Frugal Grips #2: Ken Collier Live @ Heaven 1985(ish)
The Progressive Sound of Detroit from the City's Godfather of House
Welcome to Frugal Grips, the subscriber-only column where I share some of my favorite easily-had second-hand records. To scale the paywall and plunder the booty within please become a paid subscriber.
This mix is hosted by Detroit Sound Conservancy, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the city’s musical history in all its forms. They can be found at detroitsound.org. For more resources on Ken Collier and Club Heaven (including DSC’s ongoing effort to restore the Club Heaven soundsystem) click here.
The 1970’s set the stage for DJ culture as we know it. Thanks to disco’s mix-friendly format and the primitive pitch control on the Technics SL 1200 turntable, skilled DJs could begin using two turntables to keep the music rolling all night. 1979’s introduction of the SL 1200MKII turntable with its +/- 8% pitch control, purpose-built for beat-matching records, gave jocks the technology needed to seamlessly blend two records, defining our current concept of what it means to DJ. As the ‘70s gave way to the ‘80s, a handful of larger-than-life individuals elevated the craft to new heights, positioning the DJ as the soul of the party.
“Ken [Collier] was [Detroit’s] Larry Levan, our Frankie Knuckles, our Tee Scott and Ron Hardy all rolled into one” says friend and mentee Stacey 'Hotwaxx’ Hale. From the early ‘70s until his untimely death in 1996, Ken traversed the funk, disco, synth pop, Italo, house and techno eras, pioneering the art of DJing and inspiring a Who’s Who of legendary Detroit artists in the process.
Popping up on my Facebook feed several years ago, this tape was my introduction to Ken. From what little I recall, the poster prefaced it with a few sentences describing how important the ‘progressive’ sound of mid-80’s Detroit was for the birth of house and techno and how this mix, a live recording of Ken at the legendary club Heaven circa 1985, perfectly encapsulates that era. My interest was instantly piqued. ‘Progressive’ in 1985? The term only had meaning for me when attached to other genres – progressive rock, progressive house, etc. Listening to Ken’s blend of major-label pop, Italo disco, early Chicago house and more, the true meaning of the term became clear to me. Since then ‘progressive’ has come to signify anything that breaks with existing genre conventions and boundaries, adventurously blending disparate elements to forge a new sound, however temporary or amorphous.
I pulled a couple of favs from the tape and wrote briefly about them behind the paywall. Give the mix a spin and check out more Ken content below.
RBMA’s excellent, in-depth profile of Ken’s life and influence
Thirty minutes of vogueing, a drag performance and general vibes from Heaven ‘91