20 Landmark Songs Of The 70s

5. The Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8bKTzksZEw Hip-hop didn't start to take the world by storm and reinvent the rules of music to the masses until the late 80€™s with the incendiary music of NWA and Public Enemy, but the rule of the genre were defined in the 70's, with the first breakthrough hip-hop song by The Sugarhill Gang. If you want examples of the template it€™s all here. The song sees them dissing everyone - even Superman for his inferiority when it comes to who€™s the best performer in the bedroom - and whilst it may not be subtle, €œhe may be able to fly through the night, but can he rock a body until the broad daylight?€, there€™s a tongue-in-cheek machismo that is actually quite endearing in a strange way. It also set up two other important things for the genre. Firstly, the rap ensemble as a gang, in the same way that The Beatles, Run DMC and The Smiths were, this was very much the work of a collective building and bridging each other€™s words, with the attendant different characters all contributing to a magnificent whole. Secondly, by and large they didn't use musicians in the studio, but found the whole world of songs at their fingers through the use of samples, leaving them free to pick and choose any riff or beat that would suit the song, and in this respect €˜Rappers Delight€™ was the breakthrough hip hop song, and a perfect example of deconstruction, using a Chic-like bass line on a loop with a funk guitar. A wonderfully creative and genre defining moment that€™s best listened to very loudly, you€™ll be itching to dance within two seconds of the intro. And then keep dancing some more.