‘THE FUTURE OF YESTERDAY’ – 1988 PLAYLIST BY ROBBIE LOWE

November 9, 2018 • 0 Comment

As part of our ‘The Future of Yesterday’ theme for EMC 2018, we’re bringing you curated playlists paying homage to some of the golden years in electronic and dance music from the last 4 decades – 1978; 1988; 1998; 2008 and 2018.

Creating our 1988 playlist is all round legend and one of Australia’s finest DJ’s Robbie Lowe, who has put together a playlist of his favourite songs from 1988. Find out what these tracks mean to him plus read about what teenage Robbie got up to at this time.

Tell us about the playlist, why do these tracks stand out for you?

I’ve really tried to cherry-pick the cream of the crop with this list. So many great records to choose from. Reflecting back you realise 1988 was a power year of cult classics from all genres of music.

It was also the early days of the evolution of Dance Music – Hip and Acid House were making and impact on dance floors around the globe. The art of mixing 2 records together on a couple of Technics 1200 turntables was catching on quick. A new music culture was developing and here to stay.

Music has an amazing way of taking you back to a time and place, it’s very nostalgic. A lot of these records do that for me. It’s basically my teenage soundtrack and it’s nice to be able to play some of this music on occasion. For example, I used to always finish my morning sets at the legendary Spice (after hours) with Womack and Womack’s Teardrops. It was such a treat. That’s why these particular tracks stand out for me.

What were you doing in 1988?

I was at the peak of successfully sneaking into Sydney nightclubs (underage) to see legends like Pewee Ferris, Paul Holden (rest his soul) and Paul “Flex” Taylor play. On weekends I would go surfing every spare minute I had or you would find me in record stores buying the latest tunes on cassette. I would also sneak a few VB twist-tops down the beach at Manly whilst trying not to get caught by Mum. Basically, I was a ratbag.