# The Dance Years

The Dance Years is a British documentary series created by Glenn Sims and written and presented by radio DJ Dave Pearce. It premiered on 21 July 2001 on the British channel ITV. The 14-episode series focused on dance music in the UK between 1988 and 2001, with each episode charting Pearce's personal top 10 dance tracks for a particular year. The programme also explored the year's most influential people, songs and nightclubs. Each episode was broadcast on ITV on Saturday mornings at approximately 1 a.m. Dorian Lynskey of The Guardian described The Dance Years as being part of a "bumper year" for retrospectives of dance music.
The show featured talking head interviews with artists such as Double 99, Artful Dodger, Faithless, Slipmatt, Fabio, Judge Jules, Joey Negro, Sneaker Pimps, Boy George, Tony Wilson, Graeme Park, Roger Sanchez, Phats & Small and M&S. Following the TV series of The Dance Years, Pearce went on to release a set of compilation albums under the same name in 2009, and hosted a similarly titled radio series in 2012.

## Episodes

| No. | Year | Written by | Original air date |
| 1 | "1988" | Dave Pearce | 21 April 2001 (2001-04-21) |
| Top 10 for 1988 S'Express – "Theme from S'Express" Inner City – "Good Life" Raze – "Break 4 Love" Kym Mazelle – "Got to Get You Back" Mory Kante – "Ye Ke Ye Ke" D Mob – "We Call It Aciied!" Bomb the Bass – "Beat Dis" M/A/R/R/S – "Pump Up the Volume" The Beatmasters – "Rok da House" Rob Base & C-Z Rock – "It Takes Two" ||||
| 2 | "1989" | Dave Pearce | 28 April 2001 (2001-04-28) |
| Top 10 for 1989 Black Box – "Ride on Time" Lil Louis – "French Kiss" A Guy Called Gerald – "Voodoo Ray" Soul II Soul – "Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)" Frankie Knuckles – "Tears" Adeva – "Respect" Ten City – "That's the Way Love Is" 808 State – "Pacific State" Sueño Latino – "Sueño Latino" Coldcut featuring Lisa Stansfield – "People Hold On" ||||
| 3 | "1990" | Dave Pearce | 5 May 2001 (2001-05-05) |
| Top 10 for 1990 Adamski – "Killer" Snap! – "The Power" Beats International – "Dub Be Good to Me" Deee-Lite – "Groove Is in the Heart" C+C Music Factory – "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" The KLF – "What Time Is Love?" Blue Pearl – "Naked in the Rain" LFO – "LFO" Nightmares on Wax – "Aftermath" Happy Mondays – "Step On" ||||
| 4 | "1991" | Dave Pearce | 12 May 2001 (2001-05-12) |
| Top 10 for 1991 ||||
| 5 | "1992" | Dave Pearce | 19 May 2001 (2001-05-19) |
| Top 10 for 1992 Liquid – "Sweet Harmony" Ce Ce Peniston – "Finally" Clivillés and Cole – "A Deeper Love" Bizarre Inc – "I'm Gonna Get You" Felix – "Don't You Want Me" The Orb – "Little Fluffy Clouds" Future Sound of London – "Papua New Guinea" SL2 – "On a Ragga Tip" Urban Shakedown – "Some Justice" The Prodigy – "Out of Space" ||||
| 6 | "1993" | Dave Pearce | 26 May 2001 (2001-05-26) |
| Top 10 for 1993 Leftfield and John Lydon – "Open Up" Urban Cookie Collective – "The Key, The Secret" U.S.U.R.A. – "Open Your Mind" Juliet Roberts – "Caught in the Middle" Baby D – "Let Me Be Your Fantasy" Golden Girls – "Kinetic" Shades of Rhythm – "Sounds of Eden" Underworld – "Rez" Slam – "Positive Education Jaydee – "Plastic Dreams" ||||
| 7 | "1994" | Dave Pearce | 2 June 2001 (2001-06-02) |
| Top 10 for 1994 Reel 2 Real – "I Like to Move It" JX – "Son of a Gun" The O.T. Quartet – "Hold That Sucker Down" Barbara Tucker – "Beautiful People" The Grid – "Swamp Thing" Atlantic Ocean – "Waterfall" Goldie – "Inner City Life" M-Beat featuring General Levy – "Incredible" Shy FX featuring UK Apache – "Original Nuttah" Baby D – "Let Me Be Your Fantasy" ||||
| 8 | "1995" | Dave Pearce | 9 June 2001 (2001-06-09) |
| Top 10 for 1995 Livin' Joy – "Dreamer" Everything But the Girl – "Missing" Nightcrawlers – "Push the Feeling On" The Bucketheads – "The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall into My Mind)" Grace – "Not Over Yet" Josh Wink – "Higher State of Consciousness (remix)" De'Lacy – "Hideaway" Adam F – "Circles" Alex Reece – "Feel the Sunshine" Wildchild – "Renegade Master (Fatboy Slim remix)" ||||
| 9 | "1996" | Dave Pearce | 16 June 2001 (2001-06-16) |
| Top 10 for 1996 Underworld – "Born Slippy" The Prodigy – "Firestarter" Tori Amos – "Professional Widow" Todd Terry – "Keep on Jumpin'" Hysteric Ego – "Want Love" Farley and Heller – "Ultra Flava" Gusto – "Disco's Revenge" B.B.E. – "Seven Days and One Week" Chicane – "Offshore" Faithless – "Insomnia" ||||
| 10 | "1997" | Dave Pearce | 23 June 2001 (2001-06-23) |
| Top 10 for 1997 Ultra Nate – "Free" Olive – "You're Not Alone" Todd Terry – "Something's Going On" Chemical Brothers – "Block Rockin' Beats" Tina Moore – "Never Gonna Let You Go" Daft Punk – "Da Funk" Roni Size – "Brown Paper Bag" Brainbug – "Nightmare" Sneaker Pimps – "Spin Spin Sugar (Armand Van Helden remix)" Double 99 – "Ripgroove" ||||
| 11 | "1998" | Dave Pearce | 30 June 2001 (2001-06-30) |
| Top 10 for 1998 Stardust – "Music Sounds Better With You" Spacedust - Gym and Tonic" Mousse T – "I'm Horny" Run-D.M.C. vs. Jason Nevins – "It's Like That" David Morales – "Needin' You" Energy 52 – "Café del Mar '98" MJ Cole – "Be Sincere" Fatboy Slim – "The Rockafeller Skank" The Wiseguys – "Ooh La La" Tzant – "Sounds of the Wickedness" ||||
| 12 | "1999" | Dave Pearce | 7 July 2001 (2001-07-07) |
| Top 10 for 1999 Armand van Helden – "You Don't Know Me" Phats and Small – "Turn Around" Moloko – "Sing It Back" Fatboy Slim – "Right Here, Right Now" Basement Jaxx – "Rendez-Vu" Soulsearcher – "Can't Get Enough" ATB – "9 PM (Till I Come)" Planet Perfecto – "Bullet in the Gun" Binary Finary – "1999" Cassius – "Cassius 1999" ||||
| 13 | "2000" | Dave Pearce | 14 July 2001 (2001-07-14) |
| Top 10 for 2000 Modjo – "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" Spiller – "Groovejet" Black Legend – "You See the Trouble with Me" Sonique – "It Feels So Good" Artful Dodger featuring Craig David – "Re-Rewind" DJ Luck & MC Neat – "With a Little Bit of Luck" Daft Punk – "One More Time" Bob Sinclar – "I Feel for You" Azzido Da Bass – "Dooms Night" Darude – "Sandstorm" ||||
| 14 | "2001" | Dave Pearce | 21 July 2001 (2001-07-21) |
| Top 10 for 2001 Rui da Silva – "Touch Me" Jakatta – "American Dream" M&S presents The Girl Next Door – "Salsoul Nugget (If U Wanna)" Chocolate Puma – "I Wanna Be You" DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies – "Do You Really Like It?" Bel Amour – "Bel Amour" Eddy Grant – "Electric Avenue (remix)" Roger Sanchez – "Another Chance" Kosheen – "(Slip & Slide) Suicide" Basement Jaxx – "Romeo" ||||