The 500 - #242 - RUN-D.M.C. (debut) - RUN-D.M.C.

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #242
Album Title: RUN-D.M.C.
Artist: RUN-D.M.C.
Genre: East Coast Hip-Hop, Rap Rock
Recorded: Green Street Recording Studio, New York City

Released: March, 1984
My age at release: 18
How familiar was I with it before this week: Not at all

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #378, dropping 136 spots since 2012
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Rock Box

My family emigrated to Canada from England twice. The first time was shortly before I was born, in 1964. The second time was in the spring of 1971 just after my twin brother and sister were born. Consequently, I grew up with few relatives in Canada. I had only two second cousins, Daryl and Karen, who lived a few hundred kilometers away, initially in Bramalea, near Toronto, and then in Bobcaygeon, east of Peterborough, Ontario.

A handy "Cousin Chart".

I mentioned this because it was my cousin Daryl, who was one year older than I, who introduced me to funk and hip-hop music. When he came to visit me in London, in the summer of 1981, I was excited to share with him my record collection, including favourite progressive rock bands Rush, Genesis and Yes. He had brought his favourite cassettes, including Feel Me, by the funk band Cameo.

Feel Me by Cameo.

I was surprised to learn that all of his revered music was by black artists. In retrospect, I shouldn't have been surprised. Daryl attended a school in the Greater Toronto area that was far more multicultural than the one I went to in the white enclave of London. I often joke that my early-’80s high school experience was so white that the Portuguese kids were the only ones considered “people of colour. That isn't the case now; Saunders Secondary School (which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022) is one of the most multi-cultural schools in the city.

Saunders Secondary School in London, Ontario.

He listened to some of the records I played on my cheap, bedroom turntable. He had his driver's licence and we went for a cruise in the nearby countryside so that he could play some of his choices. As I listened to Cameo and an album by Kurtis Blow called, The Breaks, Daryl began to explain his love for break-dancing. It was the first time I had heard about the acrobatic form of street dance that had its roots in the African and Caribbean communities of New York City in the 1970s.

An example of Break Dancing.

As we drove, listened to music and talked, it became increasingly obvious to each other that we had little in common. I suspect we both realized that we would probably not be friends if it were not for our blood connection. However, the experience shaped my earliest understanding of the hip-hop genre -- one that was about to explode into the mainstream (even at my fairly monocultural high school). Among the first bands to gain a foothold was RUN-D.M.C., a group that formed in the Hollis, Queens neighbourhood of New York City.

Jason Mizell, Darryl McDaniels
& Joseph Simmons (l-r) are RUN D.M.C.

Formed in 1983, the groundbreaking trio comprised musicians Joseph Simmons (DJ Run), Jason Mizell (Jam Master Jay) and Darryl McDaniels (DMC). When they performed, Mizell worked the turntables while Simmons and McDaniels performed their raps on the microphone. The influential group pioneered the relationship between the disc jockey (DJ) and the mike controllers (MCs). They were massively successful, becoming the first hip-hop group to have a gold record (their self-titled debut) and a platinum record (Raising Hell, released in 1986 and #123 on The 500). They were also the first hip-hop act to have a video air on MTV, appear on American Bandstand and make the cover of Rolling Stone magazine (December, 1986).

It wasn't until their 1986 release, Raising Hell, that I became familiar with the group. I will share that story when we get to that record in about two years. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to their debut album for this blog. I was surprised by their piece, Rock Box, which blends hard rock and hip-hop, and a blistering guitar solo from studio musician Eddie Martinez. This was the first of several Rap-Rock songs released by the group and paved the way for many other artists in the late ‘80s, including one of my favourite groups, Rage Against The Machine.

Raising Hell - the 1986 platinum released from RUN-D.M.C.

I was also surprised by the lyrics on the RUN-D.M.C.debut album. I had pigeon-holed a lot of early rap as being excessively self-aggrandizing. Much of the mainstream rap I heard in the ‘80s focused on the rapper's skills and the lyrics seemed full of boastful statements about the singer's financial status or success with the fairer sex. Sure, there is some of that on RUN-D.M.C.'s debut, but the record also addresses poverty (Hard Times) and positive relationships (30 Days). The song Wake Up recounts a dream about a utopian world, free of hate, war, violence, homelessness and greed. It was written to address the tensions created during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union when the threat of nuclear annihilation was palpable.

The back cover of the debut record by RUN-D.M.C.
including the track listing.

After that summer afternoon with Daryl, I saw him only once more -- the next summer when my family rented a cottage near Bobcaygeon where he was then living. I haven't spoken with him in more than 30 years. Our lives simply grew in different directions. It would be interesting to reunite and talk about where our love of music took us through our 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. I wonder if he still likes Cameo? I do now.