Dj Huey, binni, Smokey Joe, spen, Yoz,

It was late 89. The blue monkey was running a night called Ibiza or something and it was a fiver in with all your drink included,,,,hence 10 cans or red stripe. Cutting to the chance the music wasn’t great and it was full of fighting. We plus others had this grand notion of putting a night on where the music would range from hip hop, piano house right through to Detroit and Belgian techno, with something in between. This was shot down and the management were having none of it. The Djs were reluctant to play this too, however I’m a little unsure if that was the management or the Djs. Any how’s this didn’t take off , therefore we went in another direction. Next thing maybe early 1990 ish, my memory I know,,,the blue monkey seemed to change into a rave club over night. The rest as they say is history.
I think pre rave night they did a night with Rozalla as a guest. Place was rammed packed and there were these gyro things with people strapped in them on stage. Very odd but fun. Not the rozalla bít.

just before my time there, so thanks for the info. i'd heard about the "Ibiza" nights, but was too young to have gone.
 


The last 2 names in your title thread played no significance in Wear fm and joined it when it was dying on its arse and when rave was becoming commercial.
 
The last 2 names in your title thread played no significance in Wear fm and joined it when it was dying on its arse and when rave was becoming commercial.
Wear fm actually had its halcyon days around 1992 when they won the national radio award I believe.
The last 2 names in your title thread played no significance in Wear fm and joined it when it was dying on its arse and when rave was becoming commercial.
Quite an angry response to such a pleasant little moment in time.
 
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Wear fm actually had its halcyon days around 1992 when they won the national radio award I believe.

Quite an angry response to such a pleasant little moment in time.

I wouldn’t say my response is angry and the dance music side of Wear Fm, it’s hay day was 91. The latter joined the radio station towards the end and weren’t instrumental in any way in regards to the rave scene or the radio station at the time.
 
I wouldn’t say my response is angry and the dance music side of Wear Fm, it’s hay day was 91. The latter joined the radio station towards the end and weren’t instrumental in any way in regards to the rave scene or the radio station at the time.

i'd bet to differ. the first real mixtapes I got, were done by either of those 2 and i'm sure there'll have been countless others whose introduction, was via them. also, my introduction on the basics of mixing records etc, was from them. one 'happy house' I went to, early 91 had both huey and yoz dj'in.

i hear what you're saying about the shift in music, around later in 91 though. but to counter that, a lot of the "intelligent dance music" that came out on labels like warp, r&s, rising high, djax and stuff by aphex twin, first got played up here, on their show.
 
Interesting how this became known as the 'rave scene'. The stuff I've heard (admittedly mainly from people posting on here) just sounds like that mental 200mph stuff with none of the subtlety you got in the music played in the earlier rave years.
 
or from the butterloggie raves in eston.
we use to put buses on for the butterloggies , pick up at the Lesh steps (crowtree) .. happy days @tunstall birdman
I remember the blue monkey very well and it’s true that wear fm should have had more ( excuse the pun ) air time on this documentary floating about. I know quite a few people from back then and word has it the blue monkey and this rave malarkey happened by design. Let me explain. Lots of local lads, talented Djs were trying to get into 5e blue monkey, which at was an ordinary regular club full of piss heads. The DJs at the time we’re playing Tom Jones and other garbage. Many people tried to put nights on and even met the management, who strangely were on the documentary telling it as if they had created something themselves. Adrian street who is known as some rave legend bloke didn’t want that music in there, however when the management seen what was bubbling away under the surface gave the green light to the Djs in there. Hmmmmm the truth always comes out. Back to the wear fm connection thoug I can say from good source that others had tried and failed to get something going in the blue monkey well before it became a rave club, and not for the want of trying.
chambers was just as popular as the Monkey mate , infact Im sure chambers was ahead of the monkey, we were throwing shapes in chambers for a while before the rest of town cottoned on and the monkey became popular
 
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Interesting how this became known as the 'rave scene'. The stuff I've heard (admittedly mainly from people posting on here) just sounds like that mental 200mph stuff with none of the subtlety you got in the music played in the earlier rave years.
the music did become harder/faster and to be fair myself and lads i went around with moved on to other things , the original summer of love days 1988-1990 were fantastic though
 
i'd bet to differ. the first real mixtapes I got, were done by either of those 2 and i'm sure there'll have been countless others whose introduction, was via them. also, my introduction on the basics of mixing records etc, was from them. one 'happy house' I went to, early 91 had both huey and yoz dj'in.

i hear what you're saying about the shift in music, around later in 91 though. but to counter that, a lot of the "intelligent dance music" that came out on labels like warp, r&s, rising high, djax and stuff by aphex twin, first got played up here, on their show.
I think it’s quite strange and interesting looking at how people view the same era in different ways. I fully get where you come from with the latter 2 on this list being a bit different shall we say from the rave scene which sprung up. Also Huey and binni were excellent in their own ways. I have very vivid memories from this scene from the clubs to the radio to the butterloggies and beyond. I would say that all on this list and others not mentioned were a very huge part of the whole scene in the north east back in the early nineties. As for wear fm going tits up in 1991 I’m a little puzzled where that came from and also from what I remember from the blue monkey was that it seemed to just appear overnight and then got burned down and that was that.
 

I think the link ( from 89 or earlier in 90 "Ibiza nights" ) onwards, has been documented. first hand, I saw the music shift from around july 90 onwards and said during the interview that the xmas 90, was the major shift. I rarely missed a Saturday night there.

the music from around autumn 91, seemed to be more 'breakbeat' driven and got faster, with cheesy samples and sped up vocals. I dipped out, as it wasn't for me.
 
there's another docu in waiting for "wear fm" (imo) and it was a missing chapter in "two monkeys".

:lol:
i think wear fm came into being, summer/autumn 1990? i only became aware of it, through a lass i was seeing from seaburn. the signal wasn't too great in peterlee :lol: a proper coat hanger and wire, move the aerial around the room, until you got a half decent reception. possibly the only way to get a hold of this type of music then, was from lads who were working away in different parts of the country (or in the army), or from the butterloggie raves in eston. very few people had a set of technics at home and if they did have a set of decks, were still finding their feet on how to mix. a few exceptions of course and notably, the ones mentioned and who were looking after the specialist 'dance' shows on wear fm.

monday night was "blackout" with howie and slp. howie passed away a couple of years ago, but slp is still living and bouncing about newcastle
tuesday night was "ultra vibes" with smoove, tubes and crew. followed by "doomsville", which was maz and stu?
wednesday night was "gay to gay" with mega sal and sadie
thursday night was "top rankin" with huey and binni. which then brought on dom, dj dom and master reece
friday night was howie's chart show" and then "crimewatch", with a rotating cast of many :lol:. so smokey joe, b jam, toby, craig e mac, surf e (apologies to anyone i've missed)

monday nights changed, maybe late 91? howie's ego and some of his studio guests, meant he went the journey. spen and yoz, took over the decks, whilst mick clarke and ian wright (sr2), looked after the chat and occasionally, ian went on the decks. i'm sure plenty of people off here will know spen and yoz. there are a couple of yoz's mixes on my soundcloud. I doubt there were many people in the early 90's who were able to do the turntable tricks of scratching and transforming, that yoz was doing, with the music he was playing. one tape in particular, still has me scratching my head, as to how he was doing it - and this is 28 plus years later. both are still playing - spen's does the Havana reunions in 'boro and yoz, continues to make music and dj.

personally, i used to religiously listen to and tape the monday night "blackout" from late 90 until summer 91. great tunes and the chat was funny. mixing wise, not the greatest!. thursday night, was where the quality was (at that time) for me. binni was and still is, a superb selector and dj. there's at least one of his mixes from this era, on my soundcloud page. very talented!!. jesus loves the acid / blue monday, being a stand out. i was more into the belgian stuff / R&S / techno, so what he was playing was right up my street.

huey's maybe in london? but the majority of the others are still in the north east, or able to be tracked down.

the radio station played a MASSIVE part in what took place in the early 90's. without a doubt, as regards the blue monkey

Great post Tern 👍👍
 
Top Rankin :cool:
'Red eye, never die'. :cool:
It was late 89. The blue monkey was running a night called Ibiza or something and it was a fiver in with all your drink included,,,,hence 10 cans or red stripe. Cutting to the chance the music wasn’t great and it was full of fighting. We plus others had this grand notion of putting a night on where the music would range from hip hop, piano house right through to Detroit and Belgian techno, with something in between. This was shot down and the management were having none of it. The Djs were reluctant to play this too, however I’m a little unsure if that was the management or the Djs. Any how’s this didn’t take off , therefore we went in another direction. Next thing maybe early 1990 ish, my memory I know,,,the blue monkey seemed to change into a rave club over night. The rest as they say is history.
I think pre rave night they did a night with Rozalla as a guest. Place was rammed packed and there were these gyro things with people strapped in them on stage. Very odd but fun. Not the rozalla bít.
The Blue Monkey changed when the Havana put on a one off night there and people in Sunderland hot to witness what was going on in the rave scene that that was big down the Boro.
I used to knock about with Sima, Jo Lo, Gareth and the rest on the rave scene. Great times indeed!!
 
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Yes the same Gareth who died in Australia.
Aye . Chances are we may know one another
'Red eye, never die'. :cool:
The Blue Monkey changed when the Havana put on a one off night there and people in Sunderland hot to witness what was going on in the rave scene that that was big down the Boro.
I used to knock about with Sima, Jo Lo, Gareth and the rest on the rave scene. Great times indeed!!
Mate I honestly can’t remember jo lo ?
 
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