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70 Jane’s addiction
Nostalgia
White labels
For the white album I thought I’d tell you a
bit more about DJ culture. DJ culture before
the mp3 was invented and, more specifically,
when white labels were the cachet of recognition
record store clerks bestowed upon you.
When I started buying records, around 1990,
my favourite record stores were USA Import in
Antwerp, Music Man in Gent and for second
hand stuff I always went to Wally’s Groove
World - Koenie’s shop that was squeezed in the
basement of USA Import. Later on, Dr Vinyl
opened shop in Brussels so I didn’t need to
drive to Antwerp anymore, even though it was
always good to visit other stores because each
shop had its own selection. The only way to get
some good music at the time was by religiously
visiting those stores every week. On Thursdays
was when most new records came in and you
had to be quick to get them because there often
weren’t many copies. So, best trick was to be
nice with the person selling the records: Smos
at USA, Geert at Dr Vinyl, Benoulie & Biens
at Music Man and Koenie at Wally’s Groove
World. And, since I was one of the only girls
mixing at the time, they always kept some nice
copies for me. The retailers had a lot of power
in those days. They listened to all the records
that came in and it was obvious to them which
ones would go on to become hits. Everything
was ordered in small quantities and they kept
the good records for themselves or their close
friends. The idea being that people who bought
the records could play them for a while before
they hit the dance floors and radio waves.
When you were really lucky though, you’d
stumble upon a white label. White labels are
completely white records. They are promotional
copies (not for sale!) although we were
quite happy to buy them. They were records
that the record companies sent to stores to
promote a song that hadn’t yet been released,
to sound the market out a little. So, if you were
lucky enough to have purchased a good white
label record, it was highly probable that you’d
be the only one playing it for months before
it got released. And, as a DJ, what better way
to stand out from the pack than to be spinning
some tunes that nobody else could play?
Every DJ had his own style and his own hits,
songs that everybody could sing along to
but that nobody knew the exact name of the
producer or the label. That’s also the reason
why a lot of DJs used special (white) stickers
to cover the etiquette. Some of the notorious
white labels that were released six months or
even a year before their official release were
Felix’s Don’t you want me, T99’s Anastasia,
Cameo’s Money and Nightcrawlers’ Push the
feeling on. All of them went on to become very
big hits. (Lady Jane)
Thanks to Geert from Dr Vinyl (Brussels).
Jane’s next Black Out party will be taking place on
10th December at Mr. Wong’s, with New York’s Jessica 6 and
Istanbul’s Baris K manning the decks.
© Raya Rayax