Located at 17 Wesendonk Street, right in the middle of Wuppertal`s red light district, the club packed not more than 250 people and was furnished with a big round bar, separees and a cosy DJ booth. The Beatbox was like no other German club of that era. There was no dress code, no decksharks and - first of all - no parking on the dancefloor. It really was all about the music. Old hippies and jazz heads (Wuppertal is a city with a long history in free jazz) would get down side by side with b-boys, students and funky Jamaicans. It was simply the right spot at the right time. Club music was at its heyday, changing its face and sound every other month. I can`t think of period when more genre defining records got released and more dusty grooves celebrated their comeback on the dancefloor. The scene had yet to loose its innocence simply because there was no scene - just people with a love for good music who wanted to enjoy themselves together with likeminded folks.

On a saturday night the Beatbox residents were on heavy rotation: JoJo Altevogt, Mue Meuser and Guido Halfmann would drop rare groove, afro beat, acid jazz and hip-hop. Later joined by Franko Stratmann, Jorge, Herr Preddy and others. Many Beatbox DJs (and bartenders) ended up working at Groove Attack a few years later.

Friday night was show time with Gilles Peterson, Norman Jay and Tim Westwood playing their first gigs in Germany. Followed by Aitch B (Soul II Soul), Joey Jay, Roy The Roach, Sylvester, Brother Marco, Bob Jones, Soulful Shack, Tony Humphries, Dodge City Productions, Queen Latifah, Gang Starr, Pete Rock + CL Smooth, Snowboy, Bobby Byrd, Caveman, Joyclyn Brown, Afrika Bambaataa, General Levy, Son Of Bazerk, House Of Pain, Mad Professor, Carleen Anderson, Del Tha Funky Homosapien and manyothers.

I remember how Gilles Peterson showed me a new perspective of the native tounge movement when he dropped `I`ll House You´ by the Jungle Brothers in the middle of a Latin set. I remember seeing Pete Rock & CL Smooth performing in front of only 50 heads when their `All Sould Out EP´ was just released. I remember dancing my shoes off to a rare soul set by Dr.Bob Jones not recognising more than three songs during the whole night. I remember the rush when a test pressing of the first Young Diciples with that Prince sample got played (at a time when a grunt by James Brown was still hip).

The beatbox shaped my idea of clubs big time. When I played there for the first time in the mid Nienties the club was already on the decline but I still felt kinda proud to spend a night in that DJ booth myself.

Oliver/Olski von Felbert
(Melting Pot Music Head Honcho)

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