The Learn Tracker
...life-long learning: structured, organized, searchable...
924
Lectures Watched
Since January 1, 2014
Hundreds of free, self-paced university courses available:
my recommendations here
Peruse my collection of 275
influential people of the past.
View My Class Notes via:
Receive My Class Notes via E-Mail:

VIEW ARCHIVE

Contact Me via E-Mail:
edward [at] tanguay.info
Notes on video lecture:
1980s: Rap Crosses Over to Mainstream
Notes taken by Edward Tanguay on December 7, 2016 (go to class or lectures)
Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:
Ill, live, Jackson, Macaulay, disposable, Simmons, punk, niche, MTV, digital, ballad, animosity, Rock, reliable, white, Aerosmith, McDaniels
•
rap was originally a          experience only
•
you had to be there to experienced how it happened
•
if you are going to make money in the music business, you have to cross over to            audiences
•
that's where the money was
•
that's where the                      income was
•
you had to figure out a way of taking whatever music you had out of a            audience, and getting it onto the white charts, and into the white awareness
•
the people responsible for doing this were
•
Russell               
•
Rick Rubin
•
when to school together at New York University
•
1983 founded Def Jam Recordings
•
they were the ones who understood how to bring rap into the mainstream
•
influenced rap to change so that it was more consumable by listeners of mainstream rock
•
groups that brought rap to a mainstream audience
•
LL Cool J
•
1986 Radio
•
"I Can't Live Without My Radio"
•
featured in the move Krush Groove
•
1987 Bigger and Deffer
•
"I Need Love", perhaps the first rap             
•
Run-DMC
•
Joseph Simmons (Run)
•
Darryl                    (DMC)
•
DJ Jason Mizel (Jam Master Jay)
•
1984 RUN-D.M.C.
•
"Rock Box"
•
gets much        play
•
needed to make a video for MTV
•
needed to feature distorted rock guitar
•
Michael                knew this, e.g. sang with Paul McCartney, and bring Eddie Van Halen in for Beat It
•
featuring
•
a young                  Culkin from Home Alone
•
Erwin Corway
•
so brought people in who were famous in order to cross over
•
1985 King of         
•
1986 Raising Hell
•
the breakthrough album
•
what made this record cross over
•
did "Walk This Way" from                   
•
the DJ would isolate it
•
brought in Steven Tyler and Joe Perry from Aerosmith
•
they go back and forth doing this song
•
was good for both song
•
Aerosmith was still popular on MTV
•
gave Run-DMC quite a bit of appeal
•
there was much                    in the rock community against the rock video
•
the video represented this, they poke through the wall which symbolizes the crossover
•
Beastie Boys
•
started out as a New York hardcore          group
•
turned to rap as it became more popular
•
1986 Licensed to       
•
"You Gotta Fight For Your Right to Party"
•
one of the first groups to use                sampling as opposed to the analog sampling of records
•
much more precise
•
more                 
•
but it doesn't require the same kind of skill
•
interestingly a white group
•
another kind of cross over

Ideas and Concepts:

The song in which rap crossed over into mainstream, via tonight's History of Rock and Roll class:

"In the early 80s, rap was looking to cross over as a popular genre of music for main stream MTV audiences. To attempt this, the rap group Run-DMC had the idea to do a version of a song Aerosmith had had success with in the late 1970s called "Walk This Way". They liked the opening drum beat, so the DJ would isolate that with two copies of the record, but they eventually wanted to do the full song and rap over it, so their idea was to bring in studio musicians, pay the licensing fees, and have them play the song while they rapped over it.

But they realized that Michael Jackson had successfully crossed over into white audiences in the previous years by actually pairing with popular musicians such as Paul McCartney, and bringing Eddie Van Halen in for the song Beat It, which gave them an idea.

And they noted that Aerosmith's career was a little bit on the wane, and so asked them if they themselves would like to pair up with Run-DMC and do the song "Walk This Way" together. Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith agreed and so Joe Perry played the guitar and the base parts, and Steven Tyler and Run-DMC went back and forth singing Walk This Way.

This was good for the career of Aerosmith, reviving their popularity in a way, but it was also the foot in the door for Run-DMC to white audiences because Aerosmith was one of the groups who were already well known to the white, rock crowd that was populating much of the MTV audience at the time.

This video played a large role in bridging the gap between rock and rap. In producing the video, they incorporated the fact that there was much animosity in the rock community against the rap music, the idea that rap music wasn't really music, etc.

In the video, Run-DMC is in one practice room, Aerosmith is another, and they can hear each other playing the same song, agitated by the style of music in which the other group is playing it, showing suspicion and anger for the opposite style.

They eventually bust through the wall, which represents the crossover. Eventually as the video continues, they are both on stage together, locking arms, everything is good, and the broken down wall remains symbolic of the animosity that has broken down between rock and rap music."
1970s: Hippie Aesthetic, Corporate Rock, Disco, and Punk
British Blues-Based Bands and the Roots of Heavy Metal
American Blues Rock and Southern Rock
The Era of Progressive Rock
Jazz Rock in the 70s
Theatrical Rock: KISS, Bowie, and Alice Cooper
American Singer-Songwriters of the 70s
British and Canadian Singer-Songwriters
Country Rock's Influence on 1970s Music
Black Pop in the 1970s
Sly Stone and His Influence on Black Pop, Funk, and Psychedelic Soul
Motown in the 1970s
Philadelphia Sound and Soul Train
Blaxploitation Soundtracks
The Uniqueness of James Brown
Bob Marley and the Rise of Reggae
The Backlash Against Disco
1975-1980: The Rise of the Mega-Αlbum
Continuity Bands in the 1970s
Rock and Roll in the Second Half of the 1970s
U.S. Punk 1967-1975
1974-77: Punk in the UK
American New Wave 1977-80
British New Wave 1977-80
The Hippie Aesthetic: 1966-1980
The Rise of MTV
Michael Jackson: MTV's Unexpected Boon
Madonna as Disruptive Shock Artist
Prince and Janet Jackson
Other Groups Who Benefited from MTV
1980s New Traditionalists and New Wave
1980s New Acts, Old Styles and Blue-Eyed Soul
1970s Progressive Rock Adapts to the 80s
1980's Heavy Metal
1980s Heavy Metal and L.A. Hair Bands
1980s Ambitious Heavy Metal
The Beginning of Rap
1980s: Rap Crosses Over to Mainstream
Late 1980s Hard Core Rap
Punk Goes Hardcore
Late 80s Indie Rock Underground
1990s: The Rise of Alternative Rock
1990s Indie Rock and the Question of Selling Out
1990s Metal and Alternative Extensions
Hip-Hop in the 1990s
Classic Rock of the 1990s
1990s Jam Bands and Britpop
Female Singer-Songwriters of the 1990s
The Rise of Teen Idols in the 1990s
1990s Dance Music