On this day in music history: August 24, 1983 - Future Shock, the thirty fifth album by Herbie Hancock is released. Produced by Material and Herbie Hancock, it is recorded at OAO Studios in Brooklyn, NY, RPM Studios in New York City, and Garage Sale Recording Studios in Los Angeles, CA from Early - Mid 1983. Never standing still creatively, jazz musician Herbie Hancock will take his music in yet another innovative and unexpected direction. Hancock will ask bassist Bill Laswell and keyboardist Michael Beinhorn of the avant-garde experimental rock/jazz/funk band Material to work with him on an album. Armed with an arsenal of new and cutting edge synthesizers including the Rhodes Chroma and the Fairlight CMI sampling keyboard, Hancock will be joined in the studio with a group of musicians that includes Laswell (bass), Beinhorn (keyboards), Sly Dunbar (drums, percussion), Daniel Ponce (percussion), Pete Cosey (guitar), and vocalists Bernard Fowler (New York City Peech Boys, Tackhead), Roger Trilling, Dwight Jackson, Jr., Nicky Skopelitis, and Lamar Wright. The albums centerpiece will be the first single Rockit (#6 R&B, #1 Club Play, #71 Pop), which is composed in the studio by Hancock, Laswell, and Beinhorn. For the songs breakdown, Laswell will enlist DJ Grandmixer D. ST (born Derek Showard) (now known as GrandMixer DXT), to add turntable scratching to the track (using the record Change The Beat by Fab 5 Freddy and Be-Side). Largely unheard outside of Hip Hop parties in the New York City boroughs at the time, the percussion of sound of D. STs scratching will immediately turn heads. This will become apparent even before the record is released. Laswell will take a tape of the unreleased Rockit to a high end stereo store and play it on one of the stores demo systems. It will instantly stop traffic in the store and the producer is rushed by customers wanting to know what it is. When Rockit is released as a single in June of 1983, the response to the groundbreaking single will be the equivalent of a seismic wave traveling across the landscape. An instant classic at street level, the record will immediately adapted by the Hip Hop community and become a sensation on the dance floor. The underground phenomenon will quickly go over ground as well when the song is supported by a striking and highly innovative music video directed by former 10cc members Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. The video will receive heavy rotation on MTV and will win five Video Music Awards at the first VMA awards ceremony in 1984. Rockit will sell over a million copies and is certified Gold in the US by the RIAA. Amazingly, 90% of the singles sales will be for the 12 single release. Rockit will also earn Herbie Hancock his first Grammy Award for Best R&B Instrumental Performance in 1984. Hancock will also turn in a highly memorable live performance of the song (featuring D.ST) at the 84 Grammy Awards. Rockit will also inspire the international Turntablism Movement beginning in the 80s, and exploding during the 90s when DJs such as Qbert and Mix Master Mike site the song as a major influence. The album will also spin off two further singles including Autodrive (#26 R&B, #36 Club Play), and the title track. Future Shock will peak at number two on the Billboard Jazz Album chart, number ten on the R&B album chart, number forty three on the Top 200, and is certified Platinum in the US by the RIAA.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 23:00:06 +0000
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