For those of us who were there and feel like the nineties were only a few years ago, it’s a shock to realise how many classic house and rave records are now 30 years old!
One record that’s reaching that landmark is ‘Funakatarium’ by Jump, a classic record that’s been on an incredible journey since it was first played on acetate at clubs and parties across London in early 1992.
In 2021, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the track’s writing and recording, Made in Space Records are re-releasing the original track on 10th September with new remixes by Deep Sea Cosmonauts, Tenacious, and Slob & Field.
This will be followed in late October by a signed and numbered limited edition vinyl remix EP, of which only 250 copies will be pressed. This will include fresh remixes from Field of Dreams, Pete Herbert, Peza, and the Jump boys themselves. A further digital release with yet more remixes will be released at some point in the future.
The love out there for Jump and ‘Funkatarium’ remains real, and Paul Kelly will be hitting the airwaves to chat about the track and the new releases over the coming weeks and months. You’ll be able to hear him on shows on CentreForce, StreetSounds, Mi-House, and Bedford Falls Players, with more to be announced.
For anyone interested in British club culture, ‘Funkatarium’ has a great history. It was written by musicians Marc and Paul Kelly and Andrew “Grim” Grimwood and DJ John Viney, who got together as Jump in 1991. Still buzzing from the rave scene of the late 1980s, they were immersed in the club scene of the early 1990s and wanted to make music that combined house beats with disco grooves and plenty of outright funk. Their debut single was ‘Funkatarium’, which immediately packed dance floors when they pressed it onto a small number of acetates.
Such was the clamour for the song, that when it was first released, on a 500-only white-label 12”, it sold out within a day. After a second pressing sold out too, Dark Records got in on the act and gave the record a bigger release, selling 20,000 copies. Before long, not only were the trendsetting likes of Judge Jules and Pete Tong playing it in their sets but it was also being heard on Eastenders.
Incredibly, five years later, in 1997, ‘Funkatarium’ was reissued again and hit the UK charts, selling 10,000 copies in its week of release (and this was long before streaming it, so that was 10,000 people going into a record shop and buying it!) It has since been reissued with fresh remixes in 2008 and 2013.
All of this, plus its inclusion on various compilations over the years, mean the track has sold over 1 million copies across the globe — an astounding feat for an underground club track.