The Boogie Boys - Break Dancer
Another classic old school banger that I bought from Beat Street Records around 1987-88. I saw the excellent Mancunian b boy crew Broken Glass dancing to this on the telly, (I'm pretty sure it was the early evening news) when I was an aspiring breaker myself and wanted it so badly it almost hurt. Now you have to try and imagine a time, if you aren't as 'mature' as I, before the internet, before CDs and before I had enough money to even buy a record never mind travel to Manchester or London in order to get 'em. So when I saw Broken Glass's single in my local record store on Morgan Khan's Streetwave label I figured it had to be that tune so I bought it. Without listening to it first 'cos they didn't let you do that until later on. And I was gutted. No disrespect to Broken Glass intended in any way whatsoever because they were one of the best crews around at the time but their attempt at a hip hop tune paled in comparison to the The Boogie Boys' superior drum machine sound hammering the hell out of your eardrums and making you want to break. That's maybe why they chose it to dance to on TV. Rather than their own record. I don't have that one any more. I still have this one though.
9 comments:
Ha ha, I remember that reunion and was there too, it was in Bilborough, Nottingham. I seem to recall there were some live acts as well as the breakers. And didn't the breaking become a bit of an unofficial battle between the Notts and Manchester b-boys. That was probably the last time I saw Dancing Danny break.
You know, I might even have an old flyer for it somewhere....
yeah there was. i remember dj pogo was there and there was a female dj whose name i can't remember right now. 2wice the trouble were there and they did their track, (i remember one of 'em either k.i.d. or carruthers being a little subdued and hardly moving)but the breaking was the best for me. up to that point i'd never seen a head spin that looked like it would go on for hours. as far as battling with Notts and Manchester you're probably right, i don't remember too much else about it. the flyer would be great if you do have it.
It was K.I.D. that was a little subdued, he was often like that when performing live, but still a dope lyricist.
I seem to recall the venue was like a big community centre or something, and there were dingy rooms off to the sides. The event was organised and promoted by The Rapper Groove who was later known as Blue Eyes. He recorded stuff with DJ Mink from Sheffield.
When I get time, I'll see if I can find a flyer for it.
it was a community centre yeah. i remember walking through a cafe type area then into what looked like a gymnasium. there was bleacher type seating at the back and some wooden climbing frames around the sides 'cos i sat atop one of those so i got a decent view. be great to see the flyer again if you could, cheers.
Yeah that sounds about right. I'd forgotten the cafe area until you mentioned it :)
I've found what I think is the flyer for it. You got an email adress I can send a scan to? If you don't want to publish it here, contact me via my blog email address.
just sent a message via your blog, thanks a lot.
thanks, the boogie boys
best 12" I got this already
but the fact that you added this
fantastic 12" to your excellent
blog is great. This place really is
a homage to the best electro funk tunes
of the 80's with none of the usual watered down
rubbish you normally get with blogs dealing with this type of music
(wish I could breakdance all I ever
managed to do was spin on my arse!)
i think i agree with you anonymous, the best one for me too. i had a decent arse spin at one time but practice made (almost) perfect. i sometimes have urges to take to the floor for old times sake but i have to remember the aches and pains and sometimes the bruises that followed which i don't think i'd be able to explain away especially at my age. thanks for the comments about the blog too, much appreciated.
I'm pretty sure the 1990 Reunion jam that Tommy Thomas organised wasn't in Bilborough. It was in Victoria Baths leisure Centre opposite Sneinton market.
Me and my man tried to break in the backdoors cuz we was both on the dole and used to spend all our dough on vinyl.
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