Steve 'Flash' JuonIn some ways I envy those of you who weren’t alive in 1986. The Chernobyl disaster instilled a life-long fear of nuclear power in me that I’ve never quite comes to term with, even though from an environmental standpoint nuclear power is actually a BETTER option to meet our energy needs. Only wind and solar power are cleaner, and those two alone aren’t enough to meet the increasing energy demands of seven billion people (and counting) crowding our small blue planet.
On the other hand 1986 was a pretty good year in a lot of respects. U.S. and Russian leaders agreed that a reduction of their cold war stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction was a good idea. (When has it ever NOT been a good idea? But I digress.) Hands Across America inspired goodwill and charitable giving. Mike Tyson became the youngest heavyweight boxing champion ever. Oh and hip-hop? It continued to be an unstoppable juggernaut.
Following up on last week’s rewind to 1985, here are ten hip-hop videos from 1986, still a full two years before Yo! MTV Raps would hit the airwaves. Some would say that the vanguard of music videos in the 80’s had a lot of catching up to do by the time they finally and formally recognized how big hip-hop was – and some would be right to say it.
1.) Biz Markie – “Make the Music With Your Mouth Biz”
2.) Heavy D & The Boyz – “Mr. Big Stuff”
3.) Whodini – “One Love”
4.) Joeski Love – “Pee Wee’s Dance”
5.) DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – “Girls Ain’t Nothing But Trouble”
6.) Dana Dane – “Nightmares”
7.) Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew – “All the Way to Heaven”
8.) The Beastie Boys – “Hold It Now, Hit It”
9.) B. Fats – “Woppit”
10.) The Real Roxanne & Hitman Howie Tee – “Bang Zoom (Let’s Go-Go)”
And now just for your viewing pleasure here are two BONUS videos of live performances from 1987 for songs originally released in 1986.
Bonus #1.) Word of Mouth – “Coast to Coast (Live)”
Bonus #2.) Salt N Pepa – “My Mic Sounds Nice (Live)”