Starley – Call On Me

Starley signs to Central Station and releases the worldwide mega-smash, Call On Me. It goes triple platinum in Australia alone, picking up over half a billion plays in the process.

Odd Mob

Odd Mob sign to Central Station Records and release viral hit, ‘Is It A Banger?’

Qwote Goes Platinum

Qwote – Throw Your Hands Up (Dancar Kudro) feat Pitbull becomes a Platinum single

Above & Beyond

After signing with Central Station for their highly regarded mix CDs, Above & Beyond release their second album ‘Group Therapy’

Bombs Away!

Bombs Away sign to CSR with the runaway hit, ‘Big Booty Bitches’

WILD Energy

Wild Energy ‘Gold edition’ Hits #1 on the Aria Charts.

Resurrection

Central Station’s ultimate owner, Destra Corporation, goes into liquidation. Jo and Morgan form a joint venture with Jamie Raeburn and Tim McGee to resurrect the label.

A new era

The Central Station recording operations become part of the Homeleisure Group after Jo and Morgan sell their interest. By this time, all of the stores have been franchised out to former employees.

Panjabi MC feat. Jay-Z – Mundian To Bach Ke

This was the first Bhangra single released on a mainstream label and was the first to achieve a place in the UK Top Ten, selling hundreds of thousands of copies globally.

Tim McGee leaves

Tim McGee leaves Central Station to head up Ministry of Sound’s new Australian operations. The record company side of Central Station is run by Scottish-born general manager, Jamie Raeburn, who’s worked at the company since 1997.

Rue Da Silva – Touch Me

‘Touch Me’ became one of the biggest crossover dance tunes of 2001. The song hit #1 in the UK and it was massive across Australian airwaves – #1 Dance & Club Chart for weeks.

Armand van Helden – You Don’t Know Me

It was the biggest dance track of the year all over the world. It debuted at #1 in the UK Singles Chart and achieved the #1 position in every chart thrown at it.

Vengaboys – Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom

A massive hit in 1999 for Central Station, which licensed the Dutch Eurodance track from Breakin’ Records/Violent Music.

Adelaide

A second store opens in Adelaide, at Westfield Shopping Centre in Marion.

Klubbheads – Kickin’ Hard

The Klubbheads have had several pumpin’ club hits around the world alongside their worldwide anthems: ‘Klubbhopping’, ‘Discohopping’ and ‘Kickin’ Hard’.

Vengaboys – We Like To Party

We Like To Party’ was the highest-selling single taken from the double platinum-selling album: ‘The Party Album’ that hit #1 for several weeks in ’98.

Barbara Tucker – Hot Shot

Barbara Tucker is a pioneer in the house scene. She is without a doubt one of the most outstanding vocalists in the dance world.

Wild FM Compilation CD

The first Wild FM compilation CD released. And it was simply massive. By the end of the decade, the many volumes of the Wild compilations that followed sold over a million units. Volume 9 along, for instance, sold over 200,000 copies.

Sheryl Lee Ralph – In The Evening

Catchy, soulful & truly one of the italo-house genre’s best! Out of New York City, this single inspired clubbers & music fans for many years and is still getting radio airplay to this day.

CSR Sub Labels

Five sub-labels are created to deal with the various new genres: Tinted (House), Bang On! (Trance/Hard House), Dinky (NRG & all Australian artists), Central Cuts (Commercial Dance) and the Hardwax label (R&B-2-step).

Kadoc – Night Train

One of the most recognisable, train bell, chiming tunes of the 90’s. It crossed over & proved to be a radio favourite at a time when dance was beginning to boom.

West Side

Perth store opens

The SA Dance Music Award

“1996 was the year we introduced The SA Dance Music Awards and presented by Central Station Records. We showcased the talent we had in SA and awarded those that succeeded in their field. 20 plus awards were given out each year from most popular dj to best club best event and many more. The first awards in 96 were held at the JD Function Centre in Adelaide. These awards continued for another 10 years as a formal event with guests of 600 people in attendance each year.”
– Tony Garcia

Interactive – Forever Young

One of the highest selling singles for Central Station, ‘Forever Young’ was a rave tune that crossed over & started a trend of cover versions.

Jungle Brothers – I’ll House You

This was the defining record for the hip house genre, which was a fusion of house & hip hop. It was one of the biggest club tracks of its time.

Nicki French – Total Eclipse of the Heart

Central Station licensed the 1995 HiNRG remake of the original 1983 hit for release in Australia. It peaked at number two in the charts.

Ultra-Sonic – Annihilating Rhythm

One of the most popular live rave acts that defined the genre. Going Top 40 in Australian Sales Charts & defining a generation with the MC’s cry: “Do you love hardcore?”

Skitzmix

The first of the now-infamous Skitzmix series hits the streets and today is still a best seller for Central Station. A top-selling single, ‘Excalibur’, confirms this year as a landmark for CSR’s Nick Skitz.

Hocus Pocus – Here’s Johnny

The first dance single to go number 1 without radio support in Australia. It stayed at the number one position for five weeks through to 1995. A huge moment in Australian music history.

Top Of The Charts

Central and Shock’s next release was a dance remix of ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ by British singer Nicki French. That got to number 2 on the mainstream charts, held out of the top spot by Here’s Johnny.

Accolades

Tony Caraccia voted Best Record Store-Adelaide in the second Australian Music Industry Awards (conducted by the Australasian Music Industry Directory)

Commercial Hit

“This Is It” by Ruth Campbell. By chance, Dannii Minogue decided to cover the song almost immediately. A national commercial television network picked it up as its summer theme song. Suddenly it was a track in hot demand.

Flipside

Sydney store moves to 46 Oxford Street. Flipside starts operating.

Label Relaunched

By 1992, the company was again healthy enough to look at manufacturing its own product. Nothing big this time, just the odd 12-inch.

Capital Records

Canberra store opens.

Label Folds

Unfortunately, this initial Central Station label would eventually fail. The advent of the compact disc made it unprofitable for such a small company to manufacture their own music on three expensive formats – CD, vinyl and audio cassette.

Expansion

Central Station opens stores in Adelaide and Brisbane, while the Melbourne store moves to 334-340 Flinders Street.

Jungle Brothers – Black is Black

“I remember watching The Jungle Brothers perform an impromptu deejay set at the Melbourne store. It was the first time I had seen three deejays do a follow-the-leader routine – Each DJ doing a backspin rotation and passing it to the next guy, adding a little body trick as they went. It blew my mind, and I’ve been chasing that energy in a deejay set ever since.”
– DJ Shan Frenzie

New Stores Open

By late ’89 there were new Central Station Records stores in Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane. With hip hop, house and acid house music now quickly rising out of the underground, demand for product from every corner of the globe was overwhelming.

Black is Black

The Jungle Brothers ‘Black is Black’ tour of Australia

Stefan Dennis – Don’t It Make You Feel Good

Early hit under the Central Station label

Self Produced 12″s

Some of its first self-produced 12-inches included local artists Short Cut (featuring singer Lisa Edwards) and Neighbours’ star Stefan Dennis.

Hithouse – Jack To The Sound

A big underground hit for Central Station, which licensed the track by a Dutch DJ, producer and remixer from Next Plateau Records in 1988.

Sydney Store Opens

Central Station opens a store in Pitt Street, Sydney.

Morgan becomes business manager for Central Station and begins developing the recording labels.

CSR, the Label, is born

Late in 1986, Jo & Morgan decided it was time to start producing their own records. Central Station Records, The Label was born. It was a tentative procedure, the label only releasing a handful of records in its first few years.

Prahran

The Chapel Street, Windsor store moves to Shop 37 Prahran Central

The DJ Boom

The shops became general suppliers for Melbourne’s burgeoning DJ boom. Jo & Morgan started importing decks, mixers – anything a bedroom banger needed to get started. They also began producing their own CSR merchandise.

Morgan Williams

It was around this point in 1982 that Jo met a New Zealander name Morgan Williams late one evening at a Melbourne nightclub. And it’s here that the story of Central Station transforms into the tale of 2 men.

City Square store opens

Central Station Records establishes a presence in City Square, Melbourne.

Dancing is Dangerous

Jo moves out of the little shop to another one at 4 Princes Bridge (above the ramp).

Lawyers acting for Festival Records open the battle between Central Station and the multinational recording companies over imports ‘Dancing is Dangerous’ (Noel) and ‘Sexy Cream’/‘The Whole World is Dancing’ (Slick)

The Little Shop

Jo opens shop the ‘little shop’ at 15 Princes Gate Arcade, Flinders Street, near Princes Bridge station

12" Vinyl Singles

By the late seventies a new breed of songs started penetrating the US Top 40 – songs such as La Bamba by Antonio Rodriguez, Love Attack by Ferrara, Holy Ghost by The Bar-Keys and Rapper’s Delight by The Sugarhill Gang.

Central Station

“One day, I looked at the outside of the shop and I thought ‘I must change the name of this company'” Jo says, “I was underneath the city square. Station? Central Station?”

Jist Records

The precursor to Central Station Records, JIST had a prime location, smack bang in the middle of Melbourne’s trendiest retail strip, Chapel Street in the inner-city suburb of Windsor, a short tram ride outside of the city centre.