History of the DJ 101
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
So let’s chat about the most popular person in the party. No not the champagne girl, not one of the groupies and no, not the guy who buys all the drinks for every girl at the bar.
I’m talking about the DJ.
This is a little history lesson, a timeline that shows where it came from to where it is today.
- In the 1880s Emile Berline invented the gramophone, yes, the first record player.
- In the 1920s radio became the damn thing, but no hip hop and reggae just yet, jazz and swing music were the hot plates of the day. Back in those days, the DJ was both the presenter and the salesman.
- In the 40s and 50s two guys by the name of Al Bensen and Eddie O’Jay created something called RnB.
- In the 50s and 60s the youths took over and the idea of top 40 music explodes. So at this time, DJs began to replace bands at ball rooms and dances. The idea of discothèques started in wartime France. DJs could now earn a living spinning at jazz and twist clubs. Oh the swinging 60’s, good times in London and New York. The music scene now began to revolve around the DJs. At this point we get the idea of sound systems from a guy called Alex Rosner at the world trade show, with the introduction of the first mixer called the ‘Rosie’.
In Jamaica sound systems like “King Tubby” and “Sir Coxsone” were spinning Ska and Rocksteady, and reggae emerges and the dubplate was used. Jamaica distinguishes the sound of the DJs with the use of the echo and the rewind or the “pull up!!”
- In the 70s disco comes alive in NY. Then comes beat-matching, the pioneer was a guy by the name of Francis Grasso.
- In the 80s came Warehouse, also known as “house music” out of New York, from the legendary Frankie Knuckles from Chicago and Larry Levan. At this time the consensus was that “disco sucks ass”. We then travel to Detroit to meet Derrick May, Kevin Sanderson and Juan Atkins for techno. Then with the emergence of the electronic age, the drum machine became the proverbial sliced bread.
And now for the hip hop heads….
- From the ghettos of the Bronx in New York, the DJs created this music, hip hop, that has since taken the world over by storm, and driven certain cultures society to date. DJ Kool Herc, who introduced breaks, funky and percussions, went on to influence Grandmaster Flash who developed manual sampling and looping.
- Then came Grand Wizard Theodore who invented the “scratch”. A far cry from what is today, it was much less advanced, just push and pull the record once or twice, but back then, that ish sounded like oil was discovered.
- To date, hip hop is the biggest selling music in the world, thanks to the DJs of course.
So the next time you at the party, why not give the DJ a pound (for the non-Caribbean crew, this would be a friendly greeting that involves the connecting of closed fists, please do not give loose change), out of respect for those that came before him or her.
It’s Elroy, educating the masses.