D MOB - WE CALL IT ACIEEED

FFRR
(Haisman, Danny D)

"Aciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiied!!!"

To those involved, 1988's "Summer of Love" was a social revolution. A never-ending party fighting for the right to dance and a hedonistic foray into an unknown world of disused warehouses, squelchy Roland TB303 basslines and ecstasy fuelled excess. Soccer hooligans swapped the knuckledusters for smiley tee shirts and Kickers and joined the luv'd up brigade in listening and dancing to "repetitive beats".

Oakenfold, Walker, Holloway and Rampling might have imported the Balaeric beats from Ibiza into the U.K, but underground truly went overground when Acid house records spiralled to the top of the National pop charts. The accompanying media (read: The Sun) frenzy and its reports of "drug fuelled island kids" only helped popularise the movement and it wasn't long before the official emblem of Acid House -the smiley face- adorned everything from clothing and record covers to magazines and rave flyers.
To let you know it had arrived, London based producer "Dancin Danny D" recruited Gary Haisman -a locally known "nutter" and clubber- and immortalised the catchcry of a generation onto wax. "Aciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed!" went the chorus over a sparse rumbling bassline. The chorus ad-libs were provided by an Akai sampler spitting out the word "psychopath" repeatedly. Sheer madness. And the "institution" reacted accordingly: Banned from Top of the Pops and BBC Television. Withdrawn from the shelves of WH Smith Music and blacklisted on the playlists of school discos across the country.

American producer DJ Pierre and his outfit Phuture coined the phrase "Acid House" in reference to the distorted sounds the Roland TB303 would generate by filtering the bass beyond their intended parameters. The genre name then became associated with ecstasy. Not too long after, it was the scenes worst kept secret: "If you thought it was a drug...now you know you're wrong" rapped Haisman. But those dancing to such tunes at illegal warehouse partys knew different. (The ultimate thinly veiled deception would come later in the form of another record which shouted "Es are good, Es are good!" during it's chorus!)

We Call it Acieeed (the additional "e"s in the title not going unnoticed by the press and ravers alike) was not the first acid house record, but its notable for being one of the first to achieve mainstream success and formally announce to the world that Generation X were taking matters into their own hands. Despite its ban, it peaked at number 3 on the Gallup Top 40 and will remain a theme tune for many of the Class of 1988.

Version Control: "Dropping" the right mix...

If 1988 was the time to "get right on one matey", the appropriately named "Matey" radio edit or full length mix is the version that will invoke the most flashbacks of traffic jams along the M25 and baggy hooded tops. The "Living Beat" remix produced by Simon "Bass How Low Can You Go" Harris surfaced later in the year - keep an eye out for the white 12" cover.