1988
I was on holiday yesterday, but now I'm back a ready for some action.
Now the shorthand reference to the golden age of Hip Hop, '88 was the year in the young genre's development. It seems ridiculous to believe the hype and buy into the idea that some "golden" year changed everything, but the evidence is undeniable: Eric B and Rakim, EPMD, Stetasonic, Big Daddy Kane, NWA, MC Lyte, Slick Rick, Boogie Down Productions, and Marley Marl were all putting out classic music at the top of their game, just to name a few. Two of the records produced in that year, It Takes a Nation of Millions to hold Us Back and Straight Outta Compton are without a doubt the two most important Hip Hop records of all time. The mix here reflects this leap forward by featuring an unusual amount of one genre. As we go further back, hip hop will be a smaller and smaller component, until pre-1979 when it completely disappears.
Rock, on the other hand, was in a serious slump, at least in terms of popularity. Sonic Youth and the Pixies were putting out great records, but not too many would be looking at their style of rock for another few years, this was when their sound was truly "alternative." Metallica put out a decent single surrounded by their most commercial record until their next one, and everyone else just kind of waded in the water.
Two really notable songs here are Nenah Cherry's "Buffalo Stance" and the Cowboy Junkies' spectacular cover of The Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane." The former is one of the greatest singles of the Eighties, and deserves a big rediscovery, while the latter, which gained renewed interest in the mid-90s after being featured in Natural Born Killers, is evidence of the capacity for good that soundtracks afford music supervisors.
Hope you enjoy this week's offering.
Download the mix here.
1. Bring The Noise - Public Enemy - 3:45
2. Teen Age Riot - Sonic Youth - 6:57
3. Waiting Room - Fugazi - 2:54
4. You Gots To Chill - EPMD - 4:28
5. Children's Story - Slick Rick - 4:02
6. Talkin' All That Jazz - Stetsasonic - 4:47
7. I Need You Tonight - INXS - 3:02
8. Voodoo Ray - A Guy Called Gerald - 3:40
9. Buffalo Stance - Nenah Cherry - 4:03
10. Where Is My Mind??? - Pixies - 3:53
11. Freak Scene - Dinosaur Jr. - 3:38
12. Crash - The Primitives - 3:14
13. Colors - Ice T - 4:28
14. Express Yourself - N.W.A. - 4:25
15. One - Metallica - 7:24
16. Microphone Fiend - Eric B. & Rakim - 5:17
17. Jane Says - Janes Addiction - 4:46
18. Sweet Jane - Cowboy Junkies - 3:34
posted by bza @ 1/17/2006
5 Comments:
I really like 1989 for a few reasons.
1. Neneh Cherry!
2. One is the lonliest number as well as the only metallica song I like
3. Waiting Room (a song i didn't really know much before)
4. Crash!
5. Great great great hip hop
which brings me to my only questions, which is why Express Yourself over Fuck the Police or Straight Outa Compton? I love express yourself (not as much as the other two) but I definitely think that they are the "signature" NWA songs as well as the songs (fuck the police especially) which catapulted them into the mainstream.
Maybe its because Dre busts through an "I Have a Dream Banner" in the vid. That was cool.
While fuck the police obviously garnered them the most attention, I steered away from it because it was never played on tv or the radio for obvious reasons, and I don't believe it was even ever released as a single.
So it came down to Straight Outta Compton and Express Yourself. Personally, Express Yourself is my favorite NWA song, so that helped. I also love the video, as you mentioned, and I think, ultimately, it was the bigger song, with straight outta compton's only edge being that it was the title track. I don't know, maybe I made a mistake. But I love express yourself.
Buffalo Stance is unbelievable. I can't even handle it.
Not saying that. It's fine to be placed here. And if the mix is focusing on singles, which I understand is the overall deal, then Express Yourself is good (it's a great song). Sometimes, BZA throws down a song for being important/influential. I don't neccesarily think that everything that Fuck Tha Police did for music is positive, but thats the song that got George Bush's, the FBI and the mainstream's attention. That's all. I love NWA.
Remember when we sang along to "Waiting Room" at the Burgundy Room when my Penn buddy Schuyler was in town? Top 10 Matt and Etan moment. Fugazi has put out some amazing music since that song, but they've never topped it as a single.
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