Friday Tunes: Made of Steel

I'm from Sheffield.

People who are always want you to know. They're proud of the steel industry that once made Sheffield great and they're proud of all their musical exports.

Sheffield has a a legacy of great musicians, an eclectic mix of global icons and underground heroes, all of them experimental and pioneering.

I was from a lucky generation; I grew up in Sheffield to witness the birth and be a part of a changing musical landscape, I partied hard with most of the people on this playlist and many of these people influenced my desire to be a Sound Engineer.

In my teens a new record shop opened on Division Street, it was called FON and was home to WARP Records, it was in this shop I heard beats and breaks that changed my life forever. They didn't sell ABC, Human League, Def Leopard, Iron Maiden or Tony Christie; you could buy that in WHSmiths; what WARP sold was NEW.

WARP's appearance on the high street was a bomb that ignited a whole new generation in Sheffield.  DJ's from the party scene were now musicians and they were making music that would be hard to describe to anyone who hadn't taken a walk in to that shop.

WARP's first release was WAP1 Forgemasters "The Track with no name" written by Rob Gordon, one of the founder members of WARP records and also a mentor in my first real job working as a Sound Engineer at FON recording studio.

I partied hard to the new sound of bleeps and beats, there were regular clubs hosted by Sheffields new elite, Winston, Pipes, Parrot and Duckenfield. Everyone went to these parties and I danced all night with the now household names that paved the way for the next explosion; Pulp, Longpigs, The Hours, Richard Hawley, Moloko and of course all the pioneers of the WARP sound.

When interviewed they all say the same thing, "I'm from Sheffield."

To play the Made of Steel playlist in Spotify, click here.