To honor Band On The Run’s 50th Anniversary and Run DMC’s 40th Anniversary, we give you the mix “DMC on the Run”
When I was thinking of putting this mix together it occurred to me that, even though they sound worlds apart, Band on the Run by Wings had come out a mere 10 years or so before Run-DMC’s self-titled album came out in 1984. Although Band on the Run was officially released December 1973, sales for it didn’t pick up for it until the following year after the two singles “Jet” and “Band on the Run” became hits.
Listen to DMC on the Run on SoundCloud:
The two songs (“Band on the Run” and “Sucker MCs”) blend nicely, and the two songs have more in common than the word ‘Run’: Both songs have 3 movements and McCartney’s music naturally seems to agree with the distinct moods of each of Run-DMC’s rhyme blocks. Let us know what you think in the comments on SoundCloud.
McCartney and Run-DMC: Stories of Resurrection and New Birth
When Paul and Linda McCartney were deciding where to record their upcoming album “Band on the Run” for EMI Records, they made an unexpected decision: they decided to record the album outside of the UK and chose one of EMI’s foreign studios located in Lagos, Nigeria. The McCartneys were envisioning beautiful beaches and new experiences in Africa and didn’t seem too worried about recent political unrest or about the military government that had taken hold a few years prior. When Paul and Linda arrived with their three children and guitarist Denny Laine, they found that the recording studio was lacking basic equipment.
To make things even worse, their lead guitarist Henry McCullough quit after an argument with Paul, and drummer Denny Seiwell also left a day before their planned departure to Nigeria. This left Paul to record much of the guitar and drum parts of the whole album himself. 7 of the tracks of the album according to McCartney were recorded with only the three members: Paul and Linda McCartney with Denny Laine.
During their time in Nigeria they faced countless obstacles and hardships. They were robbed at knife point and lost notebooks of handwritten lyrics and tapes with recorded demos. They were also accused of stealing African Culture by Fela Kuti when the McCartneys were spotted at his club. Paul also suffered some health problems in Nigeria related to chain smoking.
After Kuti (along with his drummer Ginger Baker) cleared up the misunderstanding, Ginger Baker invited Wings to record at his studio (ARC). The song Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me) was recorded there.
Tensions were high for McCartney to regain the critical acclaim that he was used to as a Beatle just a few years before (and brief success with his self-titled album shortly after the breakup of the Beatles). Wings had released two albums before Band on the Run (Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway), neither of which went platinum and both of which had mixed critical reviews.
In many ways the story of Run-DMC couldn’t be more different. Their new sound felt to most of the world like a bolt out of the blue. Their highly influential self-entitled album hit number 53 on the Billboard 200. The story of Run-DMC is like a sunrise of a new musical era while the story of Band on the Run takes place with the background of the 70s rock sound in slow decline.
That being said, Band on the Run gave new breath to McCartney’s career and would be the first of seven platinum records released by Wings, officially resurrecting McCartney’s career back into the pop music spotlight in 1974.
