On this day in music history: November 3, 1987 – “Push It” by Salt-N-Pepa is released. Written and produced by Hurby Azor, it is the fourth single (fifth overall) for the Hip Hop/Rap trio from Queens, NY. In mid 1985, Cheryl James and Sandra Denton meet while attending Queensborough Community College. The pair also work at Sears along with another mutual friend named Hurby Azor. He asks the pair if they can rap on a project he is doing for an audio production course he’s taking. James and Denton agree, recording an response to Doug E. Fresh’s “The Show”. Dubbing the duo Super Nature, the song titled “The Show Stoppa (Is Stupid Fresh)” (#46 R&B) soon makes its way on the radio in New York City. The response is so strong that it’s released by Philly based Pop Art Records. Cheryl and Sandra are then signed to fledgling New York based dance and rap label Next Plateau Records. With this, the group change their name, and they become Salt (James) -N- Pepa (Denton), also adding Latoya Hansen (“Spinderella”) as their DJ. The trio stand out immediately, and don’t take long to make an impact. The singles “My Mic Sounds Nice” and “I’ll Take Your Man” perform well enough to warrant a full album. Before that happens, Hansen leaves and is replaced by Deidra “DeDe” Roper who becomes the new Spinderella. One of the tracks recorded for their debut album “Hot, Cool & Vicious” is a rap cover of Otis Redding and Carla Thomas’ soul classic “Tramp”. Needing a “throw away” B-side, they quickly record the up tempo track “Push It”. Initially released in March of 1987, “Tramp” becomes a sizable R&B hit, peaking at #21, but at first most pay little attention to the B-side. By Summer, “Push It” begins getting play in clubs, but doesn’t truly go overground until fate intervenes. In San Francisco, CA, a club DJ named Cameron Paul begins spinning it during his weekly gig at City Nights, and on his mix show on urban crossover power house KMEL. Paul decides to create his own remix, adding keyboards, another drum track and edits. Already gaining popularity on the station in its original mix, “Push It” explodes on local Bay Area radio with Paul’s remix. It is first issued by the DJ subscription service Mixx-It Records, Next Plateau then buys the rights to Cameron Paul’s remix, adding it to the album and releasing it as a single. “Push It” becomes a radio smash, peaking at #19 on the Hot 100 and #28 on the R&B chart. It propels “Hot, Cool & Vicious” past the Platinum mark in the US, and Salt-N-Pepa make further history when they are among the first group of artists nominated for the first Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance in 1989. “Push It” is later parodied on the comedy series “In Living Color” in a sketch called “Cookin’ With Salt-N-Pepa”, and is used to great comic effect when Salt-N-Pepa and Spinderella appear in a commercial for Geico Insurance in 2014. “Push It” is certified Platinum in the US by the RIAA.
On this day in music history: November 3, 1992 – “Love Deluxe”, the fourth album by Sade is released (UK release date is on October 26, 1992). Produced by Sade and Mike Pela, it is recorded at Studio Condulmer in Venice, Italy, Ridge Farm Studios in Capel, Surrey, UK, The Hit Factory in London and Image Recording in Los Angeles, CA from May – August 1992. Returning from a more than three year long hiatus after the release of their previous album “Stronger Than Pride”, Sade begin work on their fourth release in the Spring of 1992. Working on a very tight timeline, the band write and record the album in a relatively brief and intense four months. Most of “Love Deluxe” is recorded in Venice during the Spring and Summer, moving to London and Surrey, with the final recording taking place in Los Angeles. During the sessions, Sade herself often writes her lyrics while listening to the already completed tracks, then recording vocals singing into a Shure SM 57 microphone in either a vocal booth in the studio control room. Lyrically many of the songs focus on themes of “unreciprocated love”, with the intensely private singer giving listeners a glimpse into her tumultuous marriage to Spanish film director Carlos Pliego. Along with meditations on relationships (or the lack thereof), one of the emotional centerpieces of “Love Deluxe” is the powerful ballad “Pearls”. The songs’ narrative follows the struggle of a Somalian woman foraging for food by the road side to feed her daughter, and rejoicing at the few meager grains she scrapes from the dirt. The song is later given a deep house remix, which is rejected by the band for commercial release. However, the remix slips out as a bootleg and becomes a big underground club hit. Led by the mesmerizing first single “No Ordinary Love” (#28 Pop, #9 R&B, #14 AC), it wins Sade their second Grammy Award in 1994 for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, and is also prominently featured in the film “Indecent Proposal”. The elegant and understated cover art work features a striking sepia toned photo of Sade covered in bronze body paint, taken by famed fashion photographer Albert Watson. The album spins off three other singles including “Kiss Of Life” (#78 Pop, #10 R&B, #20 AC), “Cherish The Day” (#116 Pop, #45 R&B) and “Feel The Pain” (#59 R&B). The album is remastered and reissued on CD in 2000, and is reissued on vinyl by Music On Vinyl in 2010. “Love Deluxe” peaks at number three on the Billboard Top 200, number two on the R&B album chart, and is certified 4x Platinum in the US by the RIAA.
“And while we’re on the subject, I’d like to say a few words about escapism. I hear the term bandied about as if it’s a bad thing. As if “escapist” fiction is a cheap opiate used by the muddled and the foolish and the deluded, and the only fiction that is worthy, for adults or for children, is mimetic fiction, mirroring the worst of the world the reader finds herself in. If you were trapped in an impossible situation, in an unpleasant place, with people who meant you ill, and someone offered you a temporary escape, why wouldn’t you take it? And escapist fiction is just that: fiction that opens a door, shows the sunlight outside, gives you a place to go where you are in control, are with people you want to be with(and books are real places, make no mistake about that); and more importantly, during your escape, books can also give you knowledge about the world and your predicament, give you weapons, give you armour: real things you can take back into your prison. Skills and knowledge and tools you can use to escape for real. As JRR Tolkien reminded us, the only people who inveigh against escape are jailers.”
The Last Good Bar 
You must be logged in to post a comment.