Beat Street (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) – Volume 1 and 2 – Released 1984, Atlantic Records
In 1984 Atlantic Records released two separate soundtrack albums for the Orion Pictures breakdancing movie, Beat Street.
The movie was only just beaten to theatres by the Cannon Pictures produced Breakin’, which also sought to cash in on the early 80s breakdancing craze though is notably less authentic.
Set in the Bronx, Beat Street is a a world apart from sunny LA where Breakin’ takes place. It’s also got more hiphop in the opening credits than the first half hour of Breakin’, though both movies have an equal amount of seriously sketchy outfits.
But then that’s the 80 for yeh.
It’s also fair to say there’s a lot more actual breakdancing in Beat Street and the movie is more indicative of hiphop culture in general.
That’s not to say Breakin’ doesn’t have some good breakdancing in it, but unfortunately it’s buried under several sun-melted slices of American cheese.
On the plus side it does have Ice T, but Beat Street boasts far more hiphop royalty, including appearances by luminaries such Doug E Fresh, Africa Bambatta, Melle Mel and the grandaddy of hiphop himself, Kool Herc.
There’s a plot, to a point, though it scarcely matters (sorry Ramo, I couldn’t give a fuck) because we’re here for the tunes and the moves, and we get plenty of both.
Though both Beat Street and Breakin’ have some proper skills on display, Beat Street feels far more authentic. So if you’re looking for some proper colour-coded team dance-offs, this is the movie to pick.
And if you’re some wee whipper snapper reading this going, “yeah fuck off boomer, I’m not watching some fossil film from the dark ages”, I dare you to click the video below and tell me you don’t want to watch more.
So we’re getting two albums for the price of one on this article, and admittedly it’s a bit of a strange one since both of them, and the movie its based on, was produced by tropical crooner Harry Belafonte, hardly a person we tend to associate with slamming breakdancing beats. But fair play to the man, he was instrumental in bringing breakdancing culture to the masses, and doing so in as authentic a manner as possible.
The Perfect Beat
I mean, look, it’s true. Beat Street is a cheesy movie and the music has its fair share of cheesy moments too. In places it veers towards power ballad territory, despite the thundering beat boxes underpinning the tracks. And there’s also that hokey duet with Jenny Burton and Patrick Jude which serves as the story’s love theme that I’m deliberately skipping because, again, let me gesture back at exhibit A, the big neon sign that says, “80s”.
Putting the cheese aside (for the most part) though, we got gems like this one from Melle Mel and the Furious Five.
You can basically split this track into two sections, the contractually-obliged bit which reflects the actual plot of the movie, and the proper Melle Mel message moment where he spits truth as only he can, with that timeless and effortless flow.
You can skip halfway to get to that bit and skip all that shit about Ramo, because Ramo was a fucking idiot – there I said it.
Next I’m picking out another one of the originators, Africa Bambatta, who also makes an appearance in the movie performing at New York’s Roxy club. It’s as close as most of us will ever get to watching the beginnings of hiphop.
My next pick, bit more on the disco vibe this one but funky as fuck, Juicy with Beat Street Strut.
This one’s damn cheesy too but I love it. It’s very much showing its age but it doesn’t matter because it’s just bursting with feel-good vibes. (Jesus, that guitar solo though.)
Again, don’t make me tap the 80s sign again, I know it’s cheesy, but I’m adding this to the list too, because it would be wrong not to. Love the percussion breakdown on this, those big boomy Miami Vice toms battling against 808 claps and DMX snares.
If I recall correctly this was the track playing during the girls-getting-ready-to-go-out montage because, again… yeah, exactly… 80s. Had to have a montage.
Right, nuffa dat girlie shit, we’re here for some proper breakdancin’ right? Think this might be my favourite track of the lot actually, proper electro bizniss this and the bassline is so fucking good it makes me want to get on the ground and spin on my head. Until I realise I’m too old for such nonsense and I get dizzy these days if I get up from a chair too fast.
But Wait, That’s Not All…
If it was just those tracks alone this movie would have still warranted a mention, just because of its impact on popularising breakdance culture.
But as I said earlier, they actually put out two different volumes of Beat Street soundtracks, so how does Volume 2 hold up?
Well, it starts off much in much the same vein with another of the movie’s main themes, Son Of Beat Street, by Jazzy Jay. Again this one is certainly showing its age but I do like the main loop.
We also get more Juicy with another R&B track, Give Me All, which is a bit meh, and another more power balladeque track from Tina B called Nothing’s Gonna Be Easy.
Very 80s.
One of the more amusing sections in the movie is the appearance of the Treacherous Three with Santa’s Rap. It’s delightfully retro and also refreshing to listen back and remember a time when rappers used to compete over who was the most broke, rather than bragging about who has the most money.
Jenny Burton also makes a return on Volume Two, this time it’s a solo ballad called It’s All Right By Me. The following year she would go on to have a massive hit with the 1985 club classic, Bad Habits.
Again, the producers of the album don’t let things get too girlie and counter with Battle Cry from Rocker’s Revenge. Another big b-boy anthem this one and an ideal one to wrap this up on.
So yeah, one movie, two soundtrack albums – those are my picks.
And, as is always the way, even with two separate soundtrack albums, there’s still some music not included, most notably the Blackbird Fly track.
The track in question was apparently created by composer Carl Maultsby, who, in addition to his contribution to Beat Street, only has one other soundtrack to his credit, a 1974 low budget thriller called Honeybaby.
Still, I can’t help but wonder how big an impact he had on music production thanks to one memorable scene in the movie.
In this scene, one of the main characters, wanna-be DJ Double K, demonstrates his bedroom music creation process using crude loops and turntables while the object of his affections watches mesmerised. And Maultsby’s Blackbird Cry composition is the musical centrepiece.
And while most teenagers probably watched thinking, “you got a girl in your bedroom and you’re playing music, what’s wrong with you?” plenty more invariably watched that scene thinking, “that! That’s what I want to do, that and nothing else for as long as I live! How does he do that? I need to know?”
I have to wonder how many young kids saw this specific and caught the bug – I reckon Maultsby’s indirectly responsible for minting an entire generation of DJs, just as this movie helped kickstart a global hiphop movement.