1988: Acid House/The Summer Of Love and the start of MTV Europe where James Hyman began his career. After a brief MTV Press Officer stint, James achieved B.A./1st Class Honours from London Guildhall University and moved forward at MTV as a Senior Producer/Director/Programmer.
From 1988 to 2000, Hyman steered MTV through the emerging UK dance music scene , from its inception (the acid house explosion) right through to its current global multi-million dollar culture. Hyman's MTV shows featured over 500 in-depth interviews with all the major players , many unknown at time of interview: The Prodigy, Goldie, Moby, David Holmes, Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Paul Oakenfold, Aphex Twin etc.
Hyman, involved in all aspects of MTVs playlist strategy & programme production was also responsible for producing, directing and editing over 250 pop videos , including clips for Fatboy Slim, New Order, Mike Oldfield, Moby, Prince & Michael Jackson.
By this time, Hyman had amassed a personal library of over one million magazines, 50,000+ vinyl, 50,000+ CDs and a broadcast quality collection of 20 years of Pop Video which paved the way for Green Bandana, the independent cross-platform media company set up by Hyman in 2000 that maintains a database of over 50,000 industry contacts.
Whilst maintaining a foothold in the print media as a columnist/correspondent for various international publications ( Music Week , Televizier , Hip-Hop Connection etc.) Hyman began presenting specialist programs on terrestrial UK television - Frontal (Channel 4), Personal Services (Channel 5 - BAFTA short-listed) and a key expert/commentator on ITVs series,The Dance Years.
On Cable/Satellite, Hyman produced two long running series for BBCs Play UK channel, Hey DJ (40 episodes) & Joy of Decks (60 episodes), both a continuation of the MTV Megamix (100 episodes) format James had created , blending music videos in the same way a club DJ mixes records. Hyman then presented Sci-Fi Channels 5th anniversary week, followed by Sci-Fi Channels Headf*ck which he wrote, produced and presented , a critically acclaimed series exploring innovative contemporary visual work (8 x 4 hour shows).
Hymans interest in everything new and Pop-Culturally relevant saw him present the first ever daily internet show on television with MTV UKs Up For It and in 1999, Hyman was voted No.22 in MUZIK Magazines poll of the 50 Most Powerful People in Dance Music .
Soon Hyman & Green Bandana diversified into Music Supervision - films include: Mean Machine, Suzie Gold, Alpha Male, Guy Ritchie's Revolver, Alan Bennetts History Boys & Kidulthood . Adverts/commercials include: compositions for Ford and successfully synced tracks for Lynx, T-Mobile, Gordons Gin, Lux, Levis and Head & Shoulders.
In 2000, Hyman took to the airwaves as an XFM DJ , presenting, producing & programming, The Rinse (MUZIK magazine nominated Best Radio Show in 2002) and The Remix (one of Campaign Magazine's Top 10 radio shows in 2001 & Sony Award nominated 2003 ), which he co-hosted with Eddy Temple-Morris.
The Remix spawned 2 compilation albums on Virgin/EMI , a successful ongoing club night at Londons Cargo venue and became a platform for the cultural zeitgeist of bootlegging/remixing, with Hyman championing and becoming spokesman for a DIY mix-and-paste musical genre which propelled the likes of Sugababes (Freak Like Me) and Liberty X (Being Nobody) to UK ..1 hits. Further CD compilations from Hyman included 2 CDs of popular cover versions for BMG, Covered , an Ice T interview to accompany the rappers personal trip through hip-hop history on Westside and Hymans mix-CDs which went beyond cult status - the mash-up of James Bond/007 films was one of the Sunday Telegraphs top 5 albums in 2004 and his Tarantino themed mix of tracks, dialogue and more from the works of acclaimed film director Quentin Tarantino received glowing reviews and praise from Tarantino himself.
Hyman added another Xfm show to his radio repertoire, Saturday afternoons from 3PM whilst his voice-overs can be heard for HIT40UK, Toyota, BT, Daily Star, The Army & Sony Playstation . Hyman continues to be an in-demand event DJ, spinning at film-premieres for Britney Spears, Eminem, Will Smith and Madonna as well sets for BMW, Glastonbury Festival and Carphone Warehouse .
...And a final fact for trivia buffs: James Hyman's father's first cousin was Beatles manager, Brian Epstein .
