VIDEO: Public Enemy’s “I Shall Not Be Moved”
About 40 years ago, music like this would’ve been called a “revolutionary sureshot”. 25 years ago was when I first heard of Public Enemy in a “Best Of” review in Spin magazine. They had given Yo! Bum Rush The Show a favorable review along with the first and only album from Original Concept, but I believe the first P.E. sogn I ever heard was “Bring The Noise” from the Less Than Zero soundtrack. The song was incredibly hectic, and as a headbanger, they gave a shout out to Anthrax. Not only that, but Chuck D. gave shout outs to Sonny Bono AND Yoko Ono. In other words, he was showing respect to perceived “freaks of the industry”, those that people neglected because what Public Enemy were doing (and were about to do) was freakish in its own way. They were at one with those who also made noise.
25 years after I first heard them, and after many world tours later, Public Enemy are still very much with us, and this is brand new for 2012. 34 years ago, George Clinton said in song “we shall all be moved” but times have changed. Not everyone wants to be under a groove, or even under the power of one nation, even if that means a sense of community. Perhaps there needs to be some sense of unification. It exists, but maybe the reason it doesn’t exist in a greater manner can be heard in “I Shall Not Be Moved”. As the video will show you, the spirit of music “from the rebel, it’s final on black vinyl” still lives on.
The song is taken from P.E.’s brand new album, Most of My Heroes Still Don’t Appear On No Stamp, which was released today (July 13th). No Amazon link for it yey, but you may order it from iTunes.
What do you think?