THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
37-Public Enemy-Welcome to the Terrordome.
1990-Number 18 single.
Best Bit-At 0.05. The ‘Terrordome’ is the name given by Public Enemy to the arrival of the new decade, the 1990’s.
Public Enemy (see also best songs 578) were formed in Long Island, New York, United States, in 1985, by Carlton Ridenhour, (Chuck D) and William Drayton, (Flavor Flav) in total there have been 13 members come and go, with Ridenhour and Drayton being the groups only two constants. Public Enemy were pioneers of a new breed of ‘Hip-Hop,’ introducing thought provoking lyrics into their music. Up until the mid 1980’s the majority of Rappers were only concerned with bragging about how ‘attractive’ and ‘cool’ they were, with the message often being about partying, and enjoying yourself. Public Enemy introduced politics into their lyrics, therefore garnering plenty of controversy, and becoming a major influence on the development of the ‘Hip-Hop’ genre.
The discography of Public Enemy includes 15 studio Albums released between 1987-2020, and 41 singles issued in the same time period. Although they are one of America’s most critically acclaimed groups of all time, that hasn’t transferred on to the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, where ‘Give It Up’ from 1994 remains their only top 40 chart entry, peaking at Number 33. In the UK, 10 of their singles have charted, with ‘Harder Than You Think’ from 2007 giving them their only top 10 hit, when making Number 4.
‘Welcome to the Terrordome’ was the first of five singles released from Public Enemy’s third studio Album ‘Fear of a Black Planet’ from April 1990. The song was written by Keith Shocklee, Eric Sadler, and Chuck D, with the production being by ‘The Bomb Squad.’ ‘The Bomb Squad’ are an American ‘Hip-Hop’ production team made up of the brothers Hank and Keith Shocklee, Chuck D, Eric ‘Vietnan’ Sadler, and Gary G-Wiz, plus Bill Stephney, who is now a former member. As well as working with Public Enemy on seven of their Albums, they have also produced other artists including LL Cool J, Bel Biv Devoe, and the Manic Street Preachers.
One of the striking things about ‘Welcome to the Terrordome’ is the numerous samples that were arranged and produced by ‘The Bomb Squad.’ In 1990 artists didn’t have to get permission to clear samples, but things changed drastically in 1991 when the Irish singer Gilbert O’Sullivan (see also best songs 949 and 111) lodged, and won a legal case against the American Rapper Biz Markie (1964-2021) for sampling O’Sullivan’s 1972 song ‘Alone Again (Naturally.’) After that sampling became so expensive that artists would bring in session musicians to replicate sounds, so they would only have to pay songwriters as opposed to record labels as well.
There are at least 17 samples on ‘Welcome to the Terrordome,’ including the guitar line from ‘The Temptations’ 1969 song ‘Psychedelic Shack,’ several James Brown (1933-2006) (see also best songs 880-349-270 and 88) tracks are plundered, and lyrics were taken from the ‘Instant Funk’ song ‘I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get It Girl’) (see also best songs 1041.) Chuck D is on record as calling Hank Shocklee ‘The Phil Spector of Hip-Hop,’ and the Album has been cheekily called a ‘Sampled layered ‘Wall of Noise.”
In 1989 band member Professor Griff made anti-Semetic remarks in an interview with ‘The Washington Post,’ which led to his dismissal from Public Enemy, although after making an apology and explaining himself he was later reinstated. In ‘Welcome to the Terrordome’ Chuck D addresses those anti-semetic views, he also mentions the death of Yusef Hawkins.Hawkins was a 16-year-old African American male who was murdered in the summer of 1989 in the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Bensonhurst, when he was ambushed and killed by a group of young white men. Chuck D has said,’My job is to write shocking lyrics that will wake people up. Take ‘Welcome to the Terrordome.’ How could I talk about 1989 and not talk about the band’s confrontation with the Jewish community? It would’ve been false! But no matter what, if I mention the word ‘Jew’ on a record, if I’m not explicitly praising the Jewish community, that record will be deemed anti-Semitic because people would just hear that word in a Rap song by a group that allegedly said something about the Jewish community and interpret it accordingly. But I had to tell people what happened and how it happened.’I told Rabbi Cooper, ‘Listen, I’ll take care of the situation, don’t worry about it, calm down,’ and his attitude was, like, ‘Everything’s cool, I just want to know what’s going on. These things can’t happen, and if this is your group member, it doesn’t make things look good for the rest of the group.”
‘I got so much trouble on my mind, refuse to lose, here’s your ticket, hear the drummer get wicked.’