不良研究所

As we close out Pride and Black Music Month 2022, chances are you partied to Lizzo鈥檚 鈥淚t鈥檚 About Damn Time鈥�, and Latto鈥檚 鈥淏ig Energy鈥�.  These summer anthems trace their roots to legendary, late DJ Larry Levan, back to the late 1970s, at a New York City club called Paradise Garage.

The sound of the late 1970s was Disco, and nightclubs were the Social Media of the young generation.  Instead of sharing cute dances on TikTok, Twenty-somethings were dancing in person at places like Studio 54 in New York City. Studio 54 was a glamorous, exclusive club, where only hand-selected people who 鈥渉ad the look鈥� were let in. 

Across town at King Street, Michael Brody purchased an old parking garage that he converted to a club, with Larry Levan as the DJ. No glitz or glamour. The space was designed for and with the input of Larry, with one thing in mind: a members-only party. A safe and accepting place for everyone, especially marginalized people of color and sexual identity. Members were truly at a 鈥減arty鈥�, where they were served donuts, chips, and drinks, all night, for free.

The party consisted of the relationship between the guests and the music, and Larry was the ultimate matchmaker. An eclectic mix of songs, many produced or remixed by Larry, which became club anthems and radio hits. It鈥檚 easy to play hits that people already love. Week after week, Larry introduced members to sounds they鈥檇 never heard before. His gift was knowing and predicting what would move people. 

In 1981, Larry debuted Taana Gardner鈥檚 hit 鈥淗eartbeat鈥� to the world via Paradise Garage. It was a song he mixed and produced at a slow 100 Beats Per Minute. Since most club songs were much faster, the dancefloor was shocked, and rejected it. This, to me as a DJ, is my worst nightmare. You want to keep the crowd dancing. To Larry, they just didn鈥檛 know they loved it yet. He played 鈥淗eartbeat鈥� several times that first night, until people loved it, and packed the dancefloor. A hit was born, and was later sampled in the 90s by Ini Kamoze, for his monster hit 鈥淗ere Comes the Hotstepper鈥�.

Larry was the best at selecting and creating hits. Radio programmers, such as WBLS鈥� Frankie Crocker, were at the club weekly, where they took notes. WBLS successfully 鈥渂roke鈥� artists such as D-Train, Grace Jones, and Madonna, as Larry Levan tested them on the dancefloor. Other radio stations across the country followed, shaping the Radio format we know today as 鈥淯rban Contemporary鈥�. 

I learned from Larry鈥檚 friend and co-DJ, David DePino, that the club was designed with exceptional soundproofing to maximize Audio immersion. Since dancing on concrete can be painful, the dancefloor was constructed of raised wood, so thousands of friends could dance all night long. Some of those friends included Madonna, and artist Keith Haring, whose images of dancers decorated the club (and subway stations).

More than 40 years later, the family that Larry created continues to meet on dancefloors at reunions in New York. David DePino DJs these events, and his favorite part is seeing people reunite to the same songs they danced to years ago. So you don鈥檛 have to wait for a reunion to hear these sounds, we created an exclusive station 鈥淎 Tribute to Larry Levan鈥�. These are the songs that Larry gifted to his dancefloor and eventually radio around the world.听