Arguably the quintessential book on the rise of the DJ, Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton’s Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey is set to be re-released by White Rabbit Books in July, featuring a new foreword by James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem.
Originally released in 1999, the book encompasses the whole unruly story of dance music in one volume recreating the dancefloors that made history and featuring the voices of the DJs and clubbers at their heart – from grime, garage, house, hip hop and disco, to techno, soul, reggae, rock’n’roll, and, sigh, EDM. What is EDM, anyway?
The latest edition has been refreshed, updated, and features two brand new chapters.
“Our little book has had a busy life,” Brewster and Broughton commented. “It’s been round the world a few times and it’s heartwarming how many people have taken inspiration from it.
“As it heads into its third decade it was great to get friendly with it again, straighten its collar and send it back out to meet a whole load of new people.”
The re-release follows the securing by White Rabbit of UK & Commonwealth rights to the book from The Soho Agency.
“Fully revised, updated and expanded to cover the past decade and more in dance music culture, Last Night a DJ is always up there towards the top of the lists when it comes to debate about the greatest music books,” commented White Rabbit publisher Lee Brackstone. “It will have a long life at White Rabbit but a one-off outing in hardback for the serious collectors and Heads. Get on it.”
Or, as Brewster told 909originals as part of our Postcards from 88 series a few years back, “The origins of the dance scene go back a lot further than 1988. It’s certainly the start of a different sort of dance scene, but I’ve been going out clubbing since 1976 and there were Americans dancing to black music in the 1920s.
“Why wouldn’t you be interested in the origins of all of this? It changed people’s lives, it changed the direction of their lives. People started new careers, new relationships, altered their perceptions, it had a huge impact on society.
“It seems entirely logical to me that you would be interested in the how it all started, but it’s important to remember that a lot of it did not start in the UK and goes back much further and deeper than that.”
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey will be published on 7 July 2022, in hardback, eBook and audio.