It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Encyclopedia
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is the second studio album
by American hip hop
group Public Enemy, released April 14, 1988, on Def Jam Recordings
. Recording sessions for the album took place at Chung King Studios
, Greene Street Recording
, and Sabella Studios in New York City
. Noting the enthusiastic response over their live shows, the group intended with Nation of Millions to make the music of a faster tempo than the previous album for performance purposes.
The album peaked at number 42 on the Billboard 200
chart. By August 1989, it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America
, after shipments of one million copies in the United States. The album was very well received by writers and music critics, and appeared on many publications' "best album" lists. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back has since been regarded by music writers and publications as one of the greatest and most influential albums of all-time. The work has been hailed for its production techniques as well as the socially and politically charged lyricism of lead MC Chuck D
. In 2003, the album was ranked number 48 on Rolling Stone
magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time
, the highest ranking of all the hip hop albums on the list.
, while acclaimed by hip hop critics and aficionados, had gone ignored for the most part by the rock and R&B mainstream, selling only 300,000 copies, which was relatively low by the high-selling standards of other Def Jam
recording artists such as LL Cool J
and the Beastie Boys
at the time. However, the group continued to tour and record tirelessly. "On the day that Yo! Bum Rush the Show was released [in the spring of 1987], we was already in the trenches recording Nation of Millions," stated lead MC Chuck D
.
With It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, the group set out to make what they considered to be the hip hop equivalent to Marvin Gaye
's What's Going On
, an album noted for its strong social commentary. As said by Chuck, "our mission was to kill the 'Cold Gettin' Dumb
' stuff and really address some situations." In order to ensure that their live shows would be as exciting as those when they played in London
and Philadelphia, the group decided that the music on Nation of Millions would have to be faster than that found on Yo! Bum Rush the Show.
in Manhattan
, but began to have conflicts with the engineers who were prejudiced against hip hop acts recording there. The group then began recording at Greene Street Recording
where they were much more comfortable. Initially, the engineers at Greene Street were also apprehensive about the group, but eventually grew to respect their work ethic and seriousness about the recording process. Recorded under the working title Countdown to Armageddon, the group ultimately deciding instead on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, a line from their first album's song "Raise the Roof". The material was recorded in 30 days for an estimated $25,000 in recording costs, due to an extensive amount of preproduction by the group at their Long Island
studio. The album was completed in six weeks.
Rather than touring with the rest of the group Eric "Vietnam" Sadler
and Hank Shocklee
would stay in the studio and work on material for the Nation of Millions album, so that Chuck D and Flavor Flav
would have the music already done when they returned. When the group began planning the second album, the songs "Bring the Noise
", "Don't Believe the Hype
", and "Rebel Without a Pause
" had already been completed. The latter track was recorded during the group's 1987 Def Jam tour, and its lyrics were written by Chuck D in one day spent secluded at his home. Instead of looping the break
from James Brown
's "Funky Drummer
", a commonly used breakbeat in hip hop, "Rebel Without a Pause" had Flavor Flav play the beat on the drum machine
continuously for the track's duration of five minutes and two seconds. Chuck D later said of his contribution to the track, "Flavor's timing helped create almost like a band rhythm". Terminator X
, the group's DJ/turntabilist, also incorporated a significant element to the track, the renowned transformer scratch
, towards the its end. Named for its similarity to the sound made by the Autobots in The Transformers
, the scratch was developed by DJ Spinbad
and popularised by DJ Jazzy Jeff
and Cash Money
, and Terminator X had honed his take on the scratch on tour. The group was satisfied with its sound after having removed the bass from his section of the track.
According to Chuck D, Hank Shocklee made the last call when songs were completed. "Hank would come up with the final mix because he was the sound master... Hank is the Phil Spector
of hip-hop. He was way ahead of his time, because he dared to challenge the odds in sound." This was also one of the details which Chuck felt to be unique to the time and recording of the album. "Once hip-hop became corporate, they took the daredevil out of the artistry. But being a daredevil was what Hank brought to the table." It was decided amongst the group that the album should be exactly one hour long, thirty minutes on each side. At the time, cassette tapes
were more popular than CD
's and the group didn't want listeners having to hear dead air
for a long time after one half of the album was finished. The two sides of the album were originally the other way around, the album beginning with "Show Em Whatcha Got" which leads into "She Watch Channel Zero?!" This instead became the start of side two, or the "Black Side." Hank Shocklee decided to flip the sides just before the mastering of the album and start the record with Dave Pearce
introducing the group during their first tour of England
.
Under Hank Shocklee
's direction, the Bomb Squad
, the group's production team, began to develop a dense and chaotic production style that relied on found sounds and avant-garde
noise as much as it did on old-school funk
. Along with a varied selection of sampled elements, the tracks feature a greater tempo than those of the group's contemporaries. Music critic Robert Christgau
noted these elements and wrote that the Bomb Squad "juice post-Coleman
/Coltrane
ear-wrench with the kind of furious momentum harmolodic funk has never dared: the shit never stops abrading and exploding". As with the group's live performances, Flavor Flav supported Chuck D's politically charged lyrics with "hype man
" vocals and surrealistic lyrics on the album.
On the album's content, music journalist Peter Shapiro wrote "Droning feedback, occasional shards of rock guitar, and James Brown
horn samples distorted into discordant shrieks back the political rhetoric of lead rapper Chuck D and the surreality of Flavor Flav". Ethnomathematics author Ron Eglash
interpreted the album's style and production to be "massively interconnected political and sonic content", writing that "[the Bomb Squad] navigated the ambiguity between the philosophies of sound and voice. Public Enemy's sound demonstrated an integration of lyrical content, vocal tone, sample density and layering, scratch deconstruction, and sheer velocity that rap music has never been able to recapture, and that hip-hop DJs and producers are still mining for gems".
as being the person who'd find all the vocal samples, Eric Sadler
as "the one with the musical talent," and noted that his brother, Keith Shocklee, "knew a lot of the breakbeat
s and was the sound-effects
master." Shocklee's sentiments were reinforced by Chuck D while explaining the group's working methods during production. "Eric was the musician, Hank was the antimusician. Eric did a lot of the [drum] programming, [Hank's brother] Keith
was the guy who would bring in the feel." For his contributions to the production side, Chuck stated that he "would scour for vocal samples all over the Earth
. I would name a song, tag it, and get the vocal samples." Chuck D also noted the productiveness of Sadler and Shocklee's differing approaches to the creative process. "The friction between Hank and Eric worked very well. Hank would put a twist on Eric's musicianship and Eric's musicianship would put a twist on Hank."
Some production mistakes were kept for the album. The breakdown
in "Bring the Noise
" in which the kick-drum sample from James Brown's "Funky Drummer" plays solo was a mistake. Apparently, the wrong sequence came up in the SP1200 sampler
and Shocklee decided not only to keep it but to have Chuck rewrite his rhyme to fit the pattern. The album itself was mixed with no automation
, instead being recorded on analog tape and later painstakingly mixed by hand. This is a significant fact due to its nature as being one of the more intricate albums of digitally sampled music. Asked years later if replicating the number of samples used on the album would be possible [due to increased clearance costs for copyrighted material], Hank Shocklee said while possible, it would be far more expensive than at the time to do so.
voice, Chuck D delivers narratives that are characterized by black nationalist
rhetoric and regard topics such as self-empowerment
for African American
s, critiques of White supremacy
, and challenges to exploitation in the music industry. "Caught, Can We Get a Witness?" directly addresses the issue of sampling in hip hop and copyright violation from a perspective that supports the practice and claims entitlement due to "black ownership of the sounds in the first place". "Rebel Without a Pause" exemplefies the faster tempo that Public Enemy intended for the album, while incorporating a heavy beat and samples of screeching horns, the latter taken from The J.B.'s
' "The Grunt
" (1972). According to Ron Eglash, such effects of sampling exemplify the "sense of urgency" given to the messages of the album's tracks, "to heighten the tension of the mix", while Chuck D's message is "one of total resistance that was readily accessible through [...] the confrontational sounds of bass, groove, and noise." Lyrically, it eschews the traditional verse/chorus—verse/chorus song structure, with 12 bar
s of Chuck D's aggressive rapping, punctuated by Flavor Flav's stream of consciousness
ad-libs. Public Enemy-biographer Russell Myrie writes of the track's significance, "It matched 'I Know You Got Soul' in terms of its innovation and its breathtaking quality. It increased the tempo for Public Enemy, something they would do repeatedly during their forthcoming masterpiece [...] The faster tempo was important as it would heighten energy levels at their shows. Most important of all, it sounded fresh. It was some next level hip-hop. Chuck and Hank rightly felt it could stand alongside the best rap records of the time."
Some of the song titles make reference to other works from popular culture. The song title "Rebel Without a Pause" is a play on Rebel Without a Cause
, a film from 1955 starring actor James Dean
. The title of the track "Louder Than a Bomb" was influenced by the title of The Smiths
' album Louder Than Bombs
. The title of the song "Party for Your Right to Fight" is a rerrangement of the Beastie Boys
' 1987 hit single "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)." The vocal sample of hip hop DJ Mr. Magic
stating that his show would play "no more music by the suckers" was used on the song "Cold Lampin' with Flavor" after having been recorded from Magic's radio show by Flavor Flav. Magic had dissed the group with the line when he mistakenly embroiled them in the WBAU-WBLS radio war.
. It peaked at number 42 on the U.S. Billboard 200
chart and at number one on the Top Black Albums
chart. On August 22, 1989, the album was certified platinum
by the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA), for shipments of at least one million copies in the United States. Since 1991, when the tracking system Nielsen SoundScan
began tracking domestic sales data, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back has sold 722,000 additional copies as of 2010.
writer David Fricke
described the album as a "Molotov cocktail
of nuclear scratching, gnarly minimalist electronics and revolution rhyme" and complimented its "abrupt sequencing and violent sonic compression of rapid-fire samples, slamming-jail-door percussion, DJ Terminator X's tornado turntable work and Chuck D's outraged oratory". In a 1988 article, Los Angeles Times
writer Robert Hilburn
wrote that the album incorporates some of the dynamics of early rap records such as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
's "The Message" (1982) and Run–D.M.C.'s "Sucker MC's" (1984) with the "radical, socially conscious tradition of groups like the Last Poets
". Hilburn commended Chuck D
for his rapping on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, writing that he "isn't afraid of being labeled an extremist, and it's that fearless bite--or game plan--that helps infuse his black-consciousness raps with the anger and assault of punk pioneers like the Sex Pistols
and Clash
". Los Angeles Daily News
gave it a B rating and compared its musical "rage" to that of rapper Schooly D's Smoke Some Kill
(1988). Jon Pareles
of The New York Times
praised the album for its production and compared its symbolic value to hip hop music at the time, stating:
Despite writing that it "sounds powerful, fresh and galvanizing", Mark Jenkins of The Washington Post
found its lyrical content inconsistent, stating "Aurally, Nation of Millions is intoxicating; Hank Shocklee and Carl Ryder's bold production will likely prove among the most distinctive of the year, not just in rap but in any pop genre. For their work to pack the political wallop they crave, however, the members of Public Enemy need to think for themselves, not just attach themselves to the thought of whichever black nationalist is currently drawing big crowds". It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back was included on several critics' end-of-the-year album lists. It was ranked number one on The Village Voice
s Pazz & Jop
critic' poll of 1988, as well as number three on Voice critic Robert Christgau
's list. In an article for the publication, Christgau described It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back as "the bravest and most righteous experimental pop of the decade--no matter how the music looks written down (ha ha), Hank Shocklee and Terminator X have translated Blood Ulmer's harmolodic visions into a street fact that's no less edutaining
(if different) in the dwellings of monkey spawn and brothers alike (and different)". Christgau later gave the album an A+ rating in his consumer guide grading, indicating "a record of sustained beauty, power, insight, groove, and/or googlefritz that has invited and repaid repeated listenings in the daily life of someone with 500 other CDs to get to".
gave it five out of five stars and hailed it as "the greatest rap album of all time, a landmark and classic". Also upon its reissue, Melody Maker
called the album "bloody essential" and commented that "I hadn't believed it could get harder [than YO! BUM RUSH THE SHOW]. Or better". NME
dubbed it "the greatest hip-hop album ever" at the time, stating "this wasn't merely a sonic triumph. This was also where Chuck wrote a fistful of lyrics that promoted him to the position of foremost commentator/documentor of life in the underbelly of the USA". Mojo
stated upon the album's 2000 European reissue, "Responsible for the angriest polemic since The Last Poets
....[They] revolutionized the music, using up to 80 backing tracks in the sonic assault....to these ears PE sound like the greatest rock'n'roll band in history". In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked the album number 48 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
, making it the highest-ranked of the 27 hip hop albums included on the list. Time
magazine hailed it as one of the 100 greatest albums of all time in 2006. Kurt Cobain
, the lead guitarist and singer of rock band Nirvana
, listed the album as one of his top 50 favorite albums in his Journals
. In 2006, Q
placed the album at number seven in its list of "40 Best Albums of the '80s". As of June 2010, It Takes a Nation of Millions is ranked as the top album of 1988 and the seventeenth greatest album of all time at AcclaimedMusic.net.
In his 2004 book Appropriating Technology: Vernacular Science and Social Power, Ron Eglash commented that a sonically and politically charged album such as Nation "can be considered a monument to the synthesis of sound and politics". In 2005, New York University
's Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music hosted a two-day retrospective called "The Making of It Takes a Nation of Millions." It featured a producers' panel that reunited Hank Shocklee, captain of the Bomb Squad, with the Chairmen of the Boards from Greene Street Studios
. When asked in 2008 if the album would still be considered as radical if it were released two decades later, Chuck D said he felt it would "simply because it's faster than anything on the radio right now. And yeah, it's radical politically... because it's not really being said a lot. You want it to not be radical, but it is because it's totally different from Soulja Boy
." Public Enemy were asked to perform the album in its entirety as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties
-curated Don't Look Back
series. The group did perform, however lead rapper Chuck D expressed some reservations about the format of the series, saying, "I can't tell you that I'm thrilled about it, but we'll pull it off." Music from the album has been sampled by various artists over the years, including (though not limited to) the Beastie Boys
("Egg Man
"), Game ("Remedy"), Jay-Z
("Show Me What You Got
"), Jurassic 5
("What's Golden
"), Madonna
("Justify My Love
"), and My Bloody Valentine ("Instrumental B"). The album is broken down track-by-track by Chuck D
in Brian Coleman's book Check the Technique
.
.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by American hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
group Public Enemy, released April 14, 1988, on Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings is an American record label, focused primarily on hip hop and urban music, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as a part of The Island Def Jam Motown Music Group...
. Recording sessions for the album took place at Chung King Studios
Chung King Studios
Chung King Recording Studios, formerly known as The Chung King House Of Metal, is a New York City recording studio founded by John King with financial backing of the Etches brothers and engineer expertise of Steve Ett became a site of many classic punk and hip hop recordings...
, Greene Street Recording
Greene St. Recording
Greene St. Recording was a New York City recording studio, located at 112 Greene St. in SoHo. until its close in 2001. It was one of the early headquarters of hip-hop during the 1980s and 1990s....
, and Sabella Studios in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Noting the enthusiastic response over their live shows, the group intended with Nation of Millions to make the music of a faster tempo than the previous album for performance purposes.
The album peaked at number 42 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart. By August 1989, it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
, after shipments of one million copies in the United States. The album was very well received by writers and music critics, and appeared on many publications' "best album" lists. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back has since been regarded by music writers and publications as one of the greatest and most influential albums of all-time. The work has been hailed for its production techniques as well as the socially and politically charged lyricism of lead MC Chuck D
Chuck D
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour , better known by his stage name, Chuck D, is an American rapper, author, and producer. He helped create politically and socially conscious rap music in the mid-1980s as the leader of the rap group Public Enemy.- Early life :Ridenhour was born in Queens, New York...
. In 2003, the album was ranked number 48 on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:...
, the highest ranking of all the hip hop albums on the list.
Background
Public Enemy's 1987 debut album Yo! Bum Rush the ShowYo! Bum Rush the Show
* Q magazine - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...a stunning opening...just the first, in retrospect almost shy, step on a remarkable journey...a hard, droning extension of the basic drum`n'scratch Def Jam template that had served LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys so well."* Melody Maker - Recommended - "It...
, while acclaimed by hip hop critics and aficionados, had gone ignored for the most part by the rock and R&B mainstream, selling only 300,000 copies, which was relatively low by the high-selling standards of other Def Jam
Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings is an American record label, focused primarily on hip hop and urban music, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as a part of The Island Def Jam Motown Music Group...
recording artists such as LL Cool J
LL Cool J
James Todd Smith , better known as LL Cool J , is an American rapper, entrepreneur, and actor...
and the Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
at the time. However, the group continued to tour and record tirelessly. "On the day that Yo! Bum Rush the Show was released [in the spring of 1987], we was already in the trenches recording Nation of Millions," stated lead MC Chuck D
Chuck D
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour , better known by his stage name, Chuck D, is an American rapper, author, and producer. He helped create politically and socially conscious rap music in the mid-1980s as the leader of the rap group Public Enemy.- Early life :Ridenhour was born in Queens, New York...
.
With It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, the group set out to make what they considered to be the hip hop equivalent to Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
's What's Going On
What's Going On
What's Going On is the eleventh studio album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released May 21, 1971, on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records...
, an album noted for its strong social commentary. As said by Chuck, "our mission was to kill the 'Cold Gettin' Dumb
Back to the Old School
Back to the Old School is the debut album by American rapper Just-Ice. It was released in 1986, and was produced by Kurtis Mantronik. The album has been described as a classic early hip-hop album and revolutionary for its time by Allmusic....
' stuff and really address some situations." In order to ensure that their live shows would be as exciting as those when they played in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Philadelphia, the group decided that the music on Nation of Millions would have to be faster than that found on Yo! Bum Rush the Show.
Recording
Public Enemy initially recorded the album at Chung King StudiosChung King Studios
Chung King Recording Studios, formerly known as The Chung King House Of Metal, is a New York City recording studio founded by John King with financial backing of the Etches brothers and engineer expertise of Steve Ett became a site of many classic punk and hip hop recordings...
in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, but began to have conflicts with the engineers who were prejudiced against hip hop acts recording there. The group then began recording at Greene Street Recording
Greene St. Recording
Greene St. Recording was a New York City recording studio, located at 112 Greene St. in SoHo. until its close in 2001. It was one of the early headquarters of hip-hop during the 1980s and 1990s....
where they were much more comfortable. Initially, the engineers at Greene Street were also apprehensive about the group, but eventually grew to respect their work ethic and seriousness about the recording process. Recorded under the working title Countdown to Armageddon, the group ultimately deciding instead on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, a line from their first album's song "Raise the Roof". The material was recorded in 30 days for an estimated $25,000 in recording costs, due to an extensive amount of preproduction by the group at their Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
studio. The album was completed in six weeks.
Rather than touring with the rest of the group Eric "Vietnam" Sadler
The Bomb Squad
The Bomb Squad is an American hip hop production team, known for their work with the rap group Public Enemy. The Bomb Squad are noted for their dense, distinct, innovative production style, often utilizing dozens of samples on just one track...
and Hank Shocklee
The Bomb Squad
The Bomb Squad is an American hip hop production team, known for their work with the rap group Public Enemy. The Bomb Squad are noted for their dense, distinct, innovative production style, often utilizing dozens of samples on just one track...
would stay in the studio and work on material for the Nation of Millions album, so that Chuck D and Flavor Flav
Flavor Flav
William Jonathan Drayton, Jr. , better known by his stage name Flavor Flav, is an American rapper and television personality who rose to prominence as a member of the rap group Public Enemy...
would have the music already done when they returned. When the group began planning the second album, the songs "Bring the Noise
Bring the Noise
"Bring the Noise" is a song by the hip hop group Public Enemy. It was included on the soundtrack of the 1987 film Less Than Zero and was also released as a single that year. It later became the first song on the group's 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back...
", "Don't Believe the Hype
Don't Believe the Hype
"Don't Believe the Hype" is the second single of Public Enemy's second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. The song's lyrics are mostly about the political issues that were current in the U.S. at the time of its release. "Don't Believe the Hype" charted at number 18 on the U.S....
", and "Rebel Without a Pause
Rebel Without a Pause
Rebel Without a Pause is a single by hip hop group Public Enemy from their groundbreaking 1988 album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. The title is a spoof of Rebel Without a Cause, a 1955 drama movie.-History:...
" had already been completed. The latter track was recorded during the group's 1987 Def Jam tour, and its lyrics were written by Chuck D in one day spent secluded at his home. Instead of looping the break
Break (music)
In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece....
from James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
's "Funky Drummer
Funky drummer
"Funky Drummer" is a funk song recorded by James Brown and his band. The recording's drum break, performed by drummer Clyde Stubblefield, is one of the most frequently sampled rhythmic breaks in hip hop and popular music; indeed, it lays a strong claim to being the most sampled recording ever,...
", a commonly used breakbeat in hip hop, "Rebel Without a Pause" had Flavor Flav play the beat on the drum machine
Drum machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...
continuously for the track's duration of five minutes and two seconds. Chuck D later said of his contribution to the track, "Flavor's timing helped create almost like a band rhythm". Terminator X
Terminator X
Norman Rogers is a retired American DJ, best known for his work with rap group Public Enemy, which he left in 1999...
, the group's DJ/turntabilist, also incorporated a significant element to the track, the renowned transformer scratch
Transform (scratch)
A transform is a type of scratch used by turntablists. It is made from a combination of moving the record on the turntable by hand and repeated movement of the crossfader.- Creation :...
, towards the its end. Named for its similarity to the sound made by the Autobots in The Transformers
The Transformers (TV series)
The Transformers is an animated television series depicting a war among giant robots who could transform into vehicles, other objects and animal-like forms. Written and recorded in America, the series was animated in Japan and South Korea...
, the scratch was developed by DJ Spinbad
DJ Spinbad
DJ Spinbad is a radio and club DJ, who formerly mixed on WWPR and WHTZ in New York City.-Career:DJ Spinbad was formerly heard on WHTZ in twenty-minute sets at 7:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. on weekdays, Fridays at 5:00 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays at 7:00 p.m. He was also heard on WWPR at 10:00...
and popularised by DJ Jazzy Jeff
DJ Jazzy Jeff
Jeffrey Allen Townes , also known as DJ Jazzy Jeff or simply Jazz, is an American hip hop, R&B record producer, turntablist and actor. He is best known for his early career with Will Smith as DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince...
and Cash Money
DJ Cash Money
DJ Cash Money is a Philadelphia-based American turntablist, hip-hop artist, and record producer. He was the first inductee into the DJ Hall of Fame.-Career:...
, and Terminator X had honed his take on the scratch on tour. The group was satisfied with its sound after having removed the bass from his section of the track.
According to Chuck D, Hank Shocklee made the last call when songs were completed. "Hank would come up with the final mix because he was the sound master... Hank is the Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
of hip-hop. He was way ahead of his time, because he dared to challenge the odds in sound." This was also one of the details which Chuck felt to be unique to the time and recording of the album. "Once hip-hop became corporate, they took the daredevil out of the artistry. But being a daredevil was what Hank brought to the table." It was decided amongst the group that the album should be exactly one hour long, thirty minutes on each side. At the time, cassette tapes
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
were more popular than CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
's and the group didn't want listeners having to hear dead air
Dead air
Dead air is an unintended interruption in a radio broadcast during which no sound is transmitted.The term is most often used in cases where program material comes to an unexpected halt, either through operator error or for technical reasons, although it is also used in cases where a broadcaster...
for a long time after one half of the album was finished. The two sides of the album were originally the other way around, the album beginning with "Show Em Whatcha Got" which leads into "She Watch Channel Zero?!" This instead became the start of side two, or the "Black Side." Hank Shocklee decided to flip the sides just before the mastering of the album and start the record with Dave Pearce
Dave Pearce
Dave Pearce is a British dance DJ and record producer, who has played gigs across the UK and the world, although he is perhaps best known for his work in radio. He currently works for the BBC 6 Music...
introducing the group during their first tour of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Musical style
Under Hank Shocklee
The Bomb Squad
The Bomb Squad is an American hip hop production team, known for their work with the rap group Public Enemy. The Bomb Squad are noted for their dense, distinct, innovative production style, often utilizing dozens of samples on just one track...
's direction, the Bomb Squad
The Bomb Squad
The Bomb Squad is an American hip hop production team, known for their work with the rap group Public Enemy. The Bomb Squad are noted for their dense, distinct, innovative production style, often utilizing dozens of samples on just one track...
, the group's production team, began to develop a dense and chaotic production style that relied on found sounds and avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
noise as much as it did on old-school funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
. Along with a varied selection of sampled elements, the tracks feature a greater tempo than those of the group's contemporaries. Music critic Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
noted these elements and wrote that the Bomb Squad "juice post-Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
/Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
ear-wrench with the kind of furious momentum harmolodic funk has never dared: the shit never stops abrading and exploding". As with the group's live performances, Flavor Flav supported Chuck D's politically charged lyrics with "hype man
Hype man
A hype man in hip hop music and rapping is a “backup rapper/singer who is also responsible for increasing an audience's excitement with call-and-response chants” according to The Hilltop and author Grant Barrett....
" vocals and surrealistic lyrics on the album.
On the album's content, music journalist Peter Shapiro wrote "Droning feedback, occasional shards of rock guitar, and James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
horn samples distorted into discordant shrieks back the political rhetoric of lead rapper Chuck D and the surreality of Flavor Flav". Ethnomathematics author Ron Eglash
Ron Eglash
Ron Eglash is an American cyberneticist, university professor, and author widely known for his work in the field of ethnomathematics, which aims to study the diverse relationships between math and culture...
interpreted the album's style and production to be "massively interconnected political and sonic content", writing that "[the Bomb Squad] navigated the ambiguity between the philosophies of sound and voice. Public Enemy's sound demonstrated an integration of lyrical content, vocal tone, sample density and layering, scratch deconstruction, and sheer velocity that rap music has never been able to recapture, and that hip-hop DJs and producers are still mining for gems".
Production
In an interview with the New York Daily News, Shocklee noted that the album's dynamic sound was inspired by Chuck D's rapping prowess, stating "Chuck's a powerful rapper. We wanted to make something that could sonically stand up to him". Of his own contributions to its production, Shocklee cited himself as being the arranger and noted that he had "no interest in linear songs". When using records for sampling, Shocklee stated that he'd sometimes put them on the ground and stomp on them if they sounded too "clean." Hank referred to Chuck DChuck D
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour , better known by his stage name, Chuck D, is an American rapper, author, and producer. He helped create politically and socially conscious rap music in the mid-1980s as the leader of the rap group Public Enemy.- Early life :Ridenhour was born in Queens, New York...
as being the person who'd find all the vocal samples, Eric Sadler
The Bomb Squad
The Bomb Squad is an American hip hop production team, known for their work with the rap group Public Enemy. The Bomb Squad are noted for their dense, distinct, innovative production style, often utilizing dozens of samples on just one track...
as "the one with the musical talent," and noted that his brother, Keith Shocklee, "knew a lot of the breakbeat
Breakbeat
In 1992, a new style called "jungalistic hardcore" emerged, and for many ravers it was too funky to dance to. Josh Lawford of Ravescene prophesied that the breakbeat was "the death-knell of rave" because the ever changing drumbeat patterns of breakbeat music didn't allow for the same zoned out,...
s and was the sound-effects
Sound effect
For the album by The Jam, see Sound Affects.Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media...
master." Shocklee's sentiments were reinforced by Chuck D while explaining the group's working methods during production. "Eric was the musician, Hank was the antimusician. Eric did a lot of the [drum] programming, [Hank's brother] Keith
The Bomb Squad
The Bomb Squad is an American hip hop production team, known for their work with the rap group Public Enemy. The Bomb Squad are noted for their dense, distinct, innovative production style, often utilizing dozens of samples on just one track...
was the guy who would bring in the feel." For his contributions to the production side, Chuck stated that he "would scour for vocal samples all over the Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
. I would name a song, tag it, and get the vocal samples." Chuck D also noted the productiveness of Sadler and Shocklee's differing approaches to the creative process. "The friction between Hank and Eric worked very well. Hank would put a twist on Eric's musicianship and Eric's musicianship would put a twist on Hank."
Some production mistakes were kept for the album. The breakdown
Break (music)
In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece....
in "Bring the Noise
Bring the Noise
"Bring the Noise" is a song by the hip hop group Public Enemy. It was included on the soundtrack of the 1987 film Less Than Zero and was also released as a single that year. It later became the first song on the group's 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back...
" in which the kick-drum sample from James Brown's "Funky Drummer" plays solo was a mistake. Apparently, the wrong sequence came up in the SP1200 sampler
E-mu SP-1200
E-mu SP-1200 is a classic drum machine and sampler released in August 1987 by E-mu Systems, Inc. as an update of the SP-12, which was originally created for dance music producers...
and Shocklee decided not only to keep it but to have Chuck rewrite his rhyme to fit the pattern. The album itself was mixed with no automation
Automation
Automation is the use of control systems and information technologies to reduce the need for human work in the production of goods and services. In the scope of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization...
, instead being recorded on analog tape and later painstakingly mixed by hand. This is a significant fact due to its nature as being one of the more intricate albums of digitally sampled music. Asked years later if replicating the number of samples used on the album would be possible [due to increased clearance costs for copyrighted material], Hank Shocklee said while possible, it would be far more expensive than at the time to do so.
Content
With his powerful baritoneBaritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
voice, Chuck D delivers narratives that are characterized by black nationalist
Black nationalism
Black nationalism advocates a racial definition of indigenous national identity, as opposed to multiculturalism. There are different indigenous nationalist philosophies but the principles of all African nationalist ideologies are unity, and self-determination or independence from European society...
rhetoric and regard topics such as self-empowerment
Empowerment
Empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social, racial, educational, gender or economic strength of individuals and communities...
for African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s, critiques of White supremacy
White supremacy
White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
, and challenges to exploitation in the music industry. "Caught, Can We Get a Witness?" directly addresses the issue of sampling in hip hop and copyright violation from a perspective that supports the practice and claims entitlement due to "black ownership of the sounds in the first place". "Rebel Without a Pause" exemplefies the faster tempo that Public Enemy intended for the album, while incorporating a heavy beat and samples of screeching horns, the latter taken from The J.B.'s
The J.B.'s
The J.B.'s were James Brown's band during the first half of the 1970s. On record the J.B.'s were sometimes billed under various alternate names such as The James Brown Soul Train, Maceo and the Macks, A.A.B.B., The First Family and The Last Word...
' "The Grunt
The Grunt
"The Grunt" is a funk instrumental recorded in 1970 by James Brown's band The J.B.'s. It was released as a two-part single on King. Part 1 of the recording was included on The J.B.'s 1972 album Food for Thought. It was one of only two instrumental singles recorded by the original J.B.'s lineup with...
" (1972). According to Ron Eglash, such effects of sampling exemplify the "sense of urgency" given to the messages of the album's tracks, "to heighten the tension of the mix", while Chuck D's message is "one of total resistance that was readily accessible through [...] the confrontational sounds of bass, groove, and noise." Lyrically, it eschews the traditional verse/chorus—verse/chorus song structure, with 12 bar
Bar (music)
In musical notation, a bar is a segment of time defined by a given number of beats of a given duration. Typically, a piece consists of several bars of the same length, and in modern musical notation the number of beats in each bar is specified at the beginning of the score by the top number of a...
s of Chuck D's aggressive rapping, punctuated by Flavor Flav's stream of consciousness
Stream of consciousness
In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode that seeks to portray an individual's point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character's thought processes, either in a loose interior monologue, or in connection to his or her actions.Stream-of-consciousness writing...
ad-libs. Public Enemy-biographer Russell Myrie writes of the track's significance, "It matched 'I Know You Got Soul' in terms of its innovation and its breathtaking quality. It increased the tempo for Public Enemy, something they would do repeatedly during their forthcoming masterpiece [...] The faster tempo was important as it would heighten energy levels at their shows. Most important of all, it sounded fresh. It was some next level hip-hop. Chuck and Hank rightly felt it could stand alongside the best rap records of the time."
Some of the song titles make reference to other works from popular culture. The song title "Rebel Without a Pause" is a play on Rebel Without a Cause
Rebel Without a Cause
Rebel Without a Cause is a 1955 American drama film about emotionally confused suburban, middle-class teenagers. Directed by Nicholas Ray, it offered both social commentary and an alternative to previous films depicting delinquents in urban slum environments...
, a film from 1955 starring actor James Dean
James Dean
James Byron Dean was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon, best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause , in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark...
. The title of the track "Louder Than a Bomb" was influenced by the title of The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
' album Louder Than Bombs
Louder Than Bombs
Louder Than Bombs is a compilation album by the English rock band The Smiths. It was released as a double album in March 1987 by their American record company, Sire Records. Its highest chart position was number 63. Popular demand prompted their British record company, Rough Trade, to issue the...
. The title of the song "Party for Your Right to Fight" is a rerrangement of the Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
' 1987 hit single "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)." The vocal sample of hip hop DJ Mr. Magic
Mr. Magic
John "Mr. Magic" Rivas, was an important figure in the world of hip hop radio.-Biography:Mr. Magic debuted in 1981 on WHBI-FM in New York City with the first exclusive rap radio show to be aired on a major station...
stating that his show would play "no more music by the suckers" was used on the song "Cold Lampin' with Flavor" after having been recorded from Magic's radio show by Flavor Flav. Magic had dissed the group with the line when he mistakenly embroiled them in the WBAU-WBLS radio war.
Commercial performance
In its first month of release, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back sold 500,000 copies without significant promotional efforts by its distributing label Columbia RecordsColumbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
. It peaked at number 42 on the U.S. Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart and at number one on the Top Black Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...
chart. On August 22, 1989, the album was certified platinum
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA), for shipments of at least one million copies in the United States. Since 1991, when the tracking system Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
began tracking domestic sales data, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back has sold 722,000 additional copies as of 2010.
Critical response
Despite a divided reaction towards its controversial lyrical content, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back received positive reviews from music critics upon its release. Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
writer David Fricke
David Fricke
David Fricke is a senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine, where he writes predominantly on rock music. In the 1990s, he was managing editor before stepping down.-Background:David Fricke is a graduate of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania...
described the album as a "Molotov cocktail
Molotov cocktail
The Molotov cocktail, also known as the petrol bomb, gasoline bomb, Molotov bomb, fire bottle, fire bomb, or simply Molotov, is a generic name used for a variety of improvised incendiary weapons...
of nuclear scratching, gnarly minimalist electronics and revolution rhyme" and complimented its "abrupt sequencing and violent sonic compression of rapid-fire samples, slamming-jail-door percussion, DJ Terminator X's tornado turntable work and Chuck D's outraged oratory". In a 1988 article, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
writer Robert Hilburn
Robert Hilburn
Robert Hilburn is a pop music critic and author. As critic and music editor of the Los Angeles Times from 1970 to 2005, his reviews, essays and profiles have appeared in hundreds of publications around the world...
wrote that the album incorporates some of the dynamics of early rap records such as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five was an influential American hip-hop group formed in the South Bronx of New York City in 1978. Composed of one DJ and five rappers Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five was an influential American hip-hop group formed in the South Bronx of New York City in...
's "The Message" (1982) and Run–D.M.C.'s "Sucker MC's" (1984) with the "radical, socially conscious tradition of groups like the Last Poets
The Last Poets
The Last Poets is a group of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s African American civil rights movement's black nationalist thread...
". Hilburn commended Chuck D
Chuck D
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour , better known by his stage name, Chuck D, is an American rapper, author, and producer. He helped create politically and socially conscious rap music in the mid-1980s as the leader of the rap group Public Enemy.- Early life :Ridenhour was born in Queens, New York...
for his rapping on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, writing that he "isn't afraid of being labeled an extremist, and it's that fearless bite--or game plan--that helps infuse his black-consciousness raps with the anger and assault of punk pioneers like the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
and Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
". Los Angeles Daily News
Los Angeles Daily News
The Los Angeles Daily News is the second-largest circulating daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, a branch of Colorado-based MediaNews Group....
gave it a B rating and compared its musical "rage" to that of rapper Schooly D's Smoke Some Kill
Smoke Some Kill
The album received generally mixed reviews from most music critics. The Los Angeles Daily News gave the album a B. Rolling Stone reviewer Cary Carling panned the album, writing "With its images of gun-toting bluster, mushrooming genitals and rampant drug use – backed by thuddingly dull beats –...
(1988). Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of the New York Times. He played jazz flute and piano, and graduated from Yale University with a degree in music. In the 1970s he was an associate editor of Crawdaddy!, and in the 1980s an associate...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
praised the album for its production and compared its symbolic value to hip hop music at the time, stating:
Despite writing that it "sounds powerful, fresh and galvanizing", Mark Jenkins of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
found its lyrical content inconsistent, stating "Aurally, Nation of Millions is intoxicating; Hank Shocklee and Carl Ryder's bold production will likely prove among the most distinctive of the year, not just in rap but in any pop genre. For their work to pack the political wallop they crave, however, the members of Public Enemy need to think for themselves, not just attach themselves to the thought of whichever black nationalist is currently drawing big crowds". It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back was included on several critics' end-of-the-year album lists. It was ranked number one on The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
s Pazz & Jop
Pazz & Jop
The Pazz & Jop critics' poll is a poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics...
critic' poll of 1988, as well as number three on Voice critic Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
's list. In an article for the publication, Christgau described It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back as "the bravest and most righteous experimental pop of the decade--no matter how the music looks written down (ha ha), Hank Shocklee and Terminator X have translated Blood Ulmer's harmolodic visions into a street fact that's no less edutaining
Edutainment
Edutainment is a form of entertainment designed to educate as well as to amuse.-Overview:...
(if different) in the dwellings of monkey spawn and brothers alike (and different)". Christgau later gave the album an A+ rating in his consumer guide grading, indicating "a record of sustained beauty, power, insight, groove, and/or googlefritz that has invited and repaid repeated listenings in the daily life of someone with 500 other CDs to get to".
Legacy and influence
Widely regarded as the group's best work, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back has been recognized by various publications and writers as one of the greatest and most influential recordings of all time. In its 1995 issue upon the album's remastered reissue, QQ (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
gave it five out of five stars and hailed it as "the greatest rap album of all time, a landmark and classic". Also upon its reissue, Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
called the album "bloody essential" and commented that "I hadn't believed it could get harder [than YO! BUM RUSH THE SHOW]. Or better". NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
dubbed it "the greatest hip-hop album ever" at the time, stating "this wasn't merely a sonic triumph. This was also where Chuck wrote a fistful of lyrics that promoted him to the position of foremost commentator/documentor of life in the underbelly of the USA". Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
stated upon the album's 2000 European reissue, "Responsible for the angriest polemic since The Last Poets
The Last Poets
The Last Poets is a group of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s African American civil rights movement's black nationalist thread...
....[They] revolutionized the music, using up to 80 backing tracks in the sonic assault....to these ears PE sound like the greatest rock'n'roll band in history". In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked the album number 48 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:...
, making it the highest-ranked of the 27 hip hop albums included on the list. Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine hailed it as one of the 100 greatest albums of all time in 2006. Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...
, the lead guitarist and singer of rock band Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
, listed the album as one of his top 50 favorite albums in his Journals
Journals (Cobain)
Journals is a collection of writings and drawings by Kurt Cobain, lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana. Though the content is undated, it is arranged in an approximation of chronological order, starting with a letter Cobain wrote to Dale Crover in 1988, and ending with a rant about...
. In 2006, Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
placed the album at number seven in its list of "40 Best Albums of the '80s". As of June 2010, It Takes a Nation of Millions is ranked as the top album of 1988 and the seventeenth greatest album of all time at AcclaimedMusic.net.
In his 2004 book Appropriating Technology: Vernacular Science and Social Power, Ron Eglash commented that a sonically and politically charged album such as Nation "can be considered a monument to the synthesis of sound and politics". In 2005, New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
's Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music hosted a two-day retrospective called "The Making of It Takes a Nation of Millions." It featured a producers' panel that reunited Hank Shocklee, captain of the Bomb Squad, with the Chairmen of the Boards from Greene Street Studios
Greene St. Recording
Greene St. Recording was a New York City recording studio, located at 112 Greene St. in SoHo. until its close in 2001. It was one of the early headquarters of hip-hop during the 1980s and 1990s....
. When asked in 2008 if the album would still be considered as radical if it were released two decades later, Chuck D said he felt it would "simply because it's faster than anything on the radio right now. And yeah, it's radical politically... because it's not really being said a lot. You want it to not be radical, but it is because it's totally different from Soulja Boy
Soulja Boy Tell 'Em
DeAndre Cortez Way , better known by his stage name Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, or simply Soulja Boy, is an American rapper, record producer, actor, entrepreneur, and internet personality....
." Public Enemy were asked to perform the album in its entirety as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties
All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....
-curated Don't Look Back
Don't Look Back (concert series)
Don't Look Back is a yearly series of concerts in which London based promoters All Tomorrow's Parties ask artists and bands to play one of their seminal albums live in its entirety...
series. The group did perform, however lead rapper Chuck D expressed some reservations about the format of the series, saying, "I can't tell you that I'm thrilled about it, but we'll pull it off." Music from the album has been sampled by various artists over the years, including (though not limited to) the Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
("Egg Man
Egg Man
Egg Man is the 4th track on Paul's Boutique by American hip hop group the Beastie Boys, released on July 25, 1989.* Produced & written by the Beastie Boys & the Dust Brothers.* Engineered by Mario Caldato & Allen Abrahamson.-Samples:*Aliens...
"), Game ("Remedy"), Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
("Show Me What You Got
Show Me What You Got
For the song by Powerman 5000, see Show Me What You Got "Show Me What You Got" is a single by rap artist Jay-Z from his album Kingdom Come.-Song information:...
"), Jurassic 5
Jurassic 5
Jurassic 5 was an American alternative hip hop group formed in 1993 from members of two previous groups, Rebels of Rhythm and Unity Committee by rappers Charles Stewart , Dante Givens , Courtenay Henderson , Marc Stuart , and disc jockeys Mark Potsic and Lucas Macfadden...
("What's Golden
What's Golden
-Vinyl:Side A:Side B:-Music video:The music video shows the band members, along with many unknown people, dancing in a hip hop club...
"), Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
("Justify My Love
Justify My Love
"Justify My Love" is the first single by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her 1990 greatest hits compilation The Immaculate Collection and was released on November 6, 1990, by Sire Records. It caused international controversy due to the accompanying music video which was sexually explicit...
"), and My Bloody Valentine ("Instrumental B"). The album is broken down track-by-track by Chuck D
Chuck D
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour , better known by his stage name, Chuck D, is an American rapper, author, and producer. He helped create politically and socially conscious rap music in the mid-1980s as the leader of the rap group Public Enemy.- Early life :Ridenhour was born in Queens, New York...
in Brian Coleman's book Check the Technique
Check the Technique
Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies is a book by music journalist Brian Coleman that covers the making of thirty-six classic hip hop albums, based on interviews with the artists who created them, also providing a track-by-track breakdown for each album entirely in the words of the...
.
Track listing
All songs produced by The Bomb SquadThe Bomb Squad
The Bomb Squad is an American hip hop production team, known for their work with the rap group Public Enemy. The Bomb Squad are noted for their dense, distinct, innovative production style, often utilizing dozens of samples on just one track...
.
| # | Title | Song writers | Sample(s) | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Countdown to Armageddon" | —— | —— | 1:42 |
| 2 | "Bring the Noise Bring the Noise "Bring the Noise" is a song by the hip hop group Public Enemy. It was included on the soundtrack of the 1987 film Less Than Zero and was also released as a single that year. It later became the first song on the group's 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back... " |
Ridenhour, Shocklee, Sadler |
|
3:45 |
| 3 | "Don't Believe the Hype Don't Believe the Hype "Don't Believe the Hype" is the second single of Public Enemy's second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. The song's lyrics are mostly about the political issues that were current in the U.S. at the time of its release. "Don't Believe the Hype" charted at number 18 on the U.S.... " |
Ridenhour, Shocklee, Sadler |
Rufus Thomas Rufus Thomas, Jr. was an American rhythm and blues, funk and soul singer and comedian fromMemphis, Tennessee, who recorded on Sun Records in the... |
5:19 |
| 4 | "Cold Lampin' with Flavor" | Drayton, Shocklee, Sadler |
Mr. Magic John "Mr. Magic" Rivas, was an important figure in the world of hip hop radio.-Biography:Mr. Magic debuted in 1981 on WHBI-FM in New York City with the first exclusive rap radio show to be aired on a major station... disapproving of "Public Enemy No. 1") Sweet (band) Sweet was a British rock band that rose to worldwide fame in the 1970s as one of the most prominent glam rock acts, with the classic line-up of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer Mick Tucker.Sweet was formed in 1968 and achieved their first... The J.B.'s The J.B.'s were James Brown's band during the first half of the 1970s. On record the J.B.'s were sometimes billed under various alternate names such as The James Brown Soul Train, Maceo and the Macks, A.A.B.B., The First Family and The Last Word... Bobby Byrd Bobby Byrd born Robert Howard Byrd was an American funk/soul/R&B/gospel musician, songwriter and record producer. He was born in Toccoa, Georgia, and is a 1998 winner of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation's prestigious Pioneer Award... Double Dee and Steinski Double Dee and Steinski was a duo of hip hop producers, composed of Doug "Double Dee" DiFranco and Steven "Steinski" Stein. They achieved notoriety in the early 1980s for a series of underground hip-hop sample-based collages known as the "Lessons".... Beastie Boys Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar.... |
4:17 |
| 5 | "Terminator X to the Edge of Panic" | Rogers, Ridenhour, Drayton |
Flash (song) "Flash" is a song by British rock group Queen. Written by guitarist Brian May, "Flash" is the theme song of the 1980 film Flash Gordon. The soundtrack released to coincide with the film contained only the music composed and performed by Queen.... " by Queen Queen (band) Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor... The Grunt "The Grunt" is a funk instrumental recorded in 1970 by James Brown's band The J.B.'s. It was released as a two-part single on King. Part 1 of the recording was included on The J.B.'s 1972 album Food for Thought. It was one of only two instrumental singles recorded by the original J.B.'s lineup with... " by The J.B.'s Big Audio Dynamite Big Audio Dynamite are a British musical group formed in 1984 by the ex-guitarist and singer of the Clash, Mick Jones. The group are noted for their effective mixture of varied musical styles, incorporating elements of punk rock, dance music, hip hop, reggae, and funk... Spoonie Gee Spoonie Gee is one of the earliest rap artists, and one of few rap artists to release records in the 1970s. He has been credited with originating the term 'hip hop' and some the themes in his music were precursors of Gangsta rap.... & the Treacherous Three Treacherous Three The Treacherous Three was a pioneering hip hop group that was formed in 1978 and consisted of DJ Easy Lee, Kool Moe Dee, L.A. Sunshine, Special K and Spoonie Gee , with occasional contributions from DJ Dano B, DJ Reggie Reg and DJ Crazy Eddie... |
4:31 |
| 6 | "Mind Terrorist" | —— | —— | 1:21 |
| 7 | "Louder Than a Bomb" | Ridenhour, Shocklee, Sadler |
Mountain (band) Mountain is an American hard rock band that formed in Long Island, New York in 1969. Originally comprising vocalist and guitarist Leslie West, bassist Felix Pappalardi and drummer N. D. Smart, the band broke up in 1972 before reuniting in 1974 and remaining active until today... T La Rock Clarence "Terry" Ronnie Keaton , known by the stage name T La Rock, is an American old-school emcee best known for his collaboration with Def Jam Recordings co-founder Rick Rubin and the 1984 single "It's Yours." He disappeared from the hip hop scene after a traumatic brain injury in 1994, but as... and Jazzy Jay Jazzy Jay Jazzy Jay born in Beaufort, South Carolina, United States, November 18, 1961), also known as The Original Jazzy Jay or DJ Jazzy Jay, is a pioneering American hip hop DJ and producer. He has collected roughly 400,000 records.-Background:... Kurtis Blow Kurt Walker , better known by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is an American rapper and record producer. He is one of the first commercially successful rappers and the first to sign with a major record label... Davy DMX Davy DMX is the stage name of David Reeves, a figure in hip-hop music. His career began in his hometown of Queens, New York as a DJ in the late 1970s. He is mostly known for his popular single "One for the Treble" released in 1984... Bob James (musician) Robert McElhiney James is a jazz keyboardist, arranger and producer.-Biography:During the 1970s, Bob James played a major role in establishing the smooth jazz genre. "Angela", the instrumental theme from the sitcom Taxi, is probably Bob James' most well-known work to date... Kool & the Gang Kool & the Gang are an American jazz, R&B, soul, and funk group, originally formed as the Jazziacs in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1964.They went through several musical phases during the course of their recording career, starting out with a purist jazz sound, then becoming practitioners of R&B and... Grandwizard Theodore & the Fantastic Five Grandwizard Theodore & the Fantastic Five was an old school hip hop group, best known for their 12" single, "Can I Get A Soul Clap" -History:... |
3:38 |
| 8 | "Caught, Can We Get a Witness?" | Ridenhour, Shocklee, Sadler |
Fred Wesley Fred Wesley is an American jazz and funk trombonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s and 1970s.-Biography:... and The J.B.'s Theme from Shaft "Theme from Shaft", written and recorded by Isaac Hayes in 1971, is the soul and funk-styled theme song to the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film, Shaft... " by Isaac Hayes Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the... |
4:53 |
| 9 | "Show 'Em Whatcha Got" | —— |
Lafayette Afro Rock Band Lafayette Afro Rock Band was a French funk rock band formed in Roosevelt, Long Island, New York in 1970. Though almost unknown in their native United States, they are now universally celebrated as one of the standout funk bands of the 1970s and admired for their use of break beats.Upon their... |
1:56 |
| 10 | "She Watch Channel Zero?!" | Ridenhour, Griffin, Shocklee, Sadler, Drayton |
Angel of Death (song) "Angel of Death" is the opening track on the American thrash metal band Slayer's 1986 album Reign in Blood. The lyrics and music were written by Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman and are based on Nazi ″physician″ Josef Mengele, who conducted human experiments at the Auschwitz concentration camp during... " by Slayer Slayer Slayer is an American thrash metal band formed in Huntington Park, California, in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer rose to fame with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, and is credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal acts, along with Metallica, Megadeth and... |
3:49 |
| 11 | "Night of the Living Baseheads Night of the Living Baseheads "Night of the Living Baseheads" is the third single released by hip hop group Public Enemy, from their critically acclaimed album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. The lyrics deal with the effects of crack cocaine on African-Americans during the 1980s crack epidemic, referring to the... " |
Ridenhour, Shocklee, Sadler |
Louis Farrakhan Louis Farrakhan Muhammad, Sr. is the leader of the African-American religious movement the Nation of Islam . He served as the minister of major mosques in Boston and Harlem, and was appointed by the longtime NOI leader, Elijah Muhammad, before his death in 1975, as the National Representative of... /Khalid Abdul Muhammad Khalid Abdul Muhammad Khalid Abdul Muhammad was an African American activist who came to prominence as the National Assistant to Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam . After a 1993 speech at Kean College Khalid was condemned and removed from his position in the Nation of Islam by Louis Farrakhan... ESG (band) ESG are a band that emerged from the South Bronx, New York, U.S. in the early 1980's. Trouser Press called it "one of the most dynamic bands that New York could offer at the top of the '80s." ESG have been influential across a wide range of musical genres, including hip hop, post punk, disco,... Fame (David Bowie song) "Fame" is a song recorded by David Bowie, initially released in 1975. It reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the week of September 20, 1975.-Song development:... " by David Bowie David Bowie David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s... Dennis Coffey Dennis Coffey is an American guitarist. He was a studio musician for many soul and R&B recordings.-Biography:Coffey learned to play guitar at the age of thirteen, in the Michigan Upper Peninsula town of Copper City... and The Detroit Guitar Band Kurtis Blow Kurt Walker , better known by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is an American rapper and record producer. He is one of the first commercially successful rappers and the first to sign with a major record label... Rock Steady (Aretha Franklin song) "Rock Steady" is a song written and performed by Aretha Franklin and released in 1971, from the album Young, Gifted and Black. The single reached the #9 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 charts that same year. It also peaked at #2 on the Best Selling Soul Singles chart... " by Aretha Franklin Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All... The Temptations The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,... Sly & the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone were an American rock, funk, and soul band from San Francisco, California. Active from 1966 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of soul, funk, and psychedelic music... Fab Five Freddy Fred Brathwaite , more popularly known as Fab 5 Freddy, is an American Hip hop historian, Hip hop pioneer and former graffiti artist... Salt-N-Pepa Salt-N-Pepa is an American hip hop trio from Queens and Brooklyn, New York, that was formed in 1985. The group, consisting of Cheryl "Salt" Renee James, Sandra "Pepa" Denton, and Deidra "DJ Spinderella" Roper, was one of the first all-female rap crews.... |
3:14 |
| 12 | "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" is a song by the American hip hop group Public Enemy from their second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back... " |
Ridenhour, Shocklee, Sadler, Drayton |
Little Green Apples "Little Green Apples" is a song written by Bobby Russell which was most successful as a 1968 hit single by O. C. Smith.According to Buzz Cason, who partnered Bobby Russell in the Nashville-based Rising Sons music publishing firm, Russell wrote both the songs "Honey" and "Little Green Apples" as "an... " by The Escorts Living for the City "Living for the City" is a 1973 hit single by Stevie Wonder for the Tamla label, from his Innervisions album. Reaching #8 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and #1 on the R&B chart, the record is driven by a slow bass synth groove that manages to exude a certain amount of tension, an appropriate... " by Stevie Wonder Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist... |
6:23 |
| 13 | "Security of the First World" | —— | —— | 1:20 |
| 14 | "Rebel Without a Pause Rebel Without a Pause Rebel Without a Pause is a single by hip hop group Public Enemy from their groundbreaking 1988 album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. The title is a spoof of Rebel Without a Cause, a 1955 drama movie.-History:... " |
Ridenhour, Shocklee, Sadler, Rogers |
Chubb Rock Chubb Rock is a New York-based rapper who released several commercially successful hip hop albums in the early 1990s... |
5:02 |
| 15 | "Prophets of Rage" | Ridenhour, Shocklee, Sadler |
The Jackson 5 The Jackson 5 , later known as The Jacksons, were an American popular music family group from Gary, Indiana... Cold Sweat "Cold Sweat" is a song performed by James Brown and written by his bandleader Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis. Brown recorded it in May 1967. An edited version of "Cold Sweat" released as a two-part single on King Records was a #1 R&B hit, and reached number seven on the Pop Singles chart... " by James Brown Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire is an American soul and R&B band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969 by Verdine and Maurice White. Also known as EWF, the band has won six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards. They have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of... Original Concept Original Concept were an 80s hip hop group from Long Island, New York, arguably best known for their single, “Can You Feel It.” They only made one album and it was notable for the absence of lyrics on many of the tracks... |
3:18 |
| 16 | "Party for Your Right to Fight" | Ridenhour, Shocklee, Sadler |
Parliament (band) Parliament was a funk band most prominent during the 1970s. It and its sister act Funkadelic, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:... Funkadelic Funkadelic was an American band most prominent during the 1970s. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:... Get Up, Stand Up "Get Up, Stand Up" is a reggae song written by Bob Marley and Peter Tosh.The song originally appeared on The Wailers' 1973 album Burnin. It was recorded and played live in numerous versions by The Wailers and Bob Marley & The Wailers, along with solo versions by Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer... " by Bob Marley & the Wailers Bob Marley & The Wailers Bob Marley & The Wailers were a Jamaican reggae, ska and rocksteady band formed by Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer in 1963. Additional members were Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, Cherry Smith and Aston and Carlton Barrett... |
3:24 |
Personnel
Credits for It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back adapted from Allmusic.- Assistant production – Eric "Vietnam" Sadler
- Engineering – Greg Gordon, John Harrison, Jeff Jones, Jim Sabella, Nick Sansano, Christopher Shaw, Matt Tritto, Chuck Valle
- Executive production – Rick Rubin
- Mixing – Keith Boxley, DJ Chuck Chillout, Steven Ett, Rod Hui
- Photography – Glen E. Friedman
- Production – Carl Ryder, Hank Shocklee
- Production supervisor – Bill Stephney
- Programming – Eric "Vietnam" Sadler, Hank Shocklee
- Scratching – Norman Rogers, Johnny Juice Rosado
- Turntables – Johnny Juice Rosado, Terminator X
- Vocals – Harry Allen, Chuck D, Fab 5 Freddy, Flavor Flav, Erica Johnson, Oris Josphe, Professor Griff
Album
| Chart (1988) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Netherlands (MegaCharts MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... ) |
40 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
8 |
| US Billboard Top LPs Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
42 |
| US Billboard Top Black Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999... |
1 |
Certifications
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Dance Music/Club Play Singles | U.S. Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales Hot Dance Singles Sales Hot Dance Singles Sales is a chart released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States, established in 1985. It measures the sale of commercially released singles that deal with dance music and remixes... |
U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales chart is the sales component chart of Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. It is not the R&B subset of The Hot 100 Singles Sales, but rather a separate panel of sales of commercial singles in the urban market... |
U.S. Hot Rap Singles | |||
| 1988 | "Don't Believe the Hype Don't Believe the Hype "Don't Believe the Hype" is the second single of Public Enemy's second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. The song's lyrics are mostly about the political issues that were current in the U.S. at the time of its release. "Don't Believe the Hype" charted at number 18 on the U.S.... " |
21 | 17 | 18 | — | |
| "Night of the Living Baseheads Night of the Living Baseheads "Night of the Living Baseheads" is the third single released by hip hop group Public Enemy, from their critically acclaimed album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. The lyrics deal with the effects of crack cocaine on African-Americans during the 1980s crack epidemic, referring to the... " |
— | — | 62 | — | ||
| "Bring the Noise Bring the Noise "Bring the Noise" is a song by the hip hop group Public Enemy. It was included on the soundtrack of the 1987 film Less Than Zero and was also released as a single that year. It later became the first song on the group's 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back... " |
— | — | 56 | — | ||
| 1989 | "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" is a song by the American hip hop group Public Enemy from their second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back... " |
— | — | 86 | 11 | |
| "—" denotes a release that did not chart. | ||||||
Accolades
The information regarding accolades attributed to It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is taken from AcclaimedMusic.net.| Publication | Country | Accolade | Year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| About.com About.com About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company.... |
USA United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
100 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums | 2008 | 2 |
| 10 Essential Hip-Hop Albums | 2008 | 2 | ||
| Adresseavisen Adresseavisen Adresseavisen is a regional newspaper published daily, except Sundays, in Trondheim, Norway. It is an independent, conservative newspaper with a daily circulation of approximately 85,000. It is also informally known as Adressa. The newspaper covers the areas of Trøndelag and Nordmøre.Adresseavisen... |
Norway Norway Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million... |
The 100 (+23) Best Albums of All Time | 1995 | 41 |
| Aftenposten Aftenposten Aftenposten is Norway's largest newspaper. It retook this position in 2010, taking it from the tabloid Verdens Gang which had been the largest newspaper for several decades. It is based in Oslo. The morning edition, which is distributed across all of Norway, had a circulation of 250,179 in 2007... |
Top 50 Albums of All Time | 1999 | 4 | |
| Alternative Press | USA | Top 99 Albums of '85 to '95 | 1995 | 6 |
| Amazon.com Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and... |
The 10 Best Albums by Decade | 1999 | 1 | |
| The Anarchist | UK United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
The 33 Best Albums Ever | 1997 | 4 |
| BigO | Singapore Singapore Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the... |
The 100 Best Albums from 1975 to 1995 | 1995 | 29 |
| Blender Blender (magazine) Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities.... |
USA | The 100 Greatest American Albums of All Time | 2002 | 11 |
| 500 CDs You Must Own Before You Die | 2003 | * | ||
| Blow Up | Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... |
600 Essential Albums | 2005 | |
| Channel 4 | UK | 125 Nominations for the 100 Greatest Albums | ||
| Robert Christgau Robert Christgau Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns... |
USA | Personal 10 Best Albums from the '80s | 1990 | 8 |
| The Courier-Mail The Courier-Mail The Courier-Mail is a daily newspaper published in Brisbane, Australia. Owned by News Limited, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner northern suburbs, and it is printed at Murarrie, in Brisbane's... |
Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... |
50 Defining Rock Albums | 2005 | 42 |
| Dagbladet Dagbladet Dagbladet is Norway's second largest tabloid newspaper, and the third largest newspaper overall with a circulation of 105,255 copies in 2009, 18,128 papers less than in 2008. The editor in chief is Lars Helle.... |
Norway | The Best Albums of the Century | 1999 | * |
| Dance de Lux | Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... |
The 25 Best Hip-Hop Records | 2001 | 1 |
| Robert Dimery (General Editor) | — | 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die is a musical reference book edited by Robert Dimery, first published in 2005. The most recent edition consists of a list of albums released between 1955 and 2010, part of a series from Quintessence Editions Ltd... |
2005 | * |
| Discoplay | Spain | The 50 Best Albums of All Time | 1997 | |
| Eggen & Kartvedt | Norway | The Guide to the 100 Important Rock Albums | 1999 | |
| Ego Trip Ego trip (magazine) ego trip was the name of a hip hop magazine started in New York City in 1994. It lasted four years and 13 issues and distinguished itself based on its irreverence and defiant attitude, eventually adopting the tagline, "the arrogant voice of musical truth."-Description:The roots of the publication... |
USA | Hip Hop's 25 Greatest Albums by Year 1980-98 | 1 | |
| Entertainment Weekly Entertainment Weekly Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture... |
The 100 Greatest CDs of All Time | 1993 | 33 | |
| Expressen Expressen Expressen is one of two nationwide evening tabloid newspapers in Sweden, the other being Aftonbladet. Expressen was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and slogans "it stings" or "Expressen to your rescue", always on the reader's side.... |
Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... |
The 100 Best Records Ever | 1999 | 66 |
| The Face The Face (magazine) The Face was a British music, fashion and culture monthly magazine started in May 1980 by Nick Logan.-1980s:Logan had previously created the teen pop magazine Smash Hits, and had been an editor at the New Musical Express in the 1970s before launching The Face in 1980.The magazine was influential in... |
UK | Albums of the Year | 1988 | 9 |
| Fast 'n' Bulbous | USA | The 500 Best Albums Since 1965 | — | 80 |
| Gear Gear (magazine) Gear was an English language lad's mag published by Bob Guccione, Jr. in the United Kingdom devoted chiefly to revealing pictorials of popular singers, B-movie actresses, and models, along with articles on gadgets, cars, fashion, guy tales of sex, and sports.Gear debuted in September 1998, with... |
The 100 Greatest Albums of the Century | 1999 | 14 | |
| The Guardian The Guardian The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format... |
UK | The 100 Best Albums Ever | 1997 | 20 |
| Joe S. Harrington, Blastitude | USA | The All-Time Top 100 Albums | 2001 | 27 |
| Helsingin Sanomat Helsingin Sanomat Helsingin Sanomat is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. In 2008, its daily circulation was 412,421 on weekdays and 468,505 on Sundays... |
Finland Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside... |
50th Anniversary of Rock | 2004 | * |
| IE | USA | 50 Great Albums, a Rock Time Capsule | 1999 | |
| Juice TV Juice TV Juice TV is a 24 hour music television channel operating from the Auckland suburb of Parnell in New Zealand. It is the only music channel that is New Zealand based.-History:... |
Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... |
The 50 Best Albums of All Time | 1997 | 19 |
| KCPR KCPR KCPR is a non-profit freeform college radio station at California Polytechnic State University , San Luis Obispo, California. Its operating frequency is 91.3 MHz FM and covers approximately a 50 mile radius from San Luis Obispo... DJs |
USA | Top 100 Records from the 80s | 2002 | 43 |
| Kitsap Sun Kitsap Sun The Kitsap Sun is a newspaper in Bremerton, Washington, that covers general news. It serves the West Sound, covering Kitsap, Jefferson and Mason counties, has a circulation of about 30,000 and reaches over 100,000 adult readers seven days a week.... |
Top 200 Albums of the Last 40 Years | 2005 | 53 | |
| David Kleijwegt | Netherlands Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders... |
Top 100 Albums of All Time | 1999 | 47 |
| Les Inrockuptibles Les Inrockuptibles Les Inrockuptibles is a French cultural magazine. Started as a monthly magazine in 1986, it became weekly in 1995. The name is a play on "Les Incorruptibles", the French title of the American television series The Untouchables... |
France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... |
The 100 Best Albums 1986-1996 | 1996 | 44 |
| 50 Years of Rock'n'Roll | 2004 | * | ||
| List by Asian Critics | — | 100 Essential Albums | — | |
| Melody Maker Melody Maker Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody... |
UK | Albums of the Year | 1988 | 28 |
| All Time Top 100 Albums | 2000 | 17 | ||
| Mojo Mojo (magazine) MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music... |
The 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made | 1995 | 76 | |
| Tom Moon | USA | 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die | 2008 | * |
| Paul Morley Paul Morley Paul Morley is an English journalist, who wrote for the New Musical Express from 1977 to 1983, during one of its most successful periods, and has since written for a wide range of publications... |
UK | Words and Music, 5 x 100 Greatest Albums of All Time | 2003 | * |
| Musik Express/Sounds NME The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles... |
Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
The 100 Masterpieces | 1993 | 92 |
| The 50 Best Albums from the 80s | 2003 | 3 | ||
| Muzik Muzik Muzik was a UK dance music magazine published by IPC Media from June 1995 to August 2003.Muzik was created by two former Melody Maker journalists, Push and Ben Turner. Push was the editor of Muzik from its launch until he left the magazine in 1998, at which point Turner took over as editor... |
UK | The 50 Most Influential Records of All Time | * | |
| Top 50 Dance Albums of All Time | 2002 | 19 | ||
| New Musical Express NME The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles... |
40 Records That Captured the Moment 1952-91 | 1992 | * | |
| Albums of the Year | 1988 | 1 | ||
| All Times Top 100 Albums + Top 50 by Decade | 1993 | 9 | ||
| Top 100 Albums of All Time | 2003 | 29 | ||
| New Nation New Nation This article is about the British newspaper, which is not to be confused with the Apartheid-era New Nation published in Johannesburg, South Africa or the satirical publication in Singapore.... |
Top 100 Albums by Black Artists | — | 3 | |
| Nieuwe Revu Nieuwe Revu The Nieuwe Revu is a weekly general interest magazine from The Netherlands, coming out on Wednesday and is written in Dutch.The magazine was an explicitly left winged in the seventies with a big focus on sex, sensation and socialism.-Editorial board:... |
Netherlands | Top 100 Albums of All Time | 1994 | 34 |
| NPR | USA | The 300 Most Important American Records of the 20th Century | 1999 | * |
| OOR Muziekkrant OOR Muziekkrant OOR is the oldest currently published music magazine in the Netherlands. The name "OOR" is the Dutch word for ear.-History:The magazine was first published on 1 April 1971, being founded by Barend Toet . Of the first issue 20,000 copies were printed and paid for by Berry Visser, one of... |
Netherlands | Albums of the Year | 1988 | 4 |
| The Best Albums of 1971-1991 | 1991 | 1 | ||
| The Best Albums of the 80s | 1989 | |||
| Panorama | Norway | The 30 Best Albums of the Year 1970-98 | 1999 | 12 |
| Pause & Play | USA | 10 Albums of the 80's | 2003 | * |
| Albums Inducted into a Time Capsule, One Album per Week | — | |||
| Pitchfork Media Pitchfork Media Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock... |
Top 100 Favorite Records of the 1980s | 2002 | 9 | |
| Platekompaniet | Norway | Top 100 Albums of All Time | 2001 | 54 |
| Pop | Sweden | The World's 100 Best Albums + 300 Complements | 1994 | 15 |
| Pure Pop | Mexico Mexico The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of... |
The 10 (+50) Most Important Albums of All Time | 2004 | 1 |
| The Best Albums of All Time | 1993 | 21 | ||
| Q Q (magazine) Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology... |
UK | The 80 Best Records of the 80s | 2006 | 7 |
| Albums of the Year | 1988 | * | ||
| In Our Lifetime: Q's 100 Best Albums 1986-94 | 1995 | |||
| Top 20 Albums from 1980 to 2004 | 2004 | 9 | ||
| Top 20 Albums from the Lifetime of Q (1986–2006) | — | * | ||
| The Ultimate Music Collection | 2005 | |||
| Radio WXPN WXPN WXPN is a non-commercial, public radio station operated by the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia that broadcasts a music radio format called adult album alternative , along with many other format shows supported all with an indie slant... |
USA | The 100 Most Progressive Albums | 1996 | 28 |
| Record Collector Record Collector Record Collector is the United Kingdom's longest-running monthly music magazine. It distributes both within the UK and worldwide. It started in 1979.-The early years:... |
UK | 10 Classic Albums from 21 Genres for the 21st Century | 2000 | * |
| Record Mirror Record Mirror Record Mirror was a British weekly pop music newspaper, founded by Isadore Green and featured, news articles, interviews, record charts, record reviews, concert reviews, letters from readers and photographs. The paper became respected by both mainstream pop music fans and serious record collectors... |
Albums of the Year | 1988 | 1 | |
| The Review | USA | 100 Greatest Albums of All Time | 2001 | 13 |
| Rock de Lux | Spain | The 100 Best Albums of the 1980s | 1990 | 4 |
| The 200 Best Albums of All Time | 2002 | 5 | ||
| Albums of the Year | 1988 | 1 | ||
| Rolling Stone Rolling Stone Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J... |
Germany | The 500 Best Albums of All Time | 2004 | 345 |
| Mexico | The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time | 11 | ||
| USA | The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:... |
2003 | 48 | |
| Albums of the Year | 1988 | 3 | ||
| The Essential 200 Rock Records | 1997 | * | ||
| Slant Magazine Slant Magazine Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :... |
Top 25 Electronic Albums | 2005 | 26 | |
| Soundi | Finland | The 50 Best Albums of All Time + Top 10 by Decade | 1995 | 8 |
| Sounds Sounds (magazine) Sounds was a long-term British music paper, published weekly from 10 October 1970 – 6 April 1991. It was produced by Spotlight Publications , which was set up by Jack Hutton and Peter Wilkinson, who left "Melody Maker" to start their own company... |
UK | Albums of the Year | 1988 | 20 |
| The Source The Source (magazine) The Source is a United States-based, monthly full-color magazine covering hip-hop music, politics, and culture, founded in 1988. It is the world's second longest running rap periodical, behind United Kingdom-based publication Hip Hop Connection. The Source was founded as a newsletter in 1988... |
USA | The 100 Best Rap Albums of All Time | 1998 | * |
| Spex Spex (magazine) Spex is a prominent German rock and pop culture magazine located in Berlin, Germany. Besides music news, Spex also covers literature, cinema, fashion and contemporary social trends... |
Germany | The 100 Albums of the Century | 1999 | 2 |
| Albums of the Year | 1988 | 3 | ||
| Spin Spin (magazine) Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard... |
USA | 100 Alternative Albums | 1995 | 2 |
| Top 100 (+5) Albums of the Last 20 Years | 2005 | |||
| The Sun | Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... |
The Best Albums from 1971 to 2000 | 2001 | * |
| Switch | Mexico | The 100 Best Albums of the 20th Century | 1999 | |
| Tempo Tempo In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:... |
Germany | The 100 Best Albums from the 80's | 1989 | 4 |
| Terrorizer | UK | The 100 Most Important Albums of the 80s | 2000 | * |
| Time Time (magazine) Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong... |
USA | Top 100 Albums of All Time | 2006 | |
| Treble | The Best Albums of the 80s, by Year | 3 | ||
| Uncut UNCUT (magazine) Uncut magazine, trademarked as UNCUT, is a monthly publication based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections... |
UK | 100 Rock and Movie Icons | 2005 | 55 |
| Various writers | — | Albums: 50 Years of Great Recordings | * | |
| VH1 VH1 VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly... |
USA | The 100 Greatest Albums of R 'N' R | 2001 | 20 |
| Vibe | 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century | 1999 | * | |
| 51 Albums representing a Generation, a Sound and a Movement | 2004 | |||
| The Village Voice The Village Voice The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City... |
Albums of the Year | 1988 | 1 | |
| Rickey Vincent | Five Star Albums from "FUNK: The MUSIC, the PEOPLE, and the RHYTHM | — | * | |
| VPRO VPRO The VPRO was established in the Netherlands in 1926 as a religious broadcasting organization. Falling under the Protestant pillar, it represented the Liberal Protestant current... |
Netherlands | 299 Nominations of the Best Album of All Time | 2006 | |
| Wiener | Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the... |
The 100 Best Albums of the 20th Century | 1999 | 19 |
| Yedioth Ahronoth Yedioth Ahronoth Yedioth Ahronoth is a daily newspaper published in Tel Aviv, Israel. Since the 1970s, it has been the most widely circulated paper in Israel. In a TGI survey comparing the last half of 2009 with the same period in 2008, Yedioth Ahronoth retained the title of most widely read newspaper in Israel... |
Israel Israel The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea... |
Top 99 Albums of All Time | 91 |
External links
- It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back at Pitchfork MediaPitchfork MediaPitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...