Ahhh, the 80s.
The jheri curl, boomboxes and doorknocker earrings are about to make a comeback, thanks to National Geographic Channel’s upcoming three-part mini-series “The 80s: The Decade that Made Us.”
The birth of MTV, the personal computer, Nike athletic wear – and most definitely hip-hop – will be among the 80s activities discussed by the history makers who unknowingly spearheaded these iconic moments.
“You people in this room think that the ’80s was a time period, but it wasn’t a time period. It was a consciousness,” Run DMC’s Darryl McDaniels told TV critics in January during a TCA panel. “We had Reaganomics. There was poverty, unemployment, gangs. Everything that’s going on now in this nation was going on in the ’80s, but we didn’t sit around and wait for the politicians to do something about it.
“Whether it was sports, whether it was entertainment, whether it was music, whether it was technology, what we did and created wasn’t just done to make us rich and famous. It was done to inspire the world.”
The Adidas sneakers of DMC, Joseph “Run” Simmons and Jam Master Jay stomped into 1984 with “Rock Box,” a record that took the entire genre into unchartered territory.
“The first rock rap record was “Rock Box,” which was the first rap video on MTV. So we had already did something that was shocking to the music scene,” said DMC. “When we did ‘Rock Box,’ we didn’t do a remake of a rock song. We did an original song when me and Run was rapping about how incredible we were.
“Then we did the ‘King of Rock’ with Larry ‘Bud’ Melman standing at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum, which didn’t exist yet. This was ’85. And Larry ‘Bud’ Melman said, ‘You guys can’t come in here. This is a rock and roll museum.’ And I screamed, ‘King of Rock.’ We kicked the door open and pulled the plug on all of the rock stars. So people was, like, you know, ‘What is this?’”
DMC says they didn’t consider themselves true rock stars until “Walk This Way” blew up in 1986. “It brought two different generations and two different races together,” he said.
National Geographic Channel’s “The 80s: The Decade that Made Us” will air as a three-part miniseries this spring. A specific date will be announced in the coming weeks.
(source-eurweb.com)
