10 of the best tracks played at Club MTV

Lights, camera, action. Words you would never hear in any club but Club MTV. Aired from August 31, 1987 to June 26, 1992, the show brought a slice of house, hip-hop and dance culture to viewers at home. Presented by Brummy’s own ‘Downtown' Julie Brown, at the Palladium club in New York, the camera would cut between a wannabe model getting low to Crystal Waters' ‘Gypsy Woman’ to the original music video. The show’s concept was to create a clubber's fantasy, and to help create the fantasy, producers turned to the formulae that beauty and glamour attract more viewers.

Was the show a genuine representation of club culture? Probably not. The torsos were a little too orange, the skirts a little shorter, the dancing a little more ‘professional’. Meanwhile, 3,500 miles away, the British youth culture adopted the same music but transformed it into an underground movement; a warts and all attitude that appreciated the music in its stripped-back, most authentic form, where bucket hats and baggy trousers were not just found in Sean Ryder’s wardrobe but became a uniform for the proud rave generation.

For those watching from home across the U.S., the show was groundbreaking in that it showed a change in nightlife to older generations, facilitated a space for the mainstream to create their own version of a previously underground music genre, and, most importantly, simply entertained viewers.

Whether it was a genuine representation of late 80s - early 90s dance culture or not, the show was fun, if not a little cringeworthy, and for today’s viewers, provides a nostalgic trip of club culture and some serious old-skool floor fillers.

Crystal Waters’ ‘Gypsy Woman’ remains an essential house hit. The track, produced by The Basement Boys, topped Billboard’s dance music chart for three weeks in 1991 and has gone on to influence countless DJs, with various remixes coming out of the woodwork since the original release. From the distinctive hook ("la da dee, la dee da") to the keyboard riff, this track stands strong, still sounds fresh and gets the people going just as it did more than 20 years ago at Club MTV.

Anybody wanna stomp? 'Downtown' Julie Brown shows the crowd how it’s done with KYZE’s ‘Stomp (Move Jump Jack Your Body)’. The 1990 one-hit wonder started the dance craze, ‘The Stomp’ and with that, it became a classic club track.

The year is 1987. “The Simpsons” cartoon short is shown for the first time, Aretha Franklin is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and The Whispers’ ‘Rock Steady’ is “zoomin' up the charts”. Released seven years after their classic ‘And the Beat Goes On’, ‘Rock Steady’ was an obvious progression from their disco roots. Produced by Antonio “L.A” Reid and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, the songwriting duo behind classics from Michael Jackson and Mariah Carey, the track was always going to be R&B gold.

Paula Abdul, the American Idol judge who spent three weeks at the top of the Billboard chart with her 1988 hit ‘Straight Up’. Although ‘Knocked Out’ didn’t fare so well in the charts, the track became a slow burner after Shep Petitbone’s 1990 rework, and soon became a true floor filler for the clubbing generation. As for Snap’s ‘The Power’, there are no words to describe the legacy of this track for dance music and club culture.

Cathy Dennis was all over the dance gems of the 90s, and so it would be a crime if she didn’t make it onto the list. Teaming up with the British producer D-Mob, best known for the acid house anthem ‘We Call it Acieed’, this collab was a classic and became an international hit in clubs. If someone can fill me in on how a bunch of ‘ravers’, presumably pinging, can manage a full-on aerobics-inspired choreography to this classic…hit me up?

‘Stop! Hammer Time’. No sorry, M.C. Hammer says its prayer time. Press your palms together, smile and make it look like a legit dance move that will catch on. Remember this one? No, neither. Same Hammer pants, same vibe but a record breaker? Yes! The word ‘pray’ was mentioned a total of 147 times during the song, setting a record for the number of times a song title is repeated in an American Top 40 hit.

The 49ers ‘Don’t you Love Me’, released in 1990, featuring vocals from Jody Watley’s 1987 hit of the same title is the typical Italo house record and reached the top spot on the US dance chart. As one observant youtuber has commented, ‘What the hell kind of dance is Christian Bale doin’ @0.55?’ Check it out, the resemblance is uncanny!

This track about a woman’s right to go out and let her hair down was the debut single for Tyler Collins and became an instant hit. Released by RCA Records in 1990, the record told the boys to not wait up and the girls to party all night. Amen to that!

DJ White Lightning throwin' it down with C+C Factory’s ‘Here We Go’… scratching with his foot, chin and who knows what else! Now, if that’s not talent I don’t know what is! Best known for the hit, ‘Gonna Make you Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)’, ‘Here We Go’, their second single, was a hit on the dance scene and went to number one on the US dance chart for three weeks .

A cover of Taana Gardner’s 1981 Paradise Garage classic ‘Heartbeat’, the 1990 track by Seduction peaked at number two on the US dance chart. With April Harris on lead vocals, the original disco track is given a 90s revamp, with a bigger beat and keyboard riffs. The following track, ‘Get Up (Before the Night is Over)’, from Technotronic, best know for the classic ‘Pump Up The Jam’ proved to be a true floor-filler at Club MTV. Sampling James Brown’s ‘Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine’, the second single from the band’s debut album told the crowd to ‘Pump it, stomp it, jam, trip on this!’ Some call it corny, some call it naff, but this is a track reminiscent of the early 90s and the booming dance music culture that ran alongside a sense of freedom found by the dance and rave generation.