Ok, so I have this skeleton in my closet and his name is Public Enemy. I can't stand most rap music made these days but sometime in the late '80s, in middle school, I got really into rap music. Because that's what skinny white kids in farm towns do. I was 14, cut me some slack. Yo.

So today I was pissed off because somebody just tore the mirror off of my car (I parallel park these days as I don't live in the farm town anymore). And when I'm pissed I buy things. So I bought a new (vintage) amplifier but that didn't make me happier. So I went to the next block down from the audio store where the record store is. And they had Public Enemy's "It takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back." The PERFECT music to be pissed off to. On..180 gram vinyl?

One of the THE best albums of all times. I don't care what you like or listen to, this kicks booty. If only rap had gone down this path. Angry, intelligent, educated, and most importantly-musically-it's just simply revolutionary. And I haven't heard it in years.

So now I'm sitting at home on a Saturday night by myself, with my new amplifier (VA Systems model 3, 125 very nice wpc) wired into my painstakingly set up vintage system, including Dahquist DQ10s and a late '60s Sony preamp...and I'm blasting Public Enemy.

!!!!!!

This is what it's about. Sometimes it ain't about soundstage. It's not about timbre or frequency response. It's about dumb stupid fun. I am having a blast. I have NEVER heard this album sound like this. It is actually really well mastered, and the 180gram is tracking perfectly sounding, um, louder than a bomb (inside joke).

I have read a couple of posts here or elsewhere about people who have spent so much $$$ trying to assemble a high end system only to never have the music affect them like it did when they heard it the first time when they were kids. They wonder why their system doesn't give them chills like their crappy all in one back in the day. You know what I have to say to that?

Y'all been wasting your money. This BLOWS away my Panasonic all-in-one.

I'm 14 again, for one night at least. I don't know where the last 20 years have gone but Public Enemy sure sounds better on a good system, even if i does seem a little bit wrong somehow.

cheers,
a happ, rambling, John.

I used to rock it out on cassette tape.
I was so pissed when the cassette got broke.
I was also about 14-16ish when I listened to it.
I might be tempted to buy it on vinyl now.

You shouldn't be ashamed to admit you listen to anything John, although I get where you're coming from with the thread title. :D That's really great though, this is what it's all about.

I rocked this on cassette, too. Dubbed cassette. Maybe it was even 3rd generation. I was listening to the vinyl thinking a certain song was on Side A but then Side A ended and it wasn't there. Then I remembered..oh yeah, I had taped it from a friend and thus Side A went a lot longer on a TDK 90.

Ah, memories.

I'm really not ashamed at all...it just seems weird to be listening to this on such nice equipment when I remember it so fondly on a walkman.

By the way, this amp that I bought today is awesome. VA systems is pretty obscure and I bought it on a hunch and man if it isn't the best sounding amp I own. Really takes the edge off of the Dahquists and has one of the best midranges I have heard.

Great song after great song after great song.One of the most ecclectic and intelligent albums of the 80's.Its impossible to follow an album of that power.Fear of a Black Planet is good,but not even close.
JImmy

That's one of the greatest albums of all times.
Not just in the rap catagory. Enjoy it

Public Enemy albums had me looking for as much James Brown material as i could find on vinyl.

I didn't get around to saying much about how great it sounds on vinyl. I mean, I'm sure I'm hearing stuff I didn't before because I normally heard it on a dubbed tape but it sounds a lot better than I expected (I guess if you sample good records, your record will sound good, too). The production team on this (bombsquad I think they were called) have created a sonic masterpiece here, just a collage of sound. A true work of pop-art, and a musical cultural statement unrivaled, in my opinion, since.

Now I'm listening to The Cure's Disintegration, also on vinyl but not 180gram....just the same copy I've had forever. It's like a late '80s time machine in the Chateau-John tonight. This is the music that made me forget about rap, and more suits my persona I think.

Public Enemy is good stuff.

Like you said Angry, intelligent, educated, and most importantly-musically-it's just simply revolutionary I believe they inspired a lot of groups of all genres. Too bad rap turned into bling-bling gangsta crap in the 90s, kind of funny because rock did the opposite going from 80s cheese to 90s grunge. Run DMC is also good for kicking it old school ;) Not political really but good music. I don't like rap in general but there are a few good albums like these.

If you're going to have one PE album, that is the one to have, John.

Boogie Down Productions' "By all means necessary" was another favorite of mine.

Yeah, PE never really made another perfect album. Yo! Bum rush the Show had it's moments, but it was only a taste of what was to come next, and afterwords they sort of were all over the place. Nation of millions....was the peak.

And now Flavor Flav has...well...he's probably single handedly erased any progress that album made.

I still remember every single word on this, though.

Very cool! We all have different tastes when it comes to music. Play what makes you happy!

Well, even I have different tastes than....myself! Tonight's playlist was Public Enemy's aformentioned LP, Cat Stevens "tea for the tillerman", David Bowies "Ziggy Stardust", The Cures "Disintigration", then an hour of the classical music station, then Pete Seeger, then indie band My Morning Jacket, the Peter Gabriel. It's been an eclectic evening.

"Play what makes you happy"...words to live by. I believe it should apply to both the music you listen to, and the gear that you play it on.

Nice playlist. :yes:

Can't agree more with you John VF, had that same feeling last night when I was playing ELO. I am 54 and think MM was brilliant at least on his first few albums. MM. Randy Travis,Howlin Wolf,Sinatra, if its good its good. Open mind is like an open note book, I can't write fast enough.

Hi JohnVF,

As a young 51 year old Black man, I am appalled by what some of these young hoodlums are peddling as rap music these days. The social consciousness & cerebral fortitude groups like PE brought to the table was much needed at the time & now as well.

Music is a bridge to understanding each other, but if it is broken or ragged, that way is hindered.

Just a thought,
Rome

Finally. P.E. and B.D.P. are among the most important artists of the last 25 years. No question.

I still have the first KRS One album I bought when I was a kid.
:)

Nation of millions is a GREAT album..... BDP's Edutainment digs deeper. Much deeper. It's such a treat to listen too. The topics KRS touches go so deep that you forget about the beat and you focus on his verses. But then again Nation Of Millions is one of KRS favorite albums

Hi JohnVF,

As a young 51 year old Black man, I am appalled by what some of these young hoodlums are peddling as rap music these days. The social consciousness & cerebral fortitude groups like PE brought to the table was much needed at the time & now as well.

Music is a bridge to understanding each other, but if it is broken or ragged, that way is hindered.

Just a thought,
Rome

I had listened to PE growing up in my all-white middle class suburban Ohio town, and it was basically my introduction to the fact that hey, the whole world doesn't live like I do. In 9th grade (1989) I took a field trip to New York City and understood the album much better after that. It really was a bridge to understanding the world outside my own, and was part of the many learning experiences that made me want to grow up and move out of my small town.

I own it too.....:thmbsp:

Hi JohnVF,

Great sentiment of thought.

Rome

The first time I heard that album, I was too poor to pay rent and was crashing on the floor of my friends' sun porch. Ah, one's twenties, eh?

Anyway no matter how poor I've been at various points in my life I buy music- it uplifts my soul, keeps me company, helps me vent my anger. And I was feeling pretty sorry for myself, but I also felt it was in part due the Way Things Are in the modern world. This album had only been out a short while and grabbed it. I remember just me and my sleeping bag and backpack on this sun porch. I had a box of books, a crate of records, and my stereo, and that was IT- no other possessions to my name. My turntable was actually on the floor, about a foot from my head (And this is where my turntable was most of the eighties, by the way, about a foot from my bed). I cued it up and put on headphones and fell asleep to that album for several nights in a row! Weird music for bedtime, but I really enjoyed this album that way for some reason- as the OP points out, this is one album that really stands up to closer scrutiny, and I pretty much memorized it that year.

Cool to hear it's good on 180 grams! Now I'm gonna have to get one myself and relive some of my own memories.

Are you kidding me? PE was incredible... We could use their political voice right now!

PE kicks ass. Turn it up! My favorite rap is some old Eric B and Rakim. Microphone Fiend is where my nick comes from.

Just to be clear, I didn't mean to make it sound like I didn't respect them in the title...Public Enemy just didn't seem the kind of thing I thought I'd find on 180 gram vinyl. It was great to see that a painstakingly put together system could bring out the best in it...it sounds FANTASTIC. I really need my college system...Pioneer receiver and Realistic Mach Ones...wait, actually, my current system has MUCH better bass than that, actually, curtesy of a hefty Velodyne subwoofer.

What's strange is that I realized last night that I'd hardly ever NOT heard this album on headphones. I used to run track, and this was the soundtrack to many a long run. It just kept me going.

by the way, "Yo, Bum rush the show" is also out on 180gram, and I think some of the BDP stuff, but I could be wrong about the latter. It's a great time to be into vinyl.

That would be awesome! Love that album!

Now I'm listening to The Cure's Disintegration, also on vinyl but not 180gram....just the same copy I've had forever. It's like a late '80s time machine in the Chateau-John tonight. This is the music that made me forget about rap, and more suits my persona I think.

That's my favorite album of all time. Someone needs to release that as a 180g audiophile pressing, or better yet, split it into two lp's and make it 45rpm! :drool:

I was always partial to "Fear Of A Black Planet" and would like to pick it up on 180g sometime.

As for B.D.P. "Edutainment" had the biggest bass of '90 and a cool album.

That's my favorite album of all time. Someone needs to release that as a 180g audiophile pressing, or better yet, split it into two lp's and make it 45rpm! :drool:

I'd run out to buy that.

JohnVF, you're in the zone man.. that's what it's all about.. putting together a good system you are happy with.. and just getting back to listening to the music... it may need tweaking or whatever.. but you found the zone with it didn't matter, the music mattered more. why? because that music from the 80's had a profound affect on your life.. it's something that still affects you today..

well done buddy. You've found that happy medium some of us never find because we're to stubborn to stop tinkering and just listen to the music. ;)

You've all made my day by mentioning P.E., B.D.P. and The Cure in the same thread.:banana:

There are some interesting things happening in Hip-hop, it's just not being played on the radio. Suffice to say the same thing about popular music, 99.9% of the stuff on the radio barely scratches the surface of the "good" stuff that deserves to be heard.
While I can't claim to know who the hottest underground Hip-Hop artist are, I do like Blackalicious' - Blazing Arrow and Gnarls Barkley's - Odd Couple. They are doing things much differently than the "I've got this much money and the girls in the clubs all want me" themes you hear on the "Hip-Hop" radio stations.

It's some good hip hop out there, indeed. That's why I had to start a hip hop playlist. It's even good commercial stuff out there. Some. Not all of it..LOL...but some.

Nice to see a young man listening to music, Putting togather a rig and having fun. Tastes vary, But we all like to kick back and listen to our favorite music.

JohnVF, you're in the zone man.. that's what it's all about.. putting together a good system you are happy with.. and just getting back to listening to the music... it may need tweaking or whatever.. but you found the zone with it didn't matter, the music mattered more. why? because that music from the 80's had a profound affect on your life.. it's something that still affects you today..

well done buddy. You've found that happy medium some of us never find because we're to stubborn to stop tinkering and just listen to the music. ;)

Well, I didn't clue you all in to the two weeks of tinkering that resulted when I decided to buy Dahlquist DQ-10s, even though I was perfectly happy with my Dahlquist DQ-30s! I had to switch out preamps, going from tube to vintage Sony SS, and buy a whole new amp with a bit more oomph. I had to switch my subwoofer off of home theater duty into the stereo set-up. I'm still not completely happy with how my turntable is sounding (actually, how my cartridge is sounding more than the table...it all sounded fine with the Dq-30s). And I also have another preamp on hold at a local audio store, and it would have been in the rig for this listening session but there was a bad solder joint in it discovered when I went to buy it.

So....it's ok, though. I love to tinker. The key to me is...I tinker so I can sit down and listen to the music that much more intently.

I have to say, it took a while but yes, I've gotten back to listening to music instead of listening to my gear.

That's my favorite album of all time. Someone needs to release that as a 180g audiophile pressing, or better yet, split it into two lp's and make it 45rpm! :drool:

Disintegration on two LPs at 45rpm. Oh, man....can you imagine? Have you heard the new Portishead that was done that way? My all time favorite recording is Joy Divisions Atmosphere (single) on 12" at 45rpm. It sounds unreal on a good system.

That's my favorite album of all time. Someone needs to release that as a 180g audiophile pressing, or better yet, split it into two lp's and make it 45rpm! :drool:

Man how I wish they would split pretty much every album into 45's:yes:

No Shame In Owning PE. I've got there first 3 albums all on CD,Tape and Vinyl. Haha I'm a bit of a nut when it comes to hiphop classics

Public Enemy should be played often and played loud. When I'm pissed at the general state of the world, I more often than not Crank Up some PE, The Clash (Give Em' Enough Rope) and may be Bobby Fuller: (I fought the law). Great stuff all and it has a calming effect. Beats choaking someone, even if they have it coming.