Love is the Message: Dance, Music and Counterculture

In this week’s episode, Tim and Jeremy chart the emergence of the dancefloor as a site of important cultural practice. From the frigid discotheques of the 1960s to the wild abandon of the all night dancing that would explode in popularity just a few years later, we hear how the role of the DJ changed in both technical innovation and relationship with the crowd, the types of people who were heading onto the dancefloors of the early 1970s, and the repressive society they were seeking to cast off. Tim and Jeremy also discuss David Mancuso’s early audiophile experiments, the parallel sonic explorations also taking place in the sound systems of Jamaica, and draw similarities and differences between dancing and another ’70s activity, jogging.

This week Tim and Jeremy recount their personal journeys across the dancefloors of the UK and the USA, talk about how they came to work together, and their first time meeting David Mancuso. They recall how - after playing in London for the first time - David would join Tim and Jeremy in eventually hosting four UK Loft parties a year. They discuss the difficulties of finding an appropriate venue and sound system, the effects of hearing David’s selections in the flesh, and why balloons are always better than lazers.

Jeremy's 3 hour postmodernism lecture, mentioned in the show, can be found here: https://culturepowerpolitics.org/2020/12/20/what-is-or-was-postmodernism-3-hour-version/

This week Tim and Jeremy take us back to Valentine's Day 1970 for the very first of what would become a 50 year era of David Mancuso's Loft parties. They consider David's childhood experience of collectivised living while in care; the important antecedents found in the rent party scene and the '60s psychedelic culture of the melting pot city of New York; Tim recounts the origins of David's interest in audiophile sound; and the pair ask whether creating a space of freedom on the dance floor can be seen as a form of molecular politics.

Booker T and the MGs - Melting Pot

In the second of two episodes on Counterculture, Tim and Jeremy leave the '60s and move through the rest of the 20th Century, identifying the countercultural characteristics of reggae, punk, hip hop, house, techno and drum & bass. They cover the anti-imperial and anti-colonial sentiment of Rastafarianism, the simultaneous emergence of DJing in both Kingston and New York, and discuss the ambivalent political status of Punk. We also dig into the historiography of House and Techno, and consider the idea and potentiality of 'the machine' for the creators of these musics, asking: can the embrace of pleasure alone ever change the world?

In the first of two episodes on Counterculture, Tim and Jeremy focus on the late ’60s and early ’70s – a period of exceptional cultural and political activity in the UK and the USA. They discuss the emergent New Social Movements, how Rock was institutionalised as the sound of the counterculture at the expense of other genres, the limitations of Timothy Leary’s invitation to ‘tune in and drop out’, the under-appreciated importance of Miles Davis and Jazz to the moment, and whether love really is all you need.

Love is the Message: Music, Dance & Counterculture is a new show from Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert, both of them authors, academics, DJs and audiophile dance party organisers. They’ve been friends and collaborators since 1997, teaching together and running parties since 2003. With clubs closed and half their jobs lost to university cuts, they’re inevitably launching a podcast.

Welcome to Love is the Message: Dance, Music and Counterculture, a new podcast from academics, DJs and soundsystem owners Jeremy Gilbert and Tim Lawrence. Join us for a long and winding journey through David Mancuso's legendary Loft parties in NYC, via the countercultural musical expressions of acid rock, jazz, reggae, hip hop and jungle, and to the early '00s, when Tim and Jeremy started hosting their own parties. Expect political discussion, detailed analysis and deep tunes.