Somewhat "Dance friendly" retro-Hip Hop

[gregg75]

In the last month 3 new Retro Hip-Hop stations made their debut in Atlanta. They are now fighting it out to see who wins the battle. Listening back on circa 1994 Hip-Hop (the sound that best describes these stations) some of the songs back then were actually listenable. It wasn't the Hip-Hop junk available today. The music was very rhythmic and the lyrics had "some" meaning.

The Hip-Hop format here always had a Pop or R&B flavor. So, this new/old West Coast Hip-Hop sound is kinda refreshing, as it was never that "pure" here before.

So I still have a thorn in my side from when many Dance stations switched to Hip-Hop in the early 90's (WPOW, KKFR, KUBE, KMEL, KPWR, WBBM, etc., etc.). Much to their surprise, the ratings were short lived. ALL OF THESE FORMER #1 Dance stations.........are now not #1 anymore. Many lucky to be in the Top 10. If only they has hung on. Who knows where the Dance genre would be today?

 

[2Son]

As someone who grew up listening to B96 and Power 92 (among others), I understand that thorn in your side, but some of these stations saw more dance music again after the early 90's. I think KKFR (Power 92) sounded best circa '95-'97 as dance-leaning, although it still sounded good in the early 90's as hip/hop with some dance. I wish I still had some old recordings from "Planet Dance" during that time period. B96 also saw periods in-between hip/hop when it leaned heavily towards dance. The one station that stood out to me in the early 90's (89-90) was the short-lived Energy 96.5 (KNRJ) in Houston that was most likely influenced by dance-friendly 93Q and Power 104 who competed head-to-head with quite popular mix shows in the 80's and into the 90's and were among pioneers who exposed dance music of all types to the mainstream top 40 masses. However, both Energy 96.5 and 93Q were both succeeded by alternative-leaning formats rather than hip-hop:

Energy 96.5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAmyD4VvE1s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb7bp5lavek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft8Ye5gzUA0

93Q -
http://www.mixcloud.com/DJNRGWIGGINWEB/club-6400-live-on-93q-summer-1988/
http://www.mixcloud.com/DJNRGWIGGINWEB/club-6400-6130-richmond-on-93q/
http://www.mixcloud.com/djrage/d2r-live-on-93q-december-8-1990-1-of-6/
http://www.mixcloud.com/djrage/d2r-live-on-93q-december-8-1990-2-of-6/
http://www.mixcloud.com/djrage/decadance-live-on-93q-august-18-1990-1-of-3/

More great mixes: http://www.mixcloud.com/djrage/

 

[DJ_Perry]

although it still sounded good in the early 90's as hip/hop with some dance.

2Son, I don't really recall Power92 leaning Hip Hop until late 1997 (After Party 103.9 forced them to change formats). They were always Dance leaning even in the early 90s, while incorporating popular urban titles like SWV, Coolio, Digital Underground and the likes. The only exception would be when they tried to be Alternative Top 40 in 1994, however they still played Hot Mix and Open House Party on the weekends

 

[2Son]

Hello Perry,

Thanks for correcting me. I meant to convey that Power 92 appeared (based upon my listening experience) to be more rhythmic/dance leaning with some R&B/Hip Hop thrown in. The station seemed distinct compared to what I had been hearing in Texas - it just had a different focus. However, Texas radio stations also had a very distinct sound and different focus during that time frame (88'ish-92). Although they also played artists like TKA, Lisette Melendez, Shana, Corina, Stevie B, Jomanda, Jaya, KLF, George Lamond, Noel, 49ers, The Party, Lil Louise, Shannon, AB Logic, etc. and the regular top 40 stuff, they also played quite a few alternative-dance leaning, synthpop, and electronic titles on stations like KHFI, (Austin) and KKBQ, KNRJ (Houston) and to a lesser degree, KBTS (Austin) and KRBE (Houston). Many of these titles below I had not heard on Power 92, although they may have once appeared on the station (or KUKQ); however, a few of them (certainly not all) like the Shamen, Lords of Acid, Erasure, Cause & Effect, Siouxsie, and Machines in Motion did eventually show up on Y95 somewhere around late '92 or thereafter:

YOU THINK YOU KNOW HER, WHAT DO YOU SEE, ANOTHER MINUTE - Cause & Effect
I SIT ON ACID - Lords of Acid
KISS THEM FOR ME - Siouxsie & The Banshees
DON'T LET MY LOVE, DESIRE - T42
STAR, STOP, VICTIM OF LOVE, BLUE SAVANNAH, CHORUS, LOVE TO HATE YOU - Erasure
GETTING AWAY WITH IT, GET THE MESSAGE, DISAPPOINTED - Electronic
FINE TIME, ROUND & ROUND - New Order
YOU MAKE ME FEEL (Remix) - Jimmy Somerville
THE DIFFERENT STORY - Peter Schilling
TASTY FISH (Pascal edit) - The Other Two
WILL YOU BE THERE, - Celebrate The Nun
BREAKAWAY - Big Pig
ALICE EVERYDAY, SUNNY DAY - Book of Love
THE GREAT COMMANDMENT, LOVE IS A SHIELD - Camouflage
STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER - Candy Flip
WORLD IN MY EYES, DANGEROUS, SEA OF SIN - Depeche Mode
THE SPICE MUST FLOW - Eon
WELCOME - Gino Latino
THINK - Information Society
WORLD IN FASCINATION - Machine in Motion
NEW YORK - MCL
EVERYDAY IS HALLOWEEN - Ministry
THE MAGICIAN - Secession
COUNT TO THREE - Red Flag
STATE FARM (MADHOUSE MIX) - Yaz(oo)
KISS ME - Stephen Duffy
SIN, DOWN IN IT, HEAD LIKE A HOLE - Nine Inch Nails
SECRET LAND, WE'LL BE TOGETHER - Sandra
HEADHUNTER - Front 242
JOIN IN THE CHANT - Nitzer Ebb
MOVE ANY MOUNTAIN - The Shamen
JAMES BROWN IS DEAD - LA Style
KISS OF LOVE - Anything Box
IMAGES OF HEAVEN - Peter Godwin
ACID ROCK - Rhythm Device
ONLY LOVE CAN BREAK YOUR HEART - Saint Etienne
CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION - Baby Ford
WHAT GETS YOUR BODY HYPED - Kyper
GIVE IT UP - The Goodmen
PINEAPPLE FACE - Revenge
CUBIK - 808 State
HALLUCINATION GENERATION - Gruesome Twosome
NEVER AGAIN - The Hunger
TAINTED LOVE - Impedance
THINKING OF YOU (Remix) - Seven Red Seven
LEFT TO MY OWN DEVICES, WHERE THE STREETS HAVE NO NAME, WAS IT WORTH IT - Pet Shop Boys

 

[DJ_Perry]

Those are definitely some cool titles, However Power92 was definitely not that cutting edge. They did however play stuff like this once upon a time

Inner city - Big Fun, Good Life
Lil Louis - French Kiss
Bomb the Bass - Beat Dis
Depeche Mode - Strangelove
N Joi - Mindflux
2 Unlimited stuff
Awesome 3 - Don't Go
Bizarre Inc - Im Gonna Get You
Shana - I Want You
Corina - Temptation
KLF - 3am Eternal
Duran Duran - I Don't Want Your Love, All She Wants is
Cause and Effect - You Think You know her
New Order - Round and Round, Fine Time
Electronic - Getting Away with It
Gino Latino - Welcome
D Mob - It is Time to Get funky, C'mon Get My Love
Seduction - 2 to Make it Right
Information Society - Think, Peace and Love Inc
LA Style - James Brown is Dead
Smart E's - Sesame's Treat
Soundfactory - Understand This Groove
Shamen - Move any Mountain
Pet Shop boys - Domino Dancing, Always on My Mind
Erasure - Little Respect, Chains of Love
AB Logic - Hitman, Get Up
Jomanda - Love For You
Jaya - If you Leave Me now


Definitely not as Alternative as TX, but definitely not your typical Rhythmic format. Power92 also featured PowerTools (Sat Afterhours) with Eddie Amador in 1992. I learned some really cool records from that show (Lords of Acid, Moby, Praga Khan, U96, 2 Bad Mice, Terrorize, T99, Radioactive Goldfish)

Yes you are correct, Y95 did day-parting towards the end of their run in 1993 and brought back many alternative staples during night rotations like Blue Monday, How Soon is Now, Behind the Sun, and the likes as 106.3 "The Edge" had just signed on and was making a buzz. Y95 also had Markus Schulz on the weekends and allowed him to really go off the playlist for afterhours with stuff like Prodigy, Interactive, 808 State, N Joi, Utah Saints, Electroset, etc. After Y95 flipped, "The Edge" picked up that mixshow and named it 'Planet Edge' (9p-1a) and then 'Edge Factor' (1a-4a). Obviously the early show was more mainstream Alternative Dance (St Entienne, NIN, Front 242, Ministry, Nitzer Ebb, Beloved, Wolfgang Press, Cure) and Afterhours was Trance and Underground.

Around 1994, Power92 started competing with "The Edge" playing Nirvana, Gin Blossoms, Counting Crows, Green Day, Nirvana, Beck, Soundgarden, STP and such (as 106.3 had a limited signal). This created a CHR void in the market as Y95 was gone, and 104.7 was Variety. However the shift was short lived, and Rhythmic 92.3 returned to the valley after 6 months.