pfork lists are never particularly "weird" (including the reasonable/safe #1 choice)
tru, especially the farther back the time period they are covering. i think once they wrote something like 'there wasn't as much music released back then!' to semi-explain why all their selections were chart hits and/or from predictable artists for one of these things, which, lol, i don't think is even true??
― dyl, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:14 (eight years ago) link
If anything it's the song that got half of the 80s into hiphop.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:14 (eight years ago) link
Good call. Too bad they aren't making a documentary on Run DMC.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:16 (eight years ago) link
i think once they wrote something like 'there wasn't as much music released back then!' to semi-explain why all their selections were chart hits and/or from predictable artists for one of these things, which, lol, i don't think is even true??
Yeah it would be better to say 80s and 90s lists can be more hit-filled because there were far more hits then than before or after and that means there were more unusual-sounding (however you interpret it) hits too.
― nashwan, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:20 (eight years ago) link
Maybe they could explain it as "we would have included these more obscure songs but it turns out Apple Music didn't have them in their library"
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:22 (eight years ago) link
But yeah the hitmachines of the 80s and part of the 90s were pretty forward-thinking compared to the past decades. Can you imagine a song like 'O Superman' being pushed as a single and actually becoming a hit in this day and age?
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:25 (eight years ago) link
Naw the Run-DMC pick should have been "Sucker MCs" because it completely changed what hip-hop sounded like instead of just convincing white people to listen to it.
― drown zoowap (The Reverend), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:28 (eight years ago) link
^ this
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:35 (eight years ago) link
The Walk This Way collab did more for Aerosmith's rep than it did for Run DMC's.
We can have both. Run DMC is way more deserving of two spots than NWA.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:35 (eight years ago) link
According to wikipedia 'walk this way' is credited as the song that helped break hiphop into mainstream pop music and catapulted run dmc into mainstream stardom. Yeah it also helped resurrect Aerosmith's career but RUN DMC are probably one of the most popular 'old school' bands thanks to it.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:40 (eight years ago) link
And Run DMC were actually popular because they wrote great hits and not because of all the crew drama like NWA.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:42 (eight years ago) link
Nah, in 1986 Run DMC were well on their way to crossing over anyway. If it wasn't Walk This Way, it would've been something else. Raising Hell is an atomic bomb of a record and another single from it would have crossed them over.
Aerosmith were desperate relics in 1986.
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:42 (eight years ago) link
Can we agree it's a better song than 'straight outta compton' or at least the two gnr singles?
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:52 (eight years ago) link
not really - it's a novelty cover prob more worthy of being in a Best Videos Of The 80s countdown
i do like that tyler made the chorus less shrill
― da croupier, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:54 (eight years ago) link
now if they'd replaced straight outta compton and one of the gnr hits with "king of rock" and "rag doll" i'd give that a thumbs up
Yeah, no. No agreement there. xps
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:55 (eight years ago) link
But you could make the argument that rap-rock crossovers are still a thing and esp remix songs feat. guest stars also a huge thing. In a lot of ways it was ahead of its time.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:56 (eight years ago) link
Like how many pop songs nowadays have a rap guest verse? Pretty much all of those are indebted to "Walk This Way".
walk this way doesn't have a guest rap verse, it's two rap guys covering aerosmith
― da croupier, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:57 (eight years ago) link
how many rap acts straight-up do rock covers now? if anything it's very uninfluential
― da croupier, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:58 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36hLtWglrhM
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:59 (eight years ago) link
seriously name five songs where rappers and stars unite to...do the old song word-for-word with some scratching
― da croupier, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:01 (eight years ago) link
Name five of any hit songs that were covered word for word. It's kind of a thing that is not done much anymore.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:02 (eight years ago) link
The Roots? Mos Def?
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:03 (eight years ago) link
those aren't songs or even collaborations, those are the names of acts with question marks next to them
― da croupier, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:04 (eight years ago) link
Ok:
the roots - seed 2.0 which covers cody chesnutt
And Mos def has a live band nowadays and they cover hendrix i think.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:05 (eight years ago) link
seed 2.0 is a word for word cover?
― da croupier, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:06 (eight years ago) link
Not sure why "Walk This Way" needs to have a modern rock hit covered word for word by rap star (and word for word only, no samples, no remixes, etc) to be influential. It seems like a needlessly specific criteria.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:07 (eight years ago) link
well that's a matter of perspective - it's treated as "highly influential" but actually the "influence" isn't so much the song but the music video - way more people have done "YOU? ME? TOGETHER? WOW!" than actually ape the track
― da croupier, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:08 (eight years ago) link
and wtf a breakthrough in mtv gimmickry has to do with Best Songs Of the 80s i dunno
― da croupier, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:09 (eight years ago) link
Yes it is, all the cody chesnutt chorus are reprised from his other one minute song. At least that's what I remember.
At any rate you're missing the point it wasn't influential because it prompted hiphop artists to do rock covers but because it made them aware of the versatility of hip hop and how it could reach to out to other genres outside the then-limited hip hop culture.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:10 (eight years ago) link
wtf gimmickry is probably bigger than ever.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:11 (eight years ago) link
moka if we were taking "chorus is interpolated from original song" to mean "word-for-word cover of that song" we'd have a lot more examples
― da croupier, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:11 (eight years ago) link
Have you even heard the cody chesnutt song? The same three chorus on the Roots song is all there is. Word for word.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:15 (eight years ago) link
And yet again: "walk this way" influence wasn't that it prompted hiphop artists to do rock covers I don't understand where you're getting that from.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:18 (eight years ago) link
if you're trying to argue that "walk this way" was A Big Deal, sure fine great, no debate, I said it probably belongs in a Best Videos Of The 80s list just for Tyler busting through the wall and Run-DMC not having it. I'm just pointing out that the cultural influence really outshines its musical influence (there are plenty of other 80s def jam songs that have been more blatantly jacked aesthetically) and that this is a list of Best Songs not Most Important Moments Of The 80s
― da croupier, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:18 (eight years ago) link
opening lyrics to "the seed" by cody chestnutt
I don't ask, for much these daysAnd I don't sit, and whine, if I don't get my wayI only wanna fertilize another behind my lover's backI sit and watch it grow standin' where I'm atFertilize another behind my lover's backAnd I'm keepin' my secrets mineI push my seed in her bush for lifeIts gonna work because I'm pushin' it rightIf Mary drops my baby girl tonightI would name her Rock-N-Roll
opening lyrics to "the seed 2.0" by the roots:
Knocked up 9 months agoAnd what she finna have? She don't knowShe want neo-soul, this hip-hop is oldShe don't want no Rock n' RollShe want platinum or ice or goldShe want a whole lot of something to foldIf you a obstacle she just drop you coldCause one monkey don't stop the showLittle Mary is badIn these streets she done ranEver since when the heat beganI told the girl: "look hereCalm down, I'mma hold your handTo enable you to peep the planCause you is quick to learnAnd we can make money to burnIf you allow me to lay this game"I don't ask for much but enough room to spread my wingsAnd the world finna know my name
― da croupier, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:21 (eight years ago) link
The influence of walk this way was that it set a pop precedent to incorporate elements from rock or to do crossovers to other genres and every "pop song feat. Hiphop act" owes a little to run dmc even if they're not aware of it. Of course, if they didn't do it first someone else might have done it eventually is true but that can be said about everything under the sun.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:21 (eight years ago) link
It wasnt even the first time rap + [insert other genre] was used as a formula for a hit tho.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:26 (eight years ago) link
Such as....?
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:28 (eight years ago) link
It was the first big hit that did it, though, and that's what matters when talking about influence. You think all the acts of the 80s that followed suit were thinking about the underground song that made it first or the big hit that they heard last summer?
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:29 (eight years ago) link
Rockit, Planet Rock...
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:29 (eight years ago) link
it's true, the fat boys were probably thinking about "walk this way" when they did "the twist" and "wipeout". i don't think anyone would deny that.
― da croupier, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:32 (eight years ago) link
I guess if you want to say Kraftwerk is a rock band, and in the same genre as Aerosmith, you would technically be right. Technically.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:32 (eight years ago) link
This is an argument for "I Feel For You", not "Walk This Way".
― drown zoowap (The Reverend), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:32 (eight years ago) link
seriously! this song means zip when it comes to "hey let's have somebody rap after the second chorus"
― da croupier, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:34 (eight years ago) link
Ok whatever you stubborn son of a blunt you're right Walk this Way was in no way influential to anything. You win.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:37 (eight years ago) link
don't be a baby
― da croupier, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:38 (eight years ago) link
Whatever kraftwerk were, they were not a rap act. Neither was herbie hancock. Or chic for that matter.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:39 (eight years ago) link