Skrillex - First Of The Year (Equinox) [Big Beat Records]

Who watched that programme on clubbing on Channel 4 last night? Was not bad and pleased that ecstasy was voted as the number one most influential thing in electronic dance music culture. If you've never tried the drug then it's hard to fully appreciate its significance but there is a famous true story about the band Happy Mondays which gets close.

I was reminded of this as currently reading the lead singer Shaun Ryder's (one of my heroes) autobiography 'Twisting My Melon' which has just been released in paperback. The book is phenomenal and even if you have only a passing interest in music or the Happy Mondays I would strongly recommend you pick it up. It is full of unspoken but communally thought insights into how the world has changed over the last 40 years and, despite Ryder's reputation as a huge drughead, a beautifully crafted piece of writing (much like his lyrics).

The story I was referring to about ecstasy basically involves him and his band in a small disco up north one night during the recording of one of their albums. The band had recently discovered ecstasy and were doing it virtually 24/7. This small town did not know what to make of them and when a group of squaddies on leave discovered them in the town disco they decided that Shaun and his crew needed a pasting. In an effort to placate them Ryder put a pill in one of them's mouth and told him to swallow. Under an hour later the squaddie returns in a completely opposite state of mind saying that he is having the best time ever and can he have some more pills for his mates. Shaun obliges and not long later they are all dancing together and the squaddies are saying stuff like "war is wrong" and "I don't want to go back in the army".

This got me thinking about the Norwegian Terminator Andres Breivec who was in court yesterday to be declared sane or insane - I hoped it would be the latter. Apparently though murdering 70 odd children in some pre-emptive strike on Muslims is in fact a completely sane activity according to the Norwegian legal system. Imagine if they had ruled the other way though. What a precedent that might of set.

The Skrillex tune I've posted 'First Of The Year' has over 75 million hits on YouTube at present and was featured on the clubbing programme last night during a segment on how Hip Hop and RnB is no longer in vogue in the USA (much like Rock and Guitar music in the UK). According to the programme Electronic Dance Music (EDM) is the new big thing over there despite the US inventing it 25 odd years ago. This is good news for all of us involved in dance music and should ensure the spotlight falls on some lesser known but no less important talent in the future.

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