Friday, November 1, 2002

Danger in American Recording Studios

The murder of Run-DMC turntable operator Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell ought to show Americans just how far we've let violence run amok in our society. Mizell (I refuse to call any rappers by their noms d'etage) was a decent man, was devoted to his family, and preached nonviolence and avoiding drugs. Yet he still got caught in the whirlwind of violence that has plagued rap for almost a decade now, if not longer. The media will probably cite the preponderance of guns and drugs among the black underclass - never mind that the members of Run-DMC all had stable middle-class backgrounds - as the root cause of Mizell's death, but I think it goes deeper than that.
Phil Spector, the legendary record producer, has never produced a rap record in his life. He dislikes rap (so do I, but that's beside the point), and once told rappers to "take singing lessons." So you might think he is not afraid of studio violence. Think again. In 1970, long before rap was created, he was in London with George Harrison doing some post-production work on the Beatles's last album release, and he (Spector) had a bodyguard with him. An engineer told him not to worry, that this was a British recording studio, and that Spector would be safe. Spector dismissed his bodyguard. The engineer later remarked that he was aware of the "nasty things" that happen in American recording studios.
So, not only are we unable to keep our schools safe, we can't even secure our recording studios. And if violence took place in our recording studios in the sixties and seventies, imagine how bad it is now! 
And Spector most likely never had to deal with guns in the control room, either.

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