Mike Skinner On 97

GOODHOOD recently sat down with The Streets' front man Mike Skinner to talk about the musical landscape in 1997 and the Nike Air Max 97, which just has re-released.

"You were in Birmingham in 1997, what was happening then – what can you tell us about the musical landscape at that time?"

"97, for me personally, was all about speed garage. Grime was when I came to London in like 2001 and before that, around 95, was house. Birmingham was a funny one because I hung out with guys that were rappers, really, because I used to record other rappers. Because we were from, like the suburbs really, I didn’t really feel safe at Drum’n’Bass events at that time. It did quickly go quite studenty, probably around 97. Certainly before 97 going to drum ‘n’ bass events wasn’t really, I mean it was alright but it was always something; someone firing a gun or kicking off. I wasn’t really into that. You know, ecstasy and gun fire doesn’t really go together. Weirdly, speed garage really worked for us because they played it in all the House clubs. Because it started with Armand Van Helden putting those sort of big jungle basslines on house records, so it really started in house clubs. The House clubs at that time were quite safe, you know, although they did try and put on a few bassline events at the Que Club and that was a total nightmare..."

for the full interview click here.


source: GOODHOOD