N-Trance

While Britpop bands were looking back to the golden age of rock in the mid-’90s, dance-music acts such as N-Trance were leading a different kind of retro revival, back to the era of mirror balls and leisure suits. The Oldham duo scored a massive hit with the house-influenced single “Set You Free” and succeeded worldwide with fanciful, rap-tinged takes on disco classics such as the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” and Rod Stewart’s “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” N-Trance members Kevin O'Toole and Dale Longworth met in 1989 while studying sound engineering at Oldham College and soon started playing music together. Although their planned debut single, “Back to the Bass”, got tied up in music-industry red tape and wasn’t released, the pair settled into a groove after “Set You Free” became a smash in 1995. Their debut album, that year’s Electronic Pleasure, set the stage for 1998’s Happy Hour and soaring techno singles such as 2002’s “Forever”.