Break Machine – Street Dance.
I was eight years old when I bought this from an independent record store in Newcastle. I still own that copy and it’s still great to hear now. The trio followed up the single with Break Dance Party – another killer tune.
I love the staccato rising and falling of the synthetic bassline, along with the tom rolls that comprise the song: those fundamental features of ’80s electro. The whistled hook is rendered incidental due to its unnecessary complexity, and I can only imagine that came about when leader of the group, Keith Rodgers, was trying to explain the sequence of notes in his head to producers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo, and they said: “Let’s record that.” And thus, a pop hit was born.
For me, the best part comes during the gated keyboard solo at around 2.10: excellent entry and exit. When I was eight, I was attending breakdancing classes in Gateshead, and it breaks my heart to see how street dance has evolved from something that really was ‘street’ to an unfeeling corporate-approved art that manifests each pop video clamouring for credibility. It’s hard to believe we may never see a decent hip-hop film again (the last one was ‘Scratch’).
Street Dance is a combination of great pop music facilitating exposure to an underground form. Though it was people like Melle Mel, DJ Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa’s influence that drove the underground and the Sugarhill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight that broke through into the charts, this song was my personal introduction to hip-hop: an art form that was already aging.
Break Machine’s Keith Rodgers - thank you. I salute you.