Peter Hook (Joy Division, New Order, The Light) joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a countdown of a Record Mirror Disco Top 20 from the fabled long hot summer of 1976. As the country sweltered, Peter was finding his true path, having witnessed the Sex Pistols at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall a month earlier. Meanwhile, this chart mixes pop and rock crossover hits with disco classics, funk tracks, three slowies and a couple of obscurities. But can we persuade Greg to bring back the “erection section”? The campaign starts here…

To accompany this episode, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.

Further listening: other tracks mentioned in this episode.

Further reading:James Hamilton's Disco Pages 1975-1982 (550 page hardback book)

Mike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is Tops For Pops?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For our second visit to 1982, Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson are joined by Arthur Baker: producer, remixer, songwriter, DJ, and one of the prime architects of electro-funk (Planet Rock, Walking On Sunshine, Play At Your Own Risk, Confusion, IOU etc). In this Top 20 countdown, we can see these electronic elements starting to emerge, with some well-established funk acts already embracing the changes. Elsewhere, jazz-funk and Britfunk rub shoulders with pop crossovers, in a typically diverse snapshot of the times. Along the way, Arthur shares memories of the Paradise Garage, Better Days, a pre-fame Madonna, and collaborations with Tee Scott, Leee John, New Order and many more key figures of the era.

To accompany this episode, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.

Further listening: other tracks mentioned in this episode.

Further reading:

• James Hamilton's Disco Pages 1975-1982 (550 page hardback book)
• Greg Wilson's interview with Arthur Baker (2022)
• Arthur Baker: Looking For The Perfect Beat (Faber, 2025)

Mike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is Tops For Pops?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

DJ Paulette joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a detailed look at the last of James Hamilton's short-lived Futurist/Electro-Disco charts, from April 1981. Not only an award-winning DJ, but also a writer and broadcaster, Paulette's earliest clubbing roots lie within the Futurist/New Romantic scene, in which she was an active and enthusiastic participant. This gives her a unique personal insight into an era when electronics, fashion and politics combined in radical new ways, and when our future fascinated us more than our past.

To accompany our discussion, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.

Further listening: other tracks mentioned in this episode.(Spotify)

Further reading 1) Welcome To the Club: The Life and Lessons of a Black Woman DJ (DJ Paulette, 2024)

Further reading 2) James Hamilton's Disco Pages 1975-1982.(550 page hardback book)

Mike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is Tops For Pops?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Irvine Welsh joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson to take a look at a Disco Chart from September 1978: a time when, in the wake of Saturday Night Fever's enormous success, certain UK DJs were starting to plot a different way forwards, with jazz-funk in particular emerging as a significant new force. As we discover, many of these US tunes, although huge on British dancefloors, did not enjoy the same success in their home country.

Dividing his time between London punk clubs and Saturday night discos, Irvine straddled both worlds, at ease with their supposed cultural contradictions. To accompany his new book Men In Love - which picks up where Trainspotting left off, charting its central characters' progress through the late 1980s - Irvine has released a soundtrack album, accompanied by his Sci-Fi Soul Orchestra, which sets the characters' stories to lushly orchestrated soulful disco, inspired by the classic sound of Chic and Philadelphia International. During the episode, you'll also get to hear more about how this musical project came together.

To accompany our discussion, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.

Further listening: other tracks mentioned in this episode.(Spotify)

Further reading: James Hamilton's Disco Pages 1975-1982.(550 page hardback book)

Mike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is Tops For Pops?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To mark the 50th anniversary of James Hamilton's first Disco Page in Record Mirror, Alexis Petridis (head rock & pop critic for The Guardian) joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a countdown of the first ever Disco Chart that James compiled, based on DJ returns from around the UK.

To accompany this episode, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.

Further listening: other tracks mentioned in this episode.(Spotify) // Bob Stanley's Hot Chocolate playlist (Spotify)

Further reading: James Hamilton's Disco Pages 1975-1982.(550 page hardback book) // Guardian feature on James Hamilton, by Alexis Petridis

Mike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is Tops For Pops?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Leee John joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a Disco Chart Top 20 countdown from July 1981. Already a committed clubber and an active member of the Britfunk community, Leee had just started to find success with his band Imagination, who had been signed to Morgan Khan’s R&B label, and so he has vivid memories of this particular period: a transitional time, when the disco era had ended, the electronic era had yet to emerge, but the beat went on, with a focus on skilled musicianship and carefully crafted production. And as always, you'll also get to hear what Record Mirror's James Hamilton thought of each track that we discuss.

To accompany this episode, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.

Further listening: other tracks mentioned in this episode

Further reading: James Hamilton's Disco Pages 1975-1982 (550 page hardback book)

Mike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is Tops For Pops?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Morgan Khan joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson for a countdown of the biggest dance tracks of December 1979. As the disco backlash was taking hold in the USA, British dancefloors were experiencing a shift in styles, as dance music started to prepare itself tor the 1980s. Already a key figure in the UK music industry, well ahead of his success with the Street Sounds compilations that cemented his reputation, Morgan provides us with a unique first hand account of the era.

To accompany this episode, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.

Further listening: other tracks mentioned in this episode; Street Sounds Radio.

Further reading: James Hamilton's Disco Pages 1975-1982; Greg Wilson interviews Morgan Khan.

Mike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is Tops For Pops?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson are joined by Jeff Young: "funk mafia" DJ, presenter of BBC Radio One's first ever specialist dance music show, remixer, studio owner and music industry professional.

To accompany this episode, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.

Further listening: other tracks mentioned in this episode.

Further reading: James Hamilton's Disco Pages 1975-1982.

Mike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is Tops For Pops?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dave Lee joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson, for a look at the biggest UK dance tunes of September 1980.

To accompany this episode, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.

Further listening: other tracks mentioned in this episode.

Further reading: James Hamilton's Disco Pages 1975-1982.

Mike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is Tops For Pops?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Norman Cook joins Greg Wilson and Mike Atkinson, as we take a detailed look at what was happening on UK dancefloors in August 1982: a time of significant change, as the dominant post-disco sounds (retrospectively known as "boogie") were starting to make way for groundbreaking - and divisive - electronic innovations. With underground import tracks rubbing shoulders with crossover pop hits, this particular Record Mirror Disco Top 20 offers a fascinating snapshot of the period.

Along the way, you'll also hear about Norman's beginnings as a DJ, and about the early influences that shaped his future career as Fatboy Slim. Meanwhile, as someone who was playing these tunes at the time, at major venues such as Wigan Pier and Legend in Manchester, Greg draws on his own experience and knowledge to place this music in its proper historical context. You'll also hear how these records were reviewed in Record Mirror at the time by Mike's stepfather, the legendary James Hamilton, whose columns from this period have recently been published in book form as James Hamilton’s Disco Pages 1975-1982. .

To accompany this episode, you can listen to this entire Top 20 in full, or alternatively as a shorter medley of snippets.

Mike also hosts the podcast Which Decade Is Tops For Pops?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.