Here are my thoughts on four DJs I admire, and one I definitely don't...

Jeremy Healy - Although I don't hear much of him now, he is the guy I listened to when I was younger, and who really caught my attention and made me think "I wanna do that!". His mixing can't be compared to any other as it is simply unique. He is inventive with scratching and other more difficult mixing techniques, he dresses well, last I knew he had a fantastically good-looking girlfriend, Phillipa, and he has a daringly varied approach to tune selection. I remember listening to the House Collection Volume 1 at college, and everyone suddenly wanted to copy the Jeremy Healy CD off me! I remember seeing him live once at Gatecrasher when it used to be at The Adelphi club in Sheffield. He played his entire set sat down and it still went down a storm. One of the funniest stories I ever heard was that he was meant to be playing Rise at the Leadmill in Sheffield, but he was allegedly too caned to stand up let alone mix (very professional!). But that aside, to me, he's still one of those up-top and seems to have just got it naturally.

Ferry Corsten - I prefer this guy as a remixer. Everything he touches seems to turn to gold - just listen to Cygnus X's mix of Art of Trance's Madagascar (it's bobbins) then flip the slate and listen to Ferry's interpretation (GOOOOOOOONNNNNNN!) He was responsible for "Veracocha" by Carte Blanche, "Gouryella" by Gouryella and "Out Of The Blue" by System F, which, by the way, also thump. Surely Ferry is the red-hottest thing out of Holland to date!!!

"Bald Paul" - This guy used to DJ in my local club - Club Uropa, Eyre Street, Sheffield - a place I went to twice weekly in my college years. He played some banging stuff along with some downright classics, and his mixing was perfect every time. He was also a big inspiration, and I'm sure I learned stacks listening to him through a misty haze of Jack Daniels on a throbbing dance floor every Tuesday night. God only knows where he went. The last I heard he had asked for a week off and the club manager said no, thus, he quit and in my opinion, the manager cost the club the best DJ it had ever acquired.

More recently, and locally to me, on Galaxy 105FM, I am impressed by Andy Durrant who can mix very well and picks good tunes to boot.

And just for laughs, my award for the worst DJ goes to.....Sonique! I promise it has absolutely nothing to do with gender because I am by no means at all sexist. Instead, I base my opinion on her inability to mix even a sponge cake. I listened to her in 1998 on Radio 1, "live from Ibiza", and she was Pants (and yes that definitely is supposed to have a capital 'P'). OK, so she sings backing vocals over the top, but perhaps she's too busy yapping to bother mixing well, or could it be that she's trying to drown out her bum mixing, I'll let you decide. Quite how she has been able to appear at Gatecrasher is beyond me!

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