Gat Decor

Gat Decor (also styled Gat Décor) were an English electronic music production group formed in Hammersmith, London, active from 1992 to 1997. They are best known for the 1992 track "Passion", widely regarded as one of the defining records of the early progressive house genre.

Members

The core members of Gat Decor were British DJs and producers:

Simon Slater — primary creative force; continued to license and manage "Passion" long after the group disbanded
Laurence Nelson-Boudville — co-producer
Simon Hanson — co-producer

Name Origin

The name Gat Decor is an anagram of Tag Records, a record store located in Soho, London, which was a significant hub of the early 1990s UK underground house music scene.

Discography

Singles

Year	Title	Label	Notes
1992	"Passion"	Effective Records	Original release; B-side featured Darren Emerson's debut remix. Re-issued 1996 with vocal by Beverley Skeete; peaked at #6 in the UK.
1993	"Do You Want It Right Now"	Effective Records	Second and final official single

Production Credits

In addition to their own releases, Gat Decor provided production and remix work for other artists:

Year	Artist	Track
1992	Euphoria	"Love You Right"
1992	The Odd Company	"Swing in Trance"
1993	Latitude	"Building a Bridge"
1994	Jean-Michel Jarre	"Chronologie Part 6"

"Passion"

"Passion" was originally released in 1992 on Effective Records as a 12-inch single. The A-side, known as The Naked Mix, was an instrumental progressive house track that became an immediate underground hit in UK clubs. The B-side featured a remix by Darren Emerson, notable as one of Emerson's earliest remix credits before his rise to prominence as a member of Underworld.

A 1996 re-release subtitled the "Do You Want It Right Now Mix" incorporated a new vocal performance by singer Beverley Skeete and reached number six on the UK Singles Chart, introducing the track to a mainstream audience four years after its original underground success.

The track has since become a touchstone of early 1990s UK dance culture. In 2020, Mixmag included "Passion" in its list of the greatest drops in dance music history, and NME ranked it among the best house music songs ever recorded. That same year, Tomorrowland included it in their official Ibiza 500 list.

Legacy

Despite releasing only two official singles, Gat Decor left a lasting impression on electronic dance music. "Passion" has been remixed and bootlegged extensively over the decades, with notable mixes by Junior Vasquez and DJ Chus, among others. Simon Slater has continued to manage and license the track, keeping it in circulation well beyond the group's active years.

References

Phillips, Dom (2009). Superstar DJs Here We Go!: The Rise and Fall of the Superstar DJ. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4070-2695-4.