Spectrum
Spectrum grew out of Future, a night held in The Sanctuary, which annexed the much bigger Heaven club. Many never thought Spectrum, suitably subtitled ‘Theatre of Madness’, would succeed in a 1500 plus capacity club on a Monday night... how wrong they were! At first they looked to be right. For a few weeks, attendance was low, leaving Paul Oakenfold and co-promoter Ian St Paul in dire financial straits. Then, suddenly, the vibe was out and the queues were literally going around the block - and a new phase in club culture had begun! Spectrum continued for a couple of years, changing its name along the way to Land Of Oz. New initiates to the scene, as almost everybody was, marvelled at the full-on atmosphere of the place - hands reaching up into the sweat hazed air, laser lights pulsing and washing over the smiling crowd. Alex Paterson (later of The Orb) DJ’d in the VIP chillout area (the White Room), while Paul created his now trademark fervour in the cavernous main room.
The Art was directed by Gary Haisman who had the No: 1 hit the year that Spectrum opened with “They call it Aceed” by DMob The Spectrum Eye image by Dave Little has since been featured in over 25 books worldwide and was shown in the “Art of British Rock” featuring classics such as images from the Sex Pistols.

It is now in permanent record in the V&A Museum. The only one of two designs (Boy's Own is the other) to achieve this. It is classic of 1988 - the year of Acid House!

Written by Ed Tomlinson