Todd Terry

Strictly Rhythm

2007.07.27 ::: Words by Phil Cheeseman, Pics by Photog

‘Todd the God’, they called him. In the late 80s, Todd Terry was New York house music. Arguably he invented it, certainly he defined it. In truth, the moniker was probably coined by a deadline-surfing journalist searching for a quick headline. However, it stuck, because Todd Terry bestrode the scene like a colossus.

New York had long been considered the world’s clubbing and dance music capital. However, in the mid-80s that position was under threat. The soulful disco records that were the staple diet of the NY club scene seemed pedestrian in comparison to the other-worldly sounds coming out of Chicago and Detroit, sounds that the world outside America had needed no second invitation to take to their hearts.

Sure there were stirrings in the boroughs. New Jersey was home of the garage sound, so named in homage to Larry Levan’s hugely influential dj sets at the Paradise Garage club. Hispanic producers were developing what was dubbed as the freestyle sound. And of course New York had hip hop which, whilst an ever-growing force on the international stage, still had the air of the snarling underdog. Pro-active NYC-based independent labels like Sleeping Bag, Profile and Cutting Records provided a ready outlet for all these sounds, but the shadow of house music loomed ever larger, as it stormed the UK and European pop charts.

Enter stage left from Brooklyn one Todd Terry, a young kid steeped in hip hop attitude, but with an ear that was also finely attuned to the city’s other dominant urban sound, Latin….and Chicago house music.

Terry’s formula was simple. He mashed the whole lot together. The sampler was the must-have gizmo for the new generation of bedroom producers, and Tee put his through its paces with missionary zeal.

1987 saw Terry debut on Fourth Floor Records with two notable club hits in ‘Alright Alright’ and ‘Dum Dum Cry’, as NYC’s freestyle take on the house sound began to find its feet. The man who was to become king of the production aliases caused confusion from day one, borrowing a name for these releases from a friend who had been running hugely successful street parties under the guise ‘Masters At Work’. He was later to repay the favour to the friend, Kenny Gonzalez, by introducing him to one Louie Vega.

For Todd Terry 1988 was a classic tale of ‘right time, right place’. Acid House, the so-called summer of love, and the UK’s biggest youth cult since punk. The soundtrack to the revolution came in equal parts from Chicago, Detroit, New Jersey, and proto-UK and euro house. The undisputed king, however, was New York’s Todd Terry.

Edited highlights of Terry’s incredible 1988 output? Well, there was a trio of tracks which reworked recent New York classics from different ends of the clubbing spectrum: the nouveau disco of Class Action’s ‘Weekend’ was reworked, still as ‘Weekend’, under the name Todd Terry Project; also under this moniker Dinosaur L (aka Arthur Russell)’s quirky leftfielder ‘Go Bang’ mutated into the sampladelic stormer ‘Bango (to the Batmobile’); whilst b-boy block party favourite ‘The Mexican’ by Babe Ruth formed the basis of ‘Dreams of Santa Anna’, released as Orange Lemon.

That little lot should have been more than enough for even the most workaholic of producers. Amazingly, Todd Terry topped them all with a further three releases, all stone cold anthems.

Collaborating with ultra cool rising rap stars the Jungle Brothers, he produced the mighty ‘I’ll House You’. There was Black Riot’s hypnotic ‘A Day in the Life’. However, biggest of all was ‘Can You Party’ by Royal House, in many ways the defining record of the summer of 1988. Its trademark wailing sirens, and dancefloor call to arms of “can you feel it!” (sampled from a live recording by the Jacksons) caused mayhem whenever it was dropped. Legend has it that one Saturday night, the police were called to London’s Astoria club in an effort to clear the huge crowd which was refusing to go home after a night at seminal acid night Trip. As the massed sirens began to wail, the crowd spontaneously started screaming as one “can you feeeel it!!!”

Todd the God saw out 1988 and saw in 1989 dj’ing from a tank on stage at the Brixton Academy. New York’s Chief of House Staff marshalling his army of devoted London clubbers onto the dancefloor.

Terry had helped cause two seismic shifts. The UK arguably became the centre of house culture; and 1989 arguably saw New York became the epicentre of house music djs and producers, as the likes of Clivilles & Cole, David Morales, Kenny Dope, Frankie Bones and Tommy Musto all began to look over the parapet.

NY-based Nu-Groove briefly became the cult label du jour. However, as the 90s kicked in, it was Strictly Rhythm that was to take full advantage of New York’s centre stage position. The pairing of business-savvy owner Mark Finkelstein and A&R queen Gladys Pizarro appealed to the djs and producers, and as has been well documented, it is hard to think of a New York player who didn’t record for the label.

Terry did, and played a key role in Strictly’s evolution. Through 1990 / 91, still very early days for the label, he recorded a brace of releases as Tech Nine, and a further brace as Static. Whilst they may not have hit the commercial or critical heights of most of his late 80s output, it was the very fact that NY’s house don was giving his patronage to this new label on the block that was crucial. He also wasted no time in recommending the label to Brooklyn buddy Kenny Gonzalez, who in turn brought in his new production partner Louie Vega.

He reinforced this support by dj’ing regularly at Strictly parties, not just in the States but also Europe, often alongside a hot up’n’comer like Roger Sanchez. Once again this helped showcase the innovative side of what Strictly Rhythm was doing. By the mid to late 90s it was commonplace for a label to be built around a core of dj producers, a mix of experienced and new, who were not only responsible for much of the label’s output, but also promoted it by going on the road, almost Motown revue style. Strictly, with Terry to the fore, was in the vanguard of that trend.

Of course, this being Todd Terry, he couldn’t help but leave an indelible mark on the label’s catalogue. By far his biggest tune on Strictly Rhythm was ‘Can U Feel It’, this time under the CLS moniker (and not to be confused with Royal House). A routine hip houser in its A side mix, as is the case with so many house music 12”s, the real treat was in store on the B side, wherein lurked the mighty ‘In House Dub’ mix, which found favour with djs of almost every house sub-genre you care to mention (or indeed invent).

The mid-90s saw Terry’s rep reach new levels. His simple but brilliantly effective revamp of Everything But The Girl’s haunting ‘Missing’ became a massive international hit, single-handedly revived the duo’s then flagging career, and made Terry the superstar remixer (Bjork, Garbage, George Michael, Jamiroquai, the Cardigans). Meanwhile, a deal with major label Mercury saw Todd working with vocalists such as Martha Wash and Jocelyn Brown, scoring crossover hits with ‘Keep On Jumpin’ and ‘Something’s Goin’ On’.

Terry’s career as producer, remixer and dj continues unabated to this day. However, much as George Harrison once wryly remarked that whatever else he achieved in his life, his obituary would inevitably start with the words “ex-Beatle”, so any analysis of Todd Terry centres around 1988 and all that. To continue the Beatles analogy, much as they took Elvis & Co’s rock’n’roll blueprint, turned it on its head and repackaged it to the US, much the same could be said of Todd Terry’s influence on house music. He took Chicago’s baby, gave it a New York upbringing, then sent it to finishing school in Europe.

Can you feeeeel it???!!!

Nocturnal: I think it’s fair to say that it’s been a while since you produced a big vocal record...
Todd: Well, I’ve been doing vocal records, but whether people label them as big vocal tracks or as an underground record doesn’t matter; it’s all the same to me. However people labelled it or whether this person sang it or that person sung it, you know, to me it’s the same. Sometimes people label one record as being way bigger than another and I don’t really get that.

Nocturnal: What was the inspiration behind the ‘Get Down’ track?
Todd: I first came up with this idea maybe two years ago, and I’d always wanted to do a record with all the Gods, with all the stars that make records. I felt as though that have never been done before. It had happened in Rap music on a Destruction record, but no-one from dance music has ever done it so I thought it would be a cool idea. And so far so good! But actually at first no-one really took up the offer of a record because with me, Kenny [Dope], Louie [Vega] and [DJ] Sneak all featuring they couldn’t figure out how to promote it. Really what I was trying to do is keep the hype on dance music in general. There are so many people out there creating dance music that there are no stars any more, and I think that’s becoming a problem in the industry and I think that’s why kids are looking into other avenues and other styles of music. You need a face to the music and that was key when I was putting this project together. There’s a real benefit to having a face to music, cos then kids can go online and check us out and see what we’ve done before. There’s a new generation out there that doesn’t know what Todd or Kenny or Louie or David [Morales] did, you know, so it’s kinda like I’m trying to school them too. When I started out, I looked at the Chicago and the Detroit sound, and that’s what I mimicked, that’s where I got it from, so keeping the kids clued up is definitely the way to go.

Nocturnal: How did you hook up with Tara McDonald for the track?
Todd: After we’d finished the whole album we sent it out to a few labels, and I ran into Sven Kirschner in Ibiza, and he gave me some of his records and I told him about the project. I said I was looking for a smaller label to branch it out cos all the bigger ones didn’t know how to push it and didn’t want to pay for it. I got tired with the whole big name thing, so I thought I’d start off with a smaller guy. So he got into a lot of the tracks and said that he wanted to put some vocals over the top of them. So working with him we got a couple of really great songs together. I believe that Tara brought the whole pop vibe to the project and a keen edge to take the track to the next level. I think that’s what’s going to make this project branch out.

Nocturnal: How did you and Kenny Dope meet?
Todd: I met Kenny through another partner of mine, Mike Delgado, who I made records with back in the day. We were just friends hanging out in the neighbourhood and it just went from there. We’ve know each other for years, you know, we’re home-boys! A lot of what we created came about because we were like family.

Nocturnal: Is it true that you introduced Kenny to Louie Vega?
Todd: Yeah that’s true. Louie was playing at this club called The Fun House, and me Mike and Kenny all met Louie, and he played one of his first tracks called ‘All My Love’, but it never came out, that’s how I knew Louie years and years ago.

Nocturnal: It’s probably fair to say that you were the first big name to record for Strictly Rhythm…
Todd: Yeah I would say that me and Kenny were among the first. I’m always interested in the new labels starting out. I felt that they were going to give it their full attention and that they were gonna go after it as hard as they can, instead of the criticism that comes from the major labels if the record doesn’t sell. That’s the kind of crap I hear sometimes so I’d rather go with the smaller label. We’d thrown them a couple of record for them to get to the next level. I think going with them was a good move at the time and I think that this time it’s an even better move. I think it makes a lot of sense. 10 years later, we’re back! Mark [Finklestein] is a great guy, and for a time I had a management group that were telling me to get a load of money out of him. Mark’s like family to me, so I couldn’t do it. I’m not out to jerk Mark around; I’m very honest with him in everything that I do. So that’s a big part of why I was unable to put out record with Strictly for a while. I think it’s part of the music business that some times it turns into a money issue.

Nocturnal: And you were probably one of the first US DJ’s to come and play house music in the UK…
Todd: Yes. We did a bit of touring back then, we did The Wag back in the day, we did The Fridge, you know, they we among the first clubs that even cared about that type of music.

Nocturnal: How did it compare to the kind of places you were playing in New York at the time?
Todd: It was just different. Everybody was into it, you know I used to play at The Walk, in New York, Studio 54, 1018, I used to play at all these clubs and it was just a different vibe. You could play stuff that no-one had ever heard before. There was a lot of space to play with and that’s what made me enjoy it. Now you have to be more careful with the space that you have. Back then I always thought that the US was gonna be way ahead of the UK when it came to dance music, but in the US it just completely died; it’s just not there no more! All the European countries own house music now. Back then, house music was massive in the US. First it was Detroit and Chicago and then it came to New York. It was everywhere. But then there was this one radio station which we thought was going to take it on and make house even bigger, and they wouldn’t play any of our stuff. That was a real smack in the face. When that disrespect happened, they killed the whole damn industry.

Nocturnal: Do you notice a difference in style or attitude between the old and new DJ’s?
Todd: Well when I play in clubs I play a lot of older stuff, which I guess is a breath of fresh air compared to what most DJ’s have been playing all year. So I guess that’s what keep me going and keeps me playing a lot of gigs. A lot of DJ’s are hitting the hard trance stuff with no lyrics, which I think is just a little too much. My biggest records were always the vocal records. I’ve always said it’s good to have the best of both worlds, which is why I’ve always tried to have a strong pop life while also maintaining a strong underground life. I think that’s always got to be the way to go. Make songs and then on the b-sides make dubs. There’s nothing wrong with that. You know, I wish I had some defining philosophy about dance music, but I’ve been doing it 20 years and I still can’t figure it out. I just want to make music for the people and I’m think I’m gonna stick to that. What will make the industry big again is to promote us as the stars, but I don’t think they think about it like that.

Nocturnal: Do you think it’s harder now for upcoming producers and DJ’s?
Todd: I think it’s gonna be harder because they’re not allowing the pioneers to open it up. I think there will be a few lucky hits here and there but there should be a lot more space open now. And radio stations are partly to blame for only adding 10 songs to their playlists when they could be adding 30 or 40. It’s been going on for a while, but maybe it’s time for it to stop, because it’s not helping. I think they grab what they think is hot, hit it really hard for 2, 3 months and then drop it. They don’t have a long-term plan.

Nocturnal: Of all the clubs you’ve played over the years do any stick in your mind as being particularly memorable?
Todd: The biggest clubs over the years have been the [Paradise] Garage, Ministry of Sound (no matter how much they jerked me); Hacienda was probably the greatest ever. There are a lot of clubs that really stick out, that put a stamp of approval on the music. I’ve had a lot of great times, I will never tear that down.

Nocturnal: What can we expect from you this year?
Todd: I’m just gonna do what I do! When I DJ, my concept is to play a lot of my own tracks because people don’t get to hear that kind of thing the rest of the year. It’s worked out for me that way.

::: Related Links

::: www.strictly.com

::: www.trustthedj.com/ToddTerry