David Turnbull

The Essential Mix 30

As part of BBC Radio 1’s 30 years of the Essential Mix celebrations, host Pete Tong and a select panel have picked 30 of their favourite mixes from the previous 30 years.

If you’re not familiar with the Essential Mix, it’s a weekly radio show where an artist presents a 2 hour uninterrupted mix set. The mixes cover a wide range of electronic genres, from commercial dance music to rising underground stars.

An Essential Mix is a significant career milestone for many artists, so they are usually willing to put a lot of thought and attention into their mix. It’s common for artists to include tracks that are meaningful them them, even if the track is outside of the genre they are typically known for playing.

I started listening to the Essential Mix more than 20 years ago. As an electronic-music obsessed teenager living in Nelson, New Zealand, it offered a weekly gateway to a world of DJs and music that were otherwise out of reach.

My musical tastes have evolved over the years, but I still make sure to check the latest release every Sunday morning. The show continues to expose me to new genres and DJs, and if I’m not keen on a particular mix, I can fire up a set from my long playlist of classic Essential Mixes.

My Essential Mix 30 highlights

So, back to the Essential Mix 30.

Pete Tong and his panel have selected some fantastic mixes. My favourites from their shortlist include:

Further recommendations

As I mentioned, I have a long playlist of classic Essential Mixes that are still on heavy rotation. It includes many artists and genres that fall outside of what I regularly listen to, but have still managed to click with me for various reasons.

These are some of my favourite mixes:

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