What I Am Listening To

I owned this album when it came out in 1984. I can recall being introduced to it by friends at school, but honestly can not remember how or in what form. In 2019, there are so many ways to hear music, be it Spotify, Sirius, iTunes, on and on. I imagine it was a cassette tape that I heard first, as my friends and I used to exchange these like kids today share Spotify playlists. What I do remember clearly is being blown away by the freshness and clarity of this ‘new’ form of music. It was bare, raw and just so powerful in the beats and message. I was already familiar with some early hip-hop, such as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, but RUN-DMC was different. How, I probably could not understand as a fourteen year old. But, often meaningful music isnt something you need to understand because its the feeling it gives you that is memorable. How memorable RUN-DMC’s first album is debatable, and will it make it to my upcoming list of the best albums of 1984? Wait and see.