Run DMC practically invented hip hop, they were the first rap act to appear on MTV, the first to be nominated for a Grammy, and the first to sign to a product endorsement deal
It’s a classic story, the once great but now slightly washed up band turning to the new kids on the block to give them a shot in the arm, hoping to recapture past glories and boost a flagging career. Then there was the time that Aerosmith made a record with Run DMC…
A black NYC rap crew collaborating with members of the white rock aristocracy? Nowadays it wouldn’t raise an eyebrow, but back in 1986 the Run DMC/Aerosmith interface was the stuff of cultural revolution.
Dig out your old records by The Rocksteady Crew, Break Machine and The Soul Sonic Force. Locate that Betamax video of Wildstyle and purloin grandmother's kitchen linoleum for those almost-forgotten spins and whirls. Because, B-boys and girls, since the return of Run DMC and that all-grooving video, the return of breakdancing is imminent.
If you’re gonna be a one hit wonder, you might as well invent the dominant form of music for the ensuing decades. Released in 1979, The Sugarhill Gang’s ‘Rapper’s Delight’ was the first hip-hop single to go gold, putting the group on American Bandstand and Soul Train long before Grandmaster Flash and Run DMC.
The deadline is approaching for entries to the 2008 International Songwriting Competition, with the full list of judges just announced, including Tom Waits and Black Francis.
Before Aerosmith and Run DMC joined forces for the classic ‘Walk This Way’, it was thought unthinkable. Metal? and Rap?? Together???! But in this, the decade of fusion, the boundaries have been well and truly broken by Korn, Limp Bizkit and others. It was only a matter of time before some clever soul squeezed the concoction of pseudo rap/metal on to compilation disc.
Man, you just have to love those Aerosmith guys. Suppliers of endlessly entertaining 'out of it' stories and more than a handful of classic tunes during the seventies, their post-Run DMC collaboration comeback has been the stuff of legend.
The Sounds Of Science is a beautifully packaged, comprehensive anthology of the work of Adam 'Ad-Rock' Horowitz, Michael 'Mike-D' Diamond, Adam 'MCA' Yauch and, latterly, Money Mark Nichita, from their early hardore days, through the Bratpop of Licenced To Ill right up to Hello Nasty. Since the start of the '80s, when the Boys first inflicted their cacophonic buzzsaw guitarfest on New York, they have experimented with genres from hip-hop through to country, from punk to bossanova, sampling everyone from Run DMC to Rachmaninoff into the bargain.
May 2nd 1998, Liverpool superclub CREAM make their first foray into the festival world with their star-studded Creamfields all-dayer.
RICHARD BLAGGER BROPHY talks to Cream promoter JAMES BARTON about the event.
US chart-topping rockers tool like nothing better than hob-nobs, baiting journos and calling their children after prog rock bands. stuart clark shares the chocolate biccies
Its Western wing may have gone to pot (and Crystal), but hip-hop’s original agit-prop spirit is alive and thriving in the Eastern Bloc, as evidenced by Polish crew WWO.
Sex? Yep. Drugs? Uh-huh. Rock 'n' Roll? Yesireebob! Aerosmith were no strangers to the unholy trinity of debauchery during the '70's and early '80's but find that having cleaned up ten years ago they're now cleaning up with the punters. Not that they're beyond having fun, fun and, er, more fun as our resident boogiemeister Stuart Clark finds out.
It is every boy's wildest fantasy (bar, perhaps, Brett from Suede) to make a living playing with a fantastically successful football side. Craig Johnston was there, saw that and quit while he was ahead. But he has continued to make his dreams real. Gerry McGovern meets the kangaroo who won't be tied down, sport.
How Bubba Sparxxx went from being nose-down in a bowl of coke to becoming hip-hop's greatest white hope since Eminem. Peter Murphy hears how the southerner fell and rose
Why are the Spice Girls animals ? Why would Crispian Kula Shaker benefit from a hefty spell of National Service? And why should you never trust a hippy? These are just some of the burning issues that Dr. Alex Paterson of The Orb would like to address. Oh yeah, and he also talks about his band s ace new album Orblivion, as well as his exotic, not to say erotic, yesteryear escapades on the road with LL Cool J and Motvrhead. Our man with the shiny black Panasonic tape recorder: jonathan o brien.
With the death of Johnny Cash two weeks ago, music’s Mount Rushmore finally crumbled. From the hell-raising country outlaw of the ’60s to his final incarnation as a patriarchal figure intoning songs of guilt and redemption, Cash’s voice resonated down through the years with undimmed intensity. In this special Hot Press tribute to the Man In Black, Peter Murphy talks to Cash collaborators Sandy Kelly and U2, and recounts the turbulent life and times of one of the most iconic figures in 20th century music
“Crossover” may be a favourite buzz-word at the moment but as rap and the rock mainstream strike an uneasy alliance, it’s clear that a huge gulf still exists between black and white culture.
Cast by certain sections of the media in the role of villain, Ice-T has spent the past decade pounding home the message that unless America is willing to accept a major race war, something has to change.
Here, the Iceman talks to GERRY McGOVERN about censorship and the politics of rap and gives him an exclusive preview of his Return Of The Real album. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON.
’85 was a good year for music, though not for albums. The most interesting 12-inch singles came from John Lydon and Afrika Baambatae’s Time Zone project and The Bomb Party with ‘World Destruction’ and ’Ray Gun EP’ respectively.
THE SMOKE has cleared, now we can get a good look at the bodies.
Music Review | Album
22% | 18 Jun 2004
Peter Murphy
To The 5 Boroughs resists academic exegesis or undue analysis. It is what it is, and what it is is a vibrant, inventive and engaged piece of work. In the words of Grandpa Burroughs, it ain’t no sin to take off your skin and dance around in your bones.
‘That’s entertainment’ was the message of the year but not as Paul Weller intended it, for in 1986 popular music was closer to mass entertainment as Declan McManus’ pater knew it than any year since Elvis Presley swivelled his hips on the Ed Sullivan show.
Another one from the archives: in a feature from 1987 – as Michael Jackson releases Bad – Neil McCormick charts the phenomenal career of the enigmatic star.
