"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, along with inspiration from Yellow Magic Orchestra, Gary Numan and George Clinton.
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 with Roland TR-808 beats, 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.
The song quickly gained popularity, eventually earning a Gold record certification in the United States, the first for the group and label. The new musical style on the song later became known as electro. The song features simple lyrics discussing the power of music and having a fun time. After its release, the song began to get airtime on the radio. The use of Kraftwerk's music on the song was done without permission. The band approached the label and Tommy Boy's manager, Tom Silverman, eventually agreed to give Kraftwerk one dollar for every record sold. He increased the price of the single to make a return on the record. Attempts to get a full-length album for Bambaataa were not possible with Tommy Boy initially as Silverman's contract with him was strictly for singles and re-negotiating it proved difficult. "Planet Rock" later was released on the album titled Planet Rock: The Album in 1986.
The song was listed as one of the best singles of 1982 by the NME and was described by Robert Palmer of The New York Times as "perhaps the most influential black pop record of 1982", noting its influence on "both the black pop mainstream and several leading white new-wave rockers". Several musicians and groups noted how the track influenced them including Run-DMC, 2 Live Crew, A Guy Called Gerald, Fatboy Slim and Newcleus. The song has been remixed and re-released several times, has been described as one of the definitive electro songs by AllMusic, and has been voted the third greatest hip hop song by Rolling Stone.
Background
Arthur Baker had moved from Boston to New York in 1981 where he had been DJing, producing and mixing records and working as a music journalist as early as 1976. By his own admission, Baker described himself as a "shit DJ" and was more interested in making music despite not being a musician. His musical work included co-producing a few records under the name Northend with singer Tony Carbone and drummer Russell Presto for West End Records. Baker followed these up in the late 1970s with an album he made that was released by Tom Moulton as TJM, followed by "Happy Days" a single on North End Records. Along with working in the studio, Baker was also writing reviews for the magazine Dance Music Report, which was owned by Tom Silverman who was starting up the label Tommy Boy Records.
Afrika Bambaataa had worked as a disc jockey in the mid-1970s working block parties in the south east Bronx. Bambaataa played a variety of eclectic music and searched throughout New York to find new records. This led to him discovering music by Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra and Gary Numan. Bambaataa met Silverman at one of his DJ sets, which led to working on releases for Tommy Boy including "Let's Vote" by Nuri and other tracks for a girl group called Cotton Candy.
Silverman was concerned that Tommy Boy's record sales were insignificant. He talked to Baker, the only producer he knew, about producing a record. He had Baker produce "Jazzy Sensation" for Afrika Bambaataa and the Jazzy 5 which was released by Tommy Boy in 1982. The record was successful; Baker estimated it sold 30,000 records.
Silverman suggested a two-record a follow-up which led to Bambaataa and Baker creating a record based on their love of the band Kraftwerk. Baker recalled that when he heard Kraftwerk's song "Numbers" being played at the Music Factory in Brooklyn, he saw "black guys in their twenties and thirties asking, 'What's that beat?' So I knew that if we used that beat and added an element of the street, it was going to work."
John Robie was a guitarist and synthesizer player who lived in New York. Robie detested disco music, believing musicians did not have to have talent to make it, declaring "you had people playing to metronomes, everyone sounding the same, and lyrics that were nonsensical and generally infantile". Although Robie described himself as starting out as a die-hard rock musician, he was a fan of early hip hop music, discussing in 1991 that the genre was "a great form of expression [...] What was great about those early rap records was that there was a melodic content to them, they were music at the same time."
Robie began meeting with Bambaataa, who showed off his abilities on keyboards after Bambaataa had asked him if he could play music similar to Kraftwerk. Bambaataa contacted Silverman about Robie's talents, which led to him meeting with Baker to work on "Planet Rock". Robie later recalled on their work together as an "unlikely mix of talents was as much of a phenomenon as their record itself. People from totally different backgrounds with completely dissimilar tastes and styles [...] At the time I remember it feeling pretty bizarre."
Production
Baker is not sure when "Planet Rock" was recorded, stating it was either 1980 or 1981. Prior to going into the studio, Bambaataa recalled working at Silverman's father's house in White Plains, New York, working on a bassline taken from B. T. Express that was not used. Robie, Bambaataa and Baker recorded "Planet Rock" at Intergalactic Studio. The group had previously recorded "Jazzy Sensation" at the same studio. The record was completed quickly, as they did not have a large recording budget. Baker said it took approximately three all-night sessions. During the first they developed the music and a bit of the rap. The next night they worked on the rapping, and the final night mixed the record.
The studio's equipment included a Neve console, Studer 24–track tape machine and UREI monitors, a Lexicon PCM41 digital delay, Sony reverb and a Fairlight CMI digital synthesizer. Baker said:They only had a few things, and so we basically got all of our effects out of the Lexicon PCM41, including Bambaataa's electronic vocal vocoder sound. That came through a really, really tight delay, almost like a tight electronic phasing, and then there was the state–of–the–art Sony reverb. However, other than that, there weren't a whole load of effects on that record. The group lacked a Roland TR-808 drum machine they could use but found one advertised in The Village Voice—"Man with drum machine, 20 dollars a session." They played the musician, named Joe, the Kraftwerk song "Numbers" and asked to have that programmed into the drum machine as well as the song 'Super Sporm'. The 808 was programmed through the Neve console, which Baker described as an "amazing mixing board". In the studio, Baker experimented with the Fairlight CMI and found a few sounds on it, including one of an explosion, which would be used later on "Planet Rock". He later lamented the Fairlight's lack of usefulness describing it as a "$100,000 waste of space".
Robie provided the group with a Micromoog and Prophet-5 synthesizers. Baker later praised Robie's studio work, saying he "could play. You'd tell him to play something and he'd play it and add something to it. He was really, really good." Baker said it took about eight hours to get the track in working order and develop it first without any rappers. Bambaataa commented "a lot of people think we sampled Kraftwerk but it's just not true. John Robie was a bad-ass synthesizer player, so he was just good in playing stuff, that it sounded like they sampled the record."
When asked about how much Bambaataa contributed to the record, Baker felt that he was "more of an inspiration" and "definitely had [an] influence" but was unfamiliar with studio equipment. When asked in 1985 about his contributions to his records, Bambaataa said he did not do "much rapping" but helped develop the records, stating that: "They may be written or produced by whomever, but you can be sure I had something to do with getting the sound I want, whether it's a certain chant, keyboard riff, drum pattern or a speed-up on the synthesizers." Bambaataa added that whether he works with Bill Laswell of Material or Baker, he "usually act[s] as a co-producer" and brings "one of my groups to come up with a strong rap".
Among Bambaataa's suggestions, was using a beat from Captain Sky's "Super Sporm". Bambaataa was concerned that people would feel they were copying Kraftwerk, so he proposed adding the beat. The group was nervous about how Kraftwerk would react to "Planet Rock" and developed a separate melody line for it. Silverman eventually stepped in and had the group use the "Trans-Europe Express" melody. The unused melody would end up being used on "Play At Your Own Risk" by Planet Patrol. The music for both "Play At Your Own Risk" and "Planet Rock" were recorded on the same tape.
Influenced by George Clinton, who had many separate music groups that contained the same band members, Bambaataa formed his groups such as the Soul Sonic Force, which in its original form consisted of about twenty members of the Universal Zulu Nation. The personnel used within the Soul Sonic Force whom Bambaataa performed and recorded with was smaller and contained two separate groups with the same name. The first included performers Mr. Biggs, Queen Kenya, and DJ Cowboy while the second variation of the group included Mr. Biggs, Pow Wow, G.L.O.B.E. and DJ Jazzy Jay.
The Soul Sonic Force members that contributed to "Planet Rock" consisted of rappers Mr.Biggs, Pow Wow, and G.L.O.B.E. When they came in to perform the vocals, Baker said that they "hated the music. Not even hated it. They despised it." The rappers wanted to perform something closer to "Jazzy Sensation" and other tracks that were on the R&B charts. Baker specifically recalled Mr.Biggs refusing to rap on it. Baker recalled that G.L.O.B.E. eventually got the group to rap it by not rapping exactly on the beat.
Baker says he cannot remember where the title "Planet Rock" came from, but that G.L.O.B.E. wrote all of the song's lyrics except the chorus that Baker wrote. G.L.O.B.E. wrote most of the group's lyrics. Baker said he was certain of this and admitted to stealing the "Rock rock to the Planet Rock, don't stop." line from the record "Body Music" by The Strikers, which had the line "Punk rock to the punk rock, don't stop."
Jay Burnett, who engineered the song, performed the "rock rock to the planet rock, don't stop" vocal. Bob Rosa provided some overdubbing for the record and approximately 30 hours were spent recording and mixing "Planet Rock" before the single was mastered and then remastered. Jazzy Jay, an associate of Bambaataa's, described editing "Planet Rock" as "the most tedious thing". He recalled Baker being there during the whole editing process: "splicing, cutting tape with a razor blade. What we do now with just a few strokes of the keyboard."
Music and style