The Brain is a historically important house

House music

House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...

 and techno

Techno

Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...

 club in Soho

Soho

Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. It was located on the former premises of the Apollo Club on 11 Wardour Street

Wardour Street

Wardour Street is a street in Soho, London. It is a one-way street south to north from Leicester Square, up through Chinatown, across Shaftesbury Avenue to Oxford Street.-History:...

. The Brain was founded in 1989 by Sean McLusky and Mark 'Wigan' Williams. Several now famous DJs and producers played at the club, including Norman Cook, Orbital

Orbital (band)

Orbital are a British electronic dance music duo from Sevenoaks, England consisting of brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll. Their career initially ran from 1989 until 2004, but in 2009 they announced that they would be reforming and headlining The Big Chill, in addition to a number of other live shows...

, Leftfield

Leftfield

Leftfield are a British duo of electronica artists and record producers, namely Paul Daley and Neil Barnes, who formed in 1990 in London, England...

, Billy Nasty

Billy Nasty

Billy Nasty is a techno and electro DJ and artist. He is a Guinness World Record holder for the first commercially released DJ mix. Billy Nasty was originally a House music DJ....

, Goldie

Goldie

Clifford Joseph Price, better known as Goldie is an English electronic music artist, disc jockey, visual artist and actor. He is well known for his innovations in the jungle and drum and bass music genres, having previously gained exposure for his work as a graffiti artist...

, Moby

Moby

Richard Melville Hall , better known by his stage name Moby, is an American musician, DJ, and photographer. He is known mainly for his sample-based electronic music and his outspoken liberal political views, including his support of veganism and animal rights.Moby gained attention in the early...

, Graeme Park

Graeme Park

Graeme Park is an historic site in Horsham, Montgomery County. It is owned by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and operated by the non-profit group, The Friends of Graeme Park. It is the only surviving residence of a colonial-era Pennsylvania governor...

, The Shamen

The Shamen

The Shamen were an experimental electronic music band, from 1985–1999, initially formed in Aberdeen, Scotland, as a psychedelic-influenced indie rock act. The founding members are Colin Angus , Derek McKenzie and Keith McKenzie...

, Mixmaster Morris

Mixmaster Morris

Mixmaster Morris is an English ambient DJ and underground musician. Relating specifically to ambient music, Morris stated "It's exactly what you need if you have a busy and stressful life".-Life and career:...

, Ariel

Ariel (DJ)

Ariel Belloso is an Argentine, UK Based DJ and record producer. He began his career playing new wave music and disco music at clubs in Rosario and Buenos Aires during the early 1980s and moved to London in 1991, after spending 8 months in Ibiza, where he was influenced by the early house music and...

, Andrew Weatherall

Andrew Weatherall

Andrew Weatherall is a DJ, producer, and remixer.Andrew, Terry Farley, Cymon Eckel and Steve Mayes started Boy's Own initially as a fanzine commenting on fashion, records, football, and other issues...

, and A Guy Called Gerald

A Guy Called Gerald

A Guy Called Gerald is the stage name for the musician, record producer and DJ Gerald Simpson ....

. At the time there was little actual live performance on the techno scene (this would change later with the advent of rave

Rave

Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...

s). The Brain encouraged live sets and P.A

Public address

A public address system is an electronic amplification system with a mixer, amplifier and loudspeakers, used to reinforce a sound source, e.g., a person giving a speech, a DJ playing prerecorded music, and distributing the sound throughout a venue or building.Simple PA systems are often used in...

s at a time when only mainstream house music used vocals on tracks.

The club is also famous for the eclectic crowd it attracted, including the likes of; Boy George

Boy George

Boy George is a British singer-songwriter who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by...

, Gilles Peterson

Gilles Peterson

Gilles Peterson , is a DJ, record collector and record label owner from London, UK. Through his labels Acid Jazz, Talkin' Loud, and latterly Brownswood Recordings, he has been associated with the careers of well-known artists of the 1990s such as Erykah Badu, Roni Size and Jamiroquai...

, Bobby Gillespie

Bobby Gillespie

Robert Bernard Andrew "Bobby" Gillespie is a Scottish musician. He is the lead singer and founding member of the alternative rock band, Primal Scream. He was also the drummer for The Jesus and Mary Chain in the mid-1980s.- Early life :Born and raised in the south side district of Mount Florida in...

, Chemical Brothers, Rankin (photographer)

Rankin (photographer)

John Rankin Waddell, working name Rankin, born 1966, is a British portrait and fashion photographer.-Life and career:Waddell was brought up in St Albans, Hertfordshire. At the age of 21, whilst studying accounting at Brighton Polytechnic, he realized that his interests lay elsewhere and dropped...

 and Jefferson Hack

Jefferson Hack

Jefferson Winston Hack is a journalist and magazine editor. He co-founded Dazed & Confused with photographer Rankin in 1991. Hack has been a contributor to The Daily Telegraph on men’s style and has guest-edited The Independent...

 founders of Dazed & Confused (magazine)

Dazed & Confused (magazine)

Dazed & Confused is a British style magazine, that was set up in 1992 and published monthly. Its founding editors were Jefferson Hack and Rankin...

, Paul Oakenfold

Paul Oakenfold

Paul Mark Oakenfold is a British record producer and a trance DJ.-Early Career: 1979–84:Paul Oakenfold's career was set to be a chef, after having hopes of becoming part of a band. He describes his early life as a "bedroom deejay" in a podcasted interview with Vancouver's 24 Hours, stating he grew...

, John Galliano

John Galliano

John Charles Galliano CBE, RDI is a Gibraltan-born British fashion designer who was best known as head designer of French haute couture houses Givenchy and Christian Dior , and his own self titled fashion house.-Family:He was born in Gibraltar to a Gibraltarian father, Juan Galliano, and a...

, Rifat Ozbek

Rifat Ozbek

Rifat Ozbek is a Turkish-born fashion designer, known for his exotic, ethnically-inspired outfits. He has been named British Designer of the Year in 1988 and 1992.-Biography:Ozbek was born in Istanbul, Turkey and grew up in in a yali on the Bosphorus...

, Gavin Rossdale

Gavin Rossdale

Gavin McGregor Rossdale is an English musician, known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Bush as well as an actor. Following Bush's separation in 2002, which lasted for eight years, he was the lead singer and guitarist for Institute, and later began a solo career. He...

 from Bush (band)

Bush (band)

Bush are an alternative rock band formed in London in 1992 shortly after vocalist/guitarist Gavin Rossdale and guitarist Nigel Pulsford met in a London nightclub. Realising they shared a love for such diverse artists as the Pixies, Bob Marley, The Jesus Lizard, MC5, Nirvana, Hüsker Dü, and Big...

, sommelier Jamie Drummond

Jamie Drummond

Jamie Drummond is a Canadian sommelier, wine consultant, and writer who acts as Senior Editor and Director of Programs for Toronto not-for-profit Good Food Revolution. Drummond was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is a former pupil of George Watson's College. Following this Drummond went on to...

, artists Olly and Suzi

Olly and Suzi

Olly and Suzi, Olly Williams and Suzi Winstanley, are two British artists who specialise in collaborative painting of wildlife.-Biography:Olly and Suzi originally began working together after meeting as students as the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in 1987, and graduated together...

, Trip City (novel)

Trip City (novel)

Trip City is a novel set in the underground world of London nightclubs and concerns a fictional designer drug called FX. It was written by Trevor Miller and published in 1989 by Avernus Creative Media - a book imprint founded by celebrated Science Fiction author Brian Aldiss...

 author Trevor Miller

Trevor Miller

Trevor Miller is a screenwriter, author and playwright who Record Mirror suggested “is hailed by some as the voice of a generation.” His plays include HEART OF SATURDAY NIGHT and THE FLESH TRADER both of which debuted at The London New Play Festival...

, Tim Simenon

Tim Simenon

Tim Simenon is a musician, composer, record producer, and label boss, most famous for his work as Bomb the Bass.-Debut:Tim Simenon's music career began aproper in the mid 1980s, DJing at London's Wag Club...

, Neneh Cherry

Neneh Cherry

Neneh Mariann Cherry is a Swedish singer-songwriter, rapper, and occasional DJ and broadcaster...

, Mark Moore

Mark Moore

Mark Moore is a British dance music record producer and DJ. He was founder of the pop/sampling pioneers S'Express, and runs the London nightclubs, 'Electrogogo' and 'Can Can'.-Biography:...

, George Michael

George Michael

George Michael is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley...

, The Farm (band)

The Farm (band)

The Farm were a British band from Liverpool, popular through the early 1990s. Their album Spartacus reached the top position on the UK Albums Chart when it was released in March, 1991.-History:They formed in early 1983....

, Happy Mondays

Happy Mondays

Happy Mondays are an English alternative rock band from Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1980, the band's original line-up was Shaun Ryder on lead vocals, his brother Paul Ryder on bass, lead guitarist Mark Day, keyboardist Paul Davis, and drummer Gary Whelan...

, The Stone Roses

The Stone Roses

The Stone Roses are an English alternative rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement that was active during the late 1980s and early 1990s...

, Robert Elms

Robert Elms

Robert Elms is an English writer and broadcaster. Elms was a writer for The Face magazine in the 1980s, and has a self-confessed love of clothes and fashion...

, editor of The Face

The Face (magazine)

The Face was a British music, fashion and culture monthly magazine started in May 1980 by Nick Logan.-1980s:Logan had previously created the teen pop magazine Smash Hits, and had been an editor at the New Musical Express in the 1970s before launching The Face in 1980.The magazine was influential in...

 Sheryl Garrett, founder of Loaded (magazine)

Loaded (magazine)

Loaded, first published in 1994, is a British magazine for men that is considered to be the "original lads' mag". Its motto is "For men who should know better".-History:...

 James Brown, and Ozwald Boateng

Ozwald Boateng

Ozwald Boateng OBE is a British-born fashion designer of Ghanaian descent, known for his trade mark twist style on classic British tailoring. Inspired by his father's suits, Boateng opened his first shop on Savile Row at the age of 23.-Biography:...

. Global celebrities like Christy Turlington

Christy Turlington

Christy Turlington Burns is an American model best known for representing Calvin Klein from 1987 to 2007. She has worked on dozens of modeling contracts with companies including Maybelline Cosmetics and Versace. Turlington starred in her fashion documentary Catwalk and Isaac Mizrahi's Unzipped...

, Brigitte Nielsen

Brigitte Nielsen

Brigitte Nielsen is a Danish model, actress, musician and reality television personality who began her career modelling for Greg Gorman and Helmut Newton and several years later made appearances in the 1985 films Red Sonja and Rocky IV and is also known for her marriage to Sylvester Stallone...

, and Matt Dillon

Matt Dillon

Matthew Raymond "Matt" Dillon is an American actor and film director. He began acting in the late 1970s, gaining fame as a teenage idol during the 1980s.- Early life :...

 were also spotted inside the venue.

Sean McLusky went on to set up (the now defunct) Brainiak Records

Brainiak Records

Brainiak Records is a defunct UK record label. It was started by the London club The Brain. Brainiak Records released techno and progressive house tracks, as well as launching the careers of several dance music producers.-Discography:...

 with Tim Fielding releasing music by such early UK electronic heroes

Electronica

Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...

 as Ultramarine

Ultramarine (band)

Ultramarine are a UK-based ambient / ambient house band, formed in the early 1990s by Paul Hammond and Ian Cooper.-Biography:Hammond and Cooper first worked together in the band A Primary Industry during the mid-1980s. Following the split of this band, they formed Ultramarine and released...

 and Pete Lazonby

Pete Lazonby

Pete Lazonby is a record producer best known for his singles "Sacred Cycles" released on Hooj Choons and "Wavespeech" released on Brainiak Records. They were featured on many compilation albums including those in the Global Underground series....

, as well as legendary compilation albums Live at the Brain - Volumes One and Two, B-Sides and The Best of Brainiak.

In the early and mid 1990s Sean McLusky masterminded various seminal London clubs and venues including; Love Ranch at Maximus with Mark Wigan, Club UK, The Scala (club)

Scala (club)

Scala is a nightclub in London, England, near King's Cross railway station.-History:The Scala was originally built as a cinema to the designs of H Courtney Constantine, but construction was interrupted by the First World War and it spent some time being used to manufacture aircraft parts, and as a...

 in King's Cross, and the multi-faceted Sonic Mook Experiment

Sonic Mook Experiment

The Sonic Mook Experiment is a music enterprise overseen by Sean McLusky which encompasses a club night and several albums.The club claims that "like many great clubs in that it was about good music, drugs, scoop live performances, attractive fashionable people and quirky fad-inspiring outfits".The...

.

In 1994 Tim Fielding co-founded Mr C's London nightclub

Nightclub

A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...

 The End

The End (club)

The End was a nightclub in the West End of London, England. Started in December 1995 by DJs Layo Paskin and Mr C, The End was world-renowned. It was also responsible for the label End Recordings....

.

See also

• Progressive electronica
• Electronic dance music
  Electronic dance music
  Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...