From the dead good Class-of-808 blog, regarding the image above:
“In the early nineties as part of the booming rave scene, they used to run pirate radio stations (Rush FM) from the block on the right. These guys were serious about their business; the flat door was a fortress they used to abseil into the window from the roof, we used to watch them on a Sunday morning, once someone fell and a helicopter landed on the tarmac in the middle. Accident or design quite a few people jumped or fell to their deaths here. When the police finally came, (years later) to evict them it took six hours through reinforced concrete to get in. No one was there…”
If you read our Ten Things They Didn’t Tell You About 1990s Clubbing post a few weeks back you’d be forgiven for thinking that we at OiPolloi had adopted a slightly sniffy approach to raving (no pun intended). The truth is – a fair few of us have been into that scene at one time or another, and know fine well it had it’s ups and downs (no pun intended). For me one of the up’s was definitely pirate radio, partly for the amazing and otherwise inaccessible tunes they played, partly for the amazingly bad (but good) adverts for local barbershops.
Buzz FM / LoveEnergy 99.7 / IrieIrie Radio we salute you Sir(s). Rush FM was a London pirate so I never listened to that, but the videos below are great regardless…