Past>Forward Vol. 2 – The 50 Pound Note Retro Mix – The Metro, Lexington, Kentucky, USA

Past>Forward Vol. 2 – The 50 Pound Note Retro Mix – The Metro, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
(Original upload date 18 April 2007)

DOWNLOAD (77.3 MB, 192kbps, 56:12)

Walking Away (SMD Mix) by Information Society
Bizarre Love Triangle (12″ Version) by New Order
True Faith (Morning Sun Remix) by New Order
The Different Story (Razormaid! Mix) by Peter Schilling
Losing My Mind (Disco Mix) by Pet Shop Boys
Das Omen (Razormaid! Mix) by Mysterious Art
Strangelove (Pain Mix) by Depeche Mode
Join In The Chant (Burn!) by Nitzer Ebb
Theme From S-Express (US 12″ Mix) by S-Express
Crucified (The Nuzak Remix) by Army Of Lovers
I Sit On Acid (Mixin’ Up The Acid) by Lords Of Acid
Welcome To Paradise/Headhunter (Razormaid! Mix) by Front 242

“DROP THAT GHETTOBLASTER!”

Located at 156 W Main Street in downtown Lexington, Kentucky, The Metro was in operation from roughly 1990 to 1993. It came third a succession of gay-owned bars (Cafe LMNOP, Great Moments) that appealed to a mixed crowd, and played alternative dance music. During regular hours it was a lesbian bar but on Friday and Saturday nights from 1:30 to 4:00 a.m. DJs Chad and Joe would spin bands like Depeche Mode and New Order for an 18-and-up crowd that was a mixture of gay/straight/male/female/white/black/young/old. During the fall of 1990 it became the first gay club I’d ever set foot in, a full year before I turned 21.

I was already DJing a dance music show on the college radio station, which then approached the bar to have me do an industrial music night on Thursdays. I got to know Joe and Chad and within a year I was regularly filling in for them on Saturdays, too.

This is the first of two mixes that capture the sound of those nights. By the tail-end of 1991 James Brown Is Dead came along and suddenly techno wiped away melodic, song-based dance music. I started DJing at The Bar in May of 1992 so my Metro days came to an end.

I hope someone from the old crowd finds this mix; I’ve not seen any of them in many years.

As a side note I’d like to add that I had a lot of trouble recording this mix. I had to do it five or six times due to repeated technical difficulties, and it made me laugh because these are the songs I learned how to DJ with, and it was like my skills had reverted to that beginner level all over again. I should have left a great big train wreck right in the middle of it for old time’s sake.



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25 Responses to “Past>Forward Vol. 2 – The 50 Pound Note Retro Mix – The Metro, Lexington, Kentucky, USA”

  1. courtney combs

    I went to the metro when i was like 13 years old. i would love to post this on facebook, if thats cool. i know a bunch of folks who’d love to see this. Thanks!

  2. Jeb

    Hi Courtney – please do! Anything posted to the site is here for sharing. :)

  3. Micheal Rodgers

    Jeb, I started going to The Metro in the fall of 1991. It was also my first gay club. DJ Joe was my first boyfriend. I fondly remember spending countless hours dancing my behind off to some great music. Eventually I was asked to run the sound board for the drag shows upstairs the last two years the club was open. That mysterious voice from the back of the room introducing Stacy Bryant, Judy Hereon, Cammie Dietrich and the rest, was me. Thank you for this great mix of music from the place that meant so much to me and countless others in Lexington.

  4. mitchell pauley

    I was a performer at the metro in Lexington. I was best know for out front Michelle Lee I was with a fellow performer Fantasia our gene my brother james anyone have photos

  5. DJ Fast Eddie (Ed Stewart)

    I remember The Metro like it was yesterday. DJ Chad was my idol for years and eventually became my “DJ Mother” as well. He would refer to us as his Maytag Girls. As he increased the BPMs we would kick into spin cycle as he called it. Chad’s goal every night was to get all the mirrors surrounding the dance floor steamed up. Boy those were the days. When he moved to The Bar of course I followed. First to the Guilded Cage showroom then eventually he would fill in upstairs for Wayne. He would let me play with the light board, lots of fun there!. I eventually began dj’ing myself, first at The Blue Moon for Techno Tuesday then when we opened up Last Call & Krazy Jax in South Hill Station, I moved there. After that closed I went to Boogie Nites (formerly Sundance across from Rupp Arena). In 1999 I left and moved down to A1A at the other end of Main St. During this time Chad & I reconnected and we were managers for Dairy Mart. In 2005 I “retired” from the clubs and moved from Lexington. Chad & I still keep in touch, he’s like a big brother (sister) to me.
    So glad I ran across this website / page, you have brought back many great memories. Thanks!!!!

  6. Anonymous

    I went there when I was 17 or 18 for after hours. My friends and I (girls and boys — all of us straight) would sneak out of our houses and dance until the place closed at 4:30AM. All that great industrial and house stuff. We’d go up to the drag shows and for us it was a fun, crazy, foreign world. Awesome music, memories and a kind of innocent time. Shortly after the rave scene kicked-in and most our friends got in to that…

  7. Tara

    I loved the Metro. I can’t explain how important it was to me and my sense of identity. Thank you for the music, it’s amazing. =)

  8. Youth

    So many memories of the Metro. Never been any place else that compares. Thank you for posting this mix. I wonder if Courtney is the girl that I took to breakfast that time???

  9. Connie Connie Funk Bunny

    I lived for ‘after hours’ every weekend at The Metro. Before it was ‘The Metro’ it was ‘Great Moments’….

    Mind you, I didn’t give myself the nickname ‘Connie Connie Funk Bunny’ but I do love it!! People I didn’t even know called me that….

    I dressed all in black…of course…and talked to no one. I went there to ‘dance off death’….I worked on an Oncology Unit and that place was the only place that helped……It was therapy!!

    It was the ONLY place in town where you could just dance….alone….You could be yourself. I was a straight chick in a gay bar but that didn’t matter….I could dance!!!!!!!!!!! Yummy!!!

    I know all the songs listed and the funny thing is, I’ve listened to 3 of them in the past month.

    ‘The Different Story’ never gets old…the same goes for ‘True Faith’…..

  10. Billy L

    Connie you danced with (only ) me a time or two. I miss your soul.

    Billy Lowe.

  11. Jeff Martin

    OMG, I’m so happy I stumbled across this page. Was just waxing nostalgic about Metro days and wondering how in the world I could possibly ever maybe find people who went there. It was my first gay bar and I came out while I was going there to dance until the ugly lights came on every chance I got while I was a new student at UK. Still love this music; it was a truly life-changing time and this music is indelibly associated with it.
    I remember being frisked by Sonia at the front door; my best friend had a mad girl crush on her. I saw my first drag shows there; Scirocco and Judy Jetson were my faves.
    I could go on and on but I shan’t. I wish there was a fb group or something for this….

  12. Jeb

    Hey Jeff, thanks for your comment! I’m glad you found my blog, and hope you enjoy the music. – Jeb

  13. Christopher Bowen

    Holy Crap!!! Just googled The Metro and came across this. I remember you, Jeb…some of the best times. I was 15 when I first entered this place and thought, oh yeah this is for me. Dressed in all black me and my Chinese friend, Jen were there every Thursday and you were nice enough to play my vinyl when I would bring it in. Wow!!! Just wow!!!
    And the drag shows…Crystal Blue & Bradley-amazing memories!!!

  14. Jeb

    Hey, thanks Christopher! Jog my memory…what records would you have brought in?

  15. Christopher Bowen

    It would have been My Life with The Thrill Kill Kult, Skinny Puppy, The Cure, Siouxsie, Front 242…things along that nature. And my friend, Andrea Kooshian just shared a pick of you and her when you worked at Cinemark together-small world.

  16. Jeb

    Funny, Andrea sent me a friend request on Facebook last night. I haven’t talked to her in 20 years.

  17. Merna

    Thursday’s were the best. Ya girls were 15 and my mom would drop us off and pick us up at 5am. We danced our hearts out. It awesome that there was a place a punk kids could go. Like everyone else in the club we just wanted a place to belong, fit in and have fun not worry about who was staring at us. The employees and drag stars raised is kids. And thank you for that.

  18. Christopher Bowen

    Did you, by chance, go by Fast Eddie at some point?

  19. Jeb

    He worked at The Bar.

  20. mitchell pauley

    Will you be making anymore downloads from time at the metro?

  21. Jeb

    @mitchell pauley sadly, no – but if you look through the series here titled Beat Bash, that’s all music from The Metro and WRFL.

  22. Mitchell Pauley

    Thank you . The Metro was a Temple

  23. Rob

    Excellent!

  24. Karla

    I am so very happy to find this! I started going to The Metro during Fall of 1991 with a group of girls from Midway College, up until the spring of 1992. We ended up going every night it was open, every week. It was my first love as far as club-going and dancing like crazy. We hit the drag shows in between dancing, and one of the performers would usually walk us to our car at the end of the night. Such a perfect first club-home experience. Thank you for being a part of that, and for posting this!

  25. Jeb

    I’m glad you found it, and thank you!

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