Oakenfold, Paul

PAUL OAKENFOLD

Born: London, England, 30 August 1963

Genre: Dance, DJ, Electronica

Best-selling album since 1990: Bunkka (2002)

Hit songs since 1990: "Planet Rock," "Southern Sun," "Starry-Eyed Surprise"

Working in a genre notorious for its velvet-rope snobbery, Oakenfold attempted to fuse upscale dance music with accessible pop and deliver it to the masses.

Oakenfold's appreciation for popular music stems from listening to his father's Beatles and Rolling Stones records as a child. He also admired glam-rockers T-Rex and R&B by Marvin Gaye and the Isley Brothers. He spent his early twenties as a promoter for a record label's rap division. However, his epiphany came in 1987, on a birthday trip to the legendary Spanish resort of Ibiza, known for its gorgeous sunsets. He found a scene that featured a melting pot of hip European dance music, but a more laid-back, people-friendly atmosphere than the urban clubs he'd frequented in London.

By then a disc jockey (DJ), Oakenfold incorporated the Mediterranean sounds of Ibiza into his club sets back in England. He also produced English dance group Happy Mondays. But his big break came in 1992, when he rescued the U2 song, "Even Better Than the Real Thing," whose original version was sliding down the charts. His innovative remix was, in fact, "better than the real thing" to British ears and made number eight on the country's pop chart. This led to Oakenfeld opening for part of U2's Zooropa tour (1993).

He went on to form his own label, Perfecto, and make remixes for British pop-rockers Boy George and Massive Attack. Beginning in 1996 he spent eighteen months as the resident DJ for Liverpool megaclub Cream. Although his rising stardom meant he could have made more money doing short stints at many clubs worldwide, he preferred introducing new music every week to a loyal audience. When he did tour, he maintained his accessible vision, revising his setlist on the fly as he took the crowd's pulse.

His album Tranceport (1998) actually comprises songs by other artists; it is an attempt to recreate what an Oakenfold DJ set would sound like. As the title suggests, the music is from dance music's trance subgenre, considered the genre's most simple and pop-oriented subset. At its worst, it can be banal and predictable, but Oakenfold avoids clichéd tracks, picking songs by genre innovators like Paul van Dyk ("Rendezvous") and Gus Gus ("Purple"). Full of square-wave synthesizer blasts, vocal sampling, and fluctuating keyboard sounds, the album features seamless between-song transitions and an unstoppable groove.

The sweeping, twenty-one-track Ibiza (2001) reflects his eclecticism and Ibiza's all-encompassing vibe, with remixes of Radiohead's "Idioteque" and U2's "Beautiful Day" among the usual trance fare. In 2001 Oakenfold toured the United States, including the Midwest, not a region known for its disco fever. However, he was well received in the region's midsize clubs.

With his egalitarian bent, a bid for pop crossover was inevitable, and it happened with Bunkka (2002). Oakenfold considers it his first real solo album, since it contains original songs instead of remixes of others' work. Guest artists include Nelly Furtado and Perry Farrell, former Jane's Addiction front man. While a competent dance/pop album in the vein of Moby, Bunkka does not possess the muscular energy of Oakenfold's DJ efforts. However, the optimistic single "Starry-Eyed Surprise," with its cheerful guitar hook and soothing rap, became Oakenfold's first mainstream hit, reaching number forty-one on the Billboard Hot 100.

Never one to worry with insular notions of genre purity, Oakenfold has been an excellent ambassador for dance music. He has helped keep the genre viable in the United States and expand it in Europe with his crowd-pleasing sets and his willingness to work with artists outside his niche.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

Tranceport (Kinetic, 1998); Swordfish: The Album (Sire, 2001); Ibiza (Perfecto, 2001); Bunkka (Maverick, 2002).

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