Check out this classic Essential Mix from Paul Oakenfold, broadcast 25 years ago today… [March 1994]

Approximately nine months before his epoch-defining Goa Mix for the Essential Mix, Paul Oakenfold’s second outing in the BBC studios, broadcast on 19 March 1994 – 25 years ago today – is a time capsule of an era when techno, trance, and a myriad of genres all melded into one.

Incorporating classics such as OT Quartet’s Hold That Sucker Down, Poltergeist’s Vicious Circles, Quench’s Dreams and Stella by Jam and Spoon, it’s a non-stop two-hour rush that underlines why Oakey in his heyday was one of the best.

There’s even room for Cypress Hill’s Insane in the Brain… trust us, it works.


In an Q&A session on Reddit a few years ago, Oakenfold revealed that as the 90s drew on, he “lost interest in trance, because like in a lot of genres, everything started to sound the same, and the melodic, emotional side of trance started to disappear. It was just the obvious breakdowns in every record.”

But for a glorious period earlier in the decade, the London native was at the top of his game when it came to this particular genre. Turn it up loud!

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