Stu Allan is dead. The end of an era

It was back in 1993, when I first listened to Stu Allan’s hardcore tunes.

That era looks to me so far in the past now, that sometimes makes me wonder if I actually lived it or dreamed about it…

Not many things have stayed the same in Manchester since then, except for a number of landmark buildings that still bejewel Manchester city center, with the Piccadilly Plaza being one of them, which was where Stu Allan used to broadcast his legendary shows for Piccadilly Key 103 radio station in the 90s.

That was before the Internet and a mobile connected world...

Listening to Stu Allan in my student halls room in Castle Irwell Student Village

I was studying at the University of Salford back then, and staying in a student house in the now demolished Castle Irwell Student Village.

I was struggling with money, like most students did, and I could only afford a portable single-deck radio cassette player/recorder that I bought from a local cash & carry and cost me 3 quid.

On weekend nights, I would normally go out to the Pavilion (The Pav), or Discotheque Royale on student nights.

On Sundays, I was looking forward to listen to Stu Allan’s shows.

The tunes that he played were very progressive for his time, and he is deservedly recognized as one of the best hardcore music DJs of the 90s, and not only.

His music was like nothing else.

It was so uplifting that it could change your mood and make you feel good in a matter of seconds.

It can still do that.

Stu Allan is still a hero to his loyal followers

I’ve listened to other music genres, artists, and DJs through the years, but nothing can be really compared to the rhythm and tunes introduced by Stu Allan.

Even Stu Allan himself once admitted that his beats were too fast!

However, he didn’t always play fast-beat songs throughout his career, but he used to play different, slower tunes in the 80s, before the rise of the hardcore scene.

In fact, Stu Allan is one of those DJs that literally helped built the club dance scene and culture, especially in the UK.

A simple and unpretentious guy as he was, although his music was (and still is) more sophisticated than meets the eye, Stu Allan’s tunes were “honest”, to say the least, or “proper”, as he used to say himself.

Wearing a plain white T-shirt was just fine for him, since it was the music that crowned him a king, rather than wearing impressive clothes and other accessories.

Through all those years “working” as a DJ, Stu Allan provided top-class entertainment that can’t be found anywhere today.

I put “working” in quotation marks, since he once admitted that his mother kept asking him when he would get a proper job!

The crucial thing missing today is spontaneity.

There was so much spontaneity in the 90s, and there are so many fake things today; from fake news to anything you can imagine.

People seem to have lost the talent of telling or making a nice, entertaining story; everything is so gloomy nowadays.

Stu Allan offered some sort of permanent cure to pessimism, providing endless hours and nights of entertainment like there was no tomorrow.

He was capable of filling nightclubs and dance floors with clubgoers having one thing in mind: have a night’s fun that would be hard to forget.

This is what Stu Allan was all about.

As a last word, I would also like to say that I feel sorry for the early deaths of Diane Charlemagne from the Urban Cookie Collective band, who was famous for the massive dance hit “The key the secret”, and DJ Erick Morillo from Reel 2 Real, who had the “I like to move it” hit.

I strongly doubt whether there will be artists as influential as them in the future.

RIP, Stu Allan.

Even dead, you keep making us feel good with your unforgettable tunes.

Sources and further reading:

Stu Allan

Stu Allan: Dance music D pioneer dies ages 60

Hits Radio Manchester