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We now have EVERY ESSENTIAL MIX
ever produced from 1993 - present day, it has been a massive
effort to collect these sets, but they are now all available
from the links below.
The Essential Mix is a weekly radio show broadcast
on BBC Radio 1 and features all styles of electronic dance
music. Originally the brainchild of Eddie Gordon, the producer
of the show from the very first broadcast in 1993 to 2001.
After receiving weekly mix shows from DJs Tony Humphries and
Frankie Knuckles on 2 hour cassettes from New York's Hot 97
and KISS 100 respectively in the early 90s Eddie felt that
a BBC Radio 1 weekly show with DJs of different styles of
music would offer more variety and the chance for the ever
burgeoning UK dance music scene to flourish. He further encouraged
the DJs he scheduled to flex their musical knowledge muscles
by pushing the fact that the DJs were not strictly playing
to a dance floor but to people listening in their homes all
over the world. Hence the need for a straight out "4
to the floor" mix for 2 hours was not totally necessary
and the DJs could include more eclectic music. DJ Paul Oakenfold
particularly benefited from this direction prompted by Eddie
Gordon to create the now famous Goa Mix which was not only
voted the best Essential Mix ever but also won a Silver Award
in the Specialist Music Programme category at the 1997 Sony
Radio Awards. The previous year, 1996, the Essential Mix Show
picked up the award of Radio Show Of The Year from Muzik Magazine.
Later on it was David Holmes who created another 2 legendary
hours in the history of the Essential Mix: His set on 15 June
1997 – a surprising journey from Nancy Wilson to Jimi
Hendrix – redefined the DJ as a collector of musical
history.
The show has been hosted since its conception in 1993 by
DJ Pete Tong who was also the first performer, broadcast on
30 October 1993. Every Friday late night/Saturday morning
a two hour programme is broadcast, usually between the hours
of 3am and 5am UK-time (the programme was previously broadcast
between Saturday late night/Sunday morning 1am and 3am, and
before that, between 2am and 4am and originally midnight and
2am). The standard format of the show is an uninterrupted
guest mix of two hours provided by an invited DJ, group or
producer, introduced by Tong. The mix is usually studio recorded
in advance. Another Eddie Gordon initiative was to take the
show on the road with live broadcasts from clubs or festivals,
particularly during the Summer months (Northern Hemisphere)
and at the New Year's Eve end of the calendar months. The
live broadcasts started from within the UK and soon broadened
out as live from Ibiza, North America, Australia, South Africa,
Germany, Hawaii and other destinations in Europe including
Rome in Italy. The BBC Radio 1 - One World Millennium celebration
starting with DJ Carl Cox from Bondi Beach in Sydney Australia
(more Eddie Gordon origination) before heading to Cape Town
South Africa with DJ Danny Rampling prior to broadcasting
DJ Dave Pearce from Glasgow, Scotland, DJ Pete Tong from Liverpool,
UK then DJ Junior Vasquez from New York, USA before closing
with DJ Carl Cox who had flown backwards across the dateline
to complete a DJ World first with two Millennium gigs by broadcasting
from Honolulu, Hawaii.
The forerunner to this mammoth New Year's Eve
Essential Mix was the transatlantic three cities broadcast
on the New Year's Eve of 1997 into 1998 with simultaneous
broadcasts from three clubs directly to each dance floor with
DJ Pete Tong at the Ministry Of Sound, London, UK, DJ Todd
Terry at the Nynex Arena in Manchester, UK and finishing with
DJ Eddie Baez at the Tunnel venue in Manhattan, New York,
USA. Produced by Eddie Gordon who originated the idea of linking
the three venues via ISDN broadcast.
The broadcasts from Ibiza have taken place every
summer since the first Essential Mix live broadcast from Amnesia.
The first ever Essential Mix from Ibiza came in the summer
of 1995 Ibiza as a pre-recorded broadcast of Nicky Holloway
playing live at Ku on 2 July 1995.
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