A term used to denote the sequencing and mixing together of records by DJs to create a constant fluid stream of music. Until the 1970s, DJs in nightclubs linked consecutive records with chat and banter. However, the role of the DJ was revolutionized by Francis Grasso who invented slip-cueing. While one record is playing on one turntable, a second is cued up to its desired starting position on another turntable which is held stationary. When the second turntable is released its record starts immediately, producing an instant and synchronized switch from one recording to another. The DJ can also alter and match the speed of the two recordings, making a continuous seamless mix and the fading from one record to the other easier. By the late 1980s, as club culture grew in popularity with young people, many DJs had become more famous than the recording artists they played, and more still had moved into recording and remixing, both trends that continued well into the 1990s. During the early 1990s, record labels began to release mix albums, essentially 75-minute DJ sets released commercially on CD. Despite the ubiquity of the CD format in the late 1980s and 90s, new dance records were still released on vinyl for the benefit of DJs; despite other technological advances, the slip-cueing technique and the use of pitch control have remained integral to DJ mixing.
WILL FULFORD-JONES