Dave Grohl’s favourite rap album: “A total revolution”
Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl still speaks about the bands he loves with unabashed fandom. Despite conquering the world with his stadium monster rock group, the former Nirvana drummer may sell out Wembley, have Grammys thrown at him, and causally join Paul McCartney on stage for a cameo, but the twinkle of adolescent glee in his eyes when discussing the artists who have influenced him is infectious to see.
Revealing his ten favourite albums to Melody Maker in 2000, Grohl revealed an eclectic taste among the expected rock records. There are entries by The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Pixies, but also selections representing his punk background with Melvins, Bad Brains, and The B-52s. One album Grohl bestowed particular praise was Public Enemy’s 1987 debut Yo! Bum Rush the Show.
“A total revolution in hip-hop. And the duality of Flavor Flav and Chuck D is just amazing, man… It’s necessary, almost, that someone as heavy and right on as Chuck D should have some sort of relief. The sounds on this record, and their lyrics about their 98 Oldsmobiles… they just seemed like this gang with their own scene. I went to see a Public Enemy show in Malcolm X Park one time and somebody heard a gunshot and everybody ran. DC was the murder capital back then. It got pretty spooky.”
A landmark release in New York hip-hop and for the Def Jam label, Yo!… established immediately Public Enemy’s politically charged militancy. Confidently ‘hands in’ on the album’s cover as if commencing a pact to rouse black national consciousness, Chuck D’s white Islamist garb and Professor Griff’s guerilla beret were potently provocative imagery that terrified white, conservative America and rankled stuffy music press still rejecting hip hop as ‘illegitimate’. Coupled with hype man Flava Flav’s clock-wearing eccentricity, the group cut one of the most iconic images of the late 1980s.
Yet to realise the dense assault of samples as would dominate sophomore LP It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Chuck D’s production team, The Bomb Squad, pursue a tighter, meaner punch of drum-machine minimalism smattered with Terminator X’s expert turntablism, crafting an aggressive sonic attack that left even Run DMC in their wake.
Lead single ‘Public Enemy No. 1‘ set expectations immediately, Chuck D’s braggadocio flow atop a sample of Fred Wesley and the JBs’ ‘Blow Your Head’s synthesizer funk scoring urban crawling in a 98 Oldsmobile and previously serving as the theme tune to Chuck D’s radio show Super Spectrum Mix Hour while studying at Adelphi University.
Public Enemy went on to forge new musical crossovers, notably in their collaboration with Anthrax for ‘Bring the Noise’s 1991 rock reworking. Headlining with Nirvana on 1992’s Reading Festival (back when it was good), Public Enemy had found their way into Kurt Cobain’s affections too, listing It Takes a Nation… in his famous ‘Top 50 Albums‘ diary entry.
Furthering declaring his respect for hip hop to Ontario’s M.E.A.T. Magazine back in 1991, Cobain mad the bold claim: “Rap music is the only vital form of music introduced since punk rock.”
