Author: vanElden Page 6 of 8

The Technics SL-1200 MK 2 record player was introduced in 1979 as a replacement of the previous model and like it’s predecessor was meant to be a high-quality player for the home market. But it’s complicated design ensured that it was relatively resistant to feedback and dampened vibrations, and it soon became the de-facto standard turntable for both discotheques and radio stations the world over. And when resourceful disc jockey’s figured out that it would continue to spin at the correct speed even when tampered with the technique of scratching was born.

Together with rapping and break-dancing the art became one of the pillars of Hip-Hop, which was rapidly gaining traction and it’s performers started to call themselves “turntablists”, to be distinguished from the standard “disc jockeys”, whose job only is to play and mix records.

Many such turntablists scourged record stores to find rare old vinyl containing wacky, bizarre and outlandish samples for their craft. Such as The Avalanches in Melbourne. They used these to produce “Frontier Psychatrist”, or what a critic called “sheer giddy pleasure of turntablist art”. It was their first commercially successful song and when the video was added, featuring musicians and actors re-enacting the music and voices to the best of their ability, they had already ensured a place in the best videos of the 2000’s shortlist when the decade had only just begun.

Note: As the 1st of August is a holiday in Switzerland where we’re based we will continue our programme on Tuesday the 2nd. Happy weekend everyone.

Before Apple (Computers, not the Beatles’ record label) sold their first portable computer under the name “Mac Portable” it was known internally as the “Love Shack”, after The B-52’s signature song from 1989. It’s a funny, harmless song into which people keep interpreting things that just aren’t there. It really is just about a simple shack where people are having a big party with everyone invited.

The video was shot by Adam Bernstein, who also did a few episodes of “Breaking Bad”, in Upstate New York at the house of a friend. Some of the party attendants were just real friends of the band members, but you can also spot drag queen Rupaul, unknown to the general public at the time.

It was a world-wide hit except for Japan. Even though “The B52’s” were named after the hairstyle of the singers it turned out sharing a name with an American bomber was not a particularly popular choice there.

Like several of the songs we have talked about “Wicked Game” by Chris Isaak is another one that took a while to really set off. Even though it was released as a single from his studio album “Heart Shaped World” it only become a hit when David Lynch included it in his film “Wild at Heart”.

Most notably though it has been covered a lot, by bands such as R.E.M., HIM, Pink, Céline Dion, Zucchero or – my personal favourite – Les Reines Prochaines. And many more.

Supermodel Helena Christensen, on the contrary, is pictured quite uncovered in the video (the better known one of two).

Some songs come into this world, delight us for a breathtaking moment and fall back into sweet oblivion in as little time as it took them to appear. Others take on a life of their own, gain new meaning against the backdrop of a changing zeitgeist and reinvent themselves repeatedly over decades. Marvin Gaye is a particular master of (co-)composing the latter, as exemplified by the Motown signature song “Dancing in the Street”.

Released in 1965 by Martha Reeves, the song was originally simply inspired by people cooling themselves off during a hot summer in the streets of Detroit by opening fire hydrants. However, it was soon picked up as a civil rights anthem by young black demonstrators demanding equality. But it’s metamorphosis would not stop there, many different famous versions would be recorded over the years:

Shortly after the initial release the British “The Kinks” were recording their own version, branded as being far too boring by critics. A year later The Mamas & The Papas followed suit and they would end up finishing their famous (and last) live performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 with the song. Grateful Dead, Little Richard, Van Halen – the list of artists covering the song is long and contains many famous names. Since we’re so far focusing on Music Videos we’re going with the 1985 version by David Bowie and Mick Jagger here.

As part of the big “Live Aid” famine release cause of that year the two English rock stars originally planned to sing the song together – live, from two separate stadiums: Wembley in London and John F. Kennedy in Philadelphia. Unfortunately while both of these two were certainly great musical artists, they happened to be slightly less brilliant data transmission engineers and when they realised that one of them would have to be not-quite-so-live due to the two seconds delay of the (at the time quite revolutionary) satellite transmission involved neither of the two was prepared to give in and be “that guy”, so it did not happen.

They ended up recording the song in Abbey Road studio and – certainly helped by the popularity of the Live Aid movement – it would become the most successful of the many recorded versions of this song, reaching top spot in the charts of many countries.

Yesterday we talked about a terrible chimera produced by mixing two genres. In order to soften the impact a little let’s have a look at an example where doing that went just fine:

Originally released by Aerosmith in 1975, “Walk This Way” was a fairly successful rock song, one of a number of hits that gained them some traction. But it wouldn’t be until ten years later, when Run-D.M.C. covered the song, creating a cornerstone for the subgenre of “Rap Rock” (which would have a good go up to the early noughties, when it kind of trickled out), that the song really came to shine. While half of Run-D.M.C. had never even heard the name “Aerosmith” and none of them knew the song or lyrics in it’s entirety, they just so happened to freestyle over the first few seconds of the song during their shows. But when Rick Rubin pulled out the song while working on their album “Rising Hell” and proposed to do a proper cover he met quite some resistance.

They were in a for a surprise themselves, when the song – which they had not intended at all to become a single – eventually started to get lots of airplay on urban and rock stations. In the end, it would mark a comeback for Aerosmith as well, who at that time were at the brink of being disbanded, but were able to follow up with a number of multi-platinum albums.

If you have followed the course and done your homework, you should by now spot the reference to Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” at the beginning.