It was twenty years ago today...

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Tomorrow's Pazz and Jop Poll Poll is no ordinary one - it is 1986, era of THE HIP HOP WARS. Now admittedly the Hip Hop Wars had very little if anything to do with the Village Voice but I'm sure we won't let that stop us. To get us in the mood here is an MP3 from each side of the battle lines:

Schooly D - "PSK (What Does It Mean?)" - the 'first gangsta rap' record (so says Wikipedia), Schooly D was championed by certain sections of the NME.

The Bodines - "Therese" - the second single by Glossop indie band The Bodines was included on C86, the legendary compilation put together by certain other sections of the NME.

These should whet your appetites for the feast of commentary (well erm possibly) to be unleashed at lunchtime tomorrow.

Comments

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Not sure what you mean by that. But in case anybody gets the wrong idea, 1986-88 was MM's golden age (and was very pro hip hop then) whereas NME lost the plot completely.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

This was right at the end of 88 - it seemed to be into noisy US indie and goth basically: NME was funnier, friendlier, and had a much better handle on pop and dance music (and INDIE DANCE ahem).

I realised I had underestimated MM a couple of years later but I still maintain that in 89/90 the NME was broader and better.

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

i am inclined to agree w.jeff abt losing the plot: however MM's pro-hiphopness is a USER'S MANUAL OF ROCKISM

my sage judgment wd be that MM had more better writing and a clearer line in critical thinking at this time, but it achieved this by SHARPLY restricting what it was "ok to be ok about" -- as i've said before, NME did still leave a space for "wire-type music" whereas MM just shut that out TOTALLY; given the known facts about mr st*ve s*therland, the "ethnic cleansing" feel to this wz palpable (to their credit, many of the MM writes fought against it)

i think NME wrote very badly about music that deserved better and has suffered in consequence -- compared eg to SKINNY PUPPY and YOUNG GODS anyway