Kiss FM, London

Originally, Matt Black’s MasterMix Dance Party and Jonathan More’s Meltdown Party were separate Kiss FM shows—Danny Rampling’s slot separated theirs, in fact. But by the summer of 1988, Black and More were hitting the charts regularly: Coldcut’s “Doctorin’ the House,” their remix of Eric B. & Rakim’s “Paid in Full,” and their production of Yazz and the Plastic Population’s “The Only Way Is Up,” which spent five weeks at number one that August and September. That fall, Black and More’s shows were combined into a 4 p.m. Coldcut slot. “It was great being on Kiss, because at that point Kiss had all the best DJs in London,” Black told FACT Magazine. “We had all bases covered of what was cool music then.”

For Coldcut’s show, Solid Steel, guest mixes were always part of the package, and this session by techno godfather Juan Atkins is a fascinating snapshot of dance culture in transition. Atkins’ mixing is unsteady, but there was no such thing yet as “pure” techno, or anything else—Atkins’ own “Techno Music” (as Model 500) was followed not long after by the fluffy soul of Ten City’s “Right Back to You.” (Black’s interview with Atkins, conveniently enough, begins at precisely 30:00.) Black describes the show as part of Kiss’s “pre-legalization drive—to stay on the air for the next 30 days,” in advance of the station’s subsequent licensing.