Punk's Not Dead
Old School DJ Revives Punk Scene in Philly

The era when sex, drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll was fresh and not clichéd commercialism has returned, at least at Philadelphia’s Bar Noir — thanks to DJ Bobby Startup, a living legend who had his hand (literally) in spinning out the punk sounds that would dominate Philly in the late ‘70s.
    David Carroll, original owner of Bar Noir, helped give Startup his start in the ‘70s at his venues.

Back in the Day
“I convinced David to let us book a punk night starting on Monday nights,” Startup says. “It was dead … during the week, so he said okay. The next thing you know … it was punk all the time.”
    Startup was spinning for Carroll in those days at the Hot Club, which regularly featured the Bloodless Pharoahs, who eventually became the Stray Cats. When the band had the chance to go to London on tour, Startup went with them and worked as co-manager, handling publicity and merchandising.
    In London, Startup came across David Bowie, whom he had encountered a few times in Philly, and Keith Richards, who was a fan of Brian Setzer’s and wanted the Stray Cats to come to his mansion and jam. Upon arriving at Richard’s, Startup discovered Richards shooting rats in the moat around his estate as if it were “as ordinary as possible.”
    After the London gig was up, Startup found himself back stateside and eventually ended up DJing at the Danceteria, a five-story club that was one of the hippest in New York in the late ‘70s and ‘80s.
    Debi Mazar of “Entourage” was the elevator operator there, and Startup even knew Madonna, who was discovered at the Danceteria.
    During the ‘90s, Startup became disillusioned and bored with the way music was becoming more and more commercialized.
    “I went into retirement, because there was nothing new that I liked.”
    But his retirement only lasted a few years, and when trying to work his way back on the scene, Startup had to pay his dues playing Disco — ironically the very music against which punk squared off in the ‘70s.
    Carroll rescued him from that when he opened Bar Noir in 1998 with the intent of reviving the punk scene in Philly; over the years, he has observed a shift to younger and younger crowds today that want the commercialized pop that pushed Startup into retirement in the first place.
    “In the past six months or more, I have been force-feeding new stuff,” Startup says. “When I was younger, I played what I wanted; I didn’t care. I play more to the crowd now, but sometimes I slip in stuff I like,” Startup says.
    Startup advises other DJs to “play what the girls want. It doesn’t matter what the guys want. They aren’t there for the music; they are there for the girls.” Sage advice, indeed.

The Digital Era
    Even though Startup feels the “days of browsing record shops” have disappeared, along with any definitive music scene at the clubs, he is still excited about the otherwise hard-to-find treasures that he has discovered online.
    One example is something he recently burned onto vinyl: “Dynamite X,” a James Brown remix album from Austria produced by Couch Records, that Startup discovered online after hearing a single remix of Brown’s “Sex Machine.”    
    “They kept the Funk, but they put this Rumba beat underneath it, and it just blew me away,” Startup says.
    Startup does not like the modern trend of DJs that seem “stuck in one tempo.”
    The Brown album reminds him of the old school traditions of mixing songs.
    “It used to be that a good DJ and a good DJ night was when he took you on a rollercoaster instead of a monorail,” Startup says.