One of THE baddest jams of the summer of 1982 was the instrumental B Side of The Soul Sonic Force's 12 Inch, "Planet Rock". The vocal version got a lot of airplay in the beginning but when the DJs flipped the record over and played the instrumental, this version became the most popular by far in my area.

This jam had everything....a futuristic electronic voice, explosions, long sections of straight up jamming, synths, a breakdown that broke all the way down and came back up....not to mention the song was funky as hell. It also influenced future jams by groups like Planet Patrol, The Jonzun Crew, Twilight 22, The Egyptian Lover, Pretty Tony & Freestyle, Trinere, etc. Not to mention inspiring some of the house music that came later.

Rap jams like "Planet Rock" had become so popular, they had to come out with a total separate classification for them in the 1990s and called it "Electro". Hell, it doesn't matter though because in the 1980s, it was simply known as rap and a lot of rap in the 1980s was just as funky as actual funk. Hell, the fact that the instrumental of "Planet Rock" did so well proves that and you sure can't do the same with the rap of today. Take off their rap and all you'll hear is a slow beat.

Anyway, give it up if you're feeling this song.

Andy, you make me sentimental and nostalgic and reminisce about the good old days....nice to know that you still dig the old school rap joints even though you don´t really like rap in general.

I used to like rap up until a few years ago..these days, I can count my favorite rappers with one hand.

Anyway. Planet Rock was the bomb..just like all those other stuff you mentioned..Planet Patrol´s On Your Own (?), The Jonzun Crew ( Look out for the OVC...PAck Jam )...Egyptian Lover and his weird little scenarios in his selfcreated universe, Looking For The Perfect Beat , and those LA Beats ...Dr.Dre´s Wreckin Cru was dressed like Prince and doing some spacey stuff, and I´m talking about VERY early Dr. Dre here, ca. 1984/85...and then those early Ice T 12 "s ....Reckless, Ya Don´t Quit....there were tons more....some LA Dream Team, Capt.Rock, etc.etc., Afrika Islam´s early 80´s beat programming, primitive and cool.


Good old days....


I really like your taste in music.!


Musical soulmates

vainandy said:

Loved that track.....still do.

the perfect mix for that is Planet Rock/Space is the place.... try it... it'll bake your fuckin noodle...