Alan Shacklock

Alan Shacklock is an English songwriter, guitarist, and record producer whose work bridges the worlds of rock, pop, and orchestral music. He is best known as the writer of “The Mexican,” the groundbreaking 1972 recording by Babe Ruth (band) — a track that has had an extraordinary afterlife across multiple generations and genres.

Originally released at the height of the progressive-rock era, “The Mexican” fused hard rock guitar with an arrangement inspired by Ennio Morricone-style Western film scoring and classical motifs. Though only a modest chart record at the time, the song became historically influential in the late 1970s and early 1980s when DJs in New York began using its instrumental break as a break-beat. It went on to become one of the foundational records of early hip-hop DJ culture and breakdancing, helping bridge rock music and the emerging Bronx party scene. The track has since been sampled, covered, and rediscovered repeatedly by dance, hip-hop, and electronic artists around the world.

Shacklock first came to prominence as the guitarist and principal composer for Babe Ruth, writing much of the group’s material and shaping its cinematic, guitar-driven sound. After leaving the band, he moved into production and arranging, building a second career behind the console. Over the following decades he produced and worked with a wide range of international artists across rock and pop and became particularly respected in the U.K. and European recording industries for his meticulous studio craft and orchestral sensibility.

Although his name is not always immediately recognized by the general public, Shacklock’s influence is unusually far-reaching: through “The Mexican,” his writing played a direct role in the DNA of early hip-hop culture while remaining rooted in the British rock tradition of the 1970s. The song stands as a rare example of a progressive rock composition becoming a cornerstone of DJ and street-dance history — a testament to Shacklock’s melodic writing and cinematic imagination.

Today, Alan Shacklock is regarded as one of those quietly pivotal figures in modern music: a songwriter whose single composition traveled far beyond its original genre and era, leaving a lasting imprint on rock, hip-hop, dance music, and DJ culture alike.