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Shut Up and Dance are an English duo that fused hip hop, house and hardcore. They are acknowledged as one of the pioneers of breakbeat hardcore and jungle music. The group consists of Philip 'PJ' Johnson and Carlton 'Smiley' Hyman, who both first started out in Private Party in 1986 with Doctor K. After the latter left, the duo formed Shut Up And Dance in 1988 in Stoke Newington, London. In 1990, they made the lower end of the UK chart with two singles, "£20 to Get In" and "Lamborghini", both released on their own record label, Shut Up and Dance Records. At this time, they also worked with the Ragga Twins for the first time and produced their first releases.
Shut Up And Dance - Raving I'm Raving
In 1992, they reached No. 43 with their double A-side single "Autobiography of a Crackhead / The Green Man", before hitting the headlines in May of that year when they released "Raving I'm Raving", based on Marc Cohn's hit single "Walking In Memphis". Upon its release, Cohn obtained an injunction to stop production of further copies of the single due to the lack of clearance. A court order was also sought to prevent the sale of any copies already produced, but Cohn was persuaded to allow such sales on condition that all the proceeds went to charity. This caused panic-buying of the copies on sale, as consumers knew that no more would be produced. The single soared to No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart, but plummeted to No. 15 the following week, before leaving the chart completely.
Shut Up and Dance released one further single from their Death Is Not the End album, "The Art of Moving Butts", which featured singer Erin. The album itself reached No. 38 in the UK Albums Chart in June 1992.
Throughout 1994/5, they released a number of jungle tracks under the alias Red Light. This was followed by the 1995 album Black Men United which encompassed jungle, downtempo, reggae and hip hop. A single from this album, "Save It 'Til the Mourning After", which sampled Duran Duran's hit "Save A Prayer", reached No. 25 on the UK chart.
In the early 2000s, they re-emerged releasing a number of UK garage tracks, followed by the breakbeat album Reclaim the Streets.
Peel played Private Party's debut single in 1987 and a few years later started playing Shut Up And Dance's material before inviting them to do a session for his show in 1990, which they performed four tracks. A year later, the duo in the group released tracks under the alias of Rum & Black, where they also were played by Peel. In 1992 Shut Up And Dance were invited to do a second session for his show, where they also again performed four tunes. Between 1994 and 1995, the duo went under the name of Red Light and released jungle tracks, which Peel played.
Apart from releasing records, the band also had their own label company, where they also released tracks from the Ragga Twins and other artists, that Peel played. However, by the time of the 00's, Peel lost interest in the group's new material where the duo moved into a UK garage music direction.
Sessions[]
SHUT UP & DANCE John Peel 5th August 1990
Shut Up And Dance
1. Recorded: 1990-08-05. First Broadcast: 29 August 1990
White White World / A Change Soon Come / Lamborghini / 5 6 7 8
2. Recorded: 1992-01-23. First Broadcast: 28 March 1992
Autobiography Of A Crack Head / Love Is All We Need / Strut Your Stuff / Green Man
