Before we dig into the release of the audiobook version of his memoir Night People: How to Be a DJ in '90s New York City, Mark Ronson shifts the PAPER microphone in his hand and smiles as memories of the magazine's early days flood back to him. "PAPER is so synonymous with my experience in '90s New York nightlife," he tells us. And, of course, we dig for more.
"In the '90s, PAPER was just the absolute coolest and they had their nightlife photographers actually in the clubs. There was an amazing nightlife photographer from back then named Alice Arnold. All the pictures I was looking at when I was looking for pictures of the clubs I was DJing in the '90s that I couldn’t find, I stumbled on her Instagram and she had all these incredible shots. Not just from my parties but from all these small, underground scenes that nobody else captured. There was also Carolyn [Torem Craig] who shot for PAPER and it was so cool. And Mr. Mickey [Mickey Boardman] and going up to that office as a kid. The first time I ever saw my name in PAPER, they’d sometimes advertise the club nights, and I saw 'DJ Mark Ronson' on a list saying where to go on a certain night. They used to have this column where they ran four DJs and put their playlists and said what they were playing in New York City. That was downtown famous. That was how I knew I was doing well. PAPER is such an important thing to me."
Mark RonsonWe're at Night Club 101 — which used to be the legendary Pyramid Club (read PAPER's oral history of the legendary '80s spot here) — and Spotify Audiobooks is celebrating the release of Ronson's memoir with a Q&A and DJ set from the Grammy-winning, multi-platinum artist, and mega producer. But tonight isn't about the countless hit songs Ronson has had a creative hand in, or the countless eras of his life that are also book-worthy. Tonight — much like his memoir — is about all the moments that led to his success.
The first time I ever saw my name in PAPER, I saw 'DJ Mark Ronson' on a thing saying where to go on a certain night.That was downtown famous.
What do you miss the most about the New York City's club scene in the '90s?
What I miss the most about New York in the ''90s, and it might still be going on and I just don’t know about it because I’m not a young person anymore ... but there was a sense that you just left your front door, and you wouldn’t know where you were going. You had no idea you’d be hopping around, going to six or seven different clubs. Everything was very spontaneous. I know my friends who DJ now, incredible DJs who throw great nights, but they’re advance ticketed. Everyone knows where they’re going. Back then, you were just going with the flow. I’m sure people still have those nights out in New York. They always will. There were more spots to go out in New York at that time because New York in the late '90s and early 2000s became prohibitively expensive.
In the '90s, a lot of Brooklyn came to New York to party, and nowadays everyone’s going to Brooklyn or Queens, even. But the music is still alive and the music from that era still sounds as fresh as ever. I’m playing songs by Missy [Elliott] and Timbaland for a room of people who weren’t even alive when they came out. I think New York is always going to be an incredible place to party. But there were some very special things about the '90s and this book is going to create some nostalgia for that. I wasn’t trying to write the book to be like “It was all better back then!” But maybe it was ... No. The cool thing is that people who’ve read it have told me “It’s made me nostalgic for a place I never was, that I never knew.” That’s a nice compliment to receive.
If you were giving someone advice on how to be a DJ now, with how music has changed, what advice would you share?
That's why I wanted to call the book How To Be A DJ In '90s New York City. There's a lot of how to be and lessons on how to be a DJ in the book. How to construct a set and what records to put together and how to DJ if you're the opening act. At the same time, this was very much in my era. Of course, there are universal things through it. I’ve had some young, 18-year-old kids read it and I expected them to be like “What the hell?” But they’re like, “This is my Bible now to DJ!” which is fucking cool.
Of course, it’s different now. Maybe in a good way. Back then, if you wanted to be a DJ, you had to get your hands on expensive turntables, collect records, all these things. Now you can get a decent controller for a hundred bucks and with your laptop, be on your way. You can do all sorts of creative shit. You don’t have to learn how to beat match anymore because a computer can do it for you. There will always be incredible DJs for whatever reason, I’m grateful for the era I came up in.
The way I wanted to whip a crowd into a frenzy and lift them higher and higher ... it was a drug for me, it was almost more like a compulsion.
There will always be incredible DJs for whatever reason, I’m grateful for the era I came up in.
As you were going through creating the memoir, first writing it, then recording the audiobook, was there anything new that came up about yourself and that time period that you didn't realize when it was happening?
I learnt a lot of things about myself writing this book which is bound to happen when you’re spending thousands of hours with your own thoughts, looking at all your past behaviors. When I started writing this book, I thought DJing was all about connection. But weirdly, the way I wanted to whip a crowd into a frenzy and lift them higher and higher ... it was a drug for me, it was almost more like a compulsion. I realized that some of the same things, I was taking a lot of drugs and drinking a lot during that time, some of those same addictive tendencies ran through the way I needed to murder a room.
Then there were other sweet things. I remember this time I DJed at my mom’s wedding to my stepdad. I was only ten years old. My dad told me to go put a song on because the music had stopped. I remember looking through the tapes looking for the right song and I saw a song called “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton. And I was like “Oh, my mom loves that song and the lyrics are about a woman looking wonderful tonight." I put it in and I remember watching my mom and stepdad have this slow dance at their wedding. I thought, “How cool? I played this song and it’s made everyone act in a certain way and it’s creating a moment." I’m sure that thread goes through DJing.
I read that Night People is set to become a film. Can you tell us anything about it?
It really just happened three days ago. Plan B, an incredible company for films, from Moonlight to F1, Jeremy Kleiner who works there, he’s a kid that I knew who came up in New York City as well. He and I would share each other’s cassette singles of '90s hip hop songs. They’ve made so many great films, so when they read the book, they said they loved it and wanted to turn it into a film, of course it was super exciting. As far as, creatively, what the film will be, that will have to do with the filmmaker. But it is exciting.
Photography: Getty Images for Spotify
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