Yes, I would agree with all of you. Jack the Tab was Gen's attempt at jumping on the bandwagon. I did hear acid house DJ's in the UK use Gen saying the word "ACID" off of the inner groove of the Superman 12" "Tune in, Turn on (thee Acid House)" in the summer of '88 though. That was it.
Even though I wasn't involved in Jack the Tab it was an influential UK psychedelic record that acknowledged the coming Acid House phenomenon. Weatherall used the same sample from that biker movie on the Primal Scream stuff. Richard James told me once when we first met that he had bought Jack the Tab when it came out and was disappointed that there was no 303 on it. He was like, "Where's the acid ? " Richard was also the only one who spotted the sample of Margaret Thatcher on a cooking TV program. Don't forget Stakker "Humanoid". Great UK Acid track that was out then. And the Baby Ford stuff was good too. Please remember that unless you lived in Chicago in 1986-88 these records were extremely regional. You really couldn't track down this stuff unless you got on a plane and went to the source. I was surprised that when I got to London in the early summer of '88 the best records I heard were from Chicago and Detroit and that I couldn't buy any of the stuff in Boston and NYC and they were extremely hard to get my hands on in London. These days we are spoiled by finding out about stuff via the internet. Back then it could take years to track down fairly current records and it did. I remember sitting in the lounge of Berwick St. studio were the Orb were recording visiting a friend @ the studio when I first saw the video on TV of Inner City doing "Good Life". I was totally impressed. I thought they were from Belgium or something. So stylish and fresh. Couldn't believe they were from Detroit and they weren't known yet outside of Detroit in the US. That changed very quickly. It's a bit like when Donna Summer went from Boston to Germany to work with Moroder, who was from Italy. By the time of "Tekno Acid Beat" the Acid House phenomenon in the UK had to go underground. By the time Wax Trax released this stuff, "Jack the Tab" was really out of date. Those who bought either of them had to be really young or completely out of it. What do you expect in the US ? I did say to Gen @ the time in '88 that we should just get the gear to make real Acid house records back then but he wanted to integrate the band into it still and tour. I already had a 303, 202 and 808 and samplers but they were all in the US, so we continued in this rock/Acid house inspired hybrid band thing. I still believe that we were pretty good at it compared to the likes of others @ that time who claimed to be Acid House bands also, Happy Mondays, Primal Scream and the Shamen. They all had better financed record companies helping them. We had sh*t. But audiences on our tours certainly thought that rock was dead and acid house was it. I always thought of PTV when I was involved as the Acid Rock House band that was playing @ the funeral of Rock and Roll. It was us saying "f*ck you" to the music industry before mp3's. Haven't been paid to pick up a guitar since then. One bit of insight Gen did have was that the DJ and electronic music was the next most interesting wave in music in '88. Too bad he couldn't figure out some way to contribute. I certainly moved on when I met the Plus 8 guys in '90. According to the movie "24 Hour Party People" Tony Wilson invented Acid House and the Happy Mondays were the greatest band in the world with the greatest poet in England. Give me a break. The time I saw them they were the stiffest most drugged out band of losers I had ever heard. Absolutely no groove. Teabags !!! telepathic regards, the kooky scientist on 10/9/03 5:13 PM, Matt MacQueen at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > catching up on some old mail... sorry i'm late > >> These records influenced him into making the 'Jack the Tab' compilation >> which although very good, never really struck me as being either a.) >> an >> Acid-House record - there wasn't a 303 in sight or b.) a radical new >> sound >> - it contained loads of samples much akin to what Meat Beat Manifesto >> and >> others had been doing a few years earlier. > > Personally, it's a compilation that I could never get into... and the > title > is so awesome but the music inside just didn't hold up for me, ha ha. > I think Wax Trax put it out as 2xLP Jack The Tab: Tekno Acid Beat. > (I'll admit i've never really lusted after Gen's tunes much to begin > with... ) > Shock value does not equal musical value, and I didn't even find > much on that 'Jack the Tab' comp truly shocking compared to other (and > IMHO better) > things dropping at that time both from chicago and UK (circa 87-88?). > > The comp is interesting historical footnote but IMHO little more. I > suppose if > you snatched this up when it first came out it might hold some > (personally) nostalgic value for some folks but I think the majority of > these tracks > aren't deserving of the title "classics" or "cornerstone of techno" as > I have heard > others praise this comp. I also realize this is completely > subjective. :) > > I think a lot of US folks just kind of shrugged at this one... there > were better > tunes to be had locally both in detroit and chicago at that time. > Believe me I > appreciate early UK acid techno/house but "Jack The Tab" ain't the > finest > example of it. > > peace > Matt MacQueen >
