EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E
History of Rock, 1970-Present
John Covach, University of Rochester
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C O U R S E L E C T U R E 1980s: Rap Crosses Over to Mainstream Notes taken on December 7, 2016 by Edward Tanguay |
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rap was originally a live experience only
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you had to be there to experienced how it happened
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if you are going to make money in the music business, you have to cross over to white audiences
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that's where the money was
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that's where the disposable income was
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you had to figure out a way of taking whatever music you had out of a niche audience, and getting it onto the white charts, and into the white awareness
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the people responsible for doing this were
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Russell Simmons
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Rick Rubin
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when to school together at New York University
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1983 founded Def Jam Recordings
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they were the ones who understood how to bring rap into the mainstream
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influenced rap to change so that it was more consumable by listeners of mainstream rock
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groups that brought rap to a mainstream audience
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LL Cool J
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1986 Radio
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"I Can't Live Without My Radio"
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featured in the move Krush Groove
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1987 Bigger and Deffer
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"I Need Love", perhaps the first rap ballad
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Run-DMC
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Joseph Simmons (Run)
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Darryl McDaniels (DMC)
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DJ Jason Mizel (Jam Master Jay)
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1984 RUN-D.M.C.
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"Rock Box"
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gets much MTV play
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needed to make a video for MTV
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needed to feature distorted rock guitar
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Michael Jackson knew this, e.g. sang with Paul McCartney, and bring Eddie Van Halen in for Beat It
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featuring
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a young Macaulay Culkin from Home Alone
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Erwin Corway
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so brought people in who were famous in order to cross over
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1985 King of Rock
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1986 Raising Hell
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the breakthrough album
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what made this record cross over
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did "Walk This Way" from Aerosmith
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the DJ would isolate it
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brought in Steven Tyler and Joe Perry from Aerosmith
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they go back and forth doing this song
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was good for both song
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Aerosmith was still popular on MTV
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gave Run-DMC quite a bit of appeal
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there was much animosity in the rock community against the rock video
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the video represented this, they poke through the wall which symbolizes the crossover
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Beastie Boys
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started out as a New York hardcore punk group
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turned to rap as it became more popular
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1986 Licensed to Ill
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"You Gotta Fight For Your Right to Party"
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one of the first groups to use digital sampling as opposed to the analog sampling of records
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much more precise
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more reliable
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but it doesn't require the same kind of skill
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interestingly a white group
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another kind of cross over