Growing up in Detroit in the 80’s, music was a big part of my life. I was a big fan of Detroit and Chicago House and Detroit Techno growing up and frequented may parties throughout high school, just to hear the music.
The Electrifying Mojo is a Detroit icon for so many of us who grew up in that era. I can remember as far back as junior high, staying awake in my bed with my little round, white Sony radio, with the cassette deck under the covers down real low just so that I wouldn’t miss an episode of Mojo’s radio show on WGPR (106.7 FM) , and especially the Midnight Funk Association.
It was like some sort of Hypnotic ritual that no matter what, I had to be tuned in at midnight to hear the “call to order” eagerly anticipating the first tune played after the MFA opening ritual. What would it be ? ” Get it up” by The Time, “Flashlight” by Parliament, the “Mesopotamia” by the B-52’s, (remix), “Time, Space, Transmat” by Model 500, “Numbers“ by Kraftwerk, “Something In the Water Does Not Compute” by Prince, or any number of bad asses songs that would have me dancing in the bed, bopping my head, and all of my friends talking the next day about what song Mojo led off the MFA with.
Mojo turned me on to music that I never would have heard listening to the tired R&B stations in Detroit at the time, and opened my mind to exploring music just because it was good, and not just because it was labeled R & B.
Radio stations of the time were pretty simple…if you were white you listened to the rock or classic rock stations, and if you were black you listed to the “black” stations. Nobody ever mixed it up and just played good music no matter what color the artists were, until Mojo.
For years in my life, all of the music that I owned were a direct result of having heard them through Mojo’s radio show. I saw Parliament /Funkadelic at Cobo Hall, because Mojo turned me on to all of the songs, not just the “radio” stuff. I saw Prince many times, and knew all the songs on his album, B-sides and all.
But what Mojo really turned me on to was Detroit Techno and House Music before it was known or fashionable to play it. “Cosmic Cars” by Cybotron was my anthem, and I have been a House, Techno and Trance Music junkie ever since.
Alan Ester, Derrick May, Juan Atkins, and Kevin Saunderson woke up my music senses on The Electrifying Mojo’s show. One has to wonder if Detroit Techno and House would have ever gotten off the ground if he hadn’t made a home for it on his show, and look what it has spun off into and become today.
Mojo would play the music just because it was good, something that other radio programmers just couldn’t grasp, and never have up until today.
This tribute site is a direct reflection of how listening to Mojo at midnight affected me and my outlook on the world, and my thirst to learn about other people, cultures and gave me an appreciation for music that people who were raised on commercial, force fed, top 40 radio, will never understand. Too bad for them.
Harold E Mansfield IV
Webmaster / Editor
www.midnightfunkassociation.com
Managing Editor and Webmaster
May The Funk Be With You, Always !
Comments | Roll Call | Shout Outs !