It’s almost impossible to imagine the modern musical landscape without the distinctive sounds of the Roland TR-808 drum machine. When the Japanese electronics company Roland started releasing the 808 in the Eighties, the device quickly became indispensable within the burgeoning genres of hip-hop and dance music, while also adding a new texture to the world of R&B.
Today, the sound of the 808 is everywhere. “It’s kind of like milk, or water,” Bomb Squad producer Hank Shocklee says in the new documentary 808, available on Apple Music starting Friday. “You cannot make a record without having that 808 sound,” he continues. “It’s just not hip-hop. … Whatever record I was making, it wasn’t complete unless: ‘Yo, we gotta put the 808 in this shit.’ Bang! Now the record’s finished. I don’t care if it was a ballad. … It’s not complete. Put the 808 in it. OK, it’s hot now.”
Alexander Dunn directed 808, which aims to track the machine’s remarkable rise. “I very much see the 808 as an underdog,” Dunn tells Rolling Stone. “It gets name-dropped as sort of a generic name for a beat. … What perhaps is less known is the story: where it started from, some of the key records and how that sound changed everything. We sometimes take the 808 for granted. It’s one of the most magical stories in music.”
The film is a testament to one machine’s wide-ranging appeal. It includes interviews with a multi-genre collection of heavy hitters, from the Beastie Boys to Jam and Lewis to Phil Collins; Arthur Baker, who produced Afrika Bambaataa’s iconic 1982 single “Planet Rock” and helped craft records for Hall and Oates and New Order, served as the film’s co-executive producer.
This is definitely a documentary we will be watching!! And now a link to Planet Rock just because..
via RollingStone.com
