One of Britain's king's of 80's synthpop, Welshman Howard Jones, or as fans call him, Ho-Jo, had a huge impact in the early to mid-eighties, as the synthesizer became one of the more dominant tools of the industry. Always known for richly layered songs with positive, inspiring lyrics, Howard made a big splash on both sides of the pond. His first single, "New Song", was a huge hit in the U.K. in 1983, and a moderate hit in the U.S., when it was released a year later.
His next single, "What is Love", performed similarly, becoming a Top Five hit in the U.K., but only a Top 40 hit in the U.S.. Although not huge hits here, however, both songs have gone on to become fan favorites and helped to define one of the signature sounds of the decade. His third U.S. single, "Like to Get to Know You Well", was his fifth huge hit in the U.K., but did not become popular here until it was featured in the John Cusack/Savage Steve Holland classic, Better Off Dead.
Howard's 1985 album, Dream Into Action, was a far bigger hit in the U.S., and spawned three hit singles: "Things Can Only Get Better", "Life in One Day", and his biggest American hit, "No One Is to Blame". As the eighties wore on, Jones keep churning out great records and had three more hits in the U.S.: " You Know I Love You... Don't You?", which was a Top 20 hit from his album, One to One, and two hit singles from his album, Cross That Line, in 1989: "Everlasting Love", and "The Prisoner". Howard Jones has gone on to release ten more albums (the most recent being in 2009) and have several more hit records and still performs all over the world.
A truly wise person uses few words; a person with understanding is even-tempered. - Proverbs 17:27
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five was not only one of the first really well known hip hop acts, but also the first that was culturally relevant. Joseph Saddler, or Grandmaster Flash was already well known as a talented deejay throughout the Bronx during the late seventies.To make his DJ show more unique, he recruited his friends Melvin Glover (bka Melle Mel),Melvin's brother, Nathaniel (bka Kidd Creole), and Bobby Wiggins (bka Cowboy) to act as his "MCs" during the barbeques, block parties and club gigs that he was hired for.As Flash's DJ techniques became increasingly innovative and his emcees' rhyming skills became ever more skillful, the foursome began building steam and a foundation to get out of the ghetto.Things changed in a major way when the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" was released, and proved that hip hop music could reach a mainstream audience, and thus be quite profitable.
After adding two more rappers, Eddie Morris (bka Scorpio) and Guy Williams (bka Raheim), Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five began recording. In 1980, their first two records, "Freedom", and "Birthday Party" were minor hits for them. The next year, Grandmaster Flash released the single "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel", which was a major hit for him. The "song" is composed entirely of samples from the movie Flash Gordon, and from other records, including his own with the Furious Five ("Freedom" and "Birthday Party"), Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust", Chic's "Good Times", Blondie's "Rapture", Spoonie G's " Monster Jam", and Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache". "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" is also considered to be the first recording of turtablism (or the craft of manipulating a record by means of techniques such as scratching and cross-fading). The group would have a major breakthrough in less than a year.
1982's "The Message" is still considered one of the most important hip hop records in history. It was one of the first records to emphasize lyrics over the beat, though the beat has been sampled many artists over the years.The song has been sampled (musically, lyrically, or both) by artists such as Eminem ("What's the Beat"), Ice Cube ("Check Yo Self"), Puff Daddy ("Can't Nobody Hold Me Down"), Mos Def ("Close Edge"), Talib Kweli ("Broken Glass"), Tupac Shakur ("2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted"), Snoop Dogg ("Gangbangin 101"), Coolio ("County Line"), and Common ("Book of Life").
"Don't push me 'cause I'm close to the edge / I'm trying not to lose my head,"
"It's like a jungle sometimes/It makes me wonder how I keep from going under,"
Unfortunately, the stark lyrics of "The Message" seemed to be a harbinger of things to come for the group, as Grandmaster Flash felt that he was not getting paid what he was owed and left Sugar Hill Records, suing the company for $5 million in unpaid royalties. Flash's lawsuit splintered the group, as Melle Mel, Scorpio and Cowboy stayed with Sugarhill, and proceeded to record their next big hit, "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)".
The record company did not want the public to know that Flash had nothing to do with the 1984 record, so it was released as a single performed by "Grandmaster + Melle Mel", even though Flash left a year prior to its production and release. The famous line from the anti-drug song, "A businessman is caught with 24 kilos. He's out on bail and out of jail and that's the way it goes" refers to the car maker John DeLorean, who was caught using drug money in an attempt to keep his company out of bankruptcy.Although "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)" was a big hit, much of the music from the single was stolen from the song "Cavern" by the dance band Liquid Liquid, and the resulting lawsuit played a big role in Sugar Hill Records closing its doors in 1986. See what greed can do?
Following "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)" Melle Mel and his crew continued to have success: their 1984 single, "Jesse" was widely praised for urging their audience to learn more about politics, as it urged people to vote for then presidential candidate Jesse Jackson. During the summer of '84, the group scored another hit with "Beat Street Breakdown" the theme song to the ground-breaking hip hop culture film, Beat Street.Later that year, Melle Mel became the first rap artist ever to win a Grammy award for "Record of the Year" for providing the opening rap on Chaka Khan's smash hit, "I Feel for You".
God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. - 1 Thessalonians 4:7
