Below, we take a closer look at 30 essential tracks that have shaped dance music from '88 onwards.

A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray (1988)

How it changed dance music:

With the Second Summer of Love in full swing, a record came along in 1988 that soundtracked the era-defining times; A Guy Called Gerald's Voodoo Ray.

The Moss Side DJ's hit was ever-present at the now-iconic Haçienda club and gave the city a classic. It was so huge that the song, which sampled Peter Cook and Dudley Moore and was recorded over the course of just two days, only took a single day to sell out its initial run of 500 copies.

Voodoo Ray wasn’t just big in the Madchester scene either - across the UK the track’s thumping bassline and transfixing melody got clubbers moving, marking possibly the first acid house mega-hit.

Who it influenced:

A Guy Called Gerald's classic was ubiquitous in the late-80s, inspiring everyone from Leftfield and Orbital to Happy Mondays and Sasha, who told Clash magazine: "It was the record at the Haçienda, it was one of those defining records. There were a few records that really defined that 88 to 90 period and they were really hard to get hold of and I remember just craving those records so much that when I finally got hold of them, I wore them out.”