History of DJing
ing is the act of playing existing recorded music for a live audience.
For the history of radio disc jockeys, see Radio disc jockey history.
The modern DJ's role as a performer has evolved immensely since its conception. The role originated with radio personalities who would simply select singles to be played over the radio. The contemporary role involves creating a seamless mix of music, generally using two turntables or a digital controller, intended for an audience at a club or dance party.
1930s to 1950s
In 1935, American radio commentator Walter Winchell coined the term "disc jockey" to describe radio announcer Martin Block, the first radio announcer to gain widespread fame for playing popular recorded music over the air.In 1943, radio DJ Jimmy Savile launched what has been described by later writers as “the world’s first DJ dance party” by playing jazz records in the upstairs function room of the Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherds in Otley, England. However, the accuracy of the claim has been disputed by historians of DJ culture, who note the lack of independent evidence and the existence of earlier examples of record-based dance events. In 1947, he claims to have become the first DJ to use twin turntables for continuous play, and in 1958 became a radio DJ at Radio Luxembourg. Although his claim to have been the first is untrue; twin turntables were illustrated in the BBC Handbook in 1929 and advertised for sale in Gramophone magazine in 1931. In 1947, the Whiskey à Go-Go nightclub opened in Paris, France, considered to be the world's first commercial discothèque, or disco. Regine began playing on two turntables there in 1953. Discos began appearing across Europe and the United States.
In the 1950s, American radio DJs appeared live at sock hops and "platter parties" and assumed the role of a human jukebox. They typically played 45-rpm records, featuring hit singles on one turntable while talking between songs. In some cases, a live drummer was hired to play beats between songs to maintain the dance floor. In 1955, Bob Casey, a well-known "sock hop" DJ, brought the two-turntable system to the U.S.
In the Black community, Stations such as WLAC in Nashville began playing rhythm and blues records, and in 1948, Memphis radio station WDIA began its transition to an all-Black format. The following year, Atlanta's WERD became the nation's first Black-owned and programmed radio station. Beginning in the early 1940s African Americans would congregate in their local parks, known as "Park Jams," where they would play Jazz, blues and gospel records.
In the late 1950s, sound systems, a new form of public entertainment, were developed in the ghettos of Kingston, Jamaica. Promoters, who called themselves DJs, threw large parties in the streets that centered on the disc jockey, called the "selector", who played dance music from large, loud PA systems and bantered over the music with a boastful, rhythmic chanting style called "toasting". These parties quickly became profitable for the promoters, who sold admission, food, and alcohol, leading to fierce competition between DJs for the biggest sound systems and newest records.
1960s and 1970s
In the mid-1960s, nightclubs and discothèques continued to grow in Europe and the United States. Specialized DJ equipment, such as Rudy Bozak's classic CMA-10-2DL mixer, began to appear on the market.In 1969, American club DJ Francis Grasso popularized beatmatching at New York's Sanctuary nightclub. At the same time 1970 David Mancuso opened the loft after going to rent parties in Harlem the mid late sixties with Dr. Tim Leary. David's idea was that the music be as close to the source as possible and did not use a mixer. "Mixing" or "Beatmatching" is the technique of creating seamless transitions between records with matching ''beats, or tempos. Grasso also developed slip-cuing, a technique long used in radio, where holding a record still while the turntable is revolving underneath and releasing it at the desired moment created a sudden transition from the previous record. On the other side of Ny was a club Called Galaxy 21 that opened its doors in 1971 with a mixer dj known as Walter Gibbons, Joey Madonia and a young drummer named Francois Kevorkian. Walter Gibbons who along with mixers such as Tom Moutlon developed the first Disco Single and the extended versions were born.
Mexican born Agustin Martinez, resident of the famous Acapulco "Tequila a Go-Go" Nightclub, has been credited with being the first Club DJ that mixed tracks and edited them live in 1964. A new club in Acapulco was founded a few years later called "Armando's Le Club".
By 1968, the number of dance clubs started to decline; most American clubs either closed or were transformed into clubs featuring live bands. Neighborhood block parties that were modeled after Jamaican sound systems gained popularity in Europe and in the boroughs of New York City.
In 1970 BBC Radio 1 employs the first ever female radio DJ Annie Nightingale. She remains the longest-serving presenter at BBC to this day. In honor of Nightingale a scholarship was set up with her name for female and non-binary DJ's.
In 1973, Jamaican-born DJ Kool Herc, widely regarded as the "father of hip-hop culture," performed at block parties in his Bronx neighborhood and developed a technique of mixing back and forth between two identical records to extend the rhythmic instrumental segment, or break''. Turntablism, the art of using turntables not only to play music but to manipulate sound and create original music, began to develop.
In 1972, Technics released the first SL-1200 turntable, which evolved into the SL-1200 MK2 in 1979—which, as of the early-2010s, remains an industry standard for DJing. In 1974, German electronic music band Kraftwerk released the 22-minute song "Autobahn," which takes up the entire first side of the album of the same title. Years later, Kraftwerk became a significant influence on hip-hop artists such as Afrika Bambaataa and house music pioneer Frankie Knuckles. During the mid-1970s, Hip-hop music and culture began to emerge, originating among urban African Americans and Latinos in New York City. The four main elements of Hip Hop culture are graffiti, DJing, b-boying, and MCing.
In the mid-1970s, the soul-funk blend of dance pop known as disco took off in the mainstream pop charts in the United States and Europe, causing discothèques to experience a rebirth. Unlike many late-1960s clubs, which featured live bands, discothèques used the DJ's selection and mixing of records as the entertainment. In 1975, record pools began, providing disc jockeys access to newer music from the industry in an efficient method.
In 1975, hip-hop DJ Grand Wizard Theodore invented the scratching technique by accident. In 1976, American DJ, editor, and producer Walter Gibbons remixed "Ten Percent" by Double Exposure, one of the earliest commercially released singles. In 1979, the Sugar Hill Gang released "Rapper's Delight", the first hip-hop record to become a hit.
In 1977, Saratoga Springs, NY disc jockey Tom L. Lewis introduced the Disco Bible, which published hit disco songs listed by beats per minute, as well as by either artist or song title. Billboard ran an article on the new publication, and it went national relatively quickly. The list made it easier for beginning DJs to learn how to create seamless transitions between songs without dancers having to change their rhythm on the dance floor. Today, DJs can find the beats per minute of songs in the BPM List.
1980s
In 1981, the cable television network MTV was launched, originally devoted to music videos, especially popular rock music. The term "video jockey", or VJ, was used to describe the fresh-faced youth who introduced the music videos. The first group of MTV video jockeys, otherwise known as “VJs” was Mark Goodman, Martha Quinn, Alan Hunter, J.J Jackson and Nina Blackwood. Martha Quinn is an American actress and radio show host that has been named as “MTV’s Best-Ever VJ” in Rolling Stone. Nina Blackwood, another member of the original VJs is also an actress and model, known for her pronounced raspy voice. In 1982, the demise of disco in the mainstream by the summer of 1982 forced many nightclubs to either close or change entertainment styles, such as by providing MTV-style video dancing or live bands.Released in 1982, the song "Planet Rock" by DJ Afrika Bambaataa was one of the first hip-hop songs to feature synthesizers. The song melded electro hip-hop beats influenced by Yellow Magic Orchestra with the melody from Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express." Suzanne Ciani, was the first female synth player and was given the title “America’s first female synth hero”. Ciani is a five time Grammy Nominee and her most popular solo album is “The Velocity of Love”. In 1982, the Compact Disc reached the public market in Asia, and early the following year in other markets. This event is often seen as the "Big Bang" of the digital audio revolution.
In the early 1980s, NYC disco DJ Larry Levan, known for his electric mixes, gained a cult following, and the Paradise Garage, the nightclub at which he spun, became the prototype for the modern dance club where the music and the DJ were showcased. Around the same time, the disco-influenced electronic style of dance music called house music emerged in Chicago. The name was derived from the Warehouse Club in Chicago, where resident DJ Frankie Knuckles mixed old disco classics and Eurosynth pop. House music is essentially disco music with electronic drum machine beats. The common element of most house music is a 4/4 beat generated by a drum machine or other electronic means, together with a solid synth bassline. In 1983, Jesse Saunders released what some consider the first house music track, "On & On." Kym Mazelle, also known as the “first lady of house music” has been called a trailblazer for house music in the United Kingdom and Europe, working with artists such as Mick Jagger and Chaka Khan. The mid-1980s also saw the emergence of New York Garage, a house music hybrid that was inspired by Levan's style and sometimes eschewed the accentuated high-hats of the Chicago house sound.
During the mid-1980s, techno music emerged from the Detroit club scene. Being geographically located between Chicago and New York, Detroit techno artists combined elements of Chicago house and New York garage along with European imports. Techno distanced itself from disco's roots by becoming almost purely electronic with synthesized beats. In 1985, the Winter Music Conference started in Fort Lauderdale Florida and became the premier electronic music conference for dance music disc jockeys. Kelli Hand or “K-Hand” was a Detroit DJ who performed and produced techno music in Detroit night clubs throughout her lifetime. In 2017 Hand was named “The First Lady of Detroit Techno
In 1985, TRAX Dance Music Guide was launched by American Record Pool in Beverly Hills. It was the first national DJ-published music magazine, created on the Macintosh computer using extensive music market research and early desktop publishing tools. In 1986, "Walk This Way", a rap/rock collaboration by Run DMC and Aerosmith, became the first hip-hop song to reach the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. This song was the first exposure of hip-hop music, as well as the concept of the disc jockey as band member and artist, to many mainstream audiences. In 1988, DJ Times'' magazine was first published. It was the first US-based magazine specifically geared toward the professional mobile and club DJ.