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Time Zone was an electro band headed by Afrika Bambaataa. Bambaataa worked with different musicians for each Time Zone project like the female french Beside, the German producers Wunderverke and the collective Material.
The first Time Zone single was the 1983 electro song "The Wildstyle" which featured music from a German project called Wunderwerke (Dieter Kolb and Franz Aumüller) based in Wächtersbach in Germany. Rusty Egan of Visage came to see them in their studio. Co-founder of Do It Records, Ian Tregonning was interested in the Wunderwerke track "Sex Appeal" (1982 Virgin records); [1] Bambaataa was introduced to their music by Rusty Egan. The music was recorded in one evening as witnessed by Tregonning and was their first known use of a sampler. Samples of 'Trans-Europe Express' by Kraftwerk and Chic's 'Good Times' were cut into a drum (DMX) and bassline created by Egan. The song became popular among breakdancers at the time.[ citation needed ]
In December 1984, Time Zone released their most well-known single, "World Destruction". [2] A collaboration between Bambaataa, ex-Sex Pistol/Public Image Ltd. leader John Lydon, and producer/bassist Bill Laswell. The "World Destruction" single was arranged by Laswell after Lydon and Bambaataa had acknowledged respect for each other's work:
Afrika Bambaataa: "I was talking to Bill Laswell saying I need somebody who's really crazy, man, and he thought of John Lydon. I knew he was perfect because I'd seen this movie that he'd made ( Copkiller ), I knew about all the Sex Pistols and Public Image stuff, so we got together and we did a smashing crazy version, and a version where he cussed the Queen something terrible, which was never released."
John Lydon: "We went in, put a drum beat down on the machine and did the whole thing in about four-and-a-half hours. It was very, very quick." [2]
Bernie Worrell (synthesizers), Nicky Skopelitis (guitar), and Aïyb Dieng (african percussion) also played on the single, which was released by Celluloid Records on December 1, 1984. [3] The track peaked at #44 in the UK Singles Chart in February 1985. [4]
Although this single did predate Run-DMC and Aerosmith's "Walk This Way", it is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the first rap rock record. This is not true as Run-DMC had incorporated hard rock guitar into songs, most notably "Rock Box", in April 1984.
Although the song was critically acclaimed, Bambaataa put the Time Zone project on hold while he worked on other projects. In 1992, Bambaataa revived the project with the single "Zulu War Chant". Time Zone released a handful of singles in the early-1990s which were compiled in the 1992 album Thy Will B Funk. In 1995, the band released another album titled Warlocks and Witches, Computer Chips, Microchips and You. The album featured contributions from George Clinton and his P-Funk Horns. But neither album sold well, and Bambaataa retired Time Zone.
"World Destruction" was also featured in the first episode of the fourth season of The Sopranos , "For All Debts Public and Private". The song played at the beginning of the episode as Tony gets his newspaper and again during the closing credits.
In 2005, Bambaataa again revived the Time Zone moniker for an album of breakbeats titled Everyday People: The Breakbeat Party Album.
In 2015, "World Destruction" was featured in the opening credit sequence in the season one finale of the USA Network original series Mr. Robot .
In 2020, "World Destruction" was used as the theme song for the podcast "Blowback," about the Iraq War.
Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that utilizes breaks, often with the main rhythm being sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as hip hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat hardcore, and UK garage styles.
Public Image Ltd are an English post-punk band formed by singer John Lydon, guitarist Keith Levene, bassist Jah Wobble, and drummer Jim Walker in 1978. The group's personnel has changed frequently over the years; Lydon has been the sole constant member.
Planet Rock: The Album is an old school hip hop album by Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force, released in 1986 as a collection of previous singles. The song "Planet Rock" was one of the earliest hits of the hip hop music genre and remains one of its pioneering recordings. The single's liner notes include members of Kraftwerk with the songwriting credits. In creating the track, portions of Kraftwerk's "Numbers" and "Trans-Europe Express" were interpolated, along with portions of songs by Captain Sky and Ennio Morricone.
William Otis Laswell is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, world music, jazz, dub and ambient styles.
Praxis was the name of an experimental rock project, led by producer/bassist Bill Laswell and featuring guitarist Buckethead and drummer Bryan "Brain" Mantia in nearly every incarnation of the band.
Electro is a genre of electronic music and early hip hop directly influenced by the use of the Roland TR-808 drum machines, and funk. Records in the genre typically feature drum machines and heavy electronic sounds, usually without vocals, although if vocals are present they are delivered in a deadpan manner, often through electronic distortion such as vocoding and talkboxing. This is the main distinction between electro and previously prominent genres such as disco, in which the electronic sound was only part of the instrumentation. It also palpably deviates from its predecessor boogie for being less vocal-oriented and more focused on electronic beats produced by drum machines.
In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece. A break is usually interpolated between sections of a song, to provide a sense of anticipation, signal the start of a new section, or create variety in the arrangement.
Nicky Skopelitis is an American guitarist and composer of Greek descent, born January 19, 1960 is best known as a guitarist. He also has performed on banjo, oud, lute, keyboards and other instruments. Although Skopelitis has recorded few albums as a bandleader, he has appeared on many more recordings, often collaborating with prolific bass guitarist and producer Bill Laswell. Until 1987 or so, he used the spelling "Scopelitis" for his last name.
Material is a musical group formed in 1979 and led by bass guitarist Bill Laswell.
Music of Life is a British independent dance music label formed in 1986 by two influential DJ remixers, Froggy and Simon Harris, managed by Chris France. Following several successful productions, one of which reached No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart Harris and Froggy decided to launch their own label, they were offered a label deal by Morgan Khan (Streetwave) and the first release was a remix by the duo of Cerrone's 'Supernature'. Within a few months Froggy left the label and Streetwave went out of business. Harris being active in remixing and production for many other artists and labels financed the label with his remix income. After the demise of Streetwave Harris and France decided to re-launch as a British hip-hop music label. Music of Life opened an office in London's Soho at 22 Hanway Street, Chris France and his sister Michelle spent their days in the busy Soho office whilst Simon could usually be found in his home studio 'The Bunker' producing many of the Music of Life releases.
Simon Harris is a DJ, producer, remixer and electronic musician predominantly known as the founder of the record label Music of Life and producer of most of its catalogue of songs.
Herbal Blend is a DJ mix album, mixed by The Herbaliser, released on 22 September 2003 as part of the Solid Steel mix series.
Album is the fifth album by the English rock band Public Image Ltd, released on 27 January 1986. In a departure from their previous releases, John Lydon was advised by trusted music producer Bill Laswell to take on an all-star cast of session and trusted musicians, including Steve Vai, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Tony Williams and Ginger Baker. The resulting album gave PiL one of its highest charting songs, "Rise".
9 is the seventh studio album by Public Image Ltd, released in May 1989 on the Virgin Records label.
This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get is a 1984 album by Public Image Ltd. It is the band's fourth official studio album and includes the single "Bad Life" and a re-recorded version of a "This Is Not a Love Song", which had been a No. 5 UK and international hit when released as a single in 1983. An early version of the album was released in 1984 by founding PiL guitarist Keith Levene as Commercial Zone. The album was then re-recorded after Levene's departure from the band, with no contributions from either Levene or bassist Pete Jones.
"Planet Rock" is a song by the American hip hop artists Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force. The song was produced by Arthur Baker and released by Tommy Boy Records in 1982. The recording came together after DJ and producer Baker met with Bambaataa and the two bonded over the idea of creating a song about their mutual appreciation for the band Kraftwerk. Baker and Bambaataa had worked together previously on the song "Jazzy Sensation," and decided to compose a more electronic based version of the hip hop song, as opposed to the more disco-oriented work popular at the time. Along with musician John Robie, the group recorded the single at Intergalactic Studios in New York. Robie duplicated the sound on the record and had Bambaataa's rappers in the Soul Sonic Force rap over it. To create the raps, the lyricist of the group, Emcee G.L.O.B.E., had to develop a style he called "mc popping", which involved rapping off time, an unusual style at the time.
"Rock Box" is a song by the American hip hop group Run-DMC. The song was produced by Larry Smith and Russell Simmons and released by Profile Records in March 1984. Following the popularity of their previous two singles "Hard Times" (1983) and "It's Like That" (1983), Profile Records head suggested to the producers and group that they should attempt to record an album as they already had four songs ready, and releasing a few more would not hurt them. Despite speculating low sales from the label and the group not feeling that hip hop was a genre appropriate for a full-length album, they were given an advance to start recording. This led to Run-DMC members Joseph "Run" Simmons and Darryl "DMC" McDaniels going through their rhyme book to develop new songs, one of which would become "Rock Box".
Afrika Bambaataa is an American disc jockey, rapper, songwriter and producer from the South Bronx, New York. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenced the development of hip hop culture. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the originators of breakbeat DJing and is respectfully known as "The Godfather" and "Amen Ra of Hip Hop Kulture", as well as the father of electro-funk. Through his co-opting of the street gang the Black Spades into the music and culture-oriented Universal Zulu Nation, he has helped spread hip hop culture throughout the world. On May 6, 2016, Bambaataa left his position as head of The Zulu Nation due to multiple child sexual abuse allegations dating as far back as the 1970s.
This is a list of releases by Material.
John Joseph Lydon, also known by his stage name Johnny Rotten, is an English singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer of the late-1970s British punk band the Sex Pistols, which lasted from 1975 until 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s. He is also the lead singer of post-punk band Public Image Ltd (PiL), which he founded and fronted from 1978 until 1993, and again since 2009.
