Record Mirror Disco Charts

Having spent all of summer 1987 in Ibiza, dancing to Alfredo at Amnesia and experiencing an epiphany, Lisa Loud returned to London with a new-found determination to break into the music industry. By the time of this chart, she was DJ-ing at major venues and working in promotions for Virgin Records, where she was responsible for breaking acts such as Neneh Cherry, Massive Attack, Soul II Soul, and the act at Number One on this particular Club Chart. While the first wave of acid house was reaching its peak, Lisa was also travelling around the UK, delivering acetates to tastemaker DJs and generally "having the time of my life".
Joining Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for our first episode based on the second volume of James Hamilton's columns, Lisa guides us through a pivotal time for UK club culture, where acid house, hip hop, soul, funk and Balearic beats intermingled, and sampling was rife, as yet unburdened by copyright concerns.
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 (YouTube)
Further reading:
* James Hamilton's Dance Pages 1983-1989 (800 page hardback book)
* 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.

Bill Brewster – DJ, writer, music consultant and dance music historian – joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a look at the Record Mirror Disco Chart of 26th May 1979.
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)
* James Hamilton at Gullivers, 18 August 1979
Further reading:
* James Hamilton's Disco Pages 1975-1982 (550 page hardback book)
* James Hamilton's Dance Pages 1983-1989 (800 page hardback book)
* Bill Brewster on Patreon
Mike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is Tops For Pops?
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Morales - remixer, producer, DJ, and best known in the 1980s for his M&M mixes with the late Sergio Munzibai - joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a look at the Record Mirror Disco Chart of 12th April 1980.
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)
Coming soon: James Hamilton's Dance Pages 1983-1989 (800 page hardback book)
Mike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is Tops For Pops?
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter Hook (Joy Division, New Order, The Light) joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a countdown of a Record Mirror Disco Top 20 from the fabled long hot summer of 1976. As the country sweltered, Peter was finding his true path, having witnessed the Sex Pistols at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall a month earlier. Meanwhile, this chart mixes pop and rock crossover hits with disco classics, funk tracks, three slowies and a couple of obscurities. But can we persuade Greg to bring back the “erection section”? The campaign starts here…
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)
Mike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is Tops For Pops?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.