Storm — Storm

“Storm” was the first UK hit for Storm, the trance alias of the Frankfurt duo Jam & Spoon. Released on Positiva in 1998, it peaked at No. 32 on the UK Singles Chart and topped the UK Dance Singles Chart, two years before “Time to Burn” took the project into the top three.

Jam & Spoon under another name

Jam & Spoon formed in Frankfurt in 1991. Rolf Ellmer, known as Jam El Mar, was a classically trained composer and producer; Markus Löffel, known as Mark Spoon, was a DJ and producer. Under their main name they scored hits such as “Right in the Night (Fall in Love with Music)” with the singer Plavka, which reached No. 10 in the UK on its 1995 re-release, as well as “Find Me (Odyssey to Anyoona)” and “Angel (Ladadi O-Heyo)”.

The pair also worked behind other names: Tokyo Ghetto Pussy for hardcore techno on the JAM! label, Big Room, and Storm, a production duo dedicated to trance.

The single

In the UK, “Storm” came out on Positiva, catalogue number 12TIV94. It entered the Official Singles Chart at its peak, No. 32, on 29 August 1998, and kept coming back: in October 1998, in January 1999 and once more in August 2000, for seven weeks in the top 100 in total. On the Official Dance Singles Chart it went all the way to No. 1 and logged 17 weeks between August 1998 and August 1999. “Huri-Khan” was another Storm release in 1998.

“Time to Burn” and Stormjunkie

“Love Is Here to Stay” followed in 1999. In 2000 the project peaked: “Time to Burn” reached No. 3 in the UK and “Storm Animal” No. 21, both around the album Stormjunkie (2000). “We Love” came out in 2001.

Markus Löffel died of a heart attack in his Berlin flat on 11 January 2006, aged 39.

In the mix today

“Storm” is a late-1990s trance record built for peak time. For more European trance and techno from the same decade, read about ATB, whose “9 PM (Till I Come)” topped the UK chart in 1999, “Meet Her at the Love Parade” by Da Hool and “Night in Motion” by U96.