Ignored, Maligned, and Forgotten Music

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White Lines (Don't Do It) - Grandmaster Flash et al

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Unknown

I've probably heard White Lines a hundred times in my day. (As a side note, I can't hear it without thinking of Shaun of the Dead but that's a different story.) But in all of the years since the song was released (not quite thirty, yet) and over all of the times I've listened to it I never knew that Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel recorded a version with Duran Duran. I listened to them an awful lot, as well--my sister was a huge fan.

Now, I realize that the DD version is only fifteen years old but you'd think I'd have tripped over it somewhere before now! At first I didn't care for the re-mixed version but, upon a couple of listens, it's started to grow on me. I'm not going to consider this a version of "You Pick the Winner" because, well, I just posted one. But I did want to share both with you all. I was not surprised to discover a distinct dearth of White Lines covers. It's too iconic, in my opinion, and there wasn't a lot of room for improvement in the original. I'm glad that Grandmaster Flash was involved in the remakes because who else could do it justice?

2 Responses so far.

  1. I have this on 12" vinyl somewhere, but haven't heard it in years.

    I agree, you can't beat the original!

  2. Unknown says:

    I think the remixes are odd but fun. The original was such a ground breaker in terms of introducing people to rap/hip hop that I think it deserves the occasional mention. Thanks!

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