Planet Rock (song)
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| Single by Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force | |||||||
| from the album Planet Rock: The Album | |||||||
| Released | April 17, 1982 | ||||||
| Format | Vinyl record (7", 12") | ||||||
| Recorded | 1981 | ||||||
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| Length | 7:31 | ||||||
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| Afrika Bambaataa singles chronology | |||||||
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"Planet Rock" is a 1982 song by Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force. The song featured Marvella Murray, Yvette Murray, Melissa Johnson and Sandra Wheeler on additional background vocals. Although it was primarily an underground hit in the United States, Canada, and UK, it helped change the foundations of hip-hop and dance music and became one of the most influential pieces and a milestone and eventually an icon of the hip-hop, breakdance, and electronical music culture. It is credited with pioneering the genre and developing the electro style, building on the work of Kraftwerk and Yellow Magic Orchestra, combined with distinctive Roland TR-808 beats, and helped pave the way for other genres such as techno,house and trance. In November 2004, "Planet Rock" placed at #240 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and #10 in About.com's Top 100 Rap Songs. "Planet Rock" peaked at number four on the soul chart and number forty-eight on the Hot 100, and went to number three on the dance charts.
Produced by Arthur Baker, "Planet Rock" blends synthesizer and vocoder sounds with breakbeats. It was influenced by electropop pioneers Kraftwerk and Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO),funk pioneer George Clinton, and artists such as Gary Numan. The melody features parts of Kraftwerk's "Trans Europe Express" (1977). The use of the TR-808, however, gives the beats in "Planet Rock" a distinctive sound. The Japanese counting part "Ichi, ni, san, shi" was used in "Numbers" as well as YMO's "Rap Phenomena" (1981). "Planet Rock" also features a brief synthesizer arrangement of the whistling melody from Ennio Morricone's "For a Few Dollars More" soundtrack.
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