Originally Published on Jan. 8, 2018
The Song of the Day is:
Run-DMC – “Hard Times”
From the album Run-D.M.C. (1984)
This is a good track, one that I’ve always dug. However, now that I have done my research, perhaps I should have selected a different song by Run-DMC. I had not realized that this was actually a cover song, Kurtis Blow had gotten his hands on it three years earlier. It is the first song from their first album, I wasn’t expecting it to be a cover (which happened to be partially written by Russell Simmons, brother of Reverend Run and Def-Jam Records founder). Either way, it does have that trademark Run-DMC sound, the hard rock beats and those synth attacks courtesy of the late Jam Master Jay, the invaluable DJ. Of course Joseph “Reverend Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels are on the microphones sounding like the toughest guys in rap at that point (there has been an innumerous many rappers trying to out tough their predecessors since Run-DMC). The next single the group would release (“Rock Box”) would add metal guitar, and soon the group would forego rap boasting and label themselves the “King(s) of Rock”. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame agreed, as they were the second rap act inducted, following the earlier Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Jam Master Jay Mizell’s 2002 murder still tragically remains unsolved.
Hear Today, Grown Tomorrow 