Frankie Bones


Frankie Bones is an American disc jockey and house and techno music producer from Brooklyn, New York City. He is considered to be the "Godfather of American rave culture" and influential in spreading the idea of Peace, Love, Unity and Respect as a part of that culture.

Early life

As a child growing up in Brooklyn, Frankie 'Bones' Mitchell's father was murdered just before Frankie graduated high school. His life radically changed, and he inherited his father's entire vinyl record collection. He began to produce house tracks with Lenny Dee.
His brother, Adam "X" Mitchell, is also a techno DJ and producer, and their colleague Heather Heart is a DJ and music writer/zine maker who helped create the community for underground techno music in New York and beyond. Bones, Adam X, Heather Heart and others are associated with the record label Sonic Groove. The three co-owned a record store with the same name at 41 Carmine St in New York City, where it had relocated to from a Brooklyn location in 1995. The shop closed in 2004.

Bringing rave culture to America

After he had begun producing records, Bones was offered a gig to play for 5,000 people in England called "Energy". As the event started on August 26, 1989, he played to the unexpected number of 25,000 people.
Together with his brother, Adam "X" Mitchell, Bones took to forming his own event in Brooklyn in the form of a series of ″Storm Rave″ events that started on May 11, 1991. The events began with only a few hundred people in attendance growing to over thousands where the likes of Josh Wink, Doc Martin, Sven Väth, The Horrorist, DJ Keoki and Richie Hawtin were able to launch their performances into international careers.

Bones is recognized to have spread the idea of Peace, Love, Unity and Respect into rave culture. Supposedly in response to a fight that broke out at one of his Storm Raves in Brooklyn in June 1993, Bones is said to have got on the microphone and yelled: "If you don't start showing some peace, love, and unity, I'll break your faces." Other sources report that as early as "on July 4, 1990, Frankie's brother and Storm Rave collaborator Adam X painted 'Peace Love Unity' on a train car".

Berlin's Love Parade, which had been generally considered to have been the largest rave festival in the world at the time, named its 1991 and 1992 parades after well-known compositions by Frankie Bones: "The Future is Ours" in 1991, and "My House is Your House " in 1992.

Discography

Singles