Romford's 90s Dance Music Scene Revival

In the early 1990s, the suburban town of Romford was known for its underground dance music scene, as reported by The Guardian. The town was home to the world’s best snooker player, Steve Davis, and the Romford dog track, but it was also where the UK’s best underground dance music was bought and sold.

The scene’s key hub was the record shop Boogie Times, opened in 1989 by Danny Donnelly with a bank loan secured shortly before his 18th birthday. Donnelly was born in Stratford, east London, but moved to Romford with his parents at a young age. He inherited his entrepreneurial streak from his dad, who commuted back to Stratford to run the family corner shop.

A new exhibition in the town, Mega Mega: Romford’s Suburban Sound Revolution, charts how this unglamorous but party-spirited backwater became an upstart rival to great dance music cities such as Manchester or Detroit. The exhibition takes its title from Underworld’s 1995 song Born Slippy, which features the lyrics “mega mega mega, going back to Romford”.

The exhibition highlights the importance of pirate radio stations, record stores, and flyering in building the community around Romford's dance music scene. Danny Donnelly also created his own record label, Suburban Base, to press small runs of records that could be kept exclusive to his shop. This approach helped to establish Romford as a major player in the UK's dance music scene.

This story matters to listeners because it showcases the power of grassroots music scenes and the impact that local communities can have on shaping the sound of a generation.