Record Mirror Disco Charts

• 8th May 1982, with Arthur Baker

  For our second visit to 1982, Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson are joined by Arthur Baker: producer, remixer, songwriter, DJ, and one of the prime architects of electro-funk (Planet Rock, Walking On Sunshine, Play At Your Own Risk, Confusion, IOU etc). In this Top 20 countdown, we can see these electronic elements starting to emerge, with some well-established funk acts already embracing the changes. Elsewhere, jazz-funk and Britfunk rub shoulders with pop crossovers, in a typically diverse snapshot of the times. Along the way, Arthur shares memories of the Paradise Garage, Better Days, a pre-fame Madonna, and collaborations with Tee Scott, Leee John, New Order and many more key figures of the era.To accompany this episode, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.Further listening: other tracks mentioned in this episode.Further reading:James Hamilton's Disco Pages 1975-1982 (550 page hardback book)Greg Wilson's interview with Arthur Baker (2022)Arthur Baker: Looking For The Perfect Beat (Faber, 2025)Mike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is Tops For Pops? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• 25th April 1981 Futurist/Electro-Disco, with DJ Paulette

  DJ Paulette joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a detailed look at the last of James Hamilton's short-lived Futurist/Electro-Disco charts, from April 1981. Not only an award-winning DJ, but also a writer and broadcaster, Paulette's earliest clubbing roots lie within the Futurist/New Romantic scene, in which she was an active and enthusiastic participant. This gives her a unique personal insight into an era when electronics, fashion and politics combined in radical new ways, and when our future fascinated us more than our past.To accompany our discussion, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.Further listening: other tracks mentioned in this episode.(Spotify)Further reading 1) Welcome To the Club: The Life and Lessons of a Black Woman DJ (DJ Paulette, 2024)Further reading 2) James Hamilton's Disco Pages 1975-1982.(550 page hardback book)Mike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is Tops For Pops? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• 2nd September 1978, with Irvine Welsh

  Irvine Welsh joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson to take a look at a Disco Chart from September 1978: a time when, in the wake of Saturday Night Fever's enormous success, certain UK DJs were starting to plot a different way forwards, with jazz-funk in particular emerging as a significant new force. As we discover, many of these US tunes, although huge on British dancefloors, did not enjoy the same success in their home country.Dividing his time between London punk clubs and Saturday night discos, Irvine straddled both worlds, at ease with their supposed cultural contradictions. To accompany his new book Men In Love - which picks up where Trainspotting left off, charting its central characters' progress through the late 1980s - Irvine has released a soundtrack album, accompanied by his Sci-Fi Soul Orchestra, which sets the characters' stories to lushly orchestrated soulful disco, inspired by the classic sound of Chic and Philadelphia International. During the episode, you'll also get to hear more about how this musical project came together.To accompany our discussion, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.Further listening: other tracks mentioned in this episode.(Spotify) Further reading: James Hamilton's Disco Pages 1975-1982.(550 page hardback book) Mike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is Tops For Pops? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• 28th June 1975, with Alexis Petridis

  To mark the 50th anniversary of James Hamilton's first Disco Page in Record Mirror, Alexis Petridis (head rock & pop critic for The Guardian) joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a countdown of the first ever Disco Chart that James compiled, based on DJ returns from around the UK.To accompany this episode, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.Further listening: other tracks mentioned in this episode.(Spotify) // Bob Stanley's Hot Chocolate playlist (Spotify)Further reading: James Hamilton's Disco Pages 1975-1982.(550 page hardback book) // Guardian feature on James Hamilton, by Alexis PetridisMike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is Tops For Pops? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• 25th July 1981, with Leee John

  Leee John joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a Disco Chart Top 20 countdown from July 1981. Already a committed clubber and an active member of the Britfunk community, Leee had just started to find success with his band Imagination, who had been signed to Morgan Khan’s R&B label, and so he has vivid memories of this particular period: a transitional time, when the disco era had ended, the electronic era had yet to emerge, but the beat went on, with a focus on skilled musicianship and carefully crafted production. And as always, you'll also get to hear what Record Mirror's James Hamilton thought of each track that we discuss.To accompany this episode, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.Further listening: other tracks mentioned in this episodeFurther reading: James Hamilton's Disco Pages 1975-1982 (550 page hardback book)Mike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is Tops For Pops? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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