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Today in rock history: on this date in 1984, groundbreaking New York City hip-hop outfit Run-DMC. released its self-titled, debut album. The group’s sound was fresh, original and sounded like no one else making music at the time in this still-new genre. Boasting a harder edge than its contemporaries, the group — consisting of emcees Joseph "Run" Simmons and Darryl "DMC." McDaniels along with DJ Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell — broke down monumental barriers and single handedly redefined hip-hop music. This landmark album contains classics like “It’s Like That,” “Sucker MC's” and “Rock Box” which combined hard rock electric guitar riffs with the group’s tough brand of beats and rhymes, pre-dating the more common marriage of these genres by several years. Run-DMC was historic in that its rose to become one of the most popular hip-hop acts of all time and the group achieved plenty of milestones including several gold and platinum record awards as well as becoming one of the most substantial purveyors of credibility and attention for the still-budding genre it so boldly represented. This album was where the Run-DMC story began, and it still sounds as fresh and daring today as it did upon its initial release.
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Today in rock history: on this date in 1979, former Mott the Hoople lead singer Ian Hunter released his fourth studio album, You're Never Alone with a Schizophrenic. Often referred to as Hunter’s best and most consistent solo album, the record features an all-star cast of players including former David Bowie lead guitarist Mick Ronson, one-time Velvet Underground member John Cale as well as several band members from Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. The album features Hunter classics like “Just Another Night” (which he co-wrote with Ronson), “Ships,” which was later covered and turned into an adult contemporary hit by Barry Manilow, and “Cleveland Rocks,” an anthem that salutes the Ohio city in grand fashion. The song was later covered by 90s pop band Presidents of the United States of America and became the familiar theme song for the popular weekly sitcom “The Drew Carey Show” which, appropriately, took place in Cleveland. Although the album didn’t chart significantly, it’s considered a long lost classic among Ian Hunter’s most dedicated fans.
REVIEW
30 years later, U2's The Joshua Tree looms larger than ever at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium (w/photos+setlist)
Today in rock history: on this date in 1987, U2 caused pandemonium in Los Angeles when it performed an impromptu rooftop concert atop a liquor store in order to capture footage for a music video. The band’s plan was to film a clip for “Where the Streets Have No Name,” one of the many singles from its breakthrough album, The Joshua Tree. As spectators began to catch wind that the famous Irish band was playing live on top of a building at the intersection of Seventh and Main Streets, word got out and, within no time, it’s estimated that nearly 1,000 spectators gathered to witness the performance. The swelling crowd of onlookers caused plenty of issues including backing up traffic and adding congestion to the normal daytime, rush hour gridlock for many drivers. The band performed an eight-song set including three run throughs for the song for which the video was being made. Police eventually shut down the performance in order to gather order and disperse the mob that continued to grow in numbers, which was all captured in the final version of the popular music video.
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Today in rock history: on this date in 1972, Elvis Presley recorded the song that would wind up being the final top 10 single of his career. “Burning Love” had been originally recorded by soul singer Arthur Alexander earlier in ’72, but Presley’s version, which was released in August that year became the more popular version of the soul-inspired song. The single climbed as high as No. 2 on the Billboard pop singles chart in America and was also a top 10 success all around the world. Elvis would not score another top 10 pop single for the rest of his life, which came to an end in the summer of 1977.
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This article appears in Mar 22-29, 2018.