Helooooo
Start here, I'll explain what it is all about
Let me start with a quick introduction.
I’m Pé Dupre (yes… the handsome one 😁🤓). I’m a proud disco kid 🕺, an incurable lover of 70s, 80s and (early) 90s dance music, and the writer behind The Twelve Inch.
My mission is simple: to help you fully embrace your secret love for the dance music of the late 70s, the 80s, and the early 90s.
Each week I tell the story behind a record. Sometimes it’s an artist you know well, sometimes it’s someone you think you don’t know, until the needle drops and you realise you absolutely do. Fair warning though: sarcasm, puns, and a healthy dose of dry humour are unavoidable.
I’m also a lifelong collector of dance music from that era. And as a trained historian, I’m fascinated by the stories hiding behind every track. After many years working in the music industry, I’ve also seen from the inside how records, careers, and sometimes entire scenes come together.
So the goal here is not to repeat what you can already find on Wikipedia. I go deeper: the people behind the music, the studio stories, the motivations, and the unexpected connections that shaped these records.
Each episode is also a small immersive experience. Alongside the writing, I create mixtapes on Mixcloud and YouTube that act as the soundtrack to the story.
The structure: just like a real Twelve Inch
The newsletter follows the logic of a classic 12-inch single.
Every week you’ll receive:
🎧 The A-Side (free)
Published on Friday. This is the extended version: a fully researched story about a song, artist, or moment in dance music history.
💃 The B-Side (for paid subscribers)
Published on Saturday. Just like the flipside of a real twelve inch, this is where the extra versions live:
The Beats — extra context, fun facts and explanations of things mentioned in the A-Side
The Acapella — more personal reflections, research stories and discussion of the different mixes of the track
The Dub — a deeper look at the weekly mixtape and a playlist of related records
Why become a paid subscriber?
Paid members help keep this project alive — and they get the full experience in return.
As a paid subscriber you’ll get:
• Access to the B-Side episodes every week
• Access to the archive and deeper “connecting the dots” chapters about genres, scenes and movements
• The full soundtrack experience with extended playlists and mix breakdowns
• The possibility to suggest songs or stories for future episodes
• And for the elite members of The Twelve Inch Society: a personalized 1-hour beatmix built around your favourite Twelve Inch track
Little by little, the newsletter is becoming something like a living book about the evolution of dance music, one record at a time.
Subscribe and give it a try. I’m fairly certain we’ll have a lot of fun exploring this music together.
And finally… the household
The “monsieur” behind me in the picture is my husband.
And since no proper introduction would be complete without them, meet my two proofreaders and full-time rascals.
Elvis (the white one) is named, of course, after the Elvis, mainly because he loves food a little too much. We’re constantly trying to keep him on a diet so he doesn’t evolve into the Elvis of the seventies.
Then there’s Nougat (the brown one). Sadly he’s not named after Sir Peter Nougat (if only), but simply because I’m a big fan of the candy.