Danceteria

The first Danceteria was opened at 252 West 37th Street by German expatriate Rudolf Piper and talent booker Jim Fouratt.

[6] The regular DJs on the main dance second floor were Mark Kamins on Saturday nights and Bill Bahlman on Thursdays and Fridays.

Bill Bahlman, Richard Sweret and Randa Relich Milliron ran the Experimental First Floor serving as both DJs and VJs during the club's first months of operation until Fouratt's ousting; former Mudd Club DJ Anita Sarko spun on the first floor, where the bands performed, as well as in the VIP room, Congo Bill, for special events.

Danny Cornyetz made videos of some of the acts with the fixed ceiling camera that piped what was happening on the first-floor stage throughout the club.

Under Polsky's direction, the club became renowned as one of the centers of new wave music in New York and was frequented by many musicians and artists who became famous during the decade, such as Madonna, New Order, Duran Duran, Billy Idol, Sade, Wham!, R.E.M., the Smiths, Squeeze, Cyndi Lauper, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Run-DMC, Depeche Mode, Butthole Surfers, The Fall, the B-52's, Samhain, Bauhaus, RuPaul, Berlin, Units, Romeo Void, Sonic Youth, Swans, Stephen Merritt, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the Cult, Karen Finley, Violent Femmes, Soft Cell, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, and Rob Zombie.

[10] In 2021, acclaimed DJ Rafe Gomez launched Danceteria REWIND, a weekly two-hour livestream mix show on Twitch.

[11] Using original DJ playlists as well as extensive research, Gomez's seamless blend replicates Danceteria's distinctive sonic presentation by merging the myriad genres that were featured on the club's five floors between 1979 and 1986 - including reggae/dub, old-school hip hop, early techno/electronica/industrial, mutant disco and post-disco, 70s funk, dancefloor punk, B-side new wave, salsa/Latin boogaloo, and independent releases by popular downtown bands.