Category: 1982

The Hip-hop culture developed during the 1970s in the Bronx and as we already discussed consisted of four main pillars (we actually missed mentioning graffiti), one of which was of course rap. In the beginning, the Deejays were typically the stars of the show, but in time the Emcees became more and more important. Especially once their lyrics started to include political messages, as opposed to mostly praising their own skills and parties, as was the initial custom. In the early 80ies the subculture had started to become a thing outside the block-parties in poor neighbourhoods where it had all started, and songs were actually recorded and broadcast.

A driving force behind conscious Hip-hop were Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five. The trio of rappers were the first group to call themselves MCs (Masters of Ceremony) and one of them, Cowboy, actually coined the term Hip-hop when he used the sounds to mimick the marching of soldiers in a scat routine for a friend that had just joined the army.

“The Message” was written by staff songwriter Ed Fletcher of Sugarhill Records as a response to the 1980 NY City transit strike, but generally describes the tensions that come along with poverty in the metropolis. It was slower than the typical rap song of the time and ingeniously incorporated elements of various musical styles – funk, disco, dub, electro – while still transporting a loud, strong and clear political, well, message. Originally the group didn’t really want to perform the song, as they were more into party lyrics, but label boss Sylvia Robinson was finally able to convince one of the rappers, Melle Mel. Although the rest of the gang in time would ask to perform as well, they only actually join in for the skit in the end.

The song built the foundation for much of what Hip-hop would become.

While the musical variety Ska is generally considered to be closely related to the Jamaican genres Reggae and Rocksteady there’s no denying many of it’s modern performers also draw heavily from Balkan roots – and maybe it’s no wonder the north-eastern London band Madness always had more followers in Europe than the United States, where only one of their hits really took flight.

“Our House” describes the feeling many young people had in the tough economics of the 80ies – enforced to keep living with their parents as they simply couldn’t afford to move out they were trapped between nostalgia and the knowledge that this period of life was supposed to be over.

They tripped me into not wanting to think about cultural appropriation thirty years before that was even a thing.

The Steve Miller Band started out as a blues band in the 60ies and evolved into a solid rock troupe by the 70ies. But when the 80ies came along with Punk and New Wave they started to feel like dinosaurs and as fewer and fewer fans turned up to their concerts they stopped touring altogether – at least until 1988, by which time they had transitioned into “Classic Rock” and were able to draw solid crowds again. But they did have one last big hit in 1982, even though their label, Capitol, did not believe in it and only came round when it was a number one hit all over the world: “Abracadabra” was a great piece of music with hideous lyrics.

Now, as we established, in the 80ies MTV had become a force and in order to sell records you needed to have a video to go along with your songs. Which was kind of a problem for one of the lowest-profile frontmen in rock. They had never done a video before and he just wasn’t going to be a video-star, so director Peter Conn did a little slight-of-hand of his own and made the video all about magic, with Miller – who was off touring Europe anyway – only appearing in photographs, incognito behind huge sunglasses and black bars.