilariously from another era, but the core messages about basic mixing still hold true. Interestingly, TV presenter Jools Holland asks Wilson “You get records and actually change them about...don’t you think that might annoy, like the scratching thing, the people that spent all the time making the records?”, which is a statement that could very easily apply in the digital era.
That very same question is being asked right now about loops, and whether DJs that play loops are somehow snubbing the time and art that was put into the track by the original producer. Does anyone sense a theme here?
In the summer, Minus boss Richie Hawtin [a] told Beatportal, “Every track these days should be considered a work in progress. Everything is version 1.0, and anybody should be allowed to take your ideas and add their own ideas to it. We need to be more open about music, ideas and ownership.”
