Tag: Rude FM

Pirate Tapes: Listening to Rude FM in the summer of 1997 (Part 2)

Posted on by urbanocturnal

Following on from my previous post, below are three more Rude FM tapes I recorded in the summer of 1997. First up is a heavy jump up selection by DJ Skills, who had a regular Sunday slot on the station. I have one other recording of his show from 1997 but so far I have not been able to find any information about him online, apart from a single mention in this Facebook post. One of my favourite tunes from this set is the amen tear-out Last Gasp by T.I.C., which still feels futuristic and wouldn’t sound out of place at Rupture today.

Next up is yet another jump-up set by Chopper D and MC Evil B (a.k.a. B Live), recorded in early August. The video below is one of my favourite moments on the tape where Evil B shows off his MCing skills.


When I tweeted the short clip above I got a reply from DJ Kryptonn, who used to buy vinyl from Chopper D at Bluebird Records in 1996:
 

 
The final tape is one of my favourite old school jungle sets that I managed to record off the radio. It was mixed by DJ Chillum, who was one of the key partners at the station and who sadly passed away at the end of last year. The selection dates back to 1993, and somehow it feels crazy that I was making these recordings only four years later and yet the music had already evolved so much during that period. I had to spend quite a bit of time on digitally restoring this tape, as it was thoroughly worn out from doing multiple rounds in my Sony Walkman.

Thanks for tuning in, and look out for more of my pirate tape uploads in the near future.

Update

Many thanks to JJ for the track listing of the set by DJ Chillum.

01 Acen – Obsessed – Production House
02 Ellis Dee, DJ Krome & Mr Time – Drum Thunder – Production House
03 The Vice Squad – Give The Poor Man A Break – Pimp Plastic
04 Rufige Cru – Menace – Reinforced
05 The Brothers Grimm – Field Of Dreams – Production House
06 Rufige Cru – Darkrider – Reinforced
07 FBD Project – Terminate – Bang-In Tunes
08 Egyptian Empire – The Horn Track – Ffrreedom
09 Sacred – Do It Together (The Baggy’s Mix) – Not On Label – SACD001
10 Nookie – Shining In Da Darkness – Reinforced

Pirate Tapes: Listening to Rude FM in the summer of 1997

Posted on by urbanocturnal
Brian Whittle / View of Westminster and Central London from Canonbie Rd / CC BY-SA 2.0. The image has been digitally altered to show what this view looked like in 1997.

This post was delayed due to my tape player developing a major technical fault, which took quite some time to resolve. Now that I’m back in action, I decided that I should upload two Rude FM tapes I made in July 1997.

First, a few words about the recording location. I made these tapes while living near one of the most elevated spots in South-East London, which provided for fantastic pirate radio reception, and by walking several hundred metres I was able to get stunning views of the London skyline (see the images above and below). Coincidentally, Reprezent 107.3 – one of London’s most popular community-licensed stations – currently have their FM transmitter just a few streets away.

Rude FM is a legendary pirate that belongs in the same hall of fame as Kool FM and the Weekend Rush. Founded in 1992, the station was a constant presence on the FM dial, playing hardcore, jungle and drum & bass, and in fact has only recently left the airwaves. Brian Belle-Fortune’s excellent book on the history of jungle, All Crews, has an entire chapter dedicated to the station and its origins. Amongst the key characters affiliated with Rude FM the author mentions DJ Psychic, who held down a regular Sunday slot between 2 and 4pm, playing mellow drum & bass (which was also dubbed “intelligent” at the time). Surprisingly, very few recordings of his shows are available online, so this first upload is an exclusive!

Looking south from Canonbie Road. Original photo © 1997.

Amongst the interesting things mentioned by Psychic during the show are that he was interviewed on a Channel 5 programme featuring Rude FM (I have searched for it but so far can’t find any traces online), and that sending shouts to mobile phones via text messages was a novelty in 1997. The adverts feature Rhythm Section, the record shop that was affiliated with the station, and the Youth Awareness Programme, which provided verified information about drugs confidentially over the phone.

The next tape is on the darker side of drum & bass. The selection is emblematic of the corresponding period in 1997: still maintaining a healthy balance between tech-stepping beats and amen breaks. Side A features a set by Dylan while Side B has an excellent mix by a DJ whose voice is very familiar to me but whose handle I have unfortunately forgotten! There are a few lesser-known tunes on this side, such as Reminiscence by Mace, as well as one of my personal favourites, Warriors, at the very start.

Thanks for tuning in, and look out for more of my Rude FM uploads in the near future.

Update

Many thanks to DJextreme for the track listing of Dylan’s set.

01 Technical Itch – Conscious – Moving Shadow – Blueprint LP
02 Peshay – Phobia – Unreleased
03 Dom & Roland – Aliens – DRP
04 Optical – High Tek Dreams – Prototype
05 Swift – Analogue – Suburban Base
06 Danny Breaks & Dylan – Molecules (Dubplate Version) – Unreleased
07 Dom & Roland – Thunder – Moving Shadow – Industry LP
08 Dom – Drones – Moving Shadow
09 Dylan – Code Breaker – Droppin Science
10 Optical – Shape the Future (Remix) – Metalheadz
11 Dom & Optical – Quadrant Six (Fierce Remix) – Audio Couture
12 Future Forces – Synthesis – Unreleased