TWO-FER TUESDAY: "FREAKY" OLD SCHOOL !

Word up, Dialophiles! Ya know, sometimes the Dial catches two signals at the same time, and each track is equally strong and deserved of the spotlight. When this happens, we serve up a little platter called TWO-FER TUESDAY! In this installment… “FREAKY OLD SCHOOL HIP HOP”, featuring Whodini and Midnight Star! 

“Freaks Come Out At Night” by Whodini 

“Discos don’t open ‘til after dark… and it ain’t ‘til twelve ‘til the party really starts… And I always had to be home by ten… right before the fun was about to begin.” 

Hailing from Brooklyn NY, Whodini were among the first hip-hop bands to break into the mainstream alongside early pioneers like The Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and Afrika Bambaataa & Soul Sonic Force.

Comprising of lead vocalist Jalil Hutchins, John “Ecstasy” Fletcher, and Grandmaster Dee, the trio’s largest success was “Friends”, a US R&B #4 and US #87 hit, which through covers, samples, and remixes by acts including Will Smith, Bone Thugs N Harmony, MF Doom, and The Prodigy, has proven itself as an iconic hip hop classic.

However, our first spotlighted track, “Freaks Come Out At Night”, despite its catchy chorus and infectious beat, only peaked at #43 on the US R&B charts, and made no appearance on the hot 100 singles chart. However, 1985’s Escape LP, from which both “Friends” and “Freaks…” were extracted, made #35 on the album charts, a.k.a, the Billboard 200.

The first few times I heard “Freaks…”, I visualized iconic horror movie monsters like Jason Voorhees and Freddy Kruger stalking victims through the streets, and it wasn’t until a few years later that it clicked in my mind that the “freaks” spoken about are the wild revilers that often party after the sun goes down.

“The freaks come out at night… The freaks come out at niiiiiight”

 

“Freak-A-Zoid” by Midnight Star 

“Freakazoids… robots… please report to the dance floor.”

Midnight Star is a funk ensemble from Frankfort, Kentucky known for merging elements of soul, disco, early electronica, and what would become to be known as hip-hop. Their biggest hit was the 1984 classic “Operator”, which topped the US R&B singles chart, and hit a respectable US#18 on the Billboard Hot 100. Other tracks like “Wet My Whistle”, “Headlines“, and “Midas Touch” achieved top 10 positions on the R&B charts, but charted very low as crossover hits.

“Freak-A-Zoid”, (correctly spelled with the two hyphens, and taken from the 1983 No Parking on the Dance Floor LP), was a US #2 smash on the R&B charts, but earned lower positions on the US dance chart (#44), and the Hot 100 (#66).

The group’s line up contained brothers Reginald and Vincent Calloway, (Star’s trumpeter and producer, and trombonist, respectively) who, during a hiatus from Midnight Star, charted highly in 1990 under the Calloway name with “I Wanna Be Rich” US #2, US R&B #5.

“Freak-A-Zoid”, at least lyrically, is your basic “party/dance song”, as Midnight Star orders the Freak-A-Zoid robots to stand guard as the band rocks the floor, which they won’t stop doing! However, there is an “adult” undercurrent to the lyrics, as female vocalist Belinda Lipscomb declares herself to be the one to take care of all your physical needs… although how and if the robots are involved is wholly left to interpretation.

Featured among both songs futuristic electronic rhythms, are cool “robotic” voices, probably made using a vocoder. I always felt these voices really tied in with that mid 80s “exciting technological age” mindset that was seen in the exploding popularity of items like home computers, video games, VCRs and laserdisc players, cable and satellite television (especially MTV), Sony Walkmans and Watchmans, the earliest CGI in movies, etc. Whodini and the Freak-A-Zoids are leading us into the future, even as they bring us to the dance floor.

“I’ll be your freakazoid… c’mon and wind me up”

 

I was introduced to both of these songs via Piccowaxen Middle School, in Newburg, Maryland, where dances were held in the gym, several times a school year. The cool thing, was that the dances were held during the school day. This meant that one or two class periods were eliminated on a dance day, allowing the students to bust it down to the latest hits. Both Whodini and Midnight Star’s tracks were played at these dances, and at the time, my friends and referred to these tracks as “breakdancing tunes”. (The term “hip-hop” had yet to make it to my part of Maryland.)

The ‘80s is by far my favorite era of hip-hop. Way before Auto-Tune, Gangsta Rap, and long before “East Coast vs. West Coast” feuds; rap music, at least those songs that gained mainstream acceptance, tended toward light hearted party music, with songs about dancing, and partying down. The songs are fun to listen to, and if you feel like getting up and “popping” your body… well, we won’t think you’re a freak. Unless you’re a robot… then you’re kind of a freak.