Liner notes to a history of the rewind
Medium’s Cuepoint magazine just published “Wheel It Up: History of the Rewind,” a feature I’ve been working on for a couple of months that involved a lot of research.
Considering the scope of the feature and some of the elements left untold, or just touched upon, here are some of my research notes to accompany it. Ideal for anyone who wants to know more or who, like me, enjoys nerding out on music history and the various filaments that connect people, places and music.
The idea for the story first germinated in my head after repeated listens to a DMZ set from June 2006 at FWD>> posted by Blackdown for the tenth anniversary of his blog.
I’d actually been there, it was one of the last FWD>> sessions at Plastic People I attended before moving to Japan, and listening back to the set I found myself transported back to that dark room underneath Curtain Road. There’s something timeless about the energy that the music, and the dances, held back then. A timelessness I dare say might well compare to acid house, hardcore and jungle.
As was common in DMZ sets from that era, the rewinds are an integral part of the energy that the hour long back to back session between Mala and Loefah generates. Most of the rewinds are channeled to the audience from the DJs via Sgt Pokes, their MC. For a while, those three formed a triangle of musical energies honed in on a sound that fully deserves the too often used adjective “unique.” (*hand up* I’m one of those who uses it too often)
The more I listened to the set, the more the rewinds became part of the flow of the music, just as scratches and other turntable or mixing tricks become part of any good mix you end up getting familiar with. Some people remember lyrics and can sing along. Some remember the mixing tricks, and can sing along to them too. And just like mixing tricks, rewinds are fairly divisive, which led me to wonder about their history.
Who was the first person to do a rewind?
Turns out I couldn’t find a genesis story per se, and not for lack of trying. Still, thanks to David Katz’ input I think I got close enough with the idea that the shock of the new and the crowd’s response to it is what first triggered the rewind. Knowing who was the first to do it wasn’t really the point. Putting together a sonic road map of rewind’s evolution was, even if I didn’t know it until I was done.
With all that said and done, here are some of the features, books, documentaries, photo and audio that informed the chronology and stories behind the rewind’s evolution:
UK garage history | http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/nightclubbing-happy-days
One thing from there I couldn’t fit it into my story is that apparently “We Are I.E.” was played in the early days of one of the first UK garage nightclubs. A nice little link that.
Dub Echoes documentary | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGIqnGEcCbo
I lifted a few quotes from this, including the Bunny Lee one. Doesn’t really touch on rewinds but still provides one of the best summaries of how Jamaican music impacted around the world and its evolution to the early 2000s with input from many who helped make it happen.
Martin Clark’s column in Pitchfork, July 06 | http://pitchfork.com/features/grime-dubstep/6381-the-month-in-grime-dubstep/
In addition to the anniversary post with the DMZ set, this particular edition of Martin’s column has him reflecting on the history and importance of the rewind in UK dance music. I ended up only using a small portion of a couple paragraphs that really hit on the rarely-spoken yet somehow understood importance of rewinds from jungle all the way to dubstep.
DOTS ‘The Dubstep Years’ photo album | https://www.flickr.com/photos/drumzofthesouth/sets/72157594334050528/
Georgina Cook’s documentation of the early years of dubstep and its explosion onto the world remain for me the best photo documentary of that era. It says everything without a word, which is always frustrating to admit as a writer. I tried to get her photo of Joe Nice having a five moment with the crowd included, but it sadly didn’t. Georgina’s photos from that era are an important record of a time in London I will always cherish. They really get to the people behind the music in a beautiful way.
Johnny Osbourne interview | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd8iR_kgPI0
Has a really great bit (starting at 0:20) that explains how rewinds work in Jamaica. Obsbourne gets to the essence of the practice as an interaction between crowd and performer. Salute it. Didn’t make the cut, nor did his track “Rewind.” Thanks to Digital for tipping me to the tune (“no conversation on rewinds is complete without it”) which led me to the interview.
Metalheadz at The Blue Note history | http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/nightclubbing-metalheadz-at-blue-note
Has a brief mention of how rewinds were treated at Metalheadz’ legendary sessions.
East London sound system history | http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/east-london-sound-system-feature
Further insights into just how deep sound system culture runs in the roots of London dance music.
In Search of the First Dub LP | http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/first-dub-lp-in-search-of
David Katz’ story about which album is the first dub LP. Looked at it after his mention of Herman Chin Loy and dub as a tool for DJs to continuously chat without needing to haul and pull up.
Rewind lexicon thread | http://forum.dancehallreggae.com/archive/index.php/t-71968.html?s=d8a523be3d33c9af12320695beb214d5
One of the funniest things to look into was how wide the lexicon for the word rewind is. Thanks to Joe Muggs for finding this particular gem that lives up to its name of the “wikkedest pull up phrases/styles.” Also Chef’s “taking it from Edgware Road” didn’t fit in but deserves a mention as another great London twist on the phrase.
David Rodigan RBMA lecture transcript | http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/david-rodigan-2012-lecture?template=RBMA_Lecture%2Ftranscript
Has a great bit about forwards in the dance that ended up being cut.
Benji B’s greatest Deviation hits | http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/benji-b-deviation-video-countdown
“The atmosphere was unbelievable. I think we kept going until a friend came over and said, “Please don’t rewind this tune again.”
Skepta interview | http://hypetrak.com/2014/10/skepta-interview/
The grime veteran on visiting Jamaica and explaining that rewinds are part of grime’s DNA because they are a part of Jamaican culture.
Brian Belle-Fortune | All Crews
From which I culled the only origin story for a rewind, some 20 years after it came over from Jamaica. Though I’d bet some people will no doubt disagree about who was the first to do a rewind in jungle. The book’s full of mentions of rewinds and pull ups as being integral to the energy of the music and in creatinag discourse between audience and performer.
From which I lifted the quote about MCs Jamaica-nising garage music. There’s a brief mention of rewinds in that particular segment too.
I found it odd that despite the amount of historical and academic work on Jamaican music and its evolution worldwide, so little has been written about the rewind. Aside from All Crews, most of the books and academic papers I found barely mention the rewind and if they do it’s simply to note that it’s just another DJ “trick” rather than something more meaningful.
Considering the longevity of the practice, and its real world impact in the dance, I wonder if it’s because most of those who’ve written about it simply aren’t fans of it.
Here’s a playlist of videos I used for reference — Jungle Soundclash is a really great one — as well as songs namechecked in the piece and others that didn’t make the cut for various reasons. Rewinds are either used sonically in the track or part of the lyrics/title in some meaningful way.
It’s by no means exhaustive, rather it’s a short round up of tracks that helped me draft my chronology. It should also be noted that the list doesn’t really include much Jamaican stuff, because to be honest that would be a mammoth work all of itself. I spotted a tracklist from Disorda’s reggae/dub radio show a month or so ago, and it had at least 20 tracks with variations on the word rewind in the title.
Audio wise, there’s this great archive of rave tape packs from Stamina MC which I came across once I’d finished the piece.
There’s also this recording of Saxon vs Unity vs Stone Love in London circa 1989.
And this gem from Big Apple records, which has El-B performing live as Ghost in 2000 in South London and doing rewinds despite playing on a hardware rig. Serious!
A mix I listened to a lot in the run up to this is Peshay live at Blue Note for Metalheadz in 1997, includes some very understated but essential pull ups.
A few words of thanks are also due. To the editors at Cuepoint for taking a chance on the feature and helping to edit it down from an excited nerd story to something more concise that is still nerdy yet more approachable by the general public. Thanks also to those who contributed to the research, especially Manny Citinite who dug out a lot of gems after my Facebook request for songs that incorporated the rewind sonically, Danny Scrilla for helping make sense of the rewind/forward linguistic trick, to Wrongtom and Wayne & Wax for early input and to all the interviewees for helping flesh out the idea through their own experiences and enthusiasm (or lack thereof). Haul and pull up.
