Initially released on 12″ white label promo as “Late Night Request Line”, Skream’s certified anthem was a “game changer” bridging the gap between dubstep and grime. The glorious explosion of fluttering electro arpeggios and taught sub bass so lush even made Wiley once shock out to it. Today marks 10 years since the record first hit our shelves and is considered by many as an essential classic. Whether you copped one of the original white label pressings, the original artwork release, the re-press or even the recent limited edition re-press released to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Rinse FM, this is a record that should be in any true dubstep fan’s collection. FACT Magazine recently conducted “The 40 best dubstep singles” released on wax during dubstep’s peak period (2005 – 2009) and ranked Midnight Request Line at #2. Although the article received a bit of backlash, there’s no question that MRL deserves to be in the top 5 of any dubstep “best of” list. FACT wrote the following:
“In 2005, when ‘Midnight Request Line’ was probably the most played tune at dubstep nights throughout the country, Skream was 19 years old. If that’s not enough, it wasn’t even his first tune – he’d been rattling through the motions for years at that point, moving from Playstation’s rudimentary Music 2000 software to the more capable Fruityloops and changing the course of British music in the process. You simply can’t overstate the importance of the tune, but more than that it was (and is) an absolute banger, made by a young producer who already had an almost symbiotic relationship with the dancefloor. Every element is in the right place, and whether you were a back room nodder or a raver with yer back pocket jammed full of little fellers, it just worked.”
