European Music

A

Aquarians

I once was a staff member in one of the many teams trying to capitalize on the success of the early breakdance wave. Cloning these guys that is:

"The Flying Steps is a B-boy crew formed in 1993 by Kadir Memis ("Amigo") and Vartan Bassil in Berlin." BERLIN. European.

Haven't heard much of that music style since.
 
Its pretty good if you like the early hip hop Electro Funk sound. Too much vocoder for me personally.

This type of music was really popular in the early 1980s especially in the Bronx & Brooklyn in NYC. It was really started by Grand Master Flash & Afrika Mambaataa & The Soulsonic Force (AMTSF) of the early 1980s. AMTSF was the best of the lot and they had a record that reached the top of Billboard in 1982 with no radio air play -- Planet Rock. It was one of the most influential records for the early Nightclub era. Like most US based dance music it migrated principally to the UK & western Europe mainly West Germany & the Netherlands at that time. That is the irony of most black music in the US it never stays popular in the US and migrates usually to the UK.

I lived in Queens, NYC in the late 1970s and early 1980s. I was a DJ in college from 1988 -1992 and my specialty was the British Rave & Acid House scene and the Techno coming out of Germany, Netherlands and Belgium. Even Acid House which was a huge phenomenon in 1987-1988 originally came from the underground dance scene in Chicago starting from 1985. House itself came from Chicago with 1984 track Music is the Key by JM Silk.
 
nitrene said:
Its pretty good if you like the early hip hop Electro Funk sound. Too much vocoder for me personally.

This type of music was really popular in the early 1980s especially in the Bronx & Brooklyn in NYC. It was really started by Grand Master Flash & Afrika Mambaataa & The Soulsonic Force (AMTSF) of the early 1980s. AMTSF was the best of the lot and they had a record that reached the top of Billboard in 1982 with no radio air play -- Planet Rock. It was one of the most influential records for the early Nightclub era. Like most US based dance music it migrated principally to the UK & western Europe mainly West Germany & the Netherlands at that time. That is the irony of most black music in the US it never stays popular in the US and migrates usually to the UK.

I lived in Queens, NYC in the late 1970s and early 1980s. I was a DJ in college from 1988 -1992 and my specialty was the British Rave & Acid House scene and the Techno coming out of Germany, Netherlands and Belgium. Even Acid House which was a huge phenomenon in 1987-1988 originally came from the underground dance scene in Chicago starting from 1985. House itself came from Chicago with 1984 track Music is the Key by JM Silk.
More...


Super interesting post, best in quite a while, thank you! Maybe I'll befriend you on the specific purpose of finding more about what you found out on electro music :)

Didn't even know those US artists existed let alone ever listened to them but trying them on youtube I can definitely recognize "The Godfather" in there :)

Tried a few of the oldest tracks I know looking for US-based producers but no luck.

British:
-

Italian:
-
 
On the other hand I'm not very ashamed to admit I've got some very shallow taste in pusic^H^H^H^H^H sorry, Freudian slip, music I mean.

And I very much like such as:

 
There were a few movies in the early 1980s that had breakdancing as its central theme. The best was Breakin' & Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. The songs in those movies were a big part of the early Electro Funk scene.

This music genre was mainly underground in NYC and to some degree extended to the Freestyle dance scene happening in Miami principally by Puerto Ricans (also referred to as the Miami Bass scene).

The origin of this music is actually the German band Kraftwerk and their 1981 single Nummern (aka Numbers) as well as Computerwelt 2 from their Computerwelt LP. One of the most popular songs used by breakdancers in the early 1980s was Tour de France by Kraftwerk in 1983.

Here are the songs that were probably the most prominent in that era:

Kraftwerk - Numbers
Kraftwerk - Tour de France
Afrika Bambaataa - Planet Rock
Afrika Bambaataa - Looking For The Perfect Beat
George Kranz - Din Daa Daa
Art Of Noise - Beat Box
Ollie and Jerry - Breakin'...There's No Stopping Us
Freestyle - Don't Stop The Rock
Herbie Hancock - Rock It (this was very popular)

Interesting note about the Planet Rock single is that is based on Kraftwerk's 1977 track Trans Europa Express. It uses a 33 1/3 RPM record and speeds it up via the 45 RPM to make it so fast (Trans Europa Express is 97 bpm and Planet Rock is 131 bpm).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top