Night People: How to Be a DJ in '90s New York City

by Mark Ronson

New York Times Bestseller

Capturing the music, characters, escapades, and energy of his DJ days, a profound memoir from seven-time Grammy-winning record producer Mark Ronson.

Lady Gaga, Adele, Amy Winehouse, Dua Lipa, Bruno Mars, Miley Cyrus, the Barbie soundtrack—behind some of the biggest musical moments in the past two decades is one Mark Ronson. Night People conjures the undeniable magic of the city's bygone nightlife—a time when clubs were diverse, glamorous, and a little lawless, and each night brought a heady mix of music, ambition, danger, delight, and possibility. It's about the beauty of what you can create with just two Technics and a mixer, in a golden era before Giuliani, camera phones, and bottle service upended everything. It's also about a teenager finding his way—stalking DJ Stretch Armstrong and biting his mixes, crate-digging in every corner of New York, grinding gig after gig through a decade of incredible music—and finding a community of people who, in their own strange, cracked ways, lived for the night.

Organized around the venues that defined his experience of the downtown scene, Ronson evokes the specific rush of that decade and those spaces—where fashion folks and rappers on the rise danced alongside club kids and 9-to-5'ers—and invites us into the tribe of creatives and partiers who came alive when the sun went down. A heartfelt coming-of-age tale, Night People is the definitive account of '90s New York nightlife and the making of a musical mastermind.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Memoir, Audiobook, Biography, Book Club, History

254 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 16, 2025

Reviews

[Kelly Foley]

This book is a hilarious and biting satire of nepo babies and gentrification.

I’m not certain the author knows that, though.

[mia · Rating 5 out of 5]

love this man idgaf

[Ross · Rating 1 out of 5]

is it cruel to give this book one star well i dont care i’m doing it anyway this was so bad

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my favorite reads of the year: a deep dive into 90s New York night life that reads like a love letter to a lost art of partying and the music that soundtracked it. Delivering it in a memoir format where we see Mark Ronson’s upbringing and working his way up the DJing ladder—before the success he is generally categorized by today—was all consuming; in the sense that I just wanted to keep living in the pictures Ronson painted with days worth of music to listen to with the record names dropped alone and the vivid imagery of every scene. The writing style was compelling, the story interesting, and the respect paid to the black and brown people who created the music Ronson was spinning and who were setting the trends of the scene was so artfully done, a refreshing integration into the narrative that was so deeply appreciated. There was no pretentiousness to the way Mark talks about music, there’s maybe my own insecurities about not matching his level of knowledge, nonetheless it was astounding to read the reverence held for the music of his youth; a sincerity that comes from being deeply enamored. I’d never considered DJing much of an art until this book; previously associating it with cross fading and playlist curation as opposed to the boundless knowledge of what pairs or works with what, the effort of carrying crates of vinyls that are marked up and practiced on hundreds of times over, reading a crowd and their energy levels and creating the atmosphere, resonates like a sommelier of sound. I was frequently considering the notion that older generations may actually love music more than we do; feeling geriatric in saying that we as a generation take for granted the relatively easy access we have to music through streaming nowadays, but it’s the truth! I’ll additionally add that we end up in echo chambers of sonic similarity, unless you’re actively seeking new music and pushing the bounds of what you know. It feels like there’s been a death of radio and other organic ways of discovering music, which for me added to the intrigue of reading about 90s club life through the eyes of a DJ. I don’t know, I think if I say more I’ll continue to talk in circles, I just really enjoyed this book and would like a playlist of every song and record mentioned curated for me immediately thank you!

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know why I went into this sort of expecting not to like it - but even though yes, Mark Ronson is definitely not beating the nepo baby allegations, this book actually ended up being super charming and I enjoyed it a lot

[Sydney MacLeod · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m ready to party

[kira · Rating 5 out of 5]

what an awesome memoir! i don’t have a single complaint about it, & after the last book i read, this felt like a breath of fresh air. ronson is brutally honest in such a captivating way where you feel like you’re right alongside him watching him put blood sweat & tears into his work!!! i love the way he spoke about music & the general idea of putting your body through so much wear & tear just to be apart of something you love. it was absolutely inspiring & the fact that it was set in 90’s new york was even BETTER, i got a glimpse of my favourite era! & how he spoke about people coming alive at night, just breathtaking. so many good stories, this was genuinely AWESOME i sped through it!!

[Sophie Wood · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love you Mark Ronson but this felt like a surface-level and shallow attempt at a memoir / history of nyc club culture. I feel similarly about this book as I did to Dave Grohl’s memoir.

[Stella · Rating 2 out of 5]

I....uh, am not a club kid and never was. Wait, that's a lie. There was a brief time in my 20s that I would frequent clubs but it was all an act.

Night People by Mark Ronson is the story of his life and New York City in the 1990s. Name drops include Sean Lennon and Yoko Ono. White privilege bleeds out across the page a bit thicker than nepotism.

The writing is a bit all over the place, but as someone who spent his youth at Limelight, I wouldn't expect anything else.

This is a fun look at the 90s club scene, but don't expect any life-changing advice.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[Mediaman · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sure there must be an extremely narrow niche audience for this unique book, but unless you grew up dancing in New York City in the 1990s or love obscure music tracks it's a disappointment coming from a guy who must have a fascinating life story (which he overlooks on these pages). We'll never know because Ronson totally focuses on how he became a club DJ during the 1990s and there's little about what the rest of we know him for.

As a Jewish boy from England who grew up in New York, his rich upbringing allowed him to have access at a young age to people and places that 99.9% of the rest of us would never have a chance. Sounds like it would make fascinating stories, right? Yet we learn little about how his family or early years impacted him--instead he jumps right into his playing records for parties as he glosses over his illegally being hired as an underage child and his lawbreaking drug or alcohol usage.

Instead, it's page after page of songs I've never heard, artists I don't know, and NYC places few readers will identify. Ronson fails to provide much context or background on any of this, more excited to brag about his accomplishments and failures with energy fueled by the night.

He hits the point over and over that he is part of the rare group of "night people" who thrive from 1:00 to 4:00 a.m., yet through all of it I thought "who cares?" Everything he reaches for is extremely shallow (maybe that's how he helped pen the Oscar-winning Star is Born hit?)

Along the way he makes a few offensive statements, the worst being that he brags about using the K-word for Jews that rhymes with bike. "Taking after our black heroes in music, we'd decided to reclaim the slur." Seriously?

How about instead having a deep discussion of the appropriateness of music using terms that are offensive to the masses (while hypocritically condemning non-blacks or non-Jews for using such terms), or using excuses to "reclaim" something that's unjustifiable?

Then it's ironic that this hip-hop loving DJ capitalizes "black" throughout the book (despite it being grammatically incorrect and he doesn't capitalize white) yet the K-word about his own Jewish people he doesn't capitalize, despite the American Jewish Committee's description of the derogatory term being a capital K.

Then to make things worse, he bemoans the fact that "there were only three black students in a class of fifty" at his high-priced elitist high school--but that 6% MATCHES THE PERCENTAGE OF BLACK MALES IN AMERICA. If he as a liberal wants true "representation," then his school was doing just fine, though he doesn't seem worried about other minorities--this guy is addicted to black culture.

The college dropout admits that well into adulthood he was "bad with money...I was lucky--I had a safety net in my mother." But he also says he'd hang out with other "kids of rock stars, public servants...and academics...we were know-it-alls--the good kind, mostly." Ha! No, Nark Ronson, rich know-it-alls are by nature NOT good. They demean others, think of themselves as much more talented than they really are, end up stealing riffs from other songs and mooching off those close to them in order to keep the high going. No matter how successful he is at playing records on a dance floor, that doesn't make him "good."

Why is it that so many of these narrow-minded talentless elitists are praised for simply mixing music that others created? (Paris Hilton is a similar example.) At least Ronson graduated beyond the clubs to doing more recent actual creative work, but that's barely mentioned here.

Instead of thinking "night people" are the greatest, he should take a good hard look at his self-centered myopic life and start going to bed early so in the next book the daylight can shed light on your real life.

[Emily]

shoutout Rodrigo Corral, awesome cover design

[Kelly Pedersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to this while I unpacked! Ty hottie Mark Ronson! This was fun and had great vignettes but I wanted the JUICE! Hearing about what NYC nightlife was like during that time was rly cool

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heard about this book on a podcast so I listened to it! Mark’s narration was lively and his stories about the club scene back then were awesome. I learned a lot and I loved the cast of characters he ran into. Some stories painted him in a bad light and I appreciated him being honest to readers about his career. Oh how I long for a night on a 90’s dance floor…

[Rachael Wehrle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deliciously nepo. I love nyc nightlife history. This was really cool.

[Maddywald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just discovered I can listen to kind of dumb audiobooks while I work so this was awesome. I like mark ronsons silly little accent. One of my fav nepo babies

[Vicky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an early copy of Night People

Mark Ronson is behind some of the biggest moments in modern pop history - producer on Amy Winehouse's Back to Black, creator of Uptown Funk, co-writer of Shallow and the brains behind the Barbie soundtrack. But before that, he was a young DJ in New York City, spending years honing his craft night after night. We already know that Ronson can be considered a musical genius; now we can say he's also an outstanding writer.

Club culture and DJing have never interested me, but the way in which Mark Ronson brings this environment to life in Night People is extraordinary, immersing you in the heady lifestyle of DJs in 90s New York. The warmth and passion with which he speaks about this dying art form (DJing with vinyl, as opposed to modern software) will draw in any music lover.

As nepotism in the entertainment industry continues to be a hot topic, Ronson presents his privileged upbringing candidly, not shying away from the opportunities it brought him throughout his career, but without overshadowing the credit he's due for his own hard work.

Night People is an exceptional piece of music writing, crafted with pure joy and artistry from one of pop music's greatest minds. A vital read for music fans.

[Anna Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️ this memoir made me want to be a club rat in 90’s NYC soooo bad

[Jillian Katz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I really liked this book but wish he spent a little more time on how he came to work with some of the greats to make some of the best songs. It was really interesting to hear his story and but we could have gone a tiny bit deeper

[Rebecca Gross · Rating 2 out of 5]

What is this, name drop city?

[Hope · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5…very niche book but I still enjoyed some of it

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

As another denizen of the 1990s and 2000s club music scene, I certainly enjoyed Mark Ronson’s memoir. Ronson liberally sprinkles the recounting of his experiences with myriad song titles and descriptions of many songs' strengths, as well as specific details about hip-hop artists, breaks and samples.

I listened to Ronson narrate his tale (and he did that well), but I'll need to pick up a print copy to follow up on all the song titles I want to hear.

Recommended for anyone who loves club music culture or wants more than a peek at the dancefloor. Even more on point if you love remixes and hip-hop, with a healthy mix of jazz, soul, rap, and R&B. If you grooved at Club USA, Webster Hall, Tunnel, and/or Limelight, you'll probably find some laughs and refresh your potential memories of great nights out.

[Cassidy Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

it would be easy to write this off as the dreamy retelling of a privileged journey by a world famous nepo baby...

...if Mark didn't spend every other page sharing what an awkward poser he was at times.

This was fun, funny, and very human.

He talks about his writing process a bit at the end regarding how he interviewed a lot of people for this book, because although it is a memoir he wanted it to capture the era and the scene. I read this book because of my interest in the era, and I think he did a fantastic job bringing that world to life.

[Katie Walton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting fella

[Sean Szeps · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not a massive Ronson fan. No more than any other music lover. But I often judge a book by its cover and this one looked fun. Plus, the idea of spending time in 90s New York and learning more about DJing - a world I know little about - was irresistible. I had high, fun hopes. Maybe something in the spirit of Elton John’s memoir, Me? Sadly, I came away disappointed.

Ronson’s writing style is poetic and descriptive, but often weighed down by too many insider references. He name-drops DJs, venues and musicians without much context, which left me feeling like an outsider. It reads a bit like a “for DJs, by DJs” project. Once his story shifts to more recognizable names, this becomes less of an issue, but it was frustrating early on.

Where he truly shines is in describing his creative process. The sections where he explains how he layered beats or wove samples together were electric. I could see and hear it unfolding in front of me. I also loved the way he captured conversations around race within the NYC DJ community, and his fanboy admiration for other DJs. His writing in those moments felt like poetry, and it made me a fan too. The inclusion of Robin Williams, Biggie and Aaliyah was a gift, though I found myself wishing for more Amy Winehouse, more Barbie, more of the later chapters of his exciting career. Maybe that’s his next project?

The memoir improves as Ronson’s career takes off, but the structure feels uneven. The opening was interesting, then his early career drags and the ending feels rushed. He’s a privileged nobody, then a somebody, and then almost abruptly a father and a star.

I understood his vision: the specificity of this decade and this unique subculture in New York. But it felt too narrow, too insular, to fully let me in. In the end, it left me wanting more. Not just more of Ronson, but more balance, more detail for the non-DJ reader, and more time savoring the most exciting chapters of his life.

[Lilly Rosenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this. Such a cool guy and his love for music is insane

[Mietta Yans · Rating 2 out of 5]

“What musical lottery had I won to be here”

Don’t make us say it, Mark.

2.5

[Alex Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really really liked this, and am blown away by how good of a writer Mark is - my only critique is, his emotional journey drops out a bit in the middle (its super present in both the beginning and end) which made the read a little hard to keep up with. That said, the minute he drops a memoir kicking off his days working with Amy Winehouse, i will be reading it at midnight, on the launch date.

[CatReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mark Ronson (b. 1975) is an English-born American DJ-turned-producer from a prominent family -- his dad was from the wealthy British Ronson family, his mother Ann Dexter-Jones is a socialite, his step-father Mick Jones founded the band Foreigner, and he's currently married to Meryl Streep's daughter Grace Gummer. I preface my review of Ronson's 2025 memoir Night People because while the book spends a ton of time dropping famous names to the point of obnoxiousness, Ronson was largely already born into this world, and so his success as a DJ, though partially due to his own hard work, was likely clearly a lot easier given his inborn connections.

Though in recent decades Ronson is more known as a music producer, Night Moves focuses on his teens and 20s, largely in '90s New York City, and talks about clubbing culture, the hip hop scene, etc. This isn't a particularly reflective memoir -- it's largely written in an "I did this, then that happened, and I reacted this way" format that likely largely appeals to people with an inherent interest in Ronson and/or '90s club music, but will likely not appeal as much to those with a more casual interest or those looking for a more thoughtful exploration. Ronson didn't come off particularly well in my reading, from his non-stop humblebragging about his model-good looks, innovative DJ skills, and all the other nepo babies that made up his social circles (then and now).

My statistics:
Book 358 for 2025
Book 2284 cumulatively

[Jo Coleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always had a soft spot for Mark Ronson, who does come across as a trust fund kid who wants to tell you about his famous friends, but also quite a humble, self-deprecating fellow who knows a good pop song when he hears one. This is a very engaging read, where he skips his pop star career entirely and tells a lot of good yarns about learning to DJ and playing in New York 90s nightclubs, from grimy side rooms to grotesque-sounding superclubs. There's loads of detail about the art of vinyl DJing (which sounds very difficult, not least trying to get three crates of records from his flat into a lift and out onto the street every night), plenty of interesting characters, and he takes a few breaks to ponder his privelige and being a white Jewish guy in a Black hip-hop scene. Glad he stopped taking all the drugs though, dearie me. He is so enthusiastic about all the songs he used to play, most of which I don't really know, that I looked them all up on Spotify and made a playlist; alas, this revealed that there are a lot of typos in this book. Sort it out, Mark!

[Laura’s Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mark's LORE does not end. Raised by a famous rocker as a step dad, best friends with Steve Lennon, randomly cast as a model with Simon Rex, thrown into the music hangout scene with Q-tip, Jay Z, Biggie, and more.

I am so impressed by the research that went into getting the exact street numbers, addresses and cross-streets of famed NY clubs, Mark's old apartments and more. This isn't just a love letter to NYCs 90s club scene, this is a time capsule of the city and people who love it.

Hate to compare, but if you liked Wild West Village this has the same feel but somehow dialed up by a million.

Mark Ronson I was already a fan from Valerie, Electricity and Uptown Funk but you have moved me to a deeper level of appreciation and fandom.