New York in 1990 was a vibrant place. Hip-hop and house music were evolving by the month, and starting to rule club culture in the process.
Alas, NYC was also a scary place at times — the city’s murder rate reached its peak that year with 2,245 killings, a huge increase over 1989.
Joseph Longo was perfectly situated to capture that vibe in a bottle.
A clerk at the 12-inch storehouse Vinylmania in the West Village, he became a producer in the late eighties, and by the turn of the decade was producing classics in both rap — Boogie Down Productions’ Love’s Gonna Get’cha (Material Love) — and house, under aliases like Earth People and Pal Joey, named after the Frank Sinatra character in the film of the same name.
Not to be confused with the British ‘Hippychick’ combo that briefly featured ex-Adam And The Ants bassist Leight Gorman, as Soho, Longo’s spare, hypnotic Hot Music reconfigured airy Wynton Marsalis and Marshall Jefferson snippets over an all-business kick-drum pattern just off kilter enough to carry more than a hint of menace.
The distorted female mantra imploring the listener to “come on!” would later find its way to, among others, the currently unavailable Pet Shop Boys dance track from 1993, The Man Who Has Everything.
“Playing Hot Music usually caused chaos,” Longo recalled in 2013.
Three + decades on, it still does.
Steve Pafford
