DJ MAG 25TH ANNIVERSARY: PETE TONG

Following last Saturday's heaving first part of 25 Years of DJ Mag, we're eagerly looking forward to the final instalment on Friday 21st October.

Headlined by the commanding presence of voice of UK dance music, Radio 1's Pete Tong, it swings the musical pendulum back from pounding techno to housier waters, fresh talents Christoph and Emmanuel Statie keeping it four to the floor in support.

Ahead of this appearance, we look back on just why Pete Tong is such an internationally recognised talent, not just as a DJ, tastemaker and favourite of The Queen, who gave him an MBE because she tunes into the Essential Mix every week (probably), but also as a cultural icon who has continues to affect change off air too.

Get full info on the party and buy tickets here.

It's 1983 and Pete Tong's first TV appearance alongside his mentor, DJ Froggy, apparently the UK's first DJ to own of a pair of Technics 1210s. Confusingly labelled as part of the 'hard dance scene' by the presenter, Pete talks about spending '£30 or £40' per week on records - something that if you're still doing these days will probably only get you a third of that track you really want from Discogs. The DJ's top dance floor track back then? Man Parrish's breakdance classic 'Hip Hop, Be Bop'. 

Having made a reputation as an A&R at London Records, signing LL Cool and Salt-n-Peppa, before setting up subsidiary FFRR Records, home to everyone from Frankie Knuckles to Orbital, in 1991 Pete Tong joined Radio 1 and the iconic Essential Selection. Here he is ten years later presciently talking about cracking America, the country he currently lives in having re-located to LA to work more closely with Clear Channel Entertainment’s Evolution for whom he hosts The Evolution Beatport Show.

Apples and pears, dog and bone, rub-a-dub. Most Cockney rhyming slang was coined in the early 19th century in the East End of London. Pete Tong is such an all-round legend, however, that he had a film, It's All Gone Pete Tong, made based on his name entering the modern vernacular as rhyming slang for 'wrong', especially as it relates to a night out. Who else can make that claim to fame (asides, maybe, from Brad Pitt)?

Having been part of the music industry's upper tier since its earliest days, Tong has had an up close view of its expansions and contractions over the past twenty-five years. With it's global presence the strongest that it's ever been, as EDM took hold he shared his insights with Paul Morley – co-founder of ZTT Records and seminal electronic group Art of Noise – about the genesis of this modern era.

A founder of the International Music Summit, which started in 2007 and takes places in various locations around the world, Pete has helped use his position to push the scene forward and shine a light on those who have helped build its foundation or are pointing to his future. Back in 2013 he caught up with actor and rising international DJ Idris Elba, who played at Egg earlier this year.

Finally, check this compilation from a couple of year ago and see how many classic tracks you can name that Pete has helped break over the last twenty five years. Add these to a hard drive of everything of any note new and forthcoming and you're in for a set from dance music's most connected man.