Classic Album Interview: Stereo MCs’ 1992 album Connected was a powerful mix of indie-style funk, rap beats and lyricism. It’s rooted in the Brixton drug tragedy and the Los Angeles riots, but brought together through dancefloor beats.
It aimed at heads and hearts – mainstream and underground – and was one of the defining albums of the Nineties, winning the BRIT Awards for Best Group and Best Album.
Connected was born out of a summer of creative ideas from rapper Rob Birch and production wizard Nick Hallam. The success of their remixes for the likes of U2 and the Jungle Brothers, coupled with their critically acclaimed second album Supernatural and its support in the US, meant that their label, Island Records, had a strong interest in the boys We are confident that we can fulfill our potential on our next project.
“At the time, positive sounds were on the rise and dance lovers wanted some head-turning music with a beat, and Stereo MC fulfilled that requirement”
The two started life in their Lavender Hill apartment, making beats on old 7-inch vinyl records, sampling killer grooves and writing lyrics while watching girls walk by in the sunshine.
A mid-stream move to a basement studio in Brixton meant they were on the ground floor in the city center, the pressure of which influenced the lyrics and mood of the resulting material. Drug dealers ply their trade in the neighborhood, and Burch reflects this in his lyrics. At the time, Positive Sound was on and dance fans wanted some head-turning music with a groove, and Stereo MC filled that need.
They took their floppy disk arrangements from their home studio down Old Kent Road to a place called The Workhouse, where they played music with drummer Owen If and singer Cath Coffey. Miraculously, the resulting hits, like “Connected” and “Step It Up,” became as big a presence on the pop charts as they were on the pop charts.
Music was segregated back then. Hip-hop musicians will never admit to digging guitar music or vice versa, but stereo MCs have found their way into headphones from both camps.
“We were kind of a hybrid,” frontman Rob Birch said. “Rap purists aren’t going to like us because we’re not pure rap. We’re not an indie band and we’re not a rock band. We have it all. No one can accuse us. What gets us through this is our realism The music, speaks to where we come from, and that helped us make a record that was commercial in a way but also very contemporary.
Track-by-track connection
1. Connected
“We used to live in a second-floor flat in Battersea, Lavender Hill, and we made music in the living room. The turntable was in the window and I used to watch the girls walking by in the sunshine, putting the tracks together. It was a beautiful place.
“One day I had my headphones on and I played it on a loop for about a second and a half, and it really caught my ear and I looped it and it became the backbone of the song.
“It was during the riots in Los Angeles and it was all over the news. I remember seeing footage of all the houses being burned down and people running around. It just started showing up in the lyrics. It was a jam about what was going on in the world at that time. What’s going on.
2. Ground
“We moved from Battersea and were living in the basement of a new studio in Brixton. The song is about people living in Brixton driving past and not realizing that living in the city center Trials and tribulations.
“A lot of people live in fear and see people as threats because the newspapers incite everything. That’s why the lyrics say ‘It depends on how close you are to the ground,’ so you can see where the other person is going.” from.
3. Everything
“I used to go to a record shop in Camden at the time, and this guy would have a rack of records labeled ‘Breakthrough’ [laughs]. This is like heaven to me.
“We would then go to the studio on Old Kent Road with our little samplers and floppy disks with the tracks on them and record them onto multitrack because in those days it was still 24-track/multitrack and We had our singer Cath come in and play the accompaniment, and then our drummer Owen would play the accompaniment.
“We probably spent a month or so in the studio working on the track, but most of it was done in our front room or basement studio.”
4. Sketch
“Sketch was born out of a piece of Latin music that I put together with an old Stax live recording that had people like Bo Diddley on it. That’s the beauty of mixing all these styles.
“We put Sketch together in Old Kent Road. I took a break, wound it up, made some beats, and it was done. The next day, on my way back to the studio, someone had graffitied on the door. Then the artist’s name is “Sketch” so I thought the song’s name sounded evil.
“In the studio, they had a room upstairs that no one was using, so they asked me to go in there and open the window, and it was summer, and I would take out my pads, smoke a little bit, and write lyrics for the background music on On tape in the sun.
5. fade out
“It was the same thing again. Sitting in the sun with a wicked beat. And then you’d do the bass line with the bass. I started writing a rap for it, but it didn’t work, so I started singing it.
“At the time, there were a lot of social issues related to civil rights. This song is about karma coming back to draw people in because you can’t escape history. You can’t make it go away. I sat down and looked for a different way to come out of my The vocals came out of the lyrics written, “I was listening to a lot of Afro-funk at the time and looking for a break, so I decided to start singing and gliding to the beat. , rather than straight up rapping, which I think works really well. “
6. all night
“It was really fun to make the instrumental. Nick had a vibe during the break and we had Owen do some live drumming over the top and we made a bigger feature based on that. We would sit down and think about what to do with these songs, Vocally, because the beat has such a good groove and a cool little vibe, Nick suggested just writing a small phrase rather than a whole set of lyrics and saying it a few times during the song.
“You don’t have to do a traditional song, just some resonant groove. This song was a little experiment.”
7. Increase efforts
“I think it’s a good dance record. It’s crossed a lot of borders and gone into a lot of different clubs. A lot of different types of people have come up to us and said they love the song. I think it’s attracted a lot of people and you’ll Hear it at rave parties, gay clubs, Jamaican blues parties.
“For us, it was a song that celebrated our relationship at the time. The relationship between man and woman. We accidentally made a song about love. [laughs], and the beauty of physical relationships with women. I didn’t think much of it at the time.
“I was in a relationship at the time and really enjoyed our relationship, and I think this song reflects the height of love. [laughs]”.
8. Playing with fire
“We always like to make songs with messages, that’s one of the things that gets us excited about making rap music. The ’80s were so empty until groups like Public Enemy came along. Music should fucking say something .
“Playing with Fire was made on the front lines where we lived at the time. You could go out and buy any drugs you wanted. We saw firsthand how people were getting into trouble because of drugs.
“We’re not an anti-drug organization but we’ve seen people get into trouble with drugs and cocaine. The song is a personal experience of mine and people selling it on our road.”
9. Pressure
“The track started and ended completely differently. We had some work already. Then I went to my guys in Camden and got a wicked breakout from an old No. 7.”
“Then we took the old beat we were using in the mix we did for U2 and put it on top of the track we were running, and then took out all the bass and put this new groove from what I was doing at the time, and the track was just going in a new direction. !
“I wanted to be positive. People did feel positive back then, now everything is a bit cynical and people feel negative about positivity, if you know what I mean.
“I would say to girls, stop giving in to men who are giving you bullshit. You have to stand up for yourself. Don’t be fooled by the first words of flattery, that’s the message.”
10. Chicken Milkshake
“It started with a wicked little break and then we had some working dub beats and added a funk beat on top. Then we had a live string section because we had an idea for a melody and we made them live Play.
“We also had brass players. We had a lot of musical ideas and wanted to express them with other instruments. They’re called kick horns and they’re wicked. It’s a dangerous little rhythm, a chicken shake.
“We got the name of the song from these little egg-shaped shakers. They’re evil little shakers, man. A lot of the shakers on that album came from Chicken Shake shakers. [laughs]”.
11. Create
“It’s the real high point of any live performance. We played the WOMAD festival when we were touring the US. We played in a tent with no sides, so you were covered but could see all the scenery around you. I remember right when the track started with a thunder sample, a huge bolt of lightning fell from the sky!
“When the song started, the heavens opened up. I was holding the microphone and I was like, ‘Oh my God! This is unreal, man.'” That’s what it feels like to play this song live, it’s a natural Power, as if you were harnessed by a force of nature.
“Every time you played it, you were so hungry for leather. We were done after those gigs.”
12. Ending
“Some of the tracks were just the way they were. It was a joy to make. It flowed. I took a break that I found on the track, and then we went into the studio and basically replayed all the music live to the track.
“Nick said the break was great, but we could play it back even stronger. We got a guy named Matthew Seligman to play bass. He’s a great player and he was also on Ascension Played bass on “My Mind”.
