Earl Smith Jr.

Earl Smith Jr. (c.1965 – September 21, 2016), known as DJ Spank Spank or Spanky, was an American musician credited with inspiring the acid house music genre.

In 1985 he formed Phuture with DJ Pierre and Herb Jackson, and bought an old Roland TB-303 synthesizer which enabled him to create an "unusual burbling, squelchy" bass line.

So we would try to make music together with keyboards and stuff like that, but it really didn't sound where we was confident that Ron Hardy would play it.

It wasn't until we purchased the TB-303 that [we thought] this would be something that Ron Hardy would play in the club, which was 'Acid Tracks.

[6] Smith died in September 2016, aged 51, after suffering a stroke earlier that year, leaving behind an unfinished album.