THROWBACK THURSDAY – Lil’ Louis – The Original Video Clash [1988]
Sometimes a track is so good, you start to hear it everywhere, although in the case of Lil’ Louis’ Video Clash, released in 1988, there’s no guarantee that the track you might hear on the radio is the original…
Released on Chicago’s Dance Mania imprint in 1988, while Lil’ Louis’ (aka Marvin Burns) name is associated with this seminal early acid track, it was reportedly the work of Marshall Jefferson, who produced a demo of it in his living room one day, in the company of some friends.
As a fascinating report on the origins of the track, from 5Chicago, illustrates, Marshall Jefferson at the time was creating “a lot of songs then that were played in the clubs and never came out. At that time I was giving all my rough demos to Ron Hardy and since he was there, Lil’ Louis called dibs on the new hot tune. He also told me not to give it to Ron Hardy.”
The story didn’t end there, however, with Tyree Cooper releasing his own version of the track on Rockin House Records the same year, with practically the same riff, under the name ‘Video Crash’ (not the subtle difference; it was later renamed Acid Crash).
This in turn gave rise to the Jefferson/Louis version being renamed The Original Video Clash, a name it has retained to this day.
Also in 1988, Mike Dunn released a track that borrows heavily from both the original and Tyree Cooper’s version, Magic Feet on Westbrook Records (a further indication that when it comes to acid house, you can’t get too much of a good thing) and the wheel came full circle in 1995, when DJ Funk published his booty bass reworking of the track on the label it was first released on, Dance Mania.
Phew..!
[Kudos to Leroy Skibone and josejulian1980 A.R.C for the uploads]
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