@slobberchops nominated me for this Wayback music challenge. You can read about it in the bottom of the post.
Here's the music...
I have realised that the music of my youth until now in two of three cases are music that was old when I discovered it. But somehow I took it all in without worrying about age, and I did listen to the new things that came out in these years.
My younger brother had decided that he was a hip hopper - so RunDMC, Beastie Boys and LL Cool J, became part of what I listened to. But the one band that I felt most attracted to was Public Enemy. My brother and I listened to music together while we sat in his room making roleplaying game rules, reading comics and getting lost in our collective imagination. We had some of the Yo! Bum rush the show songs on tape, and when the It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back-album came out my brother bought it (it was after all him who was the hip hopper). This album was ugly, funky, aggressive and it made use of samples in the most creative and annoying way. I was so very fascinated by this LP and knew there was something great happening inspite of not understanding neither music nor lyrics. I listened to it over and over again even though it made my ears wring and my harmonic sense cringe. I still love it, and had to just pick one tune from an all favourite album. Chose this one for Terminator X's famous scratching.
"Brothers and sisters -- Brothers and sisters, I don't know what this world is coming to;" the sampled opening words often pops up in my minds these days...
I nominate @shortcut and/or @roused for this challenge if they like.
The rules:
- Choose one song from your high-school/college years.
- Write a few words about who made you listen to this song for the first time, what this song means to you (was it a breakup song? you blasted it at 100% on your audio system when you were partying with your friends?) whatever you want.
- Write your text while listening to the song. As soon as the song ends, wrap up what you where writing and submit it.
- Do this for 7 days in a row if you get nominated
- Mention one person who should do this on each day.
- Tag it with #musicwaybackchallenge and include these rules at the bottom of your post
Great choice, @katharsisdrill. Totally agree about PE being the best of hiphop, and this album is as good as it gets. For those interested, I checked out some of the samples that go into the collage that is this great track:
~ Your favourite “Brothers and sisters”, kicking off the track, is spoken by preacher-politician Jesse Jackson and was taken from the start of ‘I don’t know what this world is a coming to’ by the Soul Children.
~ The three curtain-raising horn stabs 6 seconds in are from James Brown’s ‘Get up offa that thing’ (0’20”).
~ The drum rhythm heard throughout the track, first at 12 seconds in, was sampled from James Brown’s ‘Funky drummer’ (5’35”).
~ The drum rhythm first heard at 0’41” is from a less likely source, ‘Rock music’ by Jefferson Starship (0’10”).
All the originals are there on YouTube for checking out but for a handy list of all seven samples the track uses, see this page of whosampledwho.com: https://tinyurl.com/y87psolz
Thanks! I knew the funky drummer and I saw that the quote in the beginning was from Jesse Jackson, when I copy pasted it as the finish, but Jefferson Starship was new to me!
Yep, not the most obvious source.
Hi, btw. @shortcut mentioned you to me as one of the music fiends on here. Look forward to seeing more of your posts.
Oh, he did? I am a pictorial artist; very interested in music, but only an amateur. I have written quite a few posts about music though.
I'm really glad you you shared this, like @steevc it's not something I was into, but I can understand how it would really work for a club -- I mean, how could someone not move to that beat?
I especially like the transitions from one raper to the other, that is very cleverly done. Strangely, with that beat I keep expecting a really funky heavy metal guitar solo played on the bass strings, grinding and earthy.
Cool post, I enjoyed it!!
The record is probably the most wild and creative use of sampled music ever, but it was never girl music. I have heard in in the hip-hop room in some long gone clubs in Copenhagen, but even though a lot of it is disco samples it is too gritty and ruthless for the common dancefloor. Check the hit single Don't Believe The Hype with a strange James Brown trumpet!
They did use a heavy guitar from Slayer who was signed on the same label on one of the tracks. I might write about that tomorrow. But here you can hear it: She Watch Channel Zero?! Pretty brutal track with the age old evergreen theme: Some guys that feel they are in their good right to tell some girl how to behave.
Not agreeing on their militant separatism and many other things in their not too stringent political opinions. But I understand the anger and love the music.
I love the beat and the energy in Don't Believe the Hype, and your posted motivated me to write something along these lines.
Also an interesting thing from the lyrics of Don't Believe the Hype. John Coltrane is mentioned. That was one of the few things I understood. The word hype for example was not a word any of us knew, and I asked a guy from New York a couple of years later and he said, "this is rap, these guys make up their own language."
here it is:
Writers treat me like Coltrane, insane
Yes to them, but to me I'm a different kind
We're brothers of the same mind, unblind
Thanks, that's really cool, I didn't catch that while listening.
Cool!
I was never into hiphop, but I can appreciate people enjoy it. I hear some stuff I like, but I can't see myself listening to a whole album of this. I expect it makes for a cool live experience
Public Enemy was more than any other rap-band known for their uncompromising style. It can be straining to listen to, I agree on that, just like death metal :)
I think any extreme form of music can be hard work, but it can find fans. Luckily we have loads of choice.
It was about this time, maybe a little later that I decided not to reject any genre of music. It was not hip-hop, but more things like country & western that was very low status in the late eighties in Denmark. Funny enough I didn't know that the Sort Sol song was a country cover. Now I seldom think about it, but back then it felt like a very heroic thing to decide :)
I don't think there's a genre I can say I totally dislike. It depends on the song and I don't even know what genre some would be put under. I have quite a range in my collection
Me neither, but we are both older :) Back then music was also connected to our not so developed teenage identities. I knew many people who defined themselves from their musical taste. It was really only that I rejected. It did open up a world of music for me, and it did open to many different subcultures and the people who followed them. I never dressed any different though :)
I like some of the lyrics, but musically this will probably always be "Rebel Without Applause" for me.
An acquired taste :)
I agree! This is not my favourite kind of music and I have to be in the mood for it, but it has so much energy and inventiveness, I find myself drawn in and often inspired. Like you, phrases will stay with me.
I think it is the interesting challange especiall for they love sing song very much. Thanks