# The Waxonia Desk — Every Record We Rank

The Waxonia Desk curates a list on Waxonia. Hand-picked records, each with a reason.

- **Curates:** 303 picks across 31 selections
- **Updated:** 2026-08-29
- **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/artist/the-desk/

## Their picks

Selected, not ranked — the order is the curator’s, and carries no claim about which is best.

### [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/)

Six records from the Chicago rooms themselves rather than from the documentary about them. Two of them are not house at all, which is the point: what a room plays and what a genre is later said to be are different lists.

*6 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Mr. Fingers](https://waxonia.com/artist/mr-fingers/) — [Can You Feel It](https://waxonia.com/track/mr-fingers--can-you-feel-it/)

*1986 · Trax*

The record most often used to explain house to people who were not there. What it did in a room and what it does in a documentary are two different things, and the room came first.

Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/), [The Eighties](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/), [The Waxonia Desk — Looped and Filtered](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Mr.%20Fingers%20Can%20You%20Feel%20It) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=p2XxyBViBog)

#### [Frankie Knuckles & Jamie Principle](https://waxonia.com/artist/frankie-knuckles-and-jamie-principle/) — [Your Love](https://waxonia.com/track/frankie-knuckles-and-jamie-principle--your-love/)

*1987 · Trax*

It circulated on tape for years before anybody pressed it. A city's music is a strange object when its most famous song exists first as a cassette somebody made you a copy of.

Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/), [Sung to Someone](https://waxonia.com/theme/sung-to-someone/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Frankie%20Knuckles%20%26%20Jamie%20Principle%20Your%20Love) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=M6LAE5ejrjg)

#### [Marshall Jefferson](https://waxonia.com/artist/marshall-jefferson/) — [Move Your Body](https://waxonia.com/track/marshall-jefferson--move-your-body/)

*1986 · Trax*

Subtitled the house music anthem, and it earned the definite article. The piano is the argument: it opened the music to people who needed a tune to hold, and began the long business of making house respectable.

Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/), [The Waxonia Desk — Looped and Filtered](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Marshall%20Jefferson%20Move%20Your%20Body) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=RhKMMh4qOL8)

#### [Fingers Inc.](https://waxonia.com/artist/fingers-inc/) — [Bring Down the Walls](https://waxonia.com/track/fingers-inc--bring-down-the-walls/)

*1986 · Alleviated*

Robert Owens singing gospel phrasing over a drum machine, in rooms most churches would not have admitted the congregation to. That tension is the whole record and nobody has resolved it since.

Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Fingers%20Inc.%20Bring%20Down%20the%20Walls) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Fingers%20Inc.%20Bring%20Down%20the%20Walls)

#### [Strafe](https://waxonia.com/artist/strafe/) — [Set It Off](https://waxonia.com/track/strafe--set-it-off/)

*1984 · Jus Born*

A New York electro record that Chicago played as house. The line people draw between the two genres was not visible from inside the booth, and this is the record that proves it.

Also on: [Electro](https://waxonia.com/genre/electro/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Strafe%20Set%20It%20Off) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=z8wokfoyHf4)

#### [Loose Joints](https://waxonia.com/artist/loose-joints/) — [Is It All Over My Face](https://waxonia.com/track/loose-joints--is-it-all-over-my-face/)

*1980 · West End*

Larry Levan's mix, and the disco record that sounds most like what came after it. Chicago inherited more from New York than the city's own mythology tends to admit.

Also on: [Disco](https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/), [The Waxonia Desk — What the DJs Kept](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-what-the-djs-kept/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Loose%20Joints%20Is%20It%20All%20Over%20My%20Face) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=hn27RiqRj7s)

### [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/)

Three Chicago records built on a single idea held far past comfort — a loop, a filter sweep, a piano figure. The architecture French house took wholesale a decade later was already finished here.

*3 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Mr. Fingers](https://waxonia.com/artist/mr-fingers/) — [Can You Feel It](https://waxonia.com/track/mr-fingers--can-you-feel-it/)

*1986 · Trax*

House at its most elemental — a bassline, a hi-hat and an enormous amount of patience. The patience is the part that carried: almost nothing happens here, and it happens for a very long time.

Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/), [The Eighties](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/), [The Waxonia Desk — In the Room](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Mr.%20Fingers%20Can%20You%20Feel%20It) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=p2XxyBViBog)

#### [Lil Louis](https://waxonia.com/artist/lil-louis/) — [French Kiss](https://waxonia.com/track/lil-louis--french-kiss/)

*1989 · Diamond / Epic*

A record whose entire architecture is one filter sweep held past the point of comfort, and then held longer. Every filtered house record of the next decade is downstream of it.

Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Lil%20Louis%20French%20Kiss) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rmOAVfEDyhA)

#### [Marshall Jefferson](https://waxonia.com/artist/marshall-jefferson/) — [Move Your Body](https://waxonia.com/track/marshall-jefferson--move-your-body/)

*1986 · Trax*

The piano house template, and the thing every producer who came after had to decide whether to inherit or refuse. Most of them inherited it and few of them admitted as much.

Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/), [The Waxonia Desk — In the Room](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Marshall%20Jefferson%20Move%20Your%20Body) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=RhKMMh4qOL8)

### [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/)

Three records made of almost nothing — a drum machine, a bass generator used wrong, a loop held until it becomes a song. The cheapest equipment in the shop, and a genre came out of it.

*3 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Steve "Silk" Hurley](https://waxonia.com/artist/steve-silk-hurley/) — [Jack Your Body](https://waxonia.com/track/steve-silk-hurley--jack-your-body/)

*1986 · Underground / DJ International*

A record made of almost nothing, which went to number one in Britain anyway. The clearest ancestor of the idea that a loop held long enough stops being a loop and becomes a song.

Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Steve%20%22Silk%22%20Hurley%20Jack%20Your%20Body) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=_eDf8IGSh0Q)

#### [Phuture](https://waxonia.com/artist/phuture/) — [Acid Trax](https://waxonia.com/track/phuture--acid-trax/)

*1987 · Trax*

The accident that became a genre. A bass machine nobody wanted, misused by mistake and then misused on purpose, and thirty years of records came out of the difference between the two.

Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Phuture%20Acid%20Trax) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Phuture%20Acid%20Trax)

#### [Mr. Fingers](https://waxonia.com/artist/mr-fingers/) — [Mystery of Love](https://waxonia.com/track/mr-fingers--mystery-of-love/)

*1985 · Alleviated*

The warm end of Chicago rather than the raw end. The city produced both in the same eighteen months, and the story that it was ever only one of them is a later invention.

Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Mr.%20Fingers%20Mystery%20of%20Love) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=5tqErnknRsE)

### [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/)

Four Detroit records whose second life was European. Ghent, Berlin and Rotterdam heard them before most of America did, and a continental floor is audible in what happened to the music afterwards.

*4 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Rhythim Is Rhythim](https://waxonia.com/artist/rhythim-is-rhythim/) — [Strings of Life](https://waxonia.com/track/rhythim-is-rhythim--strings-of-life/)

*1987 · Transmat*

Obvious, and obvious for a reason. It was a Belgian and British floor record before Detroit had a market of its own, which is why a city's most famous export sounds nothing like the city that made it.

Also on: [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/), [The Eighties](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Rhythim%20Is%20Rhythim%20Strings%20of%20Life) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=vGFw2qeUp0s)

#### [Jeff Mills](https://waxonia.com/artist/jeff-mills/) — [The Bells](https://waxonia.com/track/jeff-mills--the-bells/)

*1996 · Purpose Maker*

The other pole entirely: no melody, no release, just a riff tightening for six minutes. It was built for a very large European room and it has been closing them for thirty years.

Also on: [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/), [The Waxonia Desk — Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-techno/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Jeff%20Mills%20The%20Bells) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=S-BlgAQ7uRQ)

#### [DJ Rolando / Underground Resistance](https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-rolando-underground-resistance/) — [Jaguar](https://waxonia.com/track/dj-rolando-underground-resistance--jaguar/)

*1999 · Underground Resistance*

A Detroit label's politics turned into a continental hit and then into a fight over who owned it. The record outran its own scene, which is the thing Underground Resistance had spent a decade warning about.

Also on: [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/), [Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records](https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Rolando%20%2F%20Underground%20Resistance%20Jaguar) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=gw7vrBSBQwk)

#### [Drexciya](https://waxonia.com/artist/drexciya/) — [Bubble Metropolis](https://waxonia.com/track/drexciya--bubble-metropolis/)

*1993 · Underground Resistance*

The strangest thing here and the one Europe held closest — the records found a home in Berlin as readily as in Detroit, and the mythology around them travelled better than any press release would have.

Also on: [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/), [The Waxonia Desk — Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-techno/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Drexciya%20Bubble%20Metropolis) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=wdbf7-tlDV8)

### [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/)

Where to go once Strings of Life has done its work. Four records that show the city arguing with itself about what the future was supposed to sound like.

*4 picks · updated 2026-08-28*

#### [Model 500](https://waxonia.com/artist/model-500/) — [No UFO's](https://waxonia.com/track/model-500--no-ufos/)

*1985 · Metroplex*

The map, drawn before anyone had agreed there was territory. Cold electro chassis and science-fiction distance, and the first record that is unambiguously techno rather than something approaching it.

Also on: [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/), [The Eighties](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Model%20500%20No%20UFO's) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Model%20500%20No%20UFO's)

#### [Jeff Mills](https://waxonia.com/artist/jeff-mills/) — [The Bells](https://waxonia.com/track/jeff-mills--the-bells/)

*1996 · Purpose Maker*

The other pole from Strings of Life entirely. No melody to speak of, no release, just a riff that tightens for six minutes. Techno as pure pressure, and still the most reliable weapon in the format.

Also on: [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/), [The Waxonia Desk — Detroit, Heard in Europe](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-in-europe/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Jeff%20Mills%20The%20Bells) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=S-BlgAQ7uRQ)

#### [Drexciya](https://waxonia.com/artist/drexciya/) — [Bubble Metropolis](https://waxonia.com/track/drexciya--bubble-metropolis/)

*1993 · Underground Resistance*

Detroit techno as mythology, made by people who refused to be photographed and built an underwater civilisation instead. Play it after the Model 500 and hear the same city imagining a very different exit.

Also on: [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/), [The Waxonia Desk — Detroit, Heard in Europe](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-in-europe/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Drexciya%20Bubble%20Metropolis) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=wdbf7-tlDV8)

#### [Carl Craig](https://waxonia.com/artist/carl-craig/) — [At Les](https://waxonia.com/track/carl-craig--at-les/)

*1997 · Planet E*

The argument's resolution, if it has one. Craig lets the melody breathe for nine minutes and proves the machine funk was always capable of tenderness when nobody was trying to prove anything.

Also on: [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Carl%20Craig%20At%20Les) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1lzLxbifln0)

### [Disco](https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/)

Five records whose lives were decided in a booth rather than on radio — a closing ritual, a flop rescued by a mix, the first commercial twelve-inch, and a record a London sound system took its name from.

*5 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Chic](https://waxonia.com/artist/chic/) — [Good Times](https://waxonia.com/track/chic--good-times/)

*1979 · Atlantic*

The bassline that financed hip-hop's first hit, and the record a Ladbroke Grove sound system named itself after in 1980. Few records have been repurposed this many times and survived all of it.

Also on: [Disco](https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Chic%20Good%20Times) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=iGKQapswGaY)

#### [MFSB](https://waxonia.com/artist/mfsb/) — [Love Is the Message](https://waxonia.com/track/mfsb--love-is-the-message/)

*1973 · Philadelphia International*

The closing ritual of the Paradise Garage, played to the same room often enough to become liturgy. Some records are made by DJs years after they are recorded, and this is the clearest case.

Also on: [Disco](https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/MFSB%20Love%20Is%20the%20Message) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=7b1umcmfaXY)

#### [Loose Joints](https://waxonia.com/artist/loose-joints/) — [Is It All Over My Face](https://waxonia.com/track/loose-joints--is-it-all-over-my-face/)

*1980 · West End*

Disco at its strangest and least commercial, rescued by a mix. The rare groove tradition was never about obscurity for its own sake; it was about records that were better than their sales.

Also on: [Disco](https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/), [The Waxonia Desk — In the Room](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Loose%20Joints%20Is%20It%20All%20Over%20My%20Face) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=hn27RiqRj7s)

#### [Double Exposure](https://waxonia.com/artist/double-exposure/) — [Ten Percent](https://waxonia.com/track/double-exposure--ten-percent/)

*1976 · Salsoul*

The first commercially released twelve-inch, which is a format question as much as a musical one. The extended mix changed what a DJ could build over the course of an hour.

Also on: [Disco](https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Double%20Exposure%20Ten%20Percent) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rP0EPsS3OdQ)

#### [Funkadelic](https://waxonia.com/artist/funkadelic/) — [One Nation Under a Groove](https://waxonia.com/track/funkadelic--one-nation-under-a-groove/)

*1978 · Warner Bros.*

The border case, and here as one. Funkadelic on a disco list is arguable, and a list nobody could argue with is a list nobody chose.

Also on: [Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Funkadelic%20One%20Nation%20Under%20a%20Groove) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=gQw7b489DlE)

### [Dubstep](https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/)

Five records from the January 2006 broadcast usually credited with taking dubstep national, and from the months either side of it. A few hundred people in a Brixton basement were given two hours of national radio.

*5 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Digital Mystikz](https://waxonia.com/artist/digital-mystikz/) — [Anti-War Dub](https://waxonia.com/track/digital-mystikz--anti-war-dub/)

*2006 · DMZ*

Mala's case for space over impact, made on national radio. The restraint was the hardest part of the argument to get across at the time, and it is the part of it that lasted.

Also on: [Dubstep](https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Digital%20Mystikz%20Anti-War%20Dub) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=nhyOzIiBv-o)

#### [Skream](https://waxonia.com/artist/skream/) — [Midnight Request Line](https://waxonia.com/track/skream--midnight-request-line/)

*2005 · Tempa*

The tune that converted people who had no idea what they were listening to. A scene needs one record everybody can hum before anything else it does is allowed to travel.

Also on: [Dubstep](https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/), [Bass Weight](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Skream%20Midnight%20Request%20Line) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=lcMAbnZy8l8)

#### [Kode9 & The Spaceape](https://waxonia.com/artist/kode9-and-the-spaceape/) — [Sine of the Dub](https://waxonia.com/track/kode9-and-the-spaceape--sine-of-the-dub/)

*2004 · Hyperdub*

A Prince cover reduced to a sine wave and a recitation, broadcast to a national audience. Nothing about that was a safe choice, and it is why the show is remembered as an argument rather than a playlist.

Also on: [Dubstep](https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Kode9%20%26%20The%20Spaceape%20Sine%20of%20the%20Dub) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=xATku5_RL9U)

#### [Burial](https://waxonia.com/artist/burial/) — [Archangel](https://waxonia.com/track/burial--archangel/)

*2007 · Hyperdub*

From just after the broadcast, and the record that took the sound to people who would never go to DMZ. What a scene gains in reach it loses in the room, and this is the trade being made.

Also on: [Dubstep](https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/), [The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Burial%20Archangel) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=E2qLD9c3Gq4)

#### [Benga & Coki](https://waxonia.com/artist/benga-and-coki/) — [Night](https://waxonia.com/track/benga-and-coki--night/)

*2008 · Tempa*

The other direction entirely — a bassline built to break a room. Everything people came to love and to hate about the next five years of dubstep is already audible in it.

Also on: [Dubstep](https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Benga%20%26%20Coki%20Night) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Ucr6nPQ3aYQ)

### [French House](https://waxonia.com/genre/french-house/)

Four records for anyone who thinks the French touch was one trick. It was, and the trick was good enough to survive being done four completely different ways.

*4 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Stardust](https://waxonia.com/artist/stardust/) — [Music Sounds Better with You](https://waxonia.com/track/stardust--music-sounds-better-with-you/)

*1998 · Roulé*

The trick at its purest: one guitar figure, one filter, one line sung until it stops being a lyric. Start here, because nothing else in the genre is this complete.

Also on: [French House](https://waxonia.com/genre/french-house/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Stardust%20Music%20Sounds%20Better%20with%20You) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=FQlAEiCb8m0)

#### [Motorbass](https://waxonia.com/artist/motorbass/) — [Ezio](https://waxonia.com/track/motorbass--ezio/)

*1996 · Different*

The trick done with taste. De Crécy and Zdar were making the sophisticated version before the scene had worked out there was a scene to be sophisticated about.

Also on: [French House](https://waxonia.com/genre/french-house/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Motorbass%20Ezio) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=IFOzOp5Wolk)

#### [Alan Braxe & Fred Falke](https://waxonia.com/artist/alan-braxe-and-fred-falke/) — [Intro](https://waxonia.com/track/alan-braxe-and-fred-falke--intro/)

*2000 · Vulture*

The trick done with strings and no ceiling. Six minutes that only go upwards, and still the record DJs reach for when a room needs lifting off the floor.

Also on: [French House](https://waxonia.com/genre/french-house/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Alan%20Braxe%20%26%20Fred%20Falke%20Intro) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=BR2kp7lMYdc)

#### [Justice](https://waxonia.com/artist/justice/) — [D.A.N.C.E.](https://waxonia.com/track/justice--d-a-n-c-e/)

*2007 · Ed Banger*

The trick done wrong on purpose — filter distorted past clipping, children's choir on top. Divisive then, and the proof that the tradition could still produce something nobody expected.

Also on: [French House](https://waxonia.com/genre/french-house/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Justice%20D.A.N.C.E.) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sy1dYFGkPUE)

### [Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/)

Five records where rhythm stopped being the setting for a song and became the song. Every rhythm guitarist and every sampler of the last fifty years has been living off this tradition.

*5 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [James Brown](https://waxonia.com/artist/james-brown/) — [Cold Sweat](https://waxonia.com/track/james-brown--cold-sweat/)

*1967 · King*

The moment the accent moved and harmony stopped being the point. Everything filed under funk since is an argument with the arrangement on this one record.

Also on: [Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/), [Roots](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/James%20Brown%20Cold%20Sweat) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=qkgIoMuaoQ0)

#### [Sly & the Family Stone](https://waxonia.com/artist/sly-and-the-family-stone/) — [Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)](https://waxonia.com/track/sly-and-the-family-stone--thank-you-falettinme-be-mice-elf-agin/)

*1969 · Epic*

A bass technique invented to cover for a missing drummer, and imitated for fifty years afterwards. Limitations make signatures far more often than intentions do.

Also on: [Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Sly%20%26%20the%20Family%20Stone%20Thank%20You%20(Falettinme%20Be%20Mice%20Elf%20Agin)) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=-T9vmaTI2LE)

#### [Stevie Wonder](https://waxonia.com/artist/stevie-wonder/) — [Superstition](https://waxonia.com/track/stevie-wonder--superstition/)

*1972 · Tamla*

One man playing nearly everything, at a moment when funk was supposed to be a band sport. The studio turned out not to be the enemy of the group after all.

Also on: [Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Stevie%20Wonder%20Superstition) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ftdZ363R9kQ)

#### [Herbie Hancock](https://waxonia.com/artist/herbie-hancock/) — [Chameleon](https://waxonia.com/track/herbie-hancock--chameleon/)

*1973 · Columbia*

A jazz musician of the first rank deciding that the groove was the interesting problem. The traffic between jazz training and dance records ran both ways, and this is the busiest lane on it.

Also on: [Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/), [The Waxonia Desk — One Subject](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-one-subject/), [Twice Over](https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Herbie%20Hancock%20Chameleon) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=iqomTAiRnVM)

#### [Parliament](https://waxonia.com/artist/parliament/) — [Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)](https://waxonia.com/track/parliament--give-up-the-funk-tear-the-roof-off-the-sucker/)

*1975 · Casablanca*

Enormous theatre over a bass part of complete discipline. The theatre is what everybody remembers and the discipline is the reason it still works fifty years later.

Also on: [Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Parliament%20Give%20Up%20the%20Funk%20(Tear%20the%20Roof%20off%20the%20Sucker)) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=xNpNTkSkrU8)

### [Gqom](https://waxonia.com/genre/gqom/)

Six records tracing how a Durban sound left the city — the first one on national radio, the one that reached London before it was accepted at home, and the one that turned its rhythms into outright pop.

*6 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Babes Wodumo featuring Mampintsha](https://waxonia.com/artist/babes-wodumo-featuring-mampintsha/) — [Wololo](https://waxonia.com/track/babes-wodumo-featuring-mampintsha--wololo/)

*2016*

The first gqom record on national radio, and the week a local secret stopped being one. Everything about how the scene made its money is different on the other side of it.

Also on: [Gqom](https://waxonia.com/genre/gqom/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Babes%20Wodumo%20featuring%20Mampintsha%20Wololo) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=bu_hL0iBUmI)

#### [Rudeboyz featuring TD Snax](https://waxonia.com/artist/rudeboyz-featuring-td-snax/) — [Mercedes](https://waxonia.com/track/rudeboyz-featuring-td-snax--mercedes/)

*2015 · Goon Club Allstars*

The record that reached London first, on a British label. Being heard abroad before being accepted at home is the oldest distortion in dance music, and gqom got it early.

Also on: [Gqom](https://waxonia.com/genre/gqom/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Rudeboyz%20featuring%20TD%20Snax%20Mercedes) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=CuCPNuBzWBI)

#### [Griffit Vigo](https://waxonia.com/artist/griffit-vigo/) — [Come to Durban](https://waxonia.com/track/griffit-vigo--come-to-durban/)

*2016 · Gqom Oh!*

The producer's producer, from the compilation that named the sound overseas. The export edition of a scene is always somebody's shortlist, and this is the record that makes the shortlist look right.

Also on: [Gqom](https://waxonia.com/genre/gqom/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Griffit%20Vigo%20Come%20to%20Durban) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=z-aonW6QHeI)

#### [Distruction Boyz featuring Benny Maverick and Dladla Mshunqisi](https://waxonia.com/artist/distruction-boyz-featuring-benny-maverick-and-dladla-mshunqisi/) — [Omunye](https://waxonia.com/track/distruction-boyz-featuring-benny-maverick-and-dladla-mshunqisi--omunye/)

*2017*

The genre's biggest hit, and a credit dispute the producers pursued and won. Both belong on the record: this is what it looks like when a scene's paperwork catches up with its music.

Also on: [Gqom](https://waxonia.com/genre/gqom/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Distruction%20Boyz%20featuring%20Benny%20Maverick%20and%20Dladla%20Mshunqisi%20Omunye) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=26-dVJa5Ejc)

#### [Sho Madjozi](https://waxonia.com/artist/sho-madjozi/) — [John Cena](https://waxonia.com/track/sho-madjozi--john-cena/)

*2019*

Gqom's rhythmic ideas turned into outright pop in Xitsonga. Whether that is the sound escaping or the sound being spent is the argument the genre is still having with itself.

Also on: [Gqom](https://waxonia.com/genre/gqom/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Sho%20Madjozi%20John%20Cena) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=H9bGITkIHmM)

#### [Arthur Mafokate](https://waxonia.com/artist/arthur-mafokate/) — [Kaffir](https://waxonia.com/track/arthur-mafokate--kaffir/)

*1995*

Here for the inheritance rather than the moment. Kwaito is what Durban's producers were working after, and whether gqom continued it or replaced it has never been settled by anyone.

Also on: [Kwaito](https://waxonia.com/genre/kwaito/), [Dancing to Bad News](https://waxonia.com/theme/dancing-to-bad-news/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Arthur%20Mafokate%20Kaffir) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sep8mvPZW6s)

### [Juke and Footwork](https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/)

Five records tracing how Chicago's footwork reached a listening audience that had never seen the dancing — mostly through a British label that spent a decade putting it in front of everybody else.

*5 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [DJ Nate](https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-nate/) — [Hatas Our Motivation](https://waxonia.com/track/dj-nate--hatas-our-motivation/)

*2010 · Planet Mu*

The first footwork signing a foreign label made, found by following YouTube uploads back to a contact address. The distance between hearing this music and being able to release it was the whole problem.

Also on: [Juke and Footwork](https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Nate%20Hatas%20Our%20Motivation) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=hMWOlHaDs-I)

#### [RP Boo](https://waxonia.com/artist/rp-boo/) — [Baby Come On](https://waxonia.com/track/rp-boo--baby-come-on/)

*1997 · Dance Mania*

The record usually named as the first of its kind, thirteen years older than the compilations that made the genre legible abroad. A scene is always much older than its export edition.

Also on: [Juke and Footwork](https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/), [The Waxonia Desk — 160](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/RP%20Boo%20Baby%20Come%20On) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=L17sHYmwTWY)

#### [Traxman](https://waxonia.com/artist/traxman/) — [Footworkin on Air](https://waxonia.com/track/traxman--footworkin-on-air/)

*2012 · Planet Mu*

The crate-digger's answer to the accusation that footwork is only rhythm. This is the record you put on for somebody who has decided the genre has no melody in it.

Also on: [Juke and Footwork](https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Traxman%20Footworkin%20on%20Air) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=LnunCPpdNzQ)

#### [DJ Rashad](https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-rashad/) — [Feelin](https://waxonia.com/track/dj-rashad--feelin/)

*2013 · Hyperdub*

The one that went furthest, and it went out on somebody else's label. Opening a door and then watching other people walk through it is the standard fate of a scene's first champion.

Also on: [Juke and Footwork](https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/), [The Waxonia Desk — 160](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/), [The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Rashad%20Feelin) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MC5zj4eLM3k)

#### [Jlin](https://waxonia.com/artist/jlin/) — [Erotic Heat](https://waxonia.com/track/jlin--erotic-heat/)

*2011 · Planet Mu*

Footwork with the samples taken out and the battle taken out, by somebody who never made tracks for dancers. Whether it is still footwork is a fair question, and the answer is probably no.

Also on: [Juke and Footwork](https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Jlin%20Erotic%20Heat) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Jlin%20Erotic%20Heat)

### [Krautrock](https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/)

Four records for the reader who arrived here from a techno page and wants to know what a German band from 1972 has to do with anything.

*4 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Kraftwerk](https://waxonia.com/artist/kraftwerk/) — [Autobahn](https://waxonia.com/track/kraftwerk--autobahn/)

*1974 · Philips*

The one Detroit heard. Derrick May's line about Kraftwerk and Parliament stuck in an elevator is the most quoted sentence in techno, and this is the record that put Kraftwerk in the lift.

Also on: [Krautrock](https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Kraftwerk%20Autobahn) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=vkOZNJYAZ7c)

#### [Neu!](https://waxonia.com/artist/neu/) — [Hallogallo](https://waxonia.com/track/neu--hallogallo/)

*1972 · Brain*

The one Britain heard. Every post-punk band that drives forward without swinging is playing Klaus Dinger's beat, usually without having been told whose it was.

Also on: [Krautrock](https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/), [Roots](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Neu!%20Hallogallo) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zndpi8tNZyQ)

#### [Tangerine Dream](https://waxonia.com/artist/tangerine-dream/) — [Phaedra](https://waxonia.com/track/tangerine-dream--phaedra/)

*1974 · Virgin*

The one ambient heard. A sequencer drifting out of tune for seventeen minutes, kept because it was better than the accurate take, and far more sinister than anything it went on to influence.

Also on: [Krautrock](https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Tangerine%20Dream%20Phaedra) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=EhQpXD2Z9WQ)

#### [Manuel Göttsching](https://waxonia.com/artist/manuel-gottsching/) — [E2-E4](https://waxonia.com/track/manuel-gottsching--e2-e4/)

*1984 · Inteam*

The one the dancefloor heard, ten years late and via an Italian bootleg. An hour of one sequence, and the moment kosmische stopped being something you sat down for.

Also on: [Krautrock](https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Manuel%20G%C3%B6ttsching%20E2-E4) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=pUfIqO5arq4)

### [Neo-Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/neo-soul/)

Five records from the two years around Voodoo, when a group of musicians in one New York studio argued a genre into existence — plus the sampled bar that the drumming on all of them is answering.

*5 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [D'Angelo](https://waxonia.com/artist/dangelo/) — [Untitled (How Does It Feel)](https://waxonia.com/track/dangelo--untitled-how-does-it-feel/)

*2000 · Virgin*

The band play so far behind the beat that it feels like a dare. Most of that feel is four people refusing to hurry each other rather than anything that was ever written down.

Also on: [Neo-Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/neo-soul/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/D'Angelo%20Untitled%20(How%20Does%20It%20Feel)) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=SxVNOnPyvIU)

#### [Slum Village](https://waxonia.com/artist/slum-village/) — [Guess Who](https://waxonia.com/track/slum-village--guess-who/)

*2000 · Barak*

Dilla's drums audibly and deliberately out of time: the single most imitated piece of programming of the last thirty years, released before anyone had a name for what it was doing.

Also on: [Neo-Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/neo-soul/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Slum%20Village%20Guess%20Who) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Slum%20Village%20Guess%20Who)

#### [Common](https://waxonia.com/artist/common/) — [The Light](https://waxonia.com/track/common--the-light/)

*2000 · MCA*

The same producer, the same year, aimed at a completely different target. Proof that the collective was a sound rather than just a building on Eighth Street with good equipment in it.

Also on: [Neo-Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/neo-soul/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Common%20The%20Light) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=OjHX7jf-znA)

#### [Lauryn Hill](https://waxonia.com/artist/lauryn-hill/) — [Ex-Factor](https://waxonia.com/track/lauryn-hill--ex-factor/)

*1998 · Ruffhouse*

Made just outside the collective and unmistakably of the same moment. The competition between these records is audible on all of them, and it made every one of them better.

Also on: [Neo-Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/neo-soul/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Lauryn%20Hill%20Ex-Factor) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cE-bnWqLqxE)

#### [James Brown](https://waxonia.com/artist/james-brown/) — [Funky Drummer](https://waxonia.com/track/james-brown--funky-drummer/)

*1970 · King*

The bar underneath everything above it. A generation of drummers learned Clyde Stubblefield from a sampler rather than from the record, and played him differently as a result.

Also on: [Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/James%20Brown%20Funky%20Drummer) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=7dtpj8qa1hQ)

### [UK Garage](https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/)

Six records most people met in the middle of a mix rather than as singles. The canon this genre left behind was assembled on pirate radio and compilation CDs, and it is not quite the list the charts would give you.

*6 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [MJ Cole](https://waxonia.com/artist/mj-cole/) — [Sincere](https://waxonia.com/track/mj-cole--sincere/)

*1998 · Talkin' Loud*

The most musically ambitious record the genre produced, made by a classically trained producer. Garage's reputation for glamour has always obscured how well built the best of it was.

Also on: [UK Garage](https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/MJ%20Cole%20Sincere) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cy-djtiU5RE)

#### [Artful Dodger featuring Craig David](https://waxonia.com/artist/artful-dodger-featuring-craig-david/) — [Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta)](https://waxonia.com/track/artful-dodger-featuring-craig-david--re-rewind-the-crowd-say-bo-selecta/)

*1999 · Public Demand*

A record about the reload, which is a DJ's device rather than a producer's, turned into a chart single. The scene's own vocabulary went national before most of its records did.

Also on: [UK Garage](https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Artful%20Dodger%20featuring%20Craig%20David%20Re-Rewind%20(The%20Crowd%20Say%20Bo%20Selecta)) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=M0wv_cQv8As)

#### [Sweet Female Attitude](https://waxonia.com/artist/sweet-female-attitude/) — [Flowers (Sunship Remix)](https://waxonia.com/track/sweet-female-attitude--flowers-sunship-remix/)

*2000 · WEA*

The remix, not the original, which is the correct answer and also the whole argument about who authored UK garage. Half this canon is somebody's second pass at somebody else's record.

Also on: [UK Garage](https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Sweet%20Female%20Attitude%20Flowers%20(Sunship%20Remix)) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sv2Uu7NOPng)

#### [Double 99](https://waxonia.com/artist/double-99/) — [RIP Groove](https://waxonia.com/track/double-99--rip-groove/)

*1997 · Ice Cream*

The dark end, and the reminder that garage was never only champagne. The split into speed garage and two-step reads cleanly in hindsight; on a night out in 1997 nobody in the room was choosing sides.

Also on: [UK Garage](https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/), [Bass Weight](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Double%2099%20RIP%20Groove) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=8WZGUFGBPNQ)

#### [Dem 2](https://waxonia.com/artist/dem-2/) — [Destiny](https://waxonia.com/track/dem-2--destiny/)

*1997 · Locked On*

The most fragile thing on this list — a vocal cut into fragments that never quite reassemble. It is deliberately hard to hold on to, which is exactly why it still sounds like it was made last year.

Also on: [UK Garage](https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Dem%202%20Destiny) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zz4U1B7enkM)

#### [So Solid Crew](https://waxonia.com/artist/so-solid-crew/) — [21 Seconds](https://waxonia.com/track/so-solid-crew--21-seconds/)

*2001 · Relentless*

Eight MCs, twenty-one seconds each, and the record usually blamed for the scene's collapse. Blame is the wrong frame: what it actually did was show where half the room had already gone.

Also on: [UK Garage](https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/So%20Solid%20Crew%2021%20Seconds) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=g7VhofoV3qs)

### A general selection

Eleven records, eleven of our rankings, thirty years. Every one of them gets a room moving while telling it something it would rather not hear, and most of the rooms never noticed.

*11 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Gilberto Gil](https://waxonia.com/artist/gilberto-gil/) — [Domingo no Parque](https://waxonia.com/track/gilberto-gil--domingo-no-parque/)

*1967 · Philips*

A funfair, a berimbau, an orchestra, and a man killing his friend and the woman between them. Gil sets a murder ballad to the most inviting three minutes in Brazilian pop, and Duprat's arrangement never once lets on.

Also on: [Tropicália](https://waxonia.com/genre/tropicalia/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Gilberto%20Gil%20Domingo%20no%20Parque) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=OztuGomczAo)

#### [Tobi Legend](https://waxonia.com/artist/tobi-legend/) — [Time Will Pass You By](https://waxonia.com/track/tobi-legend--time-will-pass-you-by/)

*1968*

Played at six in the morning to close Wigan Casino, to a floor of people who had spent the entire night doing precisely what it warns against. The strings lift, the message is that the lift does not last, and nobody has ever stopped dancing to it.

Also on: [Northern Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/northern-soul/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Tobi%20Legend%20Time%20Will%20Pass%20You%20By) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=F8gejqmgELA)

#### [Fela Kuti & Africa 70](https://waxonia.com/artist/fela-kuti-and-africa-70/) — [Zombie](https://waxonia.com/track/fela-kuti-and-africa-70--zombie/)

*1976 · Coconut*

Twelve minutes of the most physically irresistible band on the continent, spent calling the Nigerian army a column of unthinking bodies. The soldiers who burned his compound down had understood it; the dancefloor never had to.

Also on: [Afrobeat](https://waxonia.com/genre/afrobeat/), [1976](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/), [Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records](https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Fela%20Kuti%20%26%20Africa%2070%20Zombie) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=RUSg31Ignw4)

#### [Junior Murvin](https://waxonia.com/artist/junior-murvin/) — [Police and Thieves](https://waxonia.com/track/junior-murvin--police-and-thieves/)

*1976 · Island*

Lee Perry's lightest production and Murvin's falsetto floating over the top of it, describing armed men on both sides shooting at the crowd. It sounds like relief and it is a casualty report.

Also on: [Reggae](https://waxonia.com/genre/reggae/), [1976](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Junior%20Murvin%20Police%20and%20Thieves) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=X5Z2M3VlB8E)

#### [Héctor Lavoe](https://waxonia.com/artist/hector-lavoe/) — [El Cantante](https://waxonia.com/track/hector-lavoe--el-cantante/)

*1978 · Fania*

Rubén Blades wrote it for Lavoe: the singer everybody comes to hear and nobody asks how he is. Full Fania horns, a floor-filler at every party since, and a man describing his own disappearance in the middle of it.

Also on: [Salsa](https://waxonia.com/genre/salsa/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/H%C3%A9ctor%20Lavoe%20El%20Cantante) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=bT-3s4ZQEhs)

#### [Righeira](https://waxonia.com/artist/righeira/) — [Vamos a la Playa](https://waxonia.com/track/righeira--vamos-a-la-playa/)

*1983 · CBS*

The purest case on this list. A summer singalong about a beach after the bomb, glowing water and all, and the whole of Europe danced to it for years without hearing a word.

Also on: [Italo Disco](https://waxonia.com/genre/italo-disco/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Righeira%20Vamos%20a%20la%20Playa) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=x0OMFm8FO90)

#### [4hero](https://waxonia.com/artist/4hero/) — [Mr Kirk's Nightmare](https://waxonia.com/track/4hero--mr-kirks-nightmare/)

*1990 · Reinforced*

A sampled police officer telling a father his son is dead from an overdose, looped over hardcore breaks at a rave. The most brutal use of the manoeuvre anyone has attempted, and the reason jungle inherited dread along with the tempo.

Also on: [Drum and Bass](https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/4hero%20Mr%20Kirk's%20Nightmare) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=4hero%20Mr%20Kirk's%20Nightmare)

#### [Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth](https://waxonia.com/artist/pete-rock-and-c-l-smooth/) — [They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)](https://waxonia.com/track/pete-rock-and-c-l-smooth--they-reminisce-over-you-t-r-o-y/)

*1992 · Elektra*

A Tom Scott horn loop so warm it became the sound of the era, carrying a eulogy for a friend who fell from a moving train. Head-nod music built entirely out of a funeral.

Also on: [Golden Age Hip-Hop](https://waxonia.com/genre/golden-age-hip-hop/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Pete%20Rock%20%26%20C.L.%20Smooth%20They%20Reminisce%20Over%20You%20(T.R.O.Y.)) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1ut9spXrkDw)

#### [Bob Rum](https://waxonia.com/artist/bob-rum/) — [Rap do Silva](https://waxonia.com/track/bob-rum--rap-do-silva/)

*1995*

A boy shot by the police, told over the plainest baile beat there is, and it reached national radio before some stations banned it for the story rather than the noise. The party rhythm is what got it heard at all.

Also on: [Baile Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/baile-funk/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Bob%20Rum%20Rap%20do%20Silva) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=vlZ9MGgC1NI)

#### [Arthur Mafokate](https://waxonia.com/artist/arthur-mafokate/) — [Kaffir](https://waxonia.com/track/arthur-mafokate--kaffir/)

*1995*

A dance record whose hook is a plea not to be called a slur, released a year after the first free election. Half a million copies sold to people moving to it, and the first serious argument the new country had about its own pop music.

Also on: [Kwaito](https://waxonia.com/genre/kwaito/), [The Waxonia Desk — Out of Durban](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-gqom-out-of-durban/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Arthur%20Mafokate%20Kaffir) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sep8mvPZW6s)

#### [Manic Street Preachers](https://waxonia.com/artist/manic-street-preachers/) — [A Design for Life](https://waxonia.com/track/manic-street-preachers--a-design-for-life/)

*1996 · Epic*

Written after their guitarist vanished, about libraries built by people who were then told they drank too much. Sung back by festival crowds as an anthem, which is either the point being missed or the point being made.

Also on: [Britpop](https://waxonia.com/genre/britpop/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Manic%20Street%20Preachers%20A%20Design%20for%20Life) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=TfEoVxy7VDQ)

### A general selection

Eleven records, three of our rankings, thirty years. One drum machine tuned in a Florida car park, and what became of it in Rio and on the South Side of Chicago.

*11 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [MC A.D.E.](https://waxonia.com/artist/mc-a-d-e/) — [Bass Rock Express](https://waxonia.com/track/mc-a-d-e--bass-rock-express/)

*1985 · 4-Sight*

The starting point, and the clearest statement of what the city actually changed. The kick is not a drum here, it is the arrangement — tuned low, held long, and mixed to be felt through a car door rather than heard through a speaker.

Also on: [Miami Bass](https://waxonia.com/genre/miami-bass/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/MC%20A.D.E.%20Bass%20Rock%20Express) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=yGm5w_k79GY)

#### [2 Live Crew](https://waxonia.com/artist/2-live-crew/) — [Throw the D](https://waxonia.com/track/2-live-crew--throw-the-d/)

*1986 · Luke Skyywalker*

The template every record below is a variation on: an instruction, a call-and-response, and the 808 louder than the voice giving it. Luke Campbell put it out on his own label because no one else in the country was going to.

Also on: [Miami Bass](https://waxonia.com/genre/miami-bass/), [The Eighties](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/2%20Live%20Crew%20Throw%20the%20D) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=IMicDDXU-9c)

#### [Amos Larkins II](https://waxonia.com/artist/amos-larkins-ii/) — [Planet Rock](https://waxonia.com/track/amos-larkins-ii--planet-rock/)

*1986*

Not the Bambaataa record — a Miami producer's answer to it, and the single best demonstration of the criterion above. Everything received from New York has been thrown out except the drum machine, which has been retuned until it is the whole track.

Also on: [Miami Bass](https://waxonia.com/genre/miami-bass/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Amos%20Larkins%20II%20Planet%20Rock) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=qwwb8WkrdOM)

#### [Dynamix II](https://waxonia.com/artist/dynamix-ii/) — [Scarface](https://waxonia.com/track/dynamix-ii--scarface/)

*1987*

The precise end of the city, and proof that the sound was a choice rather than a limitation. Vocoders and tight programming over the same low end, by people who could clearly have made a Kraftwerk record instead and did not want to.

Also on: [Miami Bass](https://waxonia.com/genre/miami-bass/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Dynamix%20II%20Scarface) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Olgn9sXNdl0)

#### [2 Hyped Brothers and a Dog](https://waxonia.com/artist/2-hyped-brothers-and-a-dog/) — [Doo Doo Brown](https://waxonia.com/track/2-hyped-brothers-and-a-dog--doo-doo-brown/)

*1991*

A rhythm that stopped belonging to its makers almost immediately. New Orleans took it and built bounce out of it, which is the first time Miami's pattern left Miami and kept going under another name.

Also on: [Miami Bass](https://waxonia.com/genre/miami-bass/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/2%20Hyped%20Brothers%20and%20a%20Dog%20Doo%20Doo%20Brown) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1zRb_WNEeaw)

#### [69 Boyz](https://waxonia.com/artist/69-boyz/) — [Tootsee Roll](https://waxonia.com/track/69-boyz--tootsee-roll/)

*1994 · Rip-It*

The pattern reaching the top ten, and doing it without changing. Every Southern rap record that pairs an instruction with an 808 is downstream of this habit, which is why the theme cannot stop at the city limits.

Also on: [Miami Bass](https://waxonia.com/genre/miami-bass/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/69%20Boyz%20Tootsee%20Roll) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Do4GyqPnuug)

#### [DJ Marlboro](https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-marlboro/) — [Melô do Tabaco](https://waxonia.com/track/dj-marlboro--melo-do-tabaco/)

*1989*

Miami bass arriving in Rio on cassette, which is a fact this site already publishes as a lineage arrow. Marlboro looped somebody else's drum programming and a national music came out of it — the same 808, the same shouting, a different language.

Also on: [Baile Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/baile-funk/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Marlboro%20Mel%C3%B4%20do%20Tabaco) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=DJ%20Marlboro%20Mel%C3%B4%20do%20Tabaco)

#### [Cidinho e Doca](https://waxonia.com/artist/cidinho-e-doca/) — [Rap da Felicidade](https://waxonia.com/track/cidinho-e-doca--rap-da-felicidade/)

*1995*

"I only want to be happy." Six years after Marlboro, over the most basic possible version of the imported beat, and it is the most quoted line in Brazilian funk. The pattern has stopped being borrowed and become local property.

Also on: [Baile Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/baile-funk/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Cidinho%20e%20Doca%20Rap%20da%20Felicidade) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=7pD8k2zaLqk)

#### [MC João](https://waxonia.com/artist/mc-joao/) — [Baile de Favela](https://waxonia.com/track/mc-joao--baile-de-favela/)

*2015*

São Paulo, a hundred million views, and the drum still tuned the way a Florida producer tuned it in 1985. Included as the far end of the line: thirty years on, the most popular music in Brazil is running on Miami's kick.

Also on: [Baile Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/baile-funk/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/MC%20Jo%C3%A3o%20Baile%20de%20Favela) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=eR_Uy9fkz9Q)

#### [DJ Deeon](https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-deeon/) — [Freak Like Me](https://waxonia.com/track/dj-deeon--freak-like-me/)

*1994 · Dance Mania*

Chicago's ghetto house takes the same overlong, tuned kick rather than the house records made in its own city — the lineage note on our footwork ranking says exactly that. A drum pattern, a bassline, a chant, and nothing that costs money.

Also on: [Juke and Footwork](https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/), [1994](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Deeon%20Freak%20Like%20Me) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=PIpWP5gcPCw)

#### [DJ Funk](https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-funk/) — [Run](https://waxonia.com/track/dj-funk--run/)

*1995 · Dance Mania*

The second Chicago record, at a pace Miami never played at, and the low end is still the point of it. Daft Punk and most of French house took their cue from this — a fourth city, one step further along the same line.

Also on: [Juke and Footwork](https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Funk%20Run) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=4I4A1ixsMYQ)

### A general selection

Twelve records, ten of our rankings, one year. Jungle, trip-hop, Memphis, kwaito, dub techno and Britpop all arriving at once, none of them aware of the others.

*12 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Goldie](https://waxonia.com/artist/goldie/) — [Inner City Life](https://waxonia.com/track/goldie--inner-city-life/)

*1994 · FFRR / Metalheadz*

The record that proved a breakbeat could carry a song rather than just a dancefloor, and the reason drum and bass got taken seriously by people who had ignored it. Everything the genre did for the next decade is a response to this.

Also on: [Drum and Bass](https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Goldie%20Inner%20City%20Life) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=i-P98B2skts)

#### [Shy FX & UK Apache](https://waxonia.com/artist/shy-fx-and-uk-apache/) — [Original Nuttah](https://waxonia.com/track/shy-fx-and-uk-apache--original-nuttah/)

*1994 · SOUR*

The other direction jungle took in the same twelve months, and the more influential one on the street. Thirty years later it is still the record a British MC has to know, which is the only test of load-bearing that matters.

Also on: [Drum and Bass](https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/), [Bass Weight](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/), [The Waxonia Desk — 160](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/), [The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Shy%20FX%20%26%20UK%20Apache%20Original%20Nuttah) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sxbekgL4w7w)

#### [Portishead](https://waxonia.com/artist/portishead/) — [Glory Box](https://waxonia.com/track/portishead--glory-box/)

*1994 · Go! Beat*

Trip-hop had existed for a couple of years and had no centre until Dummy. This is the track that fixed what the genre sounded like — the Isaac Hayes loop, the slowed drums, a voice singing over both as if it were a torch song.

Also on: [Trip-Hop](https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Portishead%20Glory%20Box) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=4qQyUi4zfDs)

#### [Nas](https://waxonia.com/artist/nas/) — [N.Y. State of Mind](https://waxonia.com/track/nas--n-y-state-of-mind/)

*1994 · Columbia*

Illmatic reset what a rap album was allowed to be, and this is the track people quote when they explain why. Every East Coast record for five years afterwards is measured against it, usually by its own maker.

Also on: [Golden Age Hip-Hop](https://waxonia.com/genre/golden-age-hip-hop/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Nas%20N.Y.%20State%20of%20Mind) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=hI8A14Qcv68)

#### [The Notorious B.I.G.](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-notorious-b-i-g/) — [Juicy](https://waxonia.com/track/the-notorious-b-i-g--juicy/)

*1994 · Bad Boy*

Released within months of the entry above, arguing the opposite case: that a hard record could be a pop record without giving anything up. Both were right, and hip-hop spent the rest of the decade splitting the difference.

Also on: [Golden Age Hip-Hop](https://waxonia.com/genre/golden-age-hip-hop/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Notorious%20B.I.G.%20Juicy) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=_JZom_gVfuw)

#### [Warren G & Nate Dogg](https://waxonia.com/artist/warren-g-and-nate-dogg/) — [Regulate](https://waxonia.com/track/warren-g-and-nate-dogg--regulate/)

*1994 · Death Row*

G-funk's crossover moment, and the template for the sung-hook rap single that has never gone away since. It is on this list because of what came after it rather than what it took from before.

Also on: [G-Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/g-funk/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Warren%20G%20%26%20Nate%20Dogg%20Regulate) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1plPyJdXKIY)

#### [Basic Channel](https://waxonia.com/artist/basic-channel/) — [Quadrant Dub](https://waxonia.com/track/basic-channel--quadrant-dub/)

*1994 · Basic Channel*

Two Berliners running techno through dub's mixing desk and inventing a genre almost as a side effect. Nothing about it sounds like a founding document, which is usually how founding documents sound at the time.

Also on: [Dub Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/dub-techno/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Basic%20Channel%20Quadrant%20Dub) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=APH42GVgUTM)

#### [Autechre](https://waxonia.com/artist/autechre/) — [Flutter](https://waxonia.com/track/autechre--flutter/)

*1994 · Warp*

Written so that no two bars share a tempo, specifically to be legal under the Criminal Justice Bill's definition of repetitive beats. A protest record whose protest is encoded in the rhythm programming, and it opened a door the genre went through.

Also on: [IDM](https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/), [Warp](https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Autechre%20Flutter) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=mdhtm6qjmhU)

#### [DJ Deeon](https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-deeon/) — [Freak Like Me](https://waxonia.com/track/dj-deeon--freak-like-me/)

*1994 · Dance Mania*

Chicago ghetto house at the point where it starts to become the thing that becomes footwork. It is here because a whole subsequent genre is recognisably downstream of records like this one, made on almost nothing.

Also on: [Juke and Footwork](https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/), [Miami](https://waxonia.com/theme/miami/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Deeon%20Freak%20Like%20Me) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=PIpWP5gcPCw)

#### [DJ Paul](https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-paul/) — [North Memphis Area](https://waxonia.com/track/dj-paul--north-memphis-area/)

*1994*

A tape sold out of a car boot that turns out to contain most of what trap would sound like fifteen years later — the tempo, the hi-hats, the atmosphere. The clearest case on this list of a record nobody heard being load-bearing anyway.

Also on: [Memphis Rap](https://waxonia.com/genre/memphis-rap/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Paul%20North%20Memphis%20Area) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cpzmsHB0INE)

#### [M'du Masilela](https://waxonia.com/artist/mdu-masilela/) — [Tsiki Tsiki](https://waxonia.com/track/mdu-masilela--tsiki-tsiki/)

*1994*

Made in the year South Africa first voted, by slowing house music down to a walking pace and making it local. A genre and a country changing at the same moment, and one of the few records on this list where the two are obviously connected.

Also on: [Kwaito](https://waxonia.com/genre/kwaito/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/M'du%20Masilela%20Tsiki%20Tsiki) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zrhZHLbmw_o)

#### [Oasis](https://waxonia.com/artist/oasis/) — [Live Forever](https://waxonia.com/track/oasis--live-forever/)

*1994 · Creation*

The least fashionable inclusion here and the hardest to argue away. It turned a scene of art-school records into something a stadium would sing, which is a change of kind rather than of scale, and Britpop dates from it.

Also on: [Britpop](https://waxonia.com/genre/britpop/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Oasis%20Live%20Forever) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=TDe1DqxwJoc)

### A general selection

Eleven records, six countries, one year. Lagos, Kingston, Casablanca, Lusaka, Istanbul and Accra all having a better 1976 than anywhere with a music press.

*11 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Fela Kuti & Africa 70](https://waxonia.com/artist/fela-kuti-and-africa-70/) — [Zombie](https://waxonia.com/track/fela-kuti-and-africa-70--zombie/)

*1976 · Coconut*

Twelve minutes calling the Nigerian army a column of unthinking bodies, released in Nigeria while that army was in power. They burned his compound down for it and threw his mother out of a window. Nothing else here cost its maker as much.

Also on: [Afrobeat](https://waxonia.com/genre/afrobeat/), [Dancing to Bad News](https://waxonia.com/theme/dancing-to-bad-news/), [Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records](https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Fela%20Kuti%20%26%20Africa%2070%20Zombie) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=RUSg31Ignw4)

#### [Prince Nico Mbarga](https://waxonia.com/artist/prince-nico-mbarga/) — [Sweet Mother](https://waxonia.com/track/prince-nico-mbarga--sweet-mother/)

*1976 · Rogers All Stars*

Reportedly the biggest-selling African record ever made, in a year when the British charts had no idea it existed. Highlife at its most untroubled, and the exact opposite of the entry above from the same country in the same twelve months.

Also on: [Highlife](https://waxonia.com/genre/highlife/), [Sung to Someone](https://waxonia.com/theme/sung-to-someone/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Prince%20Nico%20Mbarga%20Sweet%20Mother) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=CWmecBppkOQ)

#### [Osibisa](https://waxonia.com/artist/osibisa/) — [Sunshine Day](https://waxonia.com/track/osibisa--sunshine-day/)

*1976 · Bronze*

Ghanaian musicians in London making a record that got played on daytime radio without softening what it was. Included because the traffic went both ways in 1976, and this is the year's best evidence of it.

Also on: [Highlife](https://waxonia.com/genre/highlife/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Osibisa%20Sunshine%20Day) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MeH3OdgGHso)

#### [Ngozi Family](https://waxonia.com/artist/ngozi-family/) — [Nizakupanga Ngozi](https://waxonia.com/track/ngozi-family--nizakupanga-ngozi/)

*1976*

Zamrock at full volume — a Zambian band playing heavier than most of what was coming out of Britain that year, in a scene almost no one outside the country heard until reissues found it thirty years later.

Also on: [Zamrock](https://waxonia.com/genre/zamrock/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Ngozi%20Family%20Nizakupanga%20Ngozi) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=OTNuku4mjis)

#### [WITCH](https://waxonia.com/artist/witch/) — [Waile](https://waxonia.com/track/witch--waile/)

*1976*

The other great Zambian band of the same moment, and proof the entry above was a scene rather than an outlier. Two of the eleven records here come from a country with no export industry for music at all.

Also on: [Zamrock](https://waxonia.com/genre/zamrock/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/WITCH%20Waile) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=2HCNRBnI4PA)

#### [Nass El Ghiwane](https://waxonia.com/artist/nass-el-ghiwane/) — [Bouderbala](https://waxonia.com/track/nass-el-ghiwane--bouderbala/)

*1976*

Gnawa rhythm and Moroccan poetry played by a group Scorsese later called the Rolling Stones of Africa. Recorded with almost no Western instrumentation in a year when that was a choice, not a limitation.

Also on: [Gnawa](https://waxonia.com/genre/gnawa/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Nass%20El%20Ghiwane%20Bouderbala) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Nass%20El%20Ghiwane%20Bouderbala)

#### [Selda Bağcan](https://waxonia.com/artist/selda-bagcan/) — [Yaz Gazeteci Yaz](https://waxonia.com/track/selda-bagcan--yaz-gazeteci-yaz/)

*1976*

"Write it down, journalist, write it." Turkish folk melody over a fuzz guitar, sung by a woman who was imprisoned repeatedly for records like this one. The year's clearest case of a local form being used to say something dangerous.

Also on: [Anadolu Rock](https://waxonia.com/genre/anadolu-rock/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Selda%20Ba%C4%9Fcan%20Yaz%20Gazeteci%20Yaz) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ReKfCicUoRE)

#### [Augustus Pablo](https://waxonia.com/artist/augustus-pablo/) — [King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown](https://waxonia.com/track/augustus-pablo--king-tubby-meets-rockers-uptown/)

*1976 · Yard Music*

The most-cited dub record ever made, and it is a melodica line and a mixing desk. Kingston in 1976 was inventing the studio-as-instrument while London was still arguing about guitars.

Also on: [Dub](https://waxonia.com/genre/dub/), [Roots](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/), [The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Augustus%20Pablo%20King%20Tubby%20Meets%20Rockers%20Uptown) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=oxAl3Jijs20)

#### [The Upsetters](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-upsetters/) — [Super Ape](https://waxonia.com/track/the-upsetters--super-ape/)

*1976 · Island*

Lee Perry's Black Ark at its peak, which means a four-track studio being pushed into producing something no larger studio could. Jamaica has three records on this list and could support ten.

Also on: [Dub](https://waxonia.com/genre/dub/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Upsetters%20Super%20Ape) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MTOomS0HfdA)

#### [Junior Murvin](https://waxonia.com/artist/junior-murvin/) — [Police and Thieves](https://waxonia.com/track/junior-murvin--police-and-thieves/)

*1976 · Island*

Written about Jamaican election violence and adopted within months by a London that had just had the Notting Hill riot. The one record here whose journey out of its own scene happened immediately rather than in retrospect.

Also on: [Reggae](https://waxonia.com/genre/reggae/), [Dancing to Bad News](https://waxonia.com/theme/dancing-to-bad-news/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Junior%20Murvin%20Police%20and%20Thieves) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=X5Z2M3VlB8E)

#### [The Revolutionaries](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-revolutionaries/) — [Kunta Kinte Dub](https://waxonia.com/track/the-revolutionaries--kunta-kinte-dub/)

*1976 · Well Charge*

A Kingston rhythm that would not stay in its decade: sped up and cut into jungle plates twenty years later, which puts it in the same story as several records on our 1994 list. 1976 is where that line starts.

Also on: [Dub](https://waxonia.com/genre/dub/), [Bass Weight](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/), [The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Revolutionaries%20Kunta%20Kinte%20Dub) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=K6XDIje4vJU)

### A general selection

Twelve records, eleven of our rankings and thirty-eight years apart, all doing one thing: turning to a single person and saying it out loud.

*12 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Hank Williams](https://waxonia.com/artist/hank-williams/) — [I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry](https://waxonia.com/track/hank-williams--im-so-lonesome-i-could-cry/)

*1949 · MGM*

It reads as a nature poem — a whippoorwill, a falling star — right up to "did you ever see a robin weep". Every image in it is being handed to somebody. He is not describing loneliness; he is telling one person what it is doing to him.

Also on: [Country](https://waxonia.com/genre/country/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Hank%20Williams%20I'm%20So%20Lonesome%20I%20Could%20Cry) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=4WXYjm74WFI)

#### [Lloyd Price](https://waxonia.com/artist/lloyd-price/) — [Lawdy Miss Clawdy](https://waxonia.com/track/lloyd-price--lawdy-miss-clawdy/)

*1952 · Specialty*

Two lines in and he has stopped describing anything: "girl, you sure look good to me." The whole record is aimed at one person standing in front of him, which is why it survives a test that throws out most of what gets called a love song.

Also on: [Rhythm and Blues](https://waxonia.com/genre/rhythm-and-blues/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Lloyd%20Price%20Lawdy%20Miss%20Clawdy) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=nYO263wui1w)

#### [Gloria Jones](https://waxonia.com/artist/gloria-jones/) — [Tainted Love](https://waxonia.com/track/gloria-jones--tainted-love/)

*1964*

An address delivered at a run. "You don't really want any more from me" is not an observation about love, it is an accusation with somebody on the end of it, and the two-minute sprint is a woman getting it said before she loses her nerve.

Also on: [Northern Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/northern-soul/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Gloria%20Jones%20Tainted%20Love) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=WrAPgjcVDOc)

#### [Frank Wilson](https://waxonia.com/artist/frank-wilson/) — [Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)](https://waxonia.com/track/frank-wilson--do-i-love-you-indeed-i-do/)

*1965*

The title is a question somebody else asked, answered straight back at them. It qualifies on grammar as much as on feeling: the lyric is second person from first line to last, and there is nothing in it that would work said to a room.

Also on: [Northern Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/northern-soul/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Frank%20Wilson%20Do%20I%20Love%20You%20(Indeed%20I%20Do)) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1OvaglT9EB4)

#### [The Miracles](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-miracles/) — [The Tracks of My Tears](https://waxonia.com/track/the-miracles--the-tracks-of-my-tears/)

*1965 · Tamla*

"Take a good look at my face" is an instruction, given to one person, by a man asking to be examined. Smokey Robinson wrote the most-quoted metaphor in soul music and then pinned it to a request he needs somebody to answer.

Also on: [Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Miracles%20The%20Tracks%20of%20My%20Tears) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rNS6D4hSQdA)

#### [Cream](https://waxonia.com/artist/cream/) — [Sunshine of Your Love](https://waxonia.com/track/cream--sunshine-of-your-love/)

*1967 · Reaction*

The riff is what everyone remembers, and the reason it belongs here is the line underneath it: "I'll be with you, darling, soon." The heaviest record on this list, and its actual subject is an appointment somebody intends to keep.

Also on: [Psychedelic Rock](https://waxonia.com/genre/psychedelic-rock/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Cream%20Sunshine%20of%20Your%20Love) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=f3y8jf01UY8)

#### [Gal Costa](https://waxonia.com/artist/gal-costa/) — [Baby](https://waxonia.com/track/gal-costa--baby/)

*1968 · Philips*

Caetano Veloso wrote it as a list of things you need to learn — the swimming pool, the margarine, me. Gal Costa sings them to one person in the year Brazil's dictatorship closed its fist. Addressed to a lover, and every word of it is also addressed past them.

Also on: [Tropicália](https://waxonia.com/genre/tropicalia/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Gal%20Costa%20Baby) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=b7d6wnaRm2E)

#### [Bob Marley & The Wailers](https://waxonia.com/artist/bob-marley-and-the-wailers/) — [No Woman, No Cry](https://waxonia.com/track/bob-marley-and-the-wailers--no-woman-no-cry/)

*1975 · Island*

Not a title about women in general, whatever fifty years of misquotation suggest. It is "no, woman, don't cry" — said to one person sitting in the government yard, and everything else in it is what he is telling her to remember.

Also on: [Reggae](https://waxonia.com/genre/reggae/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Bob%20Marley%20%26%20The%20Wailers%20No%20Woman%2C%20No%20Cry) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=IT8XvzIfi4U)

#### [Prince Nico Mbarga](https://waxonia.com/artist/prince-nico-mbarga/) — [Sweet Mother](https://waxonia.com/track/prince-nico-mbarga--sweet-mother/)

*1976 · Rogers All Stars*

The criterion says one person addressing another. It does not say the other has to be a lover. One of the biggest-selling records ever made in Africa, and it is a grown man thanking his mother, directly, for the nights she did not sleep.

Also on: [Highlife](https://waxonia.com/genre/highlife/), [1976](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Prince%20Nico%20Mbarga%20Sweet%20Mother) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=CWmecBppkOQ)

#### [Buzzcocks](https://waxonia.com/artist/buzzcocks/) — [Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)](https://waxonia.com/track/buzzcocks--ever-fallen-in-love-with-someone-you-shouldntve/)

*1978 · United Artists*

The parenthesis is the entire song, and it is pointed at exactly the person it means. Pete Shelley asked one specific human being that question, then played it fast enough that everybody else could pretend it was about them.

Also on: [Punk](https://waxonia.com/genre/punk/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Buzzcocks%20Ever%20Fallen%20in%20Love%20(With%20Someone%20You%20Shouldn't've)) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=51OB2YoC4sg)

#### [Mariya Takeuchi](https://waxonia.com/artist/mariya-takeuchi/) — [Plastic Love](https://waxonia.com/track/mariya-takeuchi--plastic-love/)

*1984 · Moon*

The most misread record here. It sounds like a city at three in the morning, and what it actually is is one woman telling someone not to take her seriously — which she only has to say out loud because he has started to.

Also on: [City Pop](https://waxonia.com/genre/city-pop/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Mariya%20Takeuchi%20Plastic%20Love) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=T_lC2O1oIew)

#### [Frankie Knuckles & Jamie Principle](https://waxonia.com/artist/frankie-knuckles-and-jamie-principle/) — [Your Love](https://waxonia.com/track/frankie-knuckles-and-jamie-principle--your-love/)

*1987 · Trax*

Jamie Principle wrote it as a bedroom demo: one voice, speaking to one absent person. Frankie Knuckles kept that scale intact when he turned it into a record a warehouse could hold, and it never once stops being addressed to somebody.

Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/), [The Waxonia Desk — In the Room](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Frankie%20Knuckles%20%26%20Jamie%20Principle%20Your%20Love) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=M6LAE5ejrjg)

### A general selection

Six records that all live at or near 160 BPM, from Chicago and from every British rave that got there first. Four of our rankings share a tempo, which is the whole claim a 160 set makes in practice.

*6 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Origin Unknown](https://waxonia.com/artist/origin-unknown/) — [Valley of the Shadows](https://waxonia.com/track/origin-unknown--valley-of-the-shadows/)

*1993 · RAM*

Two spoken words and an Amen break. The moment hardcore is unmistakably jungle, and a record old enough now that playing it is a reference rather than a rediscovery.

Also on: [Breakbeat Hardcore](https://waxonia.com/genre/breakbeat-hardcore/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Origin%20Unknown%20Valley%20of%20the%20Shadows) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=B3FPYOou_Mg)

#### [Metalheads](https://waxonia.com/artist/metalheads/) — [Terminator](https://waxonia.com/track/metalheads--terminator/)

*1992 · Synthetic*

The time-stretch that changed what a break could be. The technical leap is what gets written about; the atmosphere is the part that has actually lasted thirty years.

Also on: [Breakbeat Hardcore](https://waxonia.com/genre/breakbeat-hardcore/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Metalheads%20Terminator) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Knu-7A7BLtQ)

#### [Lennie De Ice](https://waxonia.com/artist/lennie-de-ice/) — [We Are I.E.](https://waxonia.com/track/lennie-de-ice--we-are-i-e/)

*1991*

Usually named as the first jungle record, two years before the word existed. Origin records are generally more use to writers than to DJs, and this one is the exception because it still works.

Also on: [Breakbeat Hardcore](https://waxonia.com/genre/breakbeat-hardcore/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Lennie%20De%20Ice%20We%20Are%20I.E.) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=_gx7Uv3sl5A)

#### [DJ Rashad](https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-rashad/) — [Feelin](https://waxonia.com/track/dj-rashad--feelin/)

*2013 · Hyperdub*

Chicago arriving at the same tempo from a completely different direction. The overlap between footwork and jungle is the premise of this list, and this is the record that makes it undeniable.

Also on: [Juke and Footwork](https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/), [The Waxonia Desk — Footwork Travels](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-footwork-travels/), [The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Rashad%20Feelin) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MC5zj4eLM3k)

#### [RP Boo](https://waxonia.com/artist/rp-boo/) — [Baby Come On](https://waxonia.com/track/rp-boo--baby-come-on/)

*1997 · Dance Mania*

The first footwork track, and rhythmically the least accommodating thing here. A European floor has to be taught this one, and the teaching is the reason it belongs.

Also on: [Juke and Footwork](https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/), [The Waxonia Desk — Footwork Travels](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-footwork-travels/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/RP%20Boo%20Baby%20Come%20On) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=L17sHYmwTWY)

#### [Shy FX & UK Apache](https://waxonia.com/artist/shy-fx-and-uk-apache/) — [Original Nuttah](https://waxonia.com/track/shy-fx-and-uk-apache--original-nuttah/)

*1994 · SOUR*

The crowd-pleaser, and included as the awkward one. A set built on this is a different set from one built on the other five, and both of them are honest.

Also on: [Drum and Bass](https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/), [1994](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/), [Bass Weight](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/), [The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Shy%20FX%20%26%20UK%20Apache%20Original%20Nuttah) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sxbekgL4w7w)

### A general selection

Ten records that open ten doors. One way into each genre we cover, plus two that show what the deep end sounds like once you are through.

*10 picks · updated 2026-08-28*

#### [Rhythim Is Rhythim](https://waxonia.com/artist/rhythim-is-rhythim/) — [Strings of Life](https://waxonia.com/track/rhythim-is-rhythim--strings-of-life/)

*1987 · Transmat*

Start here if you think electronic music is cold. There is no bassline and barely a kick for half its length, and it still empties a room into a dancefloor faster than anything made since.

Also on: [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/), [The Eighties](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/), [The Waxonia Desk — Detroit, Heard in Europe](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-in-europe/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Rhythim%20Is%20Rhythim%20Strings%20of%20Life) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=vGFw2qeUp0s)

#### [Mr. Fingers](https://waxonia.com/artist/mr-fingers/) — [Can You Feel It](https://waxonia.com/track/mr-fingers--can-you-feel-it/)

*1986 · Trax*

House music at its most elemental: a bassline, a hi-hat and an enormous amount of patience. Every four-to-the-floor record made since is arguing with this one, whether or not it knows it.

Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/), [The Eighties](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/), [The Waxonia Desk — In the Room](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/), [The Waxonia Desk — Looped and Filtered](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Mr.%20Fingers%20Can%20You%20Feel%20It) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=p2XxyBViBog)

#### [Goldie](https://waxonia.com/artist/goldie/) — [Inner City Life](https://waxonia.com/track/goldie--inner-city-life/)

*1994 · FFRR / Metalheadz*

The record that proves breakbeat music can carry grief. If drum and bass has only ever reached you as speed, this is the one that reframes the whole genre as something you feel rather than survive.

Also on: [Drum and Bass](https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/), [1994](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Goldie%20Inner%20City%20Life) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=i-P98B2skts)

#### [Massive Attack](https://waxonia.com/artist/massive-attack/) — [Unfinished Sympathy](https://waxonia.com/track/massive-attack--unfinished-sympathy/)

*1991 · Wild Bunch / Circa*

Strings, a slow breakbeat and a vocal that refuses to resolve. It sounds like a pop single until you notice nothing in it behaves the way a pop single does.

Also on: [Trip-Hop](https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/), [The Waxonia Desk — Sounds Like a Single](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-sounds-like-a-single/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Massive%20Attack%20Unfinished%20Sympathy) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWmrfgj0MZI)

#### [My Bloody Valentine](https://waxonia.com/artist/my-bloody-valentine/) — [Only Shallow](https://waxonia.com/track/my-bloody-valentine--only-shallow/)

*1991 · Creation*

Four snare hits and then a wall. Shoegaze is often described as vague; this is the record that shows how precisely engineered the vagueness has to be before it works.

Also on: [Shoegaze](https://waxonia.com/genre/shoegaze/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/My%20Bloody%20Valentine%20Only%20Shallow) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=nwfCoKNI5hs)

#### [Eric B. & Rakim](https://waxonia.com/artist/eric-b-and-rakim/) — [Paid in Full](https://waxonia.com/track/eric-b-and-rakim--paid-in-full/)

*1987 · 4th & Broadway*

Rakim rewrote what a rapper could sound like — internal rhyme, conversational delivery, nothing forced to land on the beat. Almost every MC you like is downstream of this.

Also on: [Golden Age Hip-Hop](https://waxonia.com/genre/golden-age-hip-hop/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Eric%20B.%20%26%20Rakim%20Paid%20in%20Full) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=E7t8eoA_1jQ)

#### [Brian Eno](https://waxonia.com/artist/brian-eno/) — [An Ending (Ascent)](https://waxonia.com/track/brian-eno--an-ending-ascent/)

*1983 · Editions EG*

Four chords and an enormous amount of room around them. The best argument that ambient music is composition rather than absence, and the easiest one to hear on first listen.

Also on: [Ambient](https://waxonia.com/genre/ambient/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Brian%20Eno%20An%20Ending%20(Ascent)) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=OlaTeXX3uH8)

#### [MJ Cole](https://waxonia.com/artist/mj-cole/) — [Sincere](https://waxonia.com/track/mj-cole--sincere/)

*1998 · Talkin' Loud*

Garage at its most elegant: a two-step shuffle that never lands where you expect, under a vocal treated as an instrument. The genre's case that rhythm alone can be luxurious.

Also on: [UK Garage](https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/), [The Waxonia Desk — Garage on the Mix](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-garage-on-the-mix/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/MJ%20Cole%20Sincere) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cy-djtiU5RE)

#### [Drexciya](https://waxonia.com/artist/drexciya/) — [Bubble Metropolis](https://waxonia.com/track/drexciya--bubble-metropolis/)

*1993 · Underground Resistance*

Now the deep end. Detroit techno as science fiction, made by people who refused to be photographed and built an underwater mythology instead. Play it after Strings of Life and hear the same city thinking differently.

Also on: [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/), [The Waxonia Desk — Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-techno/), [The Waxonia Desk — Detroit, Heard in Europe](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-in-europe/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Drexciya%20Bubble%20Metropolis) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=wdbf7-tlDV8)

#### [Todd Edwards](https://waxonia.com/artist/todd-edwards/) — [Saved My Life](https://waxonia.com/track/todd-edwards--saved-my-life/)

*1995 · i! Records*

The other deep end. Hundreds of vocal fragments cut to a sixteenth and rebuilt into a melody, decades before anyone called it a technique. Once you hear the method you cannot unhear it anywhere in dance music.

Also on: [UK Garage](https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Todd%20Edwards%20Saved%20My%20Life) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=nk0LWxIBtis)

### A general selection

One line, five records, forty years: Kingston to Croydon by way of every British rave that treated the sub-bass as the point rather than the foundation.

*5 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [The Revolutionaries](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-revolutionaries/) — [Kunta Kinte Dub](https://waxonia.com/track/the-revolutionaries--kunta-kinte-dub/)

*1976 · Well Charge*

A Kingston rhythm that would not stay in its decade. Sped up and cut into jungle plates twenty years later, it is the physical evidence that British bass music imported more than an attitude.

Also on: [Dub](https://waxonia.com/genre/dub/), [1976](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/), [The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Revolutionaries%20Kunta%20Kinte%20Dub) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=K6XDIje4vJU)

#### [Shy FX & UK Apache](https://waxonia.com/artist/shy-fx-and-uk-apache/) — [Original Nuttah](https://waxonia.com/track/shy-fx-and-uk-apache--original-nuttah/)

*1994 · SOUR*

The sound system and the sampler stop being separate traditions. A ragga vocal over an Amen break at 170 BPM, and nobody involved thought the combination needed explaining.

Also on: [Drum and Bass](https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/), [1994](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/), [The Waxonia Desk — 160](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/), [The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Shy%20FX%20%26%20UK%20Apache%20Original%20Nuttah) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sxbekgL4w7w)

#### [Double 99](https://waxonia.com/artist/double-99/) — [RIP Groove](https://waxonia.com/track/double-99--rip-groove/)

*1997 · Ice Cream*

Jungle's tempo halved and its aggression kept. Garage is usually filed as the friendly one, and this is the record that shows how thin that description always was.

Also on: [UK Garage](https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/), [The Waxonia Desk — Garage on the Mix](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-garage-on-the-mix/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Double%2099%20RIP%20Groove) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=uR3Vw8J8vUo)

#### [Skream](https://waxonia.com/artist/skream/) — [Midnight Request Line](https://waxonia.com/track/skream--midnight-request-line/)

*2005 · Tempa*

The same 140 BPM grid with the kicks taken out and the low end left to do the work alone. The record that made dubstep legible to people who had never stood in front of a proper rig.

Also on: [Dubstep](https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Night It Went National](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-dubstep-goes-national/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Skream%20Midnight%20Request%20Line) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=lcMAbnZy8l8)

#### [The Bug featuring Killa P & Flowdan](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-bug-featuring-killa-p-and-flowdan/) — [Skeng](https://waxonia.com/track/the-bug-featuring-killa-p-and-flowdan--skeng/)

*2007 · Ninja Tune*

The line closes. A dancehall vocal over a corroded synth bass, thirty years and five thousand miles from where it started, and it still sounds like the same argument.

Also on: [Dubstep](https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Bug%20featuring%20Killa%20P%20%26%20Flowdan%20Skeng) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zwmUOJR-GwA)

### A general selection

Six records split evenly between two rooms that were not supposed to talk to each other. Half guitars, half machines, and the point is that the division was always administrative rather than musical.

*6 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [New Order](https://waxonia.com/artist/new-order/) — [Blue Monday](https://waxonia.com/track/new-order--blue-monday/)

*1983 · Factory*

The record that made the argument first and made every later version of it easier. A guitar band bought a sequencer, never explained itself, and sold it in a sleeve that lost money on every copy.

Also on: [Madchester](https://waxonia.com/genre/madchester/), [Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records](https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/New%20Order%20Blue%20Monday) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=9GMjH1nR0ds)

#### [Bauhaus](https://waxonia.com/artist/bauhaus/) — [Bela Lugosi's Dead](https://waxonia.com/track/bauhaus--bela-lugosis-dead/)

*1979 · Small Wonder*

Nine minutes of dub delay recorded live in one take. The guitar records that survive on a dancefloor tend to be the ones that were secretly dance records all along, and this is the clearest case.

Also on: [Post-Punk](https://waxonia.com/genre/post-punk/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Bauhaus%20Bela%20Lugosi's%20Dead) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy9h2q_dr9k)

#### [A Guy Called Gerald](https://waxonia.com/artist/a-guy-called-gerald/) — [Voodoo Ray](https://waxonia.com/track/a-guy-called-gerald--voodoo-ray/)

*1988 · Rham!*

Made in a bedroom on borrowed equipment with a sample truncated by accident. The most beautiful mistake in British dance music, and a standing argument against deliberation.

Also on: [Acid House](https://waxonia.com/genre/acid-house/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/A%20Guy%20Called%20Gerald%20Voodoo%20Ray) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=j7vxHOCeiQ4)

#### [The Stone Roses](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-stone-roses/) — [Fools Gold](https://waxonia.com/track/the-stone-roses--fools-gold/)

*1989 · Silvertone*

An indie band's biggest single is a groove with some singing over it. The exact point the two rooms merged, and they stayed merged for about three years before the doors went back up.

Also on: [Madchester](https://waxonia.com/genre/madchester/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Stone%20Roses%20Fools%20Gold) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=NSD11dnphg0)

#### [Primal Scream](https://waxonia.com/artist/primal-scream/) — [Loaded](https://waxonia.com/track/primal-scream--loaded/)

*1990 · Creation*

A remix that kept almost none of the original and handed a band a career. The clearest case in British music for a remixer owing the record they were given nothing whatsoever.

Also on: [Madchester](https://waxonia.com/genre/madchester/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Primal%20Scream%20Loaded) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3ixEzKA4k0)

#### [Daft Punk](https://waxonia.com/artist/daft-punk/) — [Da Funk](https://waxonia.com/track/daft-punk--da-funk/)

*1995 · Soma*

A deliberately ugly lead sound over a hip-hop tempo. Being wilfully awkward turned out to be a strategy rather than a temperament, and this is where it started paying.

Also on: [French House](https://waxonia.com/genre/french-house/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Daft%20Punk%20Da%20Funk) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=PwILkY9gRrc)

### A general selection

Six records tracing one continuous line from a Kingston mixing desk to a Chicago dance floor. The claim is that dub never stopped: it changed tempo, crossed an ocean, and kept going under other names.

*6 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Augustus Pablo](https://waxonia.com/artist/augustus-pablo/) — [King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown](https://waxonia.com/track/augustus-pablo--king-tubby-meets-rockers-uptown/)

*1976 · Yard Music*

The starting point for the argument every record below repeats: a mix is a composition. The debt the others owe is as much to the economics that made a B-side worth rebuilding as to the technique itself.

Also on: [Dub](https://waxonia.com/genre/dub/), [1976](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/), [Roots](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Augustus%20Pablo%20King%20Tubby%20Meets%20Rockers%20Uptown) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=oxAl3Jijs20)

#### [The Revolutionaries](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-revolutionaries/) — [Kunta Kinte Dub](https://waxonia.com/track/the-revolutionaries--kunta-kinte-dub/)

*1976 · Well Charge*

A Kingston rhythm that reappeared, sped up, in British jungle two decades later. The clearest single piece of evidence for a continuity that is usually asserted rather than shown.

Also on: [Dub](https://waxonia.com/genre/dub/), [1976](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/), [Bass Weight](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Revolutionaries%20Kunta%20Kinte%20Dub) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=K6XDIje4vJU)

#### [Shy FX & UK Apache](https://waxonia.com/artist/shy-fx-and-uk-apache/) — [Original Nuttah](https://waxonia.com/track/shy-fx-and-uk-apache--original-nuttah/)

*1994 · SOUR*

Jungle at the exact moment the sound system and the sampler stopped being separate traditions. Everything Kingston built into a rhythm arrives here at twice the speed with none of it lost.

Also on: [Drum and Bass](https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/), [1994](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/), [Bass Weight](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/), [The Waxonia Desk — 160](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Shy%20FX%20%26%20UK%20Apache%20Original%20Nuttah) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sxbekgL4w7w)

#### [Wiley](https://waxonia.com/artist/wiley/) — [Eskimo](https://waxonia.com/track/wiley--eskimo/)

*2002 · Wiley Kat*

The coldest record here and the one with the least obvious Jamaican inheritance. It earns its place by testing the line: grime keeps the sound system and throws the warmth away.

Also on: [Grime](https://waxonia.com/genre/grime/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Wiley%20Eskimo) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=u3rWH9pWkVQ)

#### [Burial](https://waxonia.com/artist/burial/) — [Archangel](https://waxonia.com/track/burial--archangel/)

*2007 · Hyperdub*

A label's most famous record, made almost entirely out of the residue of the others. Hauntology was a useful word for it precisely because the music is assembled from things that have already happened.

Also on: [Dubstep](https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Night It Went National](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-dubstep-goes-national/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Burial%20Archangel) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=E2qLD9c3Gq4)

#### [DJ Rashad](https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-rashad/) — [Feelin](https://waxonia.com/track/dj-rashad--feelin/)

*2013 · Hyperdub*

Chicago, not London, and still recognisably part of the same project. Either the argument ends here or it stops being about Britain, and the record is better evidence for the second.

Also on: [Juke and Footwork](https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/), [The Waxonia Desk — 160](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/), [The Waxonia Desk — Footwork Travels](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-footwork-travels/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Rashad%20Feelin) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MC5zj4eLM3k)

### A general selection

Six records from Detroit, Lagos and Accra, offered as one subject rather than three genres. The distance between them is geographic and almost nothing else.

*6 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Marvin Gaye](https://waxonia.com/artist/marvin-gaye/) — [What's Going On](https://waxonia.com/track/marvin-gaye--whats-going-on/)

*1971 · Tamla*

The obvious one, and four decades of broadcasting have made it harder to hear rather than easier. A record everybody agrees about is a difficult thing to keep alive.

Also on: [Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Marvin%20Gaye%20What's%20Going%20On) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=KDK7TiEiMOI)

#### [Curtis Mayfield](https://waxonia.com/artist/curtis-mayfield/) — [Move On Up](https://waxonia.com/track/curtis-mayfield--move-on-up/)

*1970 · Curtom*

Nine minutes of forward motion that works on a dancefloor and on daytime radio, which is a rare combination — and it is the long version that earns the claim, not the edit.

Also on: [Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Curtis%20Mayfield%20Move%20On%20Up) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=A9RMr9KuVZo)

#### [Fela Ransome-Kuti & Africa 70](https://waxonia.com/artist/fela-ransome-kuti-and-africa-70/) — [Shakara](https://waxonia.com/track/fela-ransome-kuti-and-africa-70--shakara/)

*1972 · EMI*

Fifteen minutes before the vocal arrives. Programming a record like this for an audience trained to expect a hook inside thirty seconds is the whole problem, and it is worth solving.

Also on: [Afrobeat](https://waxonia.com/genre/afrobeat/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Fela%20Ransome-Kuti%20%26%20Africa%2070%20Shakara) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=P2l7EPy1Svs)

#### [Manu Dibango](https://waxonia.com/artist/manu-dibango/) — [Soul Makossa](https://waxonia.com/track/manu-dibango--soul-makossa/)

*1972 · Fiesta*

A Cameroonian B-side that a New York DJ turned into a disco hit. The clearest single case for the argument this list is making: the route mattered more than the origin.

Also on: [Afrobeat](https://waxonia.com/genre/afrobeat/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Manu%20Dibango%20Soul%20Makossa) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=PblSmVR7hCk)

#### [Ebo Taylor](https://waxonia.com/artist/ebo-taylor/) — [Heaven](https://waxonia.com/track/ebo-taylor--heaven/)

*1977*

Ghana rather than Nigeria, and looser than anything Lagos allowed. Much of what reached Britain as afrobeat was highlife that nobody had bothered to distinguish.

Also on: [Afrobeat](https://waxonia.com/genre/afrobeat/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Ebo%20Taylor%20Heaven) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=z54HkbHg8Ec)

#### [Herbie Hancock](https://waxonia.com/artist/herbie-hancock/) — [Chameleon](https://waxonia.com/track/herbie-hancock--chameleon/)

*1973 · Columbia*

The record where a jazz musician of the first rank decides the groove is the interesting problem. If acid jazz began as a joke, this is the thing the joke was about.

Also on: [Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/), [The Waxonia Desk — Where the Accent Moved](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-accent-moved/), [Twice Over](https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Herbie%20Hancock%20Chameleon) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=iqomTAiRnVM)

### A general selection

Five records from before the map starts. Everything else we publish is downstream of one of these, and most of it is downstream of several.

*5 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [James Brown](https://waxonia.com/artist/james-brown/) — [Cold Sweat](https://waxonia.com/track/james-brown--cold-sweat/)

*1967 · King*

Start here. Brown tells the band to put the accent on the first beat and stop changing chord, and the next sixty years of dance music become possible in about eight bars.

Also on: [Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/), [The Waxonia Desk — Where the Accent Moved](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-accent-moved/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/James%20Brown%20Cold%20Sweat) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=qkgIoMuaoQ0)

#### [Augustus Pablo](https://waxonia.com/artist/augustus-pablo/) — [King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown](https://waxonia.com/track/augustus-pablo--king-tubby-meets-rockers-uptown/)

*1976 · Yard Music*

The mixing desk becomes an instrument. Every record on this site built from the bass upward, with the vocal free to vanish for a bar, is working from the grammar King Tubby set here.

Also on: [Dub](https://waxonia.com/genre/dub/), [1976](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/), [The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Augustus%20Pablo%20King%20Tubby%20Meets%20Rockers%20Uptown) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=oxAl3Jijs20)

#### [Neu!](https://waxonia.com/artist/neu/) — [Hallogallo](https://waxonia.com/track/neu--hallogallo/)

*1972 · Brain*

Ten minutes of a beat that never accents anything. The idea that a rhythm can drive without swinging is the one European contribution the Americans genuinely had to import.

Also on: [Krautrock](https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/), [The Waxonia Desk — Krautrock](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-krautrock/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Neu!%20Hallogallo) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zndpi8tNZyQ)

#### [Donna Summer](https://waxonia.com/artist/donna-summer/) — [I Feel Love](https://waxonia.com/track/donna-summer--i-feel-love/)

*1977 · Casablanca*

Eno reportedly burst into Bowie's Berlin session announcing that the sound of the future had arrived. Early by about six years, and wrong by about nothing.

Also on: [Disco](https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/), [Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records](https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Donna%20Summer%20I%20Feel%20Love) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=yEbaeLv-aOo)

#### [Public Image Ltd](https://waxonia.com/artist/public-image-ltd/) — [Public Image](https://waxonia.com/track/public-image-ltd--public-image/)

*1978 · Virgin*

The guitar stops chugging and starts ringing, the bass takes the tune, and British guitar music spends the next fifteen years working out what to do with the space that left.

Also on: [Post-Punk](https://waxonia.com/genre/post-punk/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Public%20Image%20Ltd%20Public%20Image) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rIAZ8unRm2c)

### A general selection

Three records that pass for pop singles until you notice that nothing inside them behaves like one. A sampled interview, a vocal that will not resolve, and a techno record with a tune it never apologised for.

*3 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Inner City](https://waxonia.com/artist/inner-city/) — [Good Life](https://waxonia.com/track/inner-city--good-life/)

*1988 · KMS / Virgin*

Detroit techno behaving like a pop record and refusing to apologise for it. The genre spent the following decade deciding whether that was a betrayal or the entire point.

Also on: [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Inner%20City%20Good%20Life) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=KJxJxr9RlKM)

#### [Massive Attack](https://waxonia.com/artist/massive-attack/) — [Unfinished Sympathy](https://waxonia.com/track/massive-attack--unfinished-sympathy/)

*1991 · Wild Bunch / Circa*

Strings, a slow breakbeat, and a vocal that refuses to resolve. It sounds like a pop single until you notice that nothing in it behaves the way a pop single is supposed to.

Also on: [Trip-Hop](https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Massive%20Attack%20Unfinished%20Sympathy) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWmrfgj0MZI)

#### [The Orb](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-orb/) — [Little Fluffy Clouds](https://waxonia.com/track/the-orb--little-fluffy-clouds/)

*1990 · Big Life*

A sampled interview, a Steve Reich loop and a beat, assembled into something that should not work at all. The line between a remix and a record is nowhere to be found on it.

Also on: [Ambient](https://waxonia.com/genre/ambient/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Orb%20Little%20Fluffy%20Clouds) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=KNfjpmvbQG0)

### A general selection

Every genre we rank, distilled to a hundred records and ordered best first. If you only ever play one list from this site, play this one.

*100 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Rhythim Is Rhythim](https://waxonia.com/artist/rhythim-is-rhythim/) — [Strings of Life](https://waxonia.com/track/rhythim-is-rhythim--strings-of-life/)

*1987 · Transmat*

No bassline, barely a kick, and it still empties a bar into a dancefloor faster than anything made since. The one record on this site nobody in thirty-eight years has argued with.

Also on: [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/), [The Eighties](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/), [The Waxonia Desk — Detroit, Heard in Europe](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-in-europe/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Rhythim%20Is%20Rhythim%20Strings%20of%20Life) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=vGFw2qeUp0s)

#### [Marvin Gaye](https://waxonia.com/artist/marvin-gaye/) — [What's Going On](https://waxonia.com/track/marvin-gaye--whats-going-on/)

*1971 · Tamla*

A protest record that sounds like a conversation at a party. Its label tried to stop it, which is usually the sign.

Also on: [Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/), [The Waxonia Desk — One Subject](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-one-subject/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Marvin%20Gaye%20What's%20Going%20On) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=KDK7TiEiMOI)

#### [Donna Summer](https://waxonia.com/artist/donna-summer/) — [I Feel Love](https://waxonia.com/track/donna-summer--i-feel-love/)

*1977 · Casablanca*

The moment a machine takes over the rhythm section of popular music and nobody notices they have crossed a line. Everything electronic below here is downstream of it.

Also on: [Disco](https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/), [Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records](https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/), [Roots](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Donna%20Summer%20I%20Feel%20Love) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=yEbaeLv-aOo)

#### [James Brown](https://waxonia.com/artist/james-brown/) — [Cold Sweat](https://waxonia.com/track/james-brown--cold-sweat/)

*1967 · King*

The accent moves to the first beat and the chord stops changing. Eight bars that reorganise the next sixty years.

Also on: [Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/), [Roots](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/), [The Waxonia Desk — Where the Accent Moved](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-accent-moved/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/James%20Brown%20Cold%20Sweat) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=qkgIoMuaoQ0)

#### [Mr. Fingers](https://waxonia.com/artist/mr-fingers/) — [Can You Feel It](https://waxonia.com/track/mr-fingers--can-you-feel-it/)

*1986 · Trax*

A bassline, a hi-hat and an enormous amount of patience. House music explained in one record, and never bettered by the ten thousand that copied it.

Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/), [The Eighties](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/), [The Waxonia Desk — In the Room](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/), [The Waxonia Desk — Looped and Filtered](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Mr.%20Fingers%20Can%20You%20Feel%20It) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=p2XxyBViBog)

#### [Sam Cooke](https://waxonia.com/artist/sam-cooke/) — [A Change Is Gonna Come](https://waxonia.com/track/sam-cooke--a-change-is-gonna-come/)

*1964 · RCA Victor*

More weight per bar than anything else in this list. The strings are almost unbearable and the restraint in the vocal is the reason.

Also on: [Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Sam%20Cooke%20A%20Change%20Is%20Gonna%20Come) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=wEBlaMOmKV4)

#### [Massive Attack](https://waxonia.com/artist/massive-attack/) — [Unfinished Sympathy](https://waxonia.com/track/massive-attack--unfinished-sympathy/)

*1991 · Wild Bunch / Circa*

A full string section over a hip-hop break, in 1991, made by people from Bristol with no permission to attempt it. Still sounds like it cost a fortune and meant it.

Also on: [Trip-Hop](https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/), [The Waxonia Desk — Sounds Like a Single](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-sounds-like-a-single/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Massive%20Attack%20Unfinished%20Sympathy) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWmrfgj0MZI)

#### [Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force](https://waxonia.com/artist/afrika-bambaataa-and-the-soulsonic-force/) — [Planet Rock](https://waxonia.com/track/afrika-bambaataa-and-the-soulsonic-force--planet-rock/)

*1982 · Tommy Boy*

Two German records, an 808 and a Bronx park. The most generative four minutes in this entire corpus — techno, electro and half of pop start here.

Also on: [Electro](https://waxonia.com/genre/electro/), [Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records](https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Afrika%20Bambaataa%20%26%20The%20Soulsonic%20Force%20Planet%20Rock) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=SqS8X-5aIns)

#### [Augustus Pablo](https://waxonia.com/artist/augustus-pablo/) — [King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown](https://waxonia.com/track/augustus-pablo--king-tubby-meets-rockers-uptown/)

*1976 · Yard Music*

The record that proves an engineer is a composer. Everything on this list built from the bass upward is quoting it, usually without knowing.

Also on: [Dub](https://waxonia.com/genre/dub/), [1976](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/), [Roots](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/), [The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Augustus%20Pablo%20King%20Tubby%20Meets%20Rockers%20Uptown) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=oxAl3Jijs20)

#### [Public Enemy](https://waxonia.com/artist/public-enemy/) — [Fight the Power](https://waxonia.com/track/public-enemy--fight-the-power/)

*1989 · Motown / Def Jam*

The densest production in rap attached to the least negotiable lyric. Thirty-six years on, no record has managed to be this loud and this precise at once.

Also on: [Golden Age Hip-Hop](https://waxonia.com/genre/golden-age-hip-hop/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Public%20Enemy%20Fight%20the%20Power) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=mmo3HFa2vjg)

#### [Chic](https://waxonia.com/artist/chic/) — [Good Times](https://waxonia.com/track/chic--good-times/)

*1979 · Atlantic*

A bassline so useful that hip-hop, post-punk and pop all took it within eighteen months. Rodgers leaves gaps, and other people's careers fit inside them.

Also on: [Disco](https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/), [The Waxonia Desk — What the DJs Kept](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-what-the-djs-kept/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Chic%20Good%20Times) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=iGKQapswGaY)

#### [Joy Division](https://waxonia.com/artist/joy-division/) — [Love Will Tear Us Apart](https://waxonia.com/track/joy-division--love-will-tear-us-apart/)

*1980 · Factory*

The bass carries the melody, a cheap synth carries the weather, and the lyric refuses every available metaphor. Guitar music's most perfect three minutes.

Also on: [Post-Punk](https://waxonia.com/genre/post-punk/), [The Eighties](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Joy%20Division%20Love%20Will%20Tear%20Us%20Apart) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zuuObGsB0No)

#### [Kraftwerk](https://waxonia.com/artist/kraftwerk/) — [Autobahn](https://waxonia.com/track/kraftwerk--autobahn/)

*1974 · Philips*

Twenty-two minutes about a car journey that Detroit heard as the future and Britain heard as a pop tune. Both readings were correct and both built genres.

Also on: [Krautrock](https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/), [The Waxonia Desk — Krautrock](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-krautrock/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Kraftwerk%20Autobahn) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=vkOZNJYAZ7c)

#### [My Bloody Valentine](https://waxonia.com/artist/my-bloody-valentine/) — [Only Shallow](https://waxonia.com/track/my-bloody-valentine--only-shallow/)

*1991 · Creation*

Four snare hits and then a guitar sound nobody has satisfactorily explained since. The loudest record here, and the most delicate.

Also on: [Shoegaze](https://waxonia.com/genre/shoegaze/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/My%20Bloody%20Valentine%20Only%20Shallow) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=nwfCoKNI5hs)

#### [Aretha Franklin](https://waxonia.com/artist/aretha-franklin/) — [Respect](https://waxonia.com/track/aretha-franklin--respect/)

*1967 · Atlantic*

Otis Redding wrote it and then conceded it was hers. The most complete act of reinterpretation in recorded music.

Also on: [Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Aretha%20Franklin%20Respect) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=A134hShx_gw)

#### [Goldie](https://waxonia.com/artist/goldie/) — [Inner City Life](https://waxonia.com/track/goldie--inner-city-life/)

*1994 · FFRR / Metalheadz*

Time-stretched breaks, a Diane Charlemagne vocal and an emotional register jungle was not supposed to have. The record that made an entire genre legible to outsiders.

Also on: [Drum and Bass](https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/), [1994](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Goldie%20Inner%20City%20Life) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=i-P98B2skts)

#### [Fela Kuti & Africa 70](https://waxonia.com/artist/fela-kuti-and-africa-70/) — [Zombie](https://waxonia.com/track/fela-kuti-and-africa-70--zombie/)

*1976 · Coconut*

Twelve minutes calling the army a column of unthinking bodies, answered by the state burning his compound down. Few records have been taken this seriously by their subject.

Also on: [Afrobeat](https://waxonia.com/genre/afrobeat/), [1976](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/), [Dancing to Bad News](https://waxonia.com/theme/dancing-to-bad-news/), [Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records](https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Fela%20Kuti%20%26%20Africa%2070%20Zombie) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=RUSg31Ignw4)

#### [Steve Reich](https://waxonia.com/artist/steve-reich/) — [Music for 18 Musicians](https://waxonia.com/track/steve-reich--music-for-18-musicians/)

*1978 · ECM*

An hour of pulsing marimbas that converts people with no patience for the theory behind it. The most seductive thing minimalism produced.

Also on: [Minimalism](https://waxonia.com/genre/minimalism/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Steve%20Reich%20Music%20for%2018%20Musicians) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1oOmUi4HGt0)

#### [A Guy Called Gerald](https://waxonia.com/artist/a-guy-called-gerald/) — [Voodoo Ray](https://waxonia.com/track/a-guy-called-gerald--voodoo-ray/)

*1988 · Rham!*

A Manchester bedroom, borrowed equipment and a sample cut short because the sampler ran out of memory. British dance music's most beautiful accident.

Also on: [Acid House](https://waxonia.com/genre/acid-house/), [The Waxonia Desk — Both Rooms](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-both-rooms/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/A%20Guy%20Called%20Gerald%20Voodoo%20Ray) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=j7vxHOCeiQ4)

#### [Eric B. & Rakim](https://waxonia.com/artist/eric-b-and-rakim/) — [Paid in Full](https://waxonia.com/track/eric-b-and-rakim--paid-in-full/)

*1987 · 4th & Broadway*

Rakim changes what a rap verse can do — internal rhyme, conversational delivery, no shouting — and every MC after him is working from this template.

Also on: [Golden Age Hip-Hop](https://waxonia.com/genre/golden-age-hip-hop/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Eric%20B.%20%26%20Rakim%20Paid%20in%20Full) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=E7t8eoA_1jQ)

#### [Model 500](https://waxonia.com/artist/model-500/) — [No UFO's](https://waxonia.com/track/model-500--no-ufos/)

*1985 · Metroplex*

The first record that is unambiguously techno rather than something approaching it. Cold, distant, and completely certain of itself.

Also on: [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/), [The Eighties](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/), [The Waxonia Desk — Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-techno/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Model%20500%20No%20UFO's) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Model%20500%20No%20UFO's)

#### [Brian Eno](https://waxonia.com/artist/brian-eno/) — [An Ending (Ascent)](https://waxonia.com/track/brian-eno--an-ending-ascent/)

*1983 · Editions EG*

Four minutes that have been used to sell everything and still cannot be cheapened. The purest demonstration that music can be a place rather than an event.

Also on: [Ambient](https://waxonia.com/genre/ambient/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Brian%20Eno%20An%20Ending%20(Ascent)) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=OlaTeXX3uH8)

#### [Portishead](https://waxonia.com/artist/portishead/) — [Glory Box](https://waxonia.com/track/portishead--glory-box/)

*1994 · Go! Beat*

An Isaac Hayes loop, a broken-theremin guitar and the most desolate vocal of the decade. Grim, gorgeous, and nobody has repeated it.

Also on: [Trip-Hop](https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/), [1994](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Portishead%20Glory%20Box) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=4qQyUi4zfDs)

#### [Sister Nancy](https://waxonia.com/artist/sister-nancy/) — [Bam Bam](https://waxonia.com/track/sister-nancy--bam-bam/)

*1982 · Techniques*

The most sampled record in this list by a distance, and its author was paid nothing for decades. Effortless in a way that cannot be manufactured.

Also on: [Dancehall](https://waxonia.com/genre/dancehall/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Sister%20Nancy%20Bam%20Bam) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=a9OopCd1gpE)

#### [Stardust](https://waxonia.com/artist/stardust/) — [Music Sounds Better with You](https://waxonia.com/track/stardust--music-sounds-better-with-you/)

*1998 · Roulé*

One guitar figure, one filter, one line repeated until it becomes a mantra. The most perfect single-idea record dance music has, and the trio never made another.

Also on: [French House](https://waxonia.com/genre/french-house/), [The Waxonia Desk — French House](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-french-house/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Stardust%20Music%20Sounds%20Better%20with%20You) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=FQlAEiCb8m0)

#### [Talking Heads](https://waxonia.com/artist/talking-heads/) — [Once in a Lifetime](https://waxonia.com/track/talking-heads--once-in-a-lifetime/)

*1980 · Sire*

A looped Afro-funk bed and a man having a public breakdown on top of it. Post-punk's most joyful record is also its most panicked, which is why it lasts.

Also on: [Post-Punk](https://waxonia.com/genre/post-punk/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Talking%20Heads%20Once%20in%20a%20Lifetime) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=5IsSpAOD6K8)

#### [Stevie Wonder](https://waxonia.com/artist/stevie-wonder/) — [Superstition](https://waxonia.com/track/stevie-wonder--superstition/)

*1972 · Tamla*

A clavinet riff so complete the arrangement is almost optional. One man playing nearly everything, at the exact moment that became possible.

Also on: [Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/), [The Waxonia Desk — Where the Accent Moved](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-accent-moved/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Stevie%20Wonder%20Superstition) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ftdZ363R9kQ)

#### [MJ Cole](https://waxonia.com/artist/mj-cole/) — [Sincere](https://waxonia.com/track/mj-cole--sincere/)

*1998 · Talkin' Loud*

The most musically ambitious record UK garage produced, by a classically trained producer who could have done anything and chose two-step.

Also on: [UK Garage](https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/), [The Waxonia Desk — Garage on the Mix](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-garage-on-the-mix/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/MJ%20Cole%20Sincere) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cy-djtiU5RE)

#### [D'Angelo](https://waxonia.com/artist/dangelo/) — [Untitled (How Does It Feel)](https://waxonia.com/track/dangelo--untitled-how-does-it-feel/)

*2000 · Virgin*

Seven minutes played so far behind the beat that the track feels like it might stop. A masterclass in how much tension a band can hold by simply not hurrying.

Also on: [Neo-Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/neo-soul/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Soulquarians Room](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-soulquarians-room/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/D'Angelo%20Untitled%20(How%20Does%20It%20Feel)) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=SxVNOnPyvIU)

#### [Neu!](https://waxonia.com/artist/neu/) — [Hallogallo](https://waxonia.com/track/neu--hallogallo/)

*1972 · Brain*

Ten minutes of one beat played perfectly. The idea that rhythm can drive without swinging is Europe's single largest export to this list.

Also on: [Krautrock](https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/), [Roots](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/), [The Waxonia Desk — Krautrock](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-krautrock/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Neu!%20Hallogallo) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zndpi8tNZyQ)

#### [Burial](https://waxonia.com/artist/burial/) — [Archangel](https://waxonia.com/track/burial--archangel/)

*2007 · Hyperdub*

Rain, vinyl crackle and a pitched vocal grieving over percussion that never lands on the grid. The record that made club music legible to people who never go to clubs.

Also on: [Dubstep](https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/), [The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Night It Went National](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-dubstep-goes-national/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Burial%20Archangel) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=E2qLD9c3Gq4)

#### [Frankie Knuckles & Jamie Principle](https://waxonia.com/artist/frankie-knuckles-and-jamie-principle/) — [Your Love](https://waxonia.com/track/frankie-knuckles-and-jamie-principle--your-love/)

*1987 · Trax*

It circulated on cassette for years before anyone pressed it, which tells you what it did to a room. Still the most romantic record house has.

Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/), [Sung to Someone](https://waxonia.com/theme/sung-to-someone/), [The Waxonia Desk — In the Room](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Frankie%20Knuckles%20%26%20Jamie%20Principle%20Your%20Love) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=M6LAE5ejrjg)

#### [Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg](https://waxonia.com/artist/dr-dre-featuring-snoop-doggy-dogg/) — [Nuthin' but a "G" Thang](https://waxonia.com/track/dr-dre-featuring-snoop-doggy-dogg--nuthin-but-a-g-thang/)

*1992 · Death Row*

A loop, a synth whine and two people sounding entirely untroubled. Delivered so completely on the first attempt that the genre spent five years elaborating it.

Also on: [G-Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/g-funk/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Dr.%20Dre%20featuring%20Snoop%20Doggy%20Dogg%20Nuthin'%20but%20a%20%22G%22%20Thang) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=8GliyDgAGQI)

#### [Bob Marley & The Wailers](https://waxonia.com/artist/bob-marley-and-the-wailers/) — [No Woman, No Cry](https://waxonia.com/track/bob-marley-and-the-wailers--no-woman-no-cry/)

*1975 · Island*

Seven minutes of a man consoling a room by describing a yard. The most widely loved record here, and it earns every bit of that.

Also on: [Reggae](https://waxonia.com/genre/reggae/), [Sung to Someone](https://waxonia.com/theme/sung-to-someone/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Bob%20Marley%20%26%20The%20Wailers%20No%20Woman%2C%20No%20Cry) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=IT8XvzIfi4U)

#### [Shy FX & UK Apache](https://waxonia.com/artist/shy-fx-and-uk-apache/) — [Original Nuttah](https://waxonia.com/track/shy-fx-and-uk-apache--original-nuttah/)

*1994 · SOUR*

A ragga vocal over an Amen break at 170 BPM, with nobody involved thinking the combination needed explaining. Britain's two inheritances, fused without ceremony.

Also on: [Drum and Bass](https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/), [1994](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/), [Bass Weight](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/), [The Waxonia Desk — 160](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/), [The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Shy%20FX%20%26%20UK%20Apache%20Original%20Nuttah) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sxbekgL4w7w)

#### [This Mortal Coil](https://waxonia.com/artist/this-mortal-coil/) — [Song to the Siren](https://waxonia.com/track/this-mortal-coil--song-to-the-siren/)

*1983 · 4AD*

Almost nothing behind the voice but a treated guitar, and it is still overwhelming. A cover version that has effectively replaced the original.

Also on: [Dream Pop](https://waxonia.com/genre/dream-pop/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/This%20Mortal%20Coil%20Song%20to%20the%20Siren) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=6GFteqnmoxg)

#### [James Brown](https://waxonia.com/artist/james-brown/) — [Funky Drummer](https://waxonia.com/track/james-brown--funky-drummer/)

*1970 · King*

Twenty seconds of Clyde Stubblefield alone, and then thirty years of other people's records. The most consequential drum break in existence.

Also on: [Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Soulquarians Room](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-soulquarians-room/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/James%20Brown%20Funky%20Drummer) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=7dtpj8qa1hQ)

#### [MFSB](https://waxonia.com/artist/mfsb/) — [Love Is the Message](https://waxonia.com/track/mfsb--love-is-the-message/)

*1973 · Philadelphia International*

Not a song so much as a structure that DJs spent a decade learning to use. The Paradise Garage closed on it, which is the highest recommendation available.

Also on: [Disco](https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/), [The Waxonia Desk — What the DJs Kept](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-what-the-djs-kept/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/MFSB%20Love%20Is%20the%20Message) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=7b1umcmfaXY)

#### [Dizzee Rascal](https://waxonia.com/artist/dizzee-rascal/) — [I Luv U](https://waxonia.com/track/dizzee-rascal--i-luv-u/)

*2002 · XL*

Made at sixteen on a school computer, and nothing in British music had sounded that unmediated before. A row between two teenagers, and the beat sounds like the row.

Also on: [Grime](https://waxonia.com/genre/grime/), [Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records](https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Dizzee%20Rascal%20I%20Luv%20U) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=YH0KWX2a8zY)

#### [Jeff Mills](https://waxonia.com/artist/jeff-mills/) — [The Bells](https://waxonia.com/track/jeff-mills--the-bells/)

*1996 · Purpose Maker*

Four elements, no development, total inevitability. The most recognisable DJ tool in techno, built out of very nearly nothing.

Also on: [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/), [The Waxonia Desk — Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-techno/), [The Waxonia Desk — Detroit, Heard in Europe](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-in-europe/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Jeff%20Mills%20The%20Bells) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=S-BlgAQ7uRQ)

#### [Basic Channel](https://waxonia.com/artist/basic-channel/) — [Phylyps Trak](https://waxonia.com/track/basic-channel--phylyps-trak/)

*1993 · Basic Channel*

One chord, a filter and eleven minutes, and it establishes that a techno record can consist almost entirely of the space around its own decay.

Also on: [Dub Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/dub-techno/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Basic%20Channel%20Phylyps%20Trak) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=6a4HlgmlMuw)

#### [Aphex Twin](https://waxonia.com/artist/aphex-twin/) — [Windowlicker](https://waxonia.com/track/aphex-twin--windowlicker/)

*1999 · Warp*

An R&B pastiche processed into something inhuman and sold as a pop single. Proof that he could do the thing he spent a career refusing to do.

Also on: [IDM](https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/), [Warp](https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Aphex%20Twin%20Windowlicker) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=go6-MliYCAs)

#### [Public Image Ltd](https://waxonia.com/artist/public-image-ltd/) — [Public Image](https://waxonia.com/track/public-image-ltd--public-image/)

*1978 · Virgin*

A resignation letter from punk delivered as a single: dub bass, ringing guitar, and no interest whatsoever in the audience that came for the last band.

Also on: [Post-Punk](https://waxonia.com/genre/post-punk/), [Roots](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Public%20Image%20Ltd%20Public%20Image) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rIAZ8unRm2c)

#### [Nas](https://waxonia.com/artist/nas/) — [N.Y. State of Mind](https://waxonia.com/track/nas--n-y-state-of-mind/)

*1994 · Columbia*

A twenty-year-old writing at a level most novelists never reach, over a piano loop that never resolves. The best-written record in this list.

Also on: [Golden Age Hip-Hop](https://waxonia.com/genre/golden-age-hip-hop/), [1994](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Nas%20N.Y.%20State%20of%20Mind) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=hI8A14Qcv68)

#### [The Stone Roses](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-stone-roses/) — [Fools Gold](https://waxonia.com/track/the-stone-roses--fools-gold/)

*1989 · Silvertone*

An indie band's biggest single is a groove with some singing on it, and a whole country followed them across the floor. The hinge record of British music.

Also on: [Madchester](https://waxonia.com/genre/madchester/), [The Waxonia Desk — Both Rooms](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-both-rooms/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Stone%20Roses%20Fools%20Gold) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=NSD11dnphg0)

#### [Kraftwerk](https://waxonia.com/artist/kraftwerk/) — [Trans-Europe Express](https://waxonia.com/track/kraftwerk--trans-europe-express/)

*1977 · Kling Klang*

A wistful song about trains that Bambaataa turned into hip-hop and Detroit turned into techno. No other record here has been quite so productive for people who misheard it.

Also on: [Krautrock](https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Kraftwerk%20Trans-Europe%20Express) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=i_85fUIRlmU)

#### [Lauryn Hill](https://waxonia.com/artist/lauryn-hill/) — [Ex-Factor](https://waxonia.com/track/lauryn-hill--ex-factor/)

*1998 · Ruffhouse*

A Wu-Tang sample, a gospel structure, and a lyric with no interest in protecting anyone's dignity. The most covered song of its era and nobody has improved on it.

Also on: [Neo-Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/neo-soul/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Soulquarians Room](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-soulquarians-room/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Lauryn%20Hill%20Ex-Factor) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cE-bnWqLqxE)

#### [Skream](https://waxonia.com/artist/skream/) — [Midnight Request Line](https://waxonia.com/track/skream--midnight-request-line/)

*2005 · Tempa*

A riff simple enough to hum over a bassline that only fully exists on a large rig. That combination is why an entire scene got out of South London.

Also on: [Dubstep](https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/), [Bass Weight](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Night It Went National](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-dubstep-goes-national/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Skream%20Midnight%20Request%20Line) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=lcMAbnZy8l8)

#### [Phuture](https://waxonia.com/artist/phuture/) — [Acid Trax](https://waxonia.com/track/phuture--acid-trax/)

*1987 · Trax*

A misused bass synth, released because Ron Hardy would not stop playing the tape. One record invents a genre and names it in the title.

Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/), [The Waxonia Desk — On a Machine](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-on-a-machine/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Phuture%20Acid%20Trax) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Phuture%20Acid%20Trax)

#### [Steve Reich](https://waxonia.com/artist/steve-reich/) — [Come Out](https://waxonia.com/track/steve-reich--come-out/)

*1966 · Odyssey*

One phrase from riot testimony, looped on two tapes drifting apart until the words become rhythm. Devastating, and the origin of phasing.

Also on: [Minimalism](https://waxonia.com/genre/minimalism/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Steve%20Reich%20Come%20Out) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni-LmThfV6c)

#### [Sly & the Family Stone](https://waxonia.com/artist/sly-and-the-family-stone/) — [Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)](https://waxonia.com/track/sly-and-the-family-stone--thank-you-falettinme-be-mice-elf-agin/)

*1969 · Epic*

A bass technique invented to cover for a missing drummer, and the most cheerful record ever written about being ground down.

Also on: [Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/), [The Waxonia Desk — Where the Accent Moved](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-accent-moved/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Sly%20%26%20the%20Family%20Stone%20Thank%20You%20(Falettinme%20Be%20Mice%20Elf%20Agin)) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=-T9vmaTI2LE)

#### [Omni Trio](https://waxonia.com/artist/omni-trio/) — [Renegade Snares](https://waxonia.com/track/omni-trio--renegade-snares/)

*1993 · Moving Shadow*

Jungle's prettiest record and its most technically alarming, at the same time. The breaks are chopped past the point of sense and the piano does not care.

Also on: [Drum and Bass](https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Omni%20Trio%20Renegade%20Snares) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzet6jYKQAU)

#### [Double Exposure](https://waxonia.com/artist/double-exposure/) — [Ten Percent](https://waxonia.com/track/double-exposure--ten-percent/)

*1976 · Salsoul*

Walter Gibbons invents the job of remixer on the first commercially released twelve-inch. Extend, strip, delay the payoff — all of it is already here.

Also on: [Disco](https://waxonia.com/genre/disco/), [The Waxonia Desk — What the DJs Kept](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-what-the-djs-kept/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Double%20Exposure%20Ten%20Percent) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rP0EPsS3OdQ)

#### [My Bloody Valentine](https://waxonia.com/artist/my-bloody-valentine/) — [Soon](https://waxonia.com/track/my-bloody-valentine--soon/)

*1990 · Creation*

A dance beat under a guitar sound that will not hold still. Eno called it the vaguest music ever to have been a hit, approvingly.

Also on: [Shoegaze](https://waxonia.com/genre/shoegaze/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/My%20Bloody%20Valentine%20Soon) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=gU7tX5YJghc)

#### [Fela Kuti & Africa 70](https://waxonia.com/artist/fela-kuti-and-africa-70/) — [Water No Get Enemy](https://waxonia.com/track/fela-kuti-and-africa-70--water-no-get-enemy/)

*1975 · Coconut*

A proverb, a horn line, and Tony Allen playing the most relaxed complicated drum part imaginable. The way in for anyone who finds the politics forbidding.

Also on: [Afrobeat](https://waxonia.com/genre/afrobeat/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Fela%20Kuti%20%26%20Africa%2070%20Water%20No%20Get%20Enemy) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jx2qcKd1-0)

#### [New Order](https://waxonia.com/artist/new-order/) — [Blue Monday](https://waxonia.com/track/new-order--blue-monday/)

*1983 · Factory*

A guitar band making a club twelve-inch on sequencers, in packaging that lost money per copy. Five years early and the reason so much else was possible.

Also on: [Madchester](https://waxonia.com/genre/madchester/), [Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records](https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/), [The Waxonia Desk — Both Rooms](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-both-rooms/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/New%20Order%20Blue%20Monday) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=9GMjH1nR0ds)

#### [Daft Punk](https://waxonia.com/artist/daft-punk/) — [Da Funk](https://waxonia.com/track/daft-punk--da-funk/)

*1995 · Soma*

A deliberately ugly lead over a hip-hop tempo, released on a Glasgow techno label. Two Parisians arriving already refusing to do the expected thing.

Also on: [French House](https://waxonia.com/genre/french-house/), [The Waxonia Desk — Both Rooms](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-both-rooms/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Daft%20Punk%20Da%20Funk) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=PwILkY9gRrc)

#### [Cajmere](https://waxonia.com/artist/cajmere/) — [Percolator](https://waxonia.com/track/cajmere--percolator/)

*1992 · Cajual*

One bleeping figure repeated until it became a city's shared vocabulary. Thirty years of Chicago records quote it and a whole category is named after it.

Also on: [Juke and Footwork](https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Cajmere%20Percolator) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=BYAZ-lq_KLg)

#### [Burning Spear](https://waxonia.com/artist/burning-spear/) — [Marcus Garvey](https://waxonia.com/track/burning-spear--marcus-garvey/)

*1975 · Island*

History lessons delivered over a rhythm that barely moves, and they land like prophecy. The most severe great record in this tradition.

Also on: [Reggae](https://waxonia.com/genre/reggae/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Burning%20Spear%20Marcus%20Garvey) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=JW0iPMG1ohc)

#### [Aphex Twin](https://waxonia.com/artist/aphex-twin/) — [Xtal](https://waxonia.com/track/aphex-twin--xtal/)

*1992 · Apollo / R&S*

A wordless vocal over a break that has been degraded until it sounds remembered rather than played. Ambient's most-loved record by someone who denies making ambient.

Also on: [Ambient](https://waxonia.com/genre/ambient/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Aphex%20Twin%20Xtal) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sWcLccMuCA8)

#### [Wu-Tang Clan](https://waxonia.com/artist/wu-tang-clan/) — [C.R.E.A.M.](https://waxonia.com/track/wu-tang-clan--c-r-e-a-m/)

*1993 · Loud*

A four-bar piano loop, two verses, and a hook that became a proverb. RZA proved that the cheapest possible production could carry the heaviest possible writing.

Also on: [Golden Age Hip-Hop](https://waxonia.com/genre/golden-age-hip-hop/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Wu-Tang%20Clan%20C.R.E.A.M.) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=4yNQ7_7I5aE)

#### [Artful Dodger featuring Craig David](https://waxonia.com/artist/artful-dodger-featuring-craig-david/) — [Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta)](https://waxonia.com/track/artful-dodger-featuring-craig-david--re-rewind-the-crowd-say-bo-selecta/)

*1999 · Public Demand*

A pop record about a DJ's device, sung by a teenager who then became the biggest star in Britain. Garage's moment of complete confidence.

Also on: [UK Garage](https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/), [The Waxonia Desk — Garage on the Mix](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-garage-on-the-mix/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Artful%20Dodger%20featuring%20Craig%20David%20Re-Rewind%20(The%20Crowd%20Say%20Bo%20Selecta)) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=M0wv_cQv8As)

#### [DJ Rolando / Underground Resistance](https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-rolando-underground-resistance/) — [Jaguar](https://waxonia.com/track/dj-rolando-underground-resistance--jaguar/)

*1999 · Underground Resistance*

The riff a major label tried to buy and the Detroit underground refused to sell. Politics aside, the most physical string line techno has.

Also on: [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/), [Laurent Garnier — A Life in Twenty-One Records](https://waxonia.com/selection/laurent-garnier-a-life-in-records/), [The Waxonia Desk — Detroit, Heard in Europe](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-in-europe/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Rolando%20%2F%20Underground%20Resistance%20Jaguar) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=gw7vrBSBQwk)

#### [Ice Cube](https://waxonia.com/artist/ice-cube/) — [It Was a Good Day](https://waxonia.com/track/ice-cube--it-was-a-good-day/)

*1992 · Priority*

A list of ordinary things not going wrong, over an Isley Brothers loop. Rap's most affecting record achieves it entirely by describing an absence.

Also on: [G-Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/g-funk/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Ice%20Cube%20It%20Was%20a%20Good%20Day) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=h4UqMyldS7Q)

#### [Klein + M.B.O.](https://waxonia.com/artist/klein-m-b-o/) — [Dirty Talk](https://waxonia.com/track/klein-m-b-o--dirty-talk/)

*1982 · Zanza*

Italians make a record that Chicago plays until the grooves go, and house music turns out to have been specified in Milan. Stark, cold and enormously influential.

Also on: [Italo Disco](https://waxonia.com/genre/italo-disco/), [The Eighties](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Klein%20%2B%20M.B.O.%20Dirty%20Talk) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Klein%20%2B%20M.B.O.%20Dirty%20Talk)

#### [Massive Attack](https://waxonia.com/artist/massive-attack/) — [Teardrop](https://waxonia.com/track/massive-attack--teardrop/)

*1998 · Virgin*

A harpsichord, a heartbeat and Elizabeth Fraser singing about grief. Proof the Bristol formula was a language rather than a trick.

Also on: [Trip-Hop](https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Massive%20Attack%20Teardrop) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=u7K72X4eo_s)

#### [Metalheads](https://waxonia.com/artist/metalheads/) — [Terminator](https://waxonia.com/track/metalheads--terminator/)

*1992 · Synthetic*

Time-stretching discovered and immediately weaponised. The technical leap that turned hardcore into jungle, audible as it happens.

Also on: [Breakbeat Hardcore](https://waxonia.com/genre/breakbeat-hardcore/), [The Waxonia Desk — 160](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Metalheads%20Terminator) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Knu-7A7BLtQ)

#### [Marshall Jefferson](https://waxonia.com/artist/marshall-jefferson/) — [Move Your Body](https://waxonia.com/track/marshall-jefferson--move-your-body/)

*1986 · Trax*

Subtitled the house music anthem, and it earned the definite article. The piano that opened the genre up to everybody who was not already in the room.

Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/), [The Waxonia Desk — In the Room](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/), [The Waxonia Desk — Looped and Filtered](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Marshall%20Jefferson%20Move%20Your%20Body) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=RhKMMh4qOL8)

#### [Otis Redding](https://waxonia.com/artist/otis-redding/) — [Try a Little Tenderness](https://waxonia.com/track/otis-redding--try-a-little-tenderness/)

*1966 · Volt*

Two minutes of restraint and then the roof comes off. The best available argument that soul is a technique for controlling release rather than avoiding it.

Also on: [Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Otis%20Redding%20Try%20a%20Little%20Tenderness) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=pli44utBOwo)

#### [Wiley](https://waxonia.com/artist/wiley/) — [Eskimo](https://waxonia.com/track/wiley--eskimo/)

*2002 · Wiley Kat*

Cold, hollow and deliberately unwelcoming. An entire scene's emotional temperature set by one instrumental in ninety seconds.

Also on: [Grime](https://waxonia.com/genre/grime/), [The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Wiley%20Eskimo) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=u3rWH9pWkVQ)

#### [DJ Rashad](https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-rashad/) — [Feelin](https://waxonia.com/track/dj-rashad--feelin/)

*2013 · Hyperdub*

Soul samples and drum-and-bass warmth over patterns that refuse to resolve. The record that made the hardest rhythm in America hospitable without slowing it down.

Also on: [Juke and Footwork](https://waxonia.com/genre/juke-and-footwork/), [The Waxonia Desk — 160](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/), [The Waxonia Desk — Footwork Travels](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-footwork-travels/), [The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Rashad%20Feelin) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MC5zj4eLM3k)

#### [Slowdive](https://waxonia.com/artist/slowdive/) — [Alison](https://waxonia.com/track/slowdive--alison/)

*1993 · Creation*

Shoegaze with the songwriting left in. Everything blurred except the melody, which is why this one survived the backlash that buried the rest.

Also on: [Shoegaze](https://waxonia.com/genre/shoegaze/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Slowdive%20Alison) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak43tAU5QuA)

#### [Arthur Mafokate](https://waxonia.com/artist/arthur-mafokate/) — [Kaffir](https://waxonia.com/track/arthur-mafokate--kaffir/)

*1995*

A dance record built around a plea not to be called a slur, and the first real argument of the new South Africa. Half a million copies, and a genre given its subject.

Also on: [Kwaito](https://waxonia.com/genre/kwaito/), [Dancing to Bad News](https://waxonia.com/theme/dancing-to-bad-news/), [The Waxonia Desk — Out of Durban](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-gqom-out-of-durban/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Arthur%20Mafokate%20Kaffir) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sep8mvPZW6s)

#### [Boards of Canada](https://waxonia.com/artist/boards-of-canada/) — [Roygbiv](https://waxonia.com/track/boards-of-canada--roygbiv/)

*1998 · Warp*

Two minutes of detuned warmth imitated for twenty-five years without once being equalled. An entire strand of electronic music descends from this tape hiss.

Also on: [IDM](https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/), [Warp](https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Boards%20of%20Canada%20Roygbiv) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=SM4tQcUt_mQ)

#### [Mandoza](https://waxonia.com/artist/mandoza/) — [Nkalakatha](https://waxonia.com/track/mandoza--nkalakatha/)

*2000*

A kwaito record adopted by rugby crowds and townships alike, which nothing else in the country's music had managed. The closest post-apartheid South Africa came to a shared anthem.

Also on: [Kwaito](https://waxonia.com/genre/kwaito/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Mandoza%20Nkalakatha) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=b28vJvntyUM)

#### [Gang of Four](https://waxonia.com/artist/gang-of-four/) — [Damaged Goods](https://waxonia.com/track/gang-of-four--damaged-goods/)

*1978 · Fast Product*

A guitar used as a percussion instrument that mostly stays silent. The politics are in the arrangement, which is what separates this band from everyone who copied them.

Also on: [Post-Punk](https://waxonia.com/genre/post-punk/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Gang%20of%20Four%20Damaged%20Goods) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=F_7BVaDIAbA)

#### [D'Angelo](https://waxonia.com/artist/dangelo/) — [Brown Sugar](https://waxonia.com/track/dangelo--brown-sugar/)

*1995 · EMI*

A Rhodes, a hip-hop drum feel and a vocal arrangement borrowed from Marvin Gaye. Nothing on radio in 1995 sounded this unhurried, and a movement followed it.

Also on: [Neo-Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/neo-soul/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/D'Angelo%20Brown%20Sugar) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=H_WzjiTzZBA)

#### [Curtis Mayfield](https://waxonia.com/artist/curtis-mayfield/) — [Move On Up](https://waxonia.com/track/curtis-mayfield--move-on-up/)

*1970 · Curtom*

Nine minutes of unbroken forward motion. Optimism is the harder thing to write and this is the most durable example anyone has managed.

Also on: [Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/), [The Waxonia Desk — One Subject](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-one-subject/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Curtis%20Mayfield%20Move%20On%20Up) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=A9RMr9KuVZo)

#### [SL2](https://waxonia.com/artist/sl2/) — [On a Ragga Tip](https://waxonia.com/track/sl2--on-a-ragga-tip/)

*1992 · XL*

Number two in the national charts with a Jamaican vocal sample and a hoover bass. British pop has rarely been this directly a dispatch from a field off the M25.

Also on: [Breakbeat Hardcore](https://waxonia.com/genre/breakbeat-hardcore/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/SL2%20On%20a%20Ragga%20Tip) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=M6vgWFsKpdw)

#### [DJ Lag](https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-lag/) — [Ice Drop](https://waxonia.com/track/dj-lag--ice-drop/)

*2016 · Goon Club Allstars*

Written at seventeen. Three elements, no resolution, and a low end that argues for a whole genre in ninety seconds.

Also on: [Gqom](https://waxonia.com/genre/gqom/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Lag%20Ice%20Drop) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=9ycr4BI8I94)

#### [Can](https://waxonia.com/artist/can/) — [Halleluhwah](https://waxonia.com/track/can--halleluhwah/)

*1971 · United Artists*

Jaki Liebezeit holds one figure for eighteen minutes while the band comes apart around him. The strongest case that repetition is drama's cheapest fuel.

Also on: [Krautrock](https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Can%20Halleluhwah) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=-ukhZgsC4vc)

#### [Warren G & Nate Dogg](https://waxonia.com/artist/warren-g-and-nate-dogg/) — [Regulate](https://waxonia.com/track/warren-g-and-nate-dogg--regulate/)

*1994 · Death Row*

A Michael McDonald sample, a story told in alternating verses, and hooks nobody else could have sold. Perfect construction, beginning to end.

Also on: [G-Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/g-funk/), [1994](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Warren%20G%20%26%20Nate%20Dogg%20Regulate) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1plPyJdXKIY)

#### [The Orb](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-orb/) — [Little Fluffy Clouds](https://waxonia.com/track/the-orb--little-fluffy-clouds/)

*1990 · Big Life*

A Rickie Lee Jones interview, a Steve Reich pulse and a Pat Metheny sample, assembled into something oddly moving. Ambient house begins and mostly ends here.

Also on: [Ambient](https://waxonia.com/genre/ambient/), [The Waxonia Desk — Sounds Like a Single](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-sounds-like-a-single/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Orb%20Little%20Fluffy%20Clouds) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=KNfjpmvbQG0)

#### [Focalistic featuring Vigro Deep](https://waxonia.com/artist/focalistic-featuring-vigro-deep/) — [Ke Star](https://waxonia.com/track/focalistic-featuring-vigro-deep--ke-star/)

*2020*

Sepedi rap over a piano loop, and the record that made amapiano continental. The bassline does almost nothing, which is exactly why it works.

Also on: [Amapiano](https://waxonia.com/genre/amapiano/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Focalistic%20featuring%20Vigro%20Deep%20Ke%20Star) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=a9_da2P5JjQ)

#### [The Bug featuring Killa P & Flowdan](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-bug-featuring-killa-p-and-flowdan/) — [Skeng](https://waxonia.com/track/the-bug-featuring-killa-p-and-flowdan--skeng/)

*2007 · Ninja Tune*

Dancehall toasting welded to a bassline that sounds actively corroded. The point where British bass music stops being polite about its inheritance.

Also on: [Dubstep](https://waxonia.com/genre/dubstep/), [Bass Weight](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Bug%20featuring%20Killa%20P%20%26%20Flowdan%20Skeng) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zwmUOJR-GwA)

#### [Sweet Female Attitude](https://waxonia.com/artist/sweet-female-attitude/) — [Flowers (Sunship Remix)](https://waxonia.com/track/sweet-female-attitude--flowers-sunship-remix/)

*2000 · WEA*

The remix, not the original, and everybody knows it. Two-step's warmest record, and a reminder that garage's canon is largely other people's rebuilds.

Also on: [UK Garage](https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/), [The Waxonia Desk — Garage on the Mix](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-garage-on-the-mix/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Sweet%20Female%20Attitude%20Flowers%20(Sunship%20Remix)) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sv2Uu7NOPng)

#### [Wayne Smith](https://waxonia.com/artist/wayne-smith/) — [Under Me Sleng Teng](https://waxonia.com/track/wayne-smith--under-me-sleng-teng/)

*1985 · Jammy's*

A Casio preset becomes a rhythm hundreds of records are built on. The moment Jamaican music goes digital, and the template for every riddim scene since.

Also on: [Dub](https://waxonia.com/genre/dub/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Wayne%20Smith%20Under%20Me%20Sleng%20Teng) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=H_STPoI_eoM)

#### [Skepta](https://waxonia.com/artist/skepta/) — [Shutdown](https://waxonia.com/track/skepta--shutdown/)

*2015 · Boy Better Know*

Thirteen years after grime began, its commercial peak is still built from almost nothing. Total confidence with no additional ingredients.

Also on: [Grime](https://waxonia.com/genre/grime/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Skepta%20Shutdown) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MQOG5BkY2Bc)

#### [Alan Braxe & Fred Falke](https://waxonia.com/artist/alan-braxe-and-fred-falke/) — [Intro](https://waxonia.com/track/alan-braxe-and-fred-falke--intro/)

*2000 · Vulture*

Six minutes that only go upwards, with a string line that never resolves down. The record DJs still reach for when a room needs lifting off the floor.

Also on: [French House](https://waxonia.com/genre/french-house/), [The Waxonia Desk — French House](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-french-house/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Alan%20Braxe%20%26%20Fred%20Falke%20Intro) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=BR2kp7lMYdc)

#### [808 State](https://waxonia.com/artist/808-state/) — [Pacific State](https://waxonia.com/track/808-state--pacific-state/)

*1989 · ZTT*

A saxophone and birdsong over an acid bassline, which should not work. Proof that this music could be pretty without becoming polite.

Also on: [Acid House](https://waxonia.com/genre/acid-house/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/808%20State%20Pacific%20State) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv0UiQ5n7SM)

#### [The Jesus and Mary Chain](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-jesus-and-mary-chain/) — [Just Like Honey](https://waxonia.com/track/the-jesus-and-mary-chain--just-like-honey/)

*1985 · Blanco y Negro*

A Ronettes drum pattern buried in feedback, with a love song underneath that nobody expected these people to have written. The template for the decade that followed.

Also on: [Shoegaze](https://waxonia.com/genre/shoegaze/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Jesus%20and%20Mary%20Chain%20Just%20Like%20Honey) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=9LoSpJF_YxE)

#### [Sueño Latino](https://waxonia.com/artist/sueno-latino/) — [Sueño Latino](https://waxonia.com/track/sueno-latino--sueno-latino/)

*1989 · DFC*

An entire record built by looping somebody else's hour-long guitar improvisation and adding birdsong. Absurd, beautiful, and the bridge from kosmische to the dancefloor.

Also on: [Balearic](https://waxonia.com/genre/balearic/), [Italo Disco](https://waxonia.com/genre/italo-disco/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Sue%C3%B1o%20Latino%20Sue%C3%B1o%20Latino) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=EEXJuZ877OE)

#### [Roni Size / Reprazent](https://waxonia.com/artist/roni-size-reprazent/) — [Brown Paper Bag](https://waxonia.com/track/roni-size-reprazent--brown-paper-bag/)

*1997 · Talkin' Loud*

A double bass line, a breakbeat and a Mercury Prize. Drum and bass at its most musical without giving up an inch of its rhythmic difficulty.

Also on: [Drum and Bass](https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Roni%20Size%20%2F%20Reprazent%20Brown%20Paper%20Bag) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cwI0gbGEyuI)

#### [Yellowman](https://waxonia.com/artist/yellowman/) — [Zungguzungguguzungguzeng](https://waxonia.com/track/yellowman--zungguzungguguzungguzeng/)

*1983 · Greensleeves*

A melody so contagious that half of hip-hop borrowed it without discussion. An unpronounceable title attached to dancehall's most recognisable hook.

Also on: [Dancehall](https://waxonia.com/genre/dancehall/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Yellowman%20Zungguzungguguzungguzeng) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=X-tfYbRK2OA)

#### [Slum Village](https://waxonia.com/artist/slum-village/) — [Guess Who](https://waxonia.com/track/slum-village--guess-who/)

*2000 · Barak*

J Dilla programming drums audibly out of time and grooving harder for it. The single most imitated piece of programming of the last thirty years.

Also on: [Neo-Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/neo-soul/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Soulquarians Room](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-soulquarians-room/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Slum%20Village%20Guess%20Who) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Slum%20Village%20Guess%20Who)

#### [Incredible Bongo Band](https://waxonia.com/artist/incredible-bongo-band/) — [Apache](https://waxonia.com/track/incredible-bongo-band--apache/)

*1973 · Pride*

A session-band cover of a Shadows instrumental, and the break on which hip-hop was physically assembled. Included for consequences rather than for intentions.

Also on: [Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Incredible%20Bongo%20Band%20Apache) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=-Udnb6F1A0g)

#### [Basic Channel](https://waxonia.com/artist/basic-channel/) — [Quadrant Dub](https://waxonia.com/track/basic-channel--quadrant-dub/)

*1994 · Basic Channel*

The rhythm dissolves into delay returns and never quite reassembles. Thirty years on it still sounds mastered underwater, deliberately.

Also on: [Dub Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/dub-techno/), [1994](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Basic%20Channel%20Quadrant%20Dub) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=APH42GVgUTM)

#### [Tyler ICU & Tumelo ZA](https://waxonia.com/artist/tyler-icu-and-tumelo-za/) — [Mnike](https://waxonia.com/track/tyler-icu-and-tumelo-za--mnike/)

*2023*

Number one at home and unavoidable everywhere else within a month. A loop, a chant and a bending bass note — the oldest recipe in this list, working again.

Also on: [Amapiano](https://waxonia.com/genre/amapiano/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Tyler%20ICU%20%26%20Tumelo%20ZA%20Mnike) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=IBOvTfcMfjY)

#### [DJ Shadow](https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-shadow/) — [Midnight in a Perfect World](https://waxonia.com/track/dj-shadow--midnight-in-a-perfect-world/)

*1996 · Mo' Wax*

Built entirely from other people's records and yet unmistakably one person's. The high point of sampling as a compositional discipline rather than a shortcut.

Also on: [Trip-Hop](https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Shadow%20Midnight%20in%20a%20Perfect%20World) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=InFbBlpDTfQ)

#### [Manuel Göttsching](https://waxonia.com/artist/manuel-gottsching/) — [E2-E4](https://waxonia.com/track/manuel-gottsching--e2-e4/)

*1984 · Inteam*

One hour, one sequence, one guitarist, one take. Ends this list because it is where half of it accidentally began.

Also on: [Krautrock](https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/), [The Waxonia Desk — Krautrock](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-krautrock/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Manuel%20G%C3%B6ttsching%20E2-E4) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=pUfIqO5arq4)

### A general selection

Thirteen records, ten of our rankings, ten years. The decade cheap machines and cheap pressings reached people with no access to a record industry, told through the labels they had to start instead.

*13 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Joy Division](https://waxonia.com/artist/joy-division/) — [Love Will Tear Us Apart](https://waxonia.com/track/joy-division--love-will-tear-us-apart/)

*1980 · Factory*

Factory gave its bands the copyrights and had no contracts to speak of, which was ruinous as a business and is the reason this record sounds like nobody was consulted. The decade's most covered song, released by a Manchester club with a design habit.

Also on: [Post-Punk](https://waxonia.com/genre/post-punk/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Joy%20Division%20Love%20Will%20Tear%20Us%20Apart) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zuuObGsB0No)

#### [Black Flag](https://waxonia.com/artist/black-flag/) — [Rise Above](https://waxonia.com/track/black-flag--rise-above/)

*1981 · SST*

Greg Ginn ran SST out of his own electronics business and put out the records nobody would touch. American hardcore did not get signed; it built a distribution network out of vans and mail order, and this is the record at the front of it.

Also on: [Hardcore Punk](https://waxonia.com/genre/hardcore-punk/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Black%20Flag%20Rise%20Above) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=wDUYCyajDcs)

#### [Minor Threat](https://waxonia.com/artist/minor-threat/) — [Straight Edge](https://waxonia.com/track/minor-threat--straight-edge/)

*1981 · Dischord*

Forty-six seconds, on a label the band started to release it, which still caps its record prices four decades later. The clearest case here of the economics and the content being the same argument.

Also on: [Hardcore Punk](https://waxonia.com/genre/hardcore-punk/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Minor%20Threat%20Straight%20Edge) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=gsAu-nOg3Tw)

#### [Klein + M.B.O.](https://waxonia.com/artist/klein-m-b-o/) — [Dirty Talk](https://waxonia.com/track/klein-m-b-o--dirty-talk/)

*1982 · Zanza*

Milan working out what to do with a drum machine two years before anyone called it Italo. Made cheaply for clubs, exported by accident, and played in New York and Chicago by DJs who had no idea where it came from.

Also on: [Italo Disco](https://waxonia.com/genre/italo-disco/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Klein%20%2B%20M.B.O.%20Dirty%20Talk) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Klein%20%2B%20M.B.O.%20Dirty%20Talk)

#### [Alexander Robotnick](https://waxonia.com/artist/alexander-robotnick/) — [Problèmes d'Amour](https://waxonia.com/track/alexander-robotnick--problemes-damour/)

*1983 · Fuzz Dance*

A one-man record on a tiny Florentine imprint that outlasted most of the decade's budgets. Italo is the purest example of the criterion: no industry behind it at all, and it ended up under half of house music.

Also on: [Italo Disco](https://waxonia.com/genre/italo-disco/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Alexander%20Robotnick%20Probl%C3%A8mes%20d'Amour) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=oX1Vge8zAjw)

#### [Cocteau Twins](https://waxonia.com/artist/cocteau-twins/) — [Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops](https://waxonia.com/track/cocteau-twins--pearly-dewdrops-drops/)

*1984 · 4AD*

4AD was Ivo Watts-Russell's shop-front operation and it let a band invent a vocabulary — no lyrics anyone can transcribe, a guitar treated as weather. No A&R department in 1984 would have commissioned this and none had to.

Also on: [Dream Pop](https://waxonia.com/genre/dream-pop/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Cocteau%20Twins%20Pearly-Dewdrops'%20Drops) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=s-5Xgw6d3h0)

#### [Model 500](https://waxonia.com/artist/model-500/) — [No UFO's](https://waxonia.com/track/model-500--no-ufos/)

*1985 · Metroplex*

Juan Atkins pressed it himself on his own label, in a city whose record industry had left for Los Angeles fifteen years earlier. Techno starts as a self-released twelve-inch, which is a fact about Detroit as much as about the music.

Also on: [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/), [The Waxonia Desk — Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-techno/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Model%20500%20No%20UFO's) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Model%20500%20No%20UFO's)

#### [Tenor Saw](https://waxonia.com/artist/tenor-saw/) — [Ring the Alarm](https://waxonia.com/track/tenor-saw--ring-the-alarm/)

*1985 · Techniques*

Winston Riley's own Kingston label, a rhythm reused for the next thirty years, and no multinational anywhere near it. Jamaica had been running the model this whole list describes since long before the decade started.

Also on: [Dancehall](https://waxonia.com/genre/dancehall/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Tenor%20Saw%20Ring%20the%20Alarm) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=UpjLLw-cVzU)

#### [2 Live Crew](https://waxonia.com/artist/2-live-crew/) — [Throw the D](https://waxonia.com/track/2-live-crew--throw-the-d/)

*1986 · Luke Skyywalker*

Luke Campbell named the label after himself because there was no other way to release it, and later took its obscenity case to a federal appeals court. The most literal instance here of a scene having to build its own way out.

Also on: [Miami Bass](https://waxonia.com/genre/miami-bass/), [Miami](https://waxonia.com/theme/miami/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/2%20Live%20Crew%20Throw%20the%20D) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=IMicDDXU-9c)

#### [Mr. Fingers](https://waxonia.com/artist/mr-fingers/) — [Can You Feel It](https://waxonia.com/track/mr-fingers--can-you-feel-it/)

*1986 · Trax*

Trax pressed on recycled vinyl and paid almost nobody, which is a real part of the story and not a footnote. It also put out the record that defines house, made by one man in an apartment on borrowed equipment.

Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/), [The Waxonia Desk — In the Room](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/), [The Waxonia Desk — Looped and Filtered](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Mr.%20Fingers%20Can%20You%20Feel%20It) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=p2XxyBViBog)

#### [Rhythim Is Rhythim](https://waxonia.com/artist/rhythim-is-rhythim/) — [Strings of Life](https://waxonia.com/track/rhythim-is-rhythim--strings-of-life/)

*1987 · Transmat*

Derrick May's own label again, and the record the rest of the decade gets measured against. No chorus, no bassline for most of it, and no committee anywhere that would have let it out at that length.

Also on: [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/), [The Waxonia Desk — Detroit, Heard in Europe](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-in-europe/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Rhythim%20Is%20Rhythim%20Strings%20of%20Life) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=vGFw2qeUp0s)

#### [Mudhoney](https://waxonia.com/artist/mudhoney/) — [Touch Me I'm Sick](https://waxonia.com/track/mudhoney--touch-me-im-sick/)

*1988 · Sub Pop*

Sub Pop was two men, a loan and a singles club, and this is the record that made the subscription worth having. Everything the next decade sold by the million was worked out here for the price of a session.

Also on: [Grunge](https://waxonia.com/genre/grunge/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Mudhoney%20Touch%20Me%20I'm%20Sick) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=_nGsT_qFMBs)

#### [Forgemasters](https://waxonia.com/artist/forgemasters/) — [Track With No Name](https://waxonia.com/track/forgemasters--track-with-no-name/)

*1989 · Warp*

Funded by an enterprise grant, named after a steelworks, released by a Sheffield record shop. The decade ends with a public body accidentally paying for the first Warp single, which is as good a summary of the whole argument as exists.

Also on: [Bleep Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/bleep-techno/), [Warp](https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Forgemasters%20Track%20With%20No%20Name) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ys9e2m0LTs)

### A general selection

Three artists, nine of our rankings. Everyone the corpus ranks in three different genres, and the records that got them in.

*9 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Herbie Hancock](https://waxonia.com/artist/herbie-hancock/) — [Maiden Voyage](https://waxonia.com/track/herbie-hancock--maiden-voyage/)

*1965 · Blue Note*

Twenty-five years old and already writing the kind of tune other people would build careers on. This is the entry that makes the other two astonishing rather than merely eclectic: he was not a dabbler crossing over, he was a jazz composer at the top of the form.

Also on: [Jazz](https://waxonia.com/genre/jazz/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Herbie%20Hancock%20Maiden%20Voyage) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=EWC5x9G45yo)

#### [Herbie Hancock](https://waxonia.com/artist/herbie-hancock/) — [Chameleon](https://waxonia.com/track/herbie-hancock--chameleon/)

*1973 · Columbia*

Eight years later the same man writes a bassline that funk never gave back. Jazz musicians called it a betrayal at the time, which is usually the sound of a genre boundary being crossed by somebody who could see it was arbitrary.

Also on: [Funk](https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/), [The Waxonia Desk — One Subject](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-one-subject/), [The Waxonia Desk — Where the Accent Moved](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-accent-moved/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Herbie%20Hancock%20Chameleon) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=iqomTAiRnVM)

#### [Herbie Hancock](https://waxonia.com/artist/herbie-hancock/) — [Rockit](https://waxonia.com/track/herbie-hancock--rockit/)

*1983 · Columbia*

Ten years after that, at forty-three, he hands the record to a turntablist and lets the scratch be the lead instrument. Most artists get one genre. He got three, twenty years apart, and was decisive in each.

Also on: [Electro](https://waxonia.com/genre/electro/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Herbie%20Hancock%20Rockit) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=GHhD4PD75zY)

#### [The Beatles](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-beatles/) — [She Loves You](https://waxonia.com/track/the-beatles--she-loves-you/)

*1963 · Parlophone*

The most efficient two minutes in the ranking it sits in — a band still young enough to think the job was to make somebody scream. Nothing here predicts either of the next two entries, which is precisely why they are worth putting beside it.

Also on: [Merseybeat](https://waxonia.com/genre/merseybeat/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Beatles%20She%20Loves%20You) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=S302kF8MJ-I)

#### [The Beatles](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-beatles/) — [Tomorrow Never Knows](https://waxonia.com/track/the-beatles--tomorrow-never-knows/)

*1966 · Parlophone*

Three years on from a handclap-and-harmony single: one chord, a tape loop orchestra and a vocal fed through a rotating speaker. The gap between this and the entry above is the shortest distance any artist here travels between two of our rankings.

Also on: [Psychedelic Rock](https://waxonia.com/genre/psychedelic-rock/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Beatles%20Tomorrow%20Never%20Knows) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=m4BuziKGMy4)

#### [The Beatles](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-beatles/) — [Revolution 9](https://waxonia.com/track/the-beatles--revolution-9/)

*1968 · Apple*

A tape collage on the best-selling record of its decade, sitting in our musique concrète ranking beside people who spent their lives in institutional studios. Whether it is good is genuinely arguable. That it is the thing itself, in the charts, is not.

Also on: [Musique Concrète](https://waxonia.com/genre/musique-concrete/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Beatles%20Revolution%209) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=SNdcFPjGsm8)

#### [Nightmares on Wax](https://waxonia.com/artist/nightmares-on-wax/) — [Dextrous](https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--dextrous/)

*1989 · Warp*

Two teenagers in Leeds with a sampler, making one of the records that established what a Warp release sounded like before anyone knew that was a category. The narrowest and hardest of the three entries here.

Also on: [Bleep Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/bleep-techno/), [Warp](https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Dextrous) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=YiTL_HptsiY)

#### [Nightmares on Wax](https://waxonia.com/artist/nightmares-on-wax/) — [Les Nuits](https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--les-nuits/)

*1999 · Warp*

Ten years later, the same act, and the sampler is being used to make something warm rather than something skeletal. It is the single most recognisable record in our trip-hop ranking and it was made by a bleep techno producer.

Also on: [Trip-Hop](https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/), [Warp](https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Les%20Nuits) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0FdXIYxLbE)

#### [Nightmares on Wax](https://waxonia.com/artist/nightmares-on-wax/) — [Sueño](https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--sueno/)

*1999 · Warp*

Released the same year as the entry above and filed by us in a different ranking again, which is the whole argument of this list compressed into one twelve-month span. Three genres, one person, no change of name.

Also on: [Balearic](https://waxonia.com/genre/balearic/), [Warp](https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Sue%C3%B1o) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Sue%C3%B1o)

### A general selection

One label, five of our rankings, thirteen years. A shop in Sheffield that kept signing the thing that came next, and kept being right about it.

*12 picks · updated 2026-08-29*

#### [Forgemasters](https://waxonia.com/artist/forgemasters/) — [Track With No Name](https://waxonia.com/track/forgemasters--track-with-no-name/)

*1989 · Warp*

Catalogue number one, funded by a government enterprise grant, made by people who worked in the shop. Everything else here exists because this sold well enough locally to pay for the next one.

Also on: [Bleep Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/bleep-techno/), [The Eighties](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Forgemasters%20Track%20With%20No%20Name) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ys9e2m0LTs)

#### [Nightmares on Wax](https://waxonia.com/artist/nightmares-on-wax/) — [Dextrous](https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--dextrous/)

*1989 · Warp*

The bass frequency as the entire point of a record, which is what "bleep" meant before anyone had a word for it. It established that the label's taste was a taste and not just a postcode.

Also on: [Bleep Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/bleep-techno/), [Twice Over](https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Dextrous) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=YiTL_HptsiY)

#### [Sweet Exorcist](https://waxonia.com/artist/sweet-exorcist/) — [Testone](https://waxonia.com/track/sweet-exorcist--testone/)

*1990 · Warp*

Cabaret Voltaire's Richard H. Kirk making a club record, which is the moment Sheffield's industrial past and its rave present turn out to be the same story. The label's first sign that it would sign an idea rather than a sound.

Also on: [Bleep Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/bleep-techno/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Sweet%20Exorcist%20Testone) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ooD4plDsO60)

#### [LFO](https://waxonia.com/artist/lfo/) — [LFO](https://waxonia.com/track/lfo--lfo/)

*1990 · Warp*

A top-twenty hit made of almost nothing but sub-bass and a voice saying the title. The commercial proof that the room was right, and the record that gave the label enough money to take the risks below.

Also on: [Bleep Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/bleep-techno/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/LFO%20LFO) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=s-1Y2EqThyQ)

#### [Aphex Twin](https://waxonia.com/artist/aphex-twin/) — [Rhubarb](https://waxonia.com/track/aphex-twin--rhubarb/)

*1994 · Warp*

Selected Ambient Works Volume II is where the label stops being a dance label without announcing it. Four minutes with no drums at all, released by the people who had just sold a lot of records made entirely of drums.

Also on: [Ambient](https://waxonia.com/genre/ambient/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Aphex%20Twin%20Rhubarb) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=75O11W5EZAU)

#### [Autechre](https://waxonia.com/artist/autechre/) — [Flutter](https://waxonia.com/track/autechre--flutter/)

*1994 · Warp*

No two bars at the same tempo, written that way to be legal under the Criminal Justice Bill. A label with a hit single putting out a piece of legislative protest, which is the clearest evidence here that the A&R was not commercial.

Also on: [IDM](https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/), [1994](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Autechre%20Flutter) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=mdhtm6qjmhU)

#### [Squarepusher](https://waxonia.com/artist/squarepusher/) — [Come On My Selector](https://waxonia.com/track/squarepusher--come-on-my-selector/)

*1997 · Warp*

Jungle played at a speed and density no jungle dancefloor asked for, by a bassist. The label's habit by this point is signing people who are obviously misusing a genre, and being right about it a few years early.

Also on: [IDM](https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Squarepusher%20Come%20On%20My%20Selector) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MWCSw_cNxKc)

#### [Boards of Canada](https://waxonia.com/artist/boards-of-canada/) — [Roygbiv](https://waxonia.com/track/boards-of-canada--roygbiv/)

*1998 · Warp*

Two minutes of warmth on a roster known for the opposite, and the most widely loved record the label ever released. It moved Warp somewhere it had not been: melancholy, and legible to people who did not care about electronic music.

Also on: [IDM](https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Boards%20of%20Canada%20Roygbiv) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=SM4tQcUt_mQ)

#### [Aphex Twin](https://waxonia.com/artist/aphex-twin/) — [Windowlicker](https://waxonia.com/track/aphex-twin--windowlicker/)

*1999 · Warp*

A genuine pop single, with a Chris Cunningham video on daytime rotation, made by the artist least interested in being one. The label's tenth year, and it is still signing off on things nobody could have planned for.

Also on: [IDM](https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Aphex%20Twin%20Windowlicker) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=go6-MliYCAs)

#### [Nightmares on Wax](https://waxonia.com/artist/nightmares-on-wax/) — [Les Nuits](https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--les-nuits/)

*1999 · Warp*

The most recognisable record the label ever released to people who do not follow it, and the moment its catalogue acquires warmth. A bleep techno act from the label's first year making something you could put on at the end of a night.

Also on: [Trip-Hop](https://waxonia.com/genre/trip-hop/), [Twice Over](https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Les%20Nuits) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0FdXIYxLbE)

#### [Nightmares on Wax](https://waxonia.com/artist/nightmares-on-wax/) — [Sueño](https://waxonia.com/track/nightmares-on-wax--sueno/)

*1999 · Warp*

Released the same year as the entry above and filed by us in a different ranking again. Ten years in, the label's founding act is still moving it somewhere it had not been, which is the argument this list is making.

Also on: [Balearic](https://waxonia.com/genre/balearic/), [Twice Over](https://waxonia.com/theme/twice-over/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Sue%C3%B1o) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Nightmares%20on%20Wax%20Sue%C3%B1o)

#### [Autechre](https://waxonia.com/artist/autechre/) — [Gantz Graf](https://waxonia.com/track/autechre--gantz-graf/)

*2002 · Warp*

The end point of the argument this list makes: music arranged past the point where a listener can hold the pattern, released by a label that began with a dance twelve-inch. Whether it is enjoyable is not the claim. That it was released is.

Also on: [IDM](https://waxonia.com/genre/idm/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Autechre%20Gantz%20Graf) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=xNRPl0kA0a4)

### About the curator

The people who write the rankings on this site. We keep the lists honest, we argue about the order, and we get asked the same question more than any other: where should someone actually start. These are our answers.

Elsewhere: https://waxonia.com/

---

Hand-curated by Waxonia. We host no audio; all links point to streaming platforms.