This young guy only knows the Church's definition of "rapture". He couldn't say it without putting "the" in front of it. "The Rapture" The actual definition of rapture is "a feeling of intense pleasure or joy." The song is about having an awesome time clubbing.
She also stated that if she could start at the beginning of her career she would be in porn instead. I've also seen pictures of her attending Marina Abramovic's performances. If you don't know who that is or what "spirit cooking" is do a deep dive on THAT! Maybe not so much classy as she is sexy!
Blondie, The Police, The Ramones, The Misfits, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5, and any other east coast band in the late 70's early 80's played at a club called CBGB's, in New York. Debbie Harry fell in love with rap and hip-hop, she and Fab 5 Freddy were friends. Rap wasn't getting the kind of exposure it should have, and she loved the genre so much, she decided to rap in a song, and the rest is history...
@@megnotmegan1966 a friend of mine auditioned for one of Joe Jackson’ s album projects. Joe was a perfectionist with extremely high standards… as you know, we can hear it in the music he created. Elvis Costello was also a prolific genius.
CBGB's is a historic venue in NYC. The list of people and groups that cut there teeth there is long. Some others were Patti Smith, The Ramones, Madonna, The Runaways, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Devo, and The Talking Heads.
Rapture" is about finding joy and pleasure in the small moments of life that one may not realize are important. The song speaks to the idea that in the small moments, like dancing close with someone, hypnotizing people in a room, or eating the same food, one can find true happiness.
direct from the wiki on this song Singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein were friends with Brooklyn- and Bronx-based hip-hop artists such as Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Brathwaite) in the late 1970s. Brathwaite took Harry and Stein to a rap event in the Bronx one night in 1978, and they were both impressed by the skill and excitement as MCs rhymed lyrics over the beats of spinning records and people lined up for a chance to take the microphone and freestyle rap. Harry and Stein went to a few more such events, before deciding to write a rap song of their own in late 1979. They decided to combine what they had seen and heard in the Bronx with Chic-inspired disco music. Keyboardist Jimmy Destri found some tubular bells in the back of the studio, which added a haunting touch to the song. The title "Rapture" was a pun on "rap", according to Stein
And THIS is why music was so much better pre-90s. Rather than a small handful of corporations owning every radio station and every contract with every musical artists...... music was far more organic back then. there were independent radio stations and people herd individual groups with no contract and talked about it and would call into radio stations asking for the songs to be played....and when it went organically popular, THEN labels would call them and get them to sign a contract. Now... the corporations will find someone or some group that they think they can make money with and create the popularity by playing it everywhere that they completely own. People only get to hear what the corporations already own. its no longer organic. thats one reason why everything now sounds the same. This Rapture is fusion music.... hip/hop/rap/club/disco. Its brilliant
This has absolutely nothing to do with any Christian belief in an event known as The Rapture. it is just the word rapture, meaning "a state or experience of being carried away by overwhelming emotion." And yes, the band's guitarist Chris Stein has said the use of the word was simply a pun on the word rap.
The rap is about life...night life in NY City, spending money, enjoying life. She & her boyfriend were a big part of the night life and they partied with Grandmaster Flash, Fab 5 Freddy, and other rappers. We loved this when it dropped! We just rapped along with it and felt the vibe. We only cared about how we felt back then. Great reaction tho ❤
Recently saw Debbie perform this. At the age of 78, she still went off & smashed it. While yes her age was apparent in her voice honestly just seeing her energy & crowd engagement was awesome. So many great songs along with this
This was the first time I heard “rap music” and then all of a sudden there was rap music everywhere. Blondie played an integral role getting out mainstream.
@@yarsivad000.5I’m not disputing that. It’s just sad that the original rap artists couldn’t get the vast exposure that Blonde did with a derivative “rap” number. And I’m a huge fan of the band. “Rapture” is not their best work.
The Sugar Hill Gang has claim to 1st rap song in 1979, Blonde came out with this in 1980 and her song was featured on the "new" show MTV and became a hit!
Rappers Delight only reached #36 on the billboard hot 100, but this song "Rapture" , is credited as the first number-one single in the United States to feature rap vocals, and it stayed at #1 on the Billboard hot 100 for 2 weeks
@justincase1152 "white lines" was written and released by "Melle Mel and the furious five " on the "Sugar Hill" Record Label in 1983 ..."The Sugar Hill Gang" didn't record their cover of "White lines " until 2009 , it was released on the " Rappers Delight" Album in May 2009
The beauty of this young, adorable man's digging into the lyrics is that - while totally incorrect on what this song means as Debbie Harry intended - it is exactly why the greatest songs are timeless and special. Indeed, some songs are straight forward and crystal clear in their lyrics. However, many songs are wildly open to interpretation. Whether the artist intended this (case in point: Bohemian Rhapsody by Freddie Mercury of Queen) or not, the delight is in how great songs with well-written lyrics touch the listener in myriad ways. I doubt Debbie Harry would be at all dismayed to find that some listeners considered The Rapture in her lyrics because art is all about moving the soul of the listener/reader/viewer/etc. Awesome reaction! Thank you, Black Pegasus, for bringing on this special guest.
True. But now he's got me thinking too. The song is kind of saying come to the darkside and have fun. The imagery of the video leans that way. The goat being led (to sacrifice). They all go into the red room. They all come out clothed in black. Following a skeletal man in a white suit. All quite Luciferian. Hence the lyric - Rapture detour. That might not be what the SONG is about. But the video seems to be pointed that direction. Carrying on in tinfoil hat land....having the word "rap", painted on the wall combined with the satanic symbolism - it could have been a warning of how damaging rap could be. That was a fun pondering. I've never once dug into the lyrics or the video in all these decades. I just memorised it and sung along. With all the stuff being revealed about the industry lately - maybe it's worth taking more time to analyze....but I don't want to ruin one of my favorite songs.
January 12, 1981 "Rapture" is a song by American rock band Blondie from their fifth studio album Autoamerican (1980). Written by band members Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, and produced by Mike Chapman, the song was released as the second and final single from Autoamerican on January 12, 1981, by Chrysalis Records. 1979 The Sugar Hill Gang's 12-inch single "Rapper's Delight" - released in 1979 - became the first rap song to be played on the radio. The 15-minute song was edited down to six and a half minutes and reached Number 36 on the pop charts, making it the first hip-hop single to become a Top 40 chart hit.
Rapture is a word that means different things to different people. Love the reaction! 💜 Early NYC hip hop sometimes was just for fun, something that has kind of been lost in the world of violence, drugs & not-so-friendly rivalry today. That’s why when Ren has goofy lyrics here & there it reminds me of those days. There was also a bigger fusion of funk & rap which are the bones of hip hop. A lot of good funk songs don’t have serious lyrics, they just make you want to sing, dance & enjoy.
When I first heard this song, being 67 now, I thought the rhyming was a cool new sound for music. As time went on and rap started to get popular I realized that this song was the first rap song I have ever heard before rap. Maybe without this song rap would not have been? Great show. Hope the real rapture happens soon. We can go out dancing
Rappers delight and such didn't get noticed until after this. It was around, but it had no platform until 1981 (start of MTV) and Blondie got it out there first and got noticed. We all found out about Grandmaster Flash, the Furious Five, Curtis Blow, and the rest after RAP got it's feet on the ground (paved by Blondie, Beastie Boys, Run DMC and the Fat Boys, + Herbie Hancocks ROCK IT was the first song to feature record scratching on it from 1982.
You guys gotta remember back in the late 70’s / 80’s we would hear these great songs on the radio or a cassette tape without being able to watch the video. We would just like the sound of songs without thinking about the lyrics much. Still love you tho 👍😎
Stein loved B-movies and science fiction imagery, so he wrote some surreal verses about a man from Mars. For the chorus, Harry tried to capture the feeling of a crowded hip-hop dance floor in the Bronx: "Toe to toe / Dancing very close / Barely breathing / Almost comatose / Wall to wall / People hypnotized / And they're stepping lightly / Hang each night in Rapture." The rap section references Fab 5 Freddy ("Fab 5 Freddy told me everybody's fly"), as well as Grandmaster Flash ("Flash is fast, Flash is cool").
The very first taste of rap on public media EVER. Although the Furious Five, Curtis Blow, and a few others were spouting their truth on street corners, parks, and small clubs in the Bronx, and Brooklyn, none were successful in taking it into Manhattan and getting it out there. Blondie, Herbie Hancock(rock it), Run DMC and the Beastie Boys were really the first to get the masses to notice, and made hip hop a viable musical form. It took years until footage of Grandmaster flash or the Furious five got out and we all found out rap was going on in the city before it got on the radio, or on records. Blondie (Debbie Harry and the guys) introduced the MTV culture to rap in 1981 and then Herbie Hancock came along in 1982. The Beasties released "COOKIE PUSS" in 1984 and were in the Krush Groove movie with Run DMC and others in 1985. 1986 saw the Beasties release LICENSE TO ILL and it became the first rap album to sell a million copies (and many many more).
Yes, you are right! The rapping is just about a man from mars! No hidden meaning in the lyrics. I believe Deborah Harry wrote the rap quickly and wanted to make it rhyme , I think Rappers Delight was an inspiration. And, by the way, the whole band was addicted to cocaine or Heroine at the time.
...and, THIS is why I LOVE REACTIONS!! I'm a lyrics & music FREAK!! SO GREAT to hear interpretations!! It gives NEW PERSPECTIVES and FRESH INSIGHTS!! Music, much of it, is OPEN to each person's interpretation...and, it's NEAT to hear different opinions!! HUGS, YA'LL!!!
First rap on Mtv. And you missed talking about Fad Five Freddy, he is painting graffiti in the background 6:56 and he is Debbi's first rap line 6:31, and pioneer of hip hop. Yo MTV Raps - NWA with Fab Five Freddy 1989 ruclips.net/video/MFrNfbOxWU8/видео.html Fab 5 Freddy Talks Evolution Of Hip-Hop, Relationship With Basquiat, Blondie’s 'Rapture' + More ruclips.net/video/ZtNERYEKJAI/видео.html
Pegasus your interpretation is pretty close, she uses the word rapture simply because of the play on words, rapture has RAP in the word and means a feeling of intense pleasure or joy. She was fascinated with early RAP, the NY club scene and had many RAP friends.
The DJ is Jean-Michael Basquait, one of the first (if not the first) graffiti artists to become well known as a “fine art” painter. One of his paintings sold in 2017 for 110.5 million dollars. The first painting he ever sold was to Debbie Harry.
True this is the very first song to hit #1 on the Hot 100 to feature rap and most of the song is done rap style thus this is why it considered the first song to feature rap to go to #1.
Whoooah... mind blown. I grew up in the 70's and 80's. I listened to this music and I never once thought about the meaning of the lyrics. I mean, I memorized them so I could rap along, I even had a cat named Fab 5 Freddy. What a cool take on this song. I appreciate it, youngster. ❤ Also, as a sidenote: I moved to Oklahoma as an older teenager and completely missed all of what was happening in New York. They never played this sort of thing on the radio. I swear, radio silence. I'm an artist and I missed the entire graffiti thing. Aaauuurghh! Later I find out it's Jean-Michel Basquiat playing the dj in this video. omggggg His paintings sell for 10s of millions. Crazy f'n Oklahoma. Now I feel like I was raptured into Oklahoma. lol Great reaction!
ya to Us music was like in a movie ..the background music to set the mood. i can t count how many songs i sang the wrong words for last 40 yrs.. like led Zep wtf knew the words coming out of Plants mouth ? lol
@@VegasheatX-tra Riiight? lol I had to watch this video again. She starts out at a house party. When she steps up to the dj and out onto the New York City street scene is when she starts rapping. I think rap IS the rapture mentioned. And shout out to Lee Quiñones, graffiti artist famous for his trains. omggg there is so much I missed. Hip hop and the arts. I have to pour one out for my wasted youth spent Living on Tulsa Time. haha...there's one to react to. ugh
@@clfrancis to most of us PUNK And RAP was sounds...to those that lived it it was attitude...white Rapers and new PUNKS killed the original attitude for money. I was in Germany in mid to late 70s I lived punk when we made or own cloths not bought at mall....to each their own I guess...
@@VegasheatX-tra Oh that's so cool. I always felt like there was a divide between punks making their own clothes and posters and zines and what was categorized as punk on the air waves. I think you had it correct.
As lyricists, I would suggest listening to the John Lennon solo track "Working Class Hero" from his first solo album, or even "Gimme Some Truth" from the "Imagine" album. "Mother" from his first album is also worth a listen. This guy wrote lyrics to trigger your feelings....
As a member of Gen Z, Blondie ruled!!! Fab Five Freddy was the host of Yo! MTV Raps, but he was much more to the genre of rap, hip-hop, and graffiti. Nice job and take care to all 🙂
Your interpretation of the lyrics is unique and outside the box. I never considered this interpretation before, it does make sense. It’s about clubbing, dancing and fun.
You should know Fab 5 Fredy there with Debby, he introduced her to grandmaster flash who the song is for and mentioned. I believe this song brought rap mainstream it didn't make it blow up but it brought it to a huge audience.
Yeah this song introduced me to Grandmaster Flash and others. Never knew what rap was until I heard the story how this song came about? It intrigued me to find out more. So glad Blondie exposed it earlier to mainstream music.
Sometimes when we overanalyze things we miss the whole point. When we were kids in this time period we just jammed to the music ! We really didn't care... ; )
My interperation; It is a literal Sci-Fi song story. First part people are scared of whats coming (hiphop) Second part people going about daily normal lives before the aliens attack (punk rock and other genres everyone listened to at that time) Third part with the long rap is aliens attacking eating cars and people who turn into aliens too (hiphop arrives and converts people to hiphop and the double references og artists and pillars of hiphop all in 80's terminology) Final part aliens leave earth and only eats musicians (aliens/hiphop made its mark but if anyone questions it on tv/media the aliens will come back just for them (ie hiphop battles)
Good theories but keep in mind this before the theory of THE rapture became popular. Also it was Blondie introducing rap to pop music which explains the simplistic style of the piece.
Singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein were friends with Brooklyn- and Bronx-based hip-hop artists such as Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Brathwaite) in the late 1970s. Brathwaite took Harry and Stein to a rap event in the Bronx one night in 1978, and they were both impressed by the skill and excitement as MCs rhymed lyrics over the beats of spinning records and people lined up for a chance to take the microphone and freestyle rap. Harry and Stein went to a few more such events, before deciding to write a rap song of their own in late 1979. They decided to combine what they had seen and heard in the Bronx with Chic-inspired disco music. Keyboardist Jimmy Destri found some tubular bells in the back of the studio, which added a haunting touch to the song. The title "Rapture" was a pun on "rap", according to Stein.
I read an essay once that touched on the symbolism in this song as it relates to the Biblical rapture. I don't remember a lot of the details, but the goat, the dancing African girls in the beginning and the fact that the band exits in the end into a bright light at the end of the sidewalk. But the word "rapture" means enthralled, which is the feeling one gets when going out to clubs.
The graffiti artists that tip their hats to Debbie are George “Lee” Quiñones and Fab Five Freddy. Lee became famous for tagging subway trains in NYC with his name “LEE”. Fab Five Freddy was a rapper that introduced songwriters Debbie Harry (singer) and Chris Stein (guitarist) to (very) early hip hop, and of course he later became famous on “Yo! MTV Raps”.
Rapture was a pun on rap blondie met grandmaster flash and Fab 5 Freedy who both are mentioned in the song. in the brooklyn sceneand the song is just a variety of nonsense and things going on at the time. Debra Harry says there were young black men with something to say and just got on the stage and said it " therefore the old " Rap is just a bunch of talking not singing" rap in a sense was the black version of PUNK ..both gave a voice to hte youth of the time. all the Mars stuff and eating cars and bars was a reference to B level movie of the time which they were a fan of. early original before commercial was about issues the youth rebelled against... best understood if you lived it...just saying
I love this kid as much as I love the music. Rapture was a secular word used to define intense pleasure back then. I have to credit his interpretation because I honestly haven't heard the word used that way since maybe the 80’s. It shows his understanding of modern language more than naivety. I love that he didnt cringe when she started rapping. He's just open and accepting all the way. We can all learn from him.
We listened to the blend of music and lyrics and learned the actual lyrics 10 years later by accident. How much truth can be dropped and people amazed by? Eventually going to run out of truth and have to make crap up. There, I just dropped some truth. Wow, I was thinking it and you put it into the verse...Wow!
Yes, I get where you're going with your reaction, the lyrics are so cryptic, yes, I reckon the man in white is the dark one himself ......from an 80's teenager, great reaction 👍
The Music back then is what made a song..... bands actually playing instruments, some songs don't even have lyrics?, and some lyrics are just for fun! Remember the Real Music comes First! At least back then it was because it wasn't just someone spitting out words, the music was the real talent!
I love the way you comment, and btw rappers are poets who have a deep understanding of the rhythms of language spoken sung screamed out (as well as a deep sensitivity to the world around them) so please please don't even bother explaining yourselves
1. The DJ in the video is Jean Michel Basquiat (SAMO), the Haitian American graffitti artist, who was also the video's director. The man in white is Baron Samedi, the mythical Hai5ian voodoo spirit, and the women in white dresses are voodoo practitioners.
I always interpreted the song as a simple homage to Hip-Hop. She's telling people that Hip-Hop is here, it's coming to take over, it's been delivered to us from another world by a "man from Mars", it'll enrapture us, we'll play it in our cars, in the bars, it will consume everything, whether or not it's raining, we don't care, it's punk (which was the underground genre which had taken over the mainstream a couple of years earlier, a scene Blondie were a part of), etc and, in the end, enjoy it and just let the music take you with it
The first part of the song is about the rapture, feeling of pure joy, in dancing. Then the rap is name checking rap artist pioneers of the time she was getting into, then just going out there telling an unrelated story of the man from mars.
I think BP with the story idea is spot on and to go one further. Cars, bars, Mars those rhymes are what they are because that's the level of her rap skills
Rapture is a play on the word rap. Blonde brought the New York club and underground art and club scene out into the mainstream. It was the first introduction to the rap scene. The people in the background included Jean Paul Basquiat who was hot on the underground art scene along with Andy Warhol. Grandmaster Flash was there. And the graffiti on the wall was a new phenomenon. The lyrics were just a simple story put together for the rhythm of the words. Just fun. It was all a tribute to the underground NYC art music and club scene.
when i was a teenager in the 80s everyone was into electro, and this song sounds a lot like it, especially the sax parts....i guess electro was a sort of proto-hip hop... i never heard of it again though
Please react to Rappers Delight by the Sugarhill Gang. It was the first Rap song that charted it was released in 1979 and everyone memorized the Lyrics there is a 7 to 9 Min Version they played on the Radio or TV and a 14-minute version they would play at clubs and Parties.
It means whatever makes sense to you although you could look up what influenced parts of the lyrics. I like to think of this song like an abstract painting - little bits of this, sprinkles of that, swirl it around, and voilà.
I wonder if rappers (especially these younger kids) are obsessed about lyrics and breaking them down because that is the only part of hip hop music that has "heart". hear me out. Im not dissing but all the musical elements of hip hop (these days- and most music) has been created digitally inside a device. There are no analogue moments in hip hop, pop etc except when a mouth is in a booth and air comes out of said mouth into a microphone. The musical elements, while maybe cool and exciting, have very little heart or feeling in them. There is definitely a difference in the medium from when recordings were made in the analogue realm vs digital.
Been looking through the comments but haven't seen anyone mention yet (someone probably has I just haven't seen it) but, in case nobody has said it, this was the first billboard #1 song that was rap
Something you two might want to keep in mind as you delve into new wave and such from the very late '70s and early-to-mid-80s: Some of these songs weren't really meant to "mean" anything. Along with disco just before it, a lot of this was a counter-reaction to the seriousness of Vietnam and early post-Vietnam years. People were just trying to have fun in some otherwise bleak times, and some of this music and the lyrics were written and produced with filling up dance floors in mind. Some of these songs featured silly, free association lyrics. And usually "hidden meanings," if there were any, were sexual in nature. On some of these songs, the lyrics were more of an afterthought. The music and the beat were the stars. Discos and post-disco dance clubs were the target, not the studious and serious prog rock radio listener.
Lyrics are important but music is the universal language ! Plants react to it ,babies bop to it ...old ,new..it's the music that transcends time, age, labguage...
The lyrics, "Flash is fast, flash is cool" are a reference to pioneering hip-hop DJ Grandmaster Flash.
@Jamie_Pritchard no he was already 12 states away by than....lol
Reference to Grand Master Flash, popular hip hop DJ ...Flash is fast Flash is cool...
rapture does not always have religious connection...
... and Fab 5 Freddie too!
and the dj was played by Basquiat
Debbie was one of the OG New York punks. She paid her dues. Love her.
Would love to see you review their reggae hit The Tide is High
This young guy only knows the Church's definition of "rapture". He couldn't say it without putting "the" in front of it. "The Rapture" The actual definition of rapture is "a feeling of intense pleasure or joy." The song is about having an awesome time clubbing.
i like eating cars but i find eating bars rather filling!!!
How ironic
an awesome time 'clubbing' could lead to a 'rupture'!!@@Gregory-qu1ct
Exactly ,thank you!👍
pretty sure a Rapture is a dinosaur. eating cars and bars on mars with lars.
Debbie Harry is a masterclass for modern female artists on how to exude sexy without being lewd and trashy. This woman is sexy and classy.
She also stated that if she could start at the beginning of her career she would be in porn instead. I've also seen pictures of her attending Marina Abramovic's performances. If you don't know who that is or what "spirit cooking" is do a deep dive on THAT! Maybe not so much classy as she is sexy!
She learned that from being a Playboy Bunny at the Playboy Club.
@@ViciousVioletteLV She's qualified
Blondie, The Police, The Ramones, The Misfits, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5, and any other east coast band in the late 70's early 80's played at a club called CBGB's, in New York. Debbie Harry fell in love with rap and hip-hop, she and Fab 5 Freddy were friends. Rap wasn't getting the kind of exposure it should have, and she loved the genre so much, she decided to rap in a song, and the rest is history...
Also, on the scene..Graham Parker, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson and Squeeze (UK).
@@ed.z.I was obsessed with Joe Jackson, had every album he made ❤
@@megnotmegan1966 a friend of mine auditioned for one of Joe Jackson’ s album projects. Joe was a perfectionist with extremely high standards… as you know, we can hear it in the music he created. Elvis Costello was also a prolific genius.
CBGB's is a historic venue in NYC. The list of people and groups that cut there teeth there is long. Some others were Patti Smith, The Ramones, Madonna, The Runaways, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Devo, and The Talking Heads.
@@ed.z. Television, Talking Heads, the Contortions, Klaus Nomi, Sex Pistols, … … ✊🏽
Rapture" is about finding joy and pleasure in the small moments of life that one may not realize are important. The song speaks to the idea that in the small moments, like dancing close with someone, hypnotizing people in a room, or eating the same food, one can find true happiness.
direct from the wiki on this song Singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein were friends with Brooklyn- and Bronx-based hip-hop artists such as Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Brathwaite) in the late 1970s. Brathwaite took Harry and Stein to a rap event in the Bronx one night in 1978, and they were both impressed by the skill and excitement as MCs rhymed lyrics over the beats of spinning records and people lined up for a chance to take the microphone and freestyle rap. Harry and Stein went to a few more such events, before deciding to write a rap song of their own in late 1979. They decided to combine what they had seen and heard in the Bronx with Chic-inspired disco music. Keyboardist Jimmy Destri found some tubular bells in the back of the studio, which added a haunting touch to the song. The title "Rapture" was a pun on "rap", according to Stein
Much better than what I said yes
And THIS is why music was so much better pre-90s.
Rather than a small handful of corporations owning every radio station and every contract with every musical artists...... music was far more organic back then. there were independent radio stations and people herd individual groups with no contract and talked about it and would call into radio stations asking for the songs to be played....and when it went organically popular, THEN labels would call them and get them to sign a contract.
Now... the corporations will find someone or some group that they think they can make money with and create the popularity by playing it everywhere that they completely own. People only get to hear what the corporations already own. its no longer organic.
thats one reason why everything now sounds the same.
This Rapture is fusion music.... hip/hop/rap/club/disco.
Its brilliant
This has absolutely nothing to do with any Christian belief in an event known as The Rapture.
it is just the word rapture, meaning "a state or experience of being carried away by overwhelming emotion."
And yes, the band's guitarist Chris Stein has said the use of the word was simply a pun on the word rap.
Just demonstrates that people hear what they want to hear. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
The rap is about life...night life in NY City, spending money, enjoying life. She & her boyfriend were a big part of the night life and they partied with Grandmaster Flash, Fab 5 Freddy, and other rappers. We loved this when it dropped! We just rapped along with it and felt the vibe. We only cared about how we felt back then. Great reaction tho ❤
Rap is crap 😷
We all did...if you lived there then, I did...
@@chris7brook wow Chris 56 whole subscribers!
This was disco/ rap back in the day. Great reaction!
Blondie was the first rap heard outside of the Bronx and Brooklyn street corners. The start of the whole thing.
Dude I was laughing with you Pegasus , Sometimes overthinking is a downfall lmao
Recently saw Debbie perform this. At the age of 78, she still went off & smashed it. While yes her age was apparent in her voice honestly just seeing her energy & crowd engagement was awesome. So many great songs along with this
This was the first time I heard “rap music” and then all of a sudden there was rap music everywhere. Blondie played an integral role getting out mainstream.
First rap song to place number 1 in US and first rap video on MTV 1981. Rapture.
And a lot of black rappers who couldn't get airtime on MTV were mad as he'll.
@@altaclipper But it probably did more to get rap mainstream than any song did until Aerosmith and Run DMC did Walk this Way together.
@@yarsivad000.5I’m not disputing that. It’s just sad that the original rap artists couldn’t get the vast exposure that Blonde did with a derivative “rap” number. And I’m a huge fan of the band. “Rapture” is not their best work.
The Sugar Hill Gang has claim to 1st rap song in 1979, Blonde came out with this in 1980 and her song was featured on the "new" show MTV and became a hit!
Rappers Delight only reached #36 on the billboard hot 100, but this song "Rapture" , is credited as the first number-one single in the United States to feature rap vocals, and it stayed at #1 on the Billboard hot 100 for 2 weeks
Sugar Hill Gang White lines did cone out first but didn't chart as high on thr billboards. The first rap was actually in the sixties
@justincase1152 "white lines" was written and released by "Melle Mel and the furious five " on the "Sugar Hill" Record Label in 1983 ..."The Sugar Hill Gang" didn't record their cover of "White lines " until 2009 , it was released on the " Rappers Delight" Album in May 2009
Y’all are both adorable. Makes me so happy to see younger generations appreciate real music. ❤. Watching from Tupelo Mississippi 🥰
The beauty of this young, adorable man's digging into the lyrics is that - while totally incorrect on what this song means as Debbie Harry intended - it is exactly why the greatest songs are timeless and special. Indeed, some songs are straight forward and crystal clear in their lyrics. However, many songs are wildly open to interpretation. Whether the artist intended this (case in point: Bohemian Rhapsody by Freddie Mercury of Queen) or not, the delight is in how great songs with well-written lyrics touch the listener in myriad ways. I doubt Debbie Harry would be at all dismayed to find that some listeners considered The Rapture in her lyrics because art is all about moving the soul of the listener/reader/viewer/etc.
Awesome reaction! Thank you, Black Pegasus, for bringing on this special guest.
True. But now he's got me thinking too. The song is kind of saying come to the darkside and have fun. The imagery of the video leans that way. The goat being led (to sacrifice). They all go into the red room. They all come out clothed in black. Following a skeletal man in a white suit. All quite Luciferian. Hence the lyric - Rapture detour. That might not be what the SONG is about. But the video seems to be pointed that direction. Carrying on in tinfoil hat land....having the word "rap", painted on the wall combined with the satanic symbolism - it could have been a warning of how damaging rap could be. That was a fun pondering. I've never once dug into the lyrics or the video in all these decades. I just memorised it and sung along. With all the stuff being revealed about the industry lately - maybe it's worth taking more time to analyze....but I don't want to ruin one of my favorite songs.
January 12, 1981
"Rapture" is a song by American rock band Blondie from their fifth studio album Autoamerican (1980). Written by band members Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, and produced by Mike Chapman, the song was released as the second and final single from Autoamerican on January 12, 1981, by Chrysalis Records.
1979
The Sugar Hill Gang's 12-inch single "Rapper's Delight" - released in 1979 - became the first rap song to be played on the radio. The 15-minute song was edited down to six and a half minutes and reached Number 36 on the pop charts, making it the first hip-hop single to become a Top 40 chart hit.
Rapture is a word that means different things to different people. Love the reaction! 💜
Early NYC hip hop sometimes was just for fun, something that has kind of been lost in the world of violence, drugs & not-so-friendly rivalry today. That’s why when Ren has goofy lyrics here & there it reminds me of those days. There was also a bigger fusion of funk & rap which are the bones of hip hop. A lot of good funk songs don’t have serious lyrics, they just make you want to sing, dance & enjoy.
Exact like rappers delight....not a foot in the club could sit still when it played. If you liked hip hop or not...
When I first heard this song, being 67 now, I thought the rhyming was a cool new sound for music. As time went on and rap started to get popular I realized that this song was the first rap song I have ever heard before rap. Maybe without this song rap would not have been? Great show. Hope the real rapture happens soon. We can go out dancing
Never have I enjoyed a song reaction so much. Brilliant! ❤
Rappers delight and such didn't get noticed until after this. It was around, but it had no platform until 1981 (start of MTV) and Blondie got it out there first and got noticed. We all found out about Grandmaster Flash, the Furious Five, Curtis Blow, and the rest after RAP got it's feet on the ground (paved by Blondie, Beastie Boys, Run DMC and the Fat Boys, + Herbie Hancocks ROCK IT was the first song to feature record scratching on it from 1982.
You guys gotta remember back in the late 70’s / 80’s we would hear these great songs on the radio or a cassette tape without being able to watch the video. We would just like the sound of songs without thinking about the lyrics much. Still love you tho 👍😎
It's not "The Rapture" it's just "Rap-ture" back in the late 70s we didn't really know of "Rap". This was THE very first hit song with Rap in it.
Stein loved B-movies and science fiction imagery, so he wrote some surreal verses about a man from Mars. For the chorus, Harry tried to capture the feeling of a crowded hip-hop dance floor in the Bronx: "Toe to toe / Dancing very close / Barely breathing / Almost comatose / Wall to wall / People hypnotized / And they're stepping lightly / Hang each night in Rapture." The rap section references Fab 5 Freddy ("Fab 5 Freddy told me everybody's fly"), as well as Grandmaster Flash ("Flash is fast, Flash is cool").
This is the first song with rap in it to reach #1. The title is a pun on Rap according to Wikipedia
I first saw Blondie back in '79 when they opened for RUSH at the Spectrum in Philly.
The very first taste of rap on public media EVER. Although the Furious Five, Curtis Blow, and a few others were spouting their truth on street corners, parks, and small clubs in the Bronx, and Brooklyn, none were successful in taking it into Manhattan and getting it out there. Blondie, Herbie Hancock(rock it), Run DMC and the Beastie Boys were really the first to get the masses to notice, and made hip hop a viable musical form. It took years until footage of Grandmaster flash or the Furious five got out and we all found out rap was going on in the city before it got on the radio, or on records. Blondie (Debbie Harry and the guys) introduced the MTV culture to rap in 1981 and then Herbie Hancock came along in 1982. The Beasties released "COOKIE PUSS" in 1984 and were in the Krush Groove movie with Run DMC and others in 1985. 1986 saw the Beasties release LICENSE TO ILL and it became the first rap album to sell a million copies (and many many more).
The LP/ CD Parallel lines..one of the BEST..worth EVERY penny..😊
Yes, you are right! The rapping is just about a man from mars! No hidden meaning in the lyrics. I believe Deborah Harry wrote the rap quickly and wanted to make it rhyme , I think Rappers Delight was an inspiration. And, by the way, the whole band was addicted to cocaine or Heroine at the time.
...and, THIS is why I LOVE REACTIONS!! I'm a lyrics & music FREAK!! SO GREAT to hear interpretations!! It gives NEW PERSPECTIVES and FRESH INSIGHTS!! Music, much of it, is OPEN to each person's interpretation...and, it's NEAT to hear different opinions!! HUGS, YA'LL!!!
First rap on Mtv. And you missed talking about Fad Five Freddy, he is painting graffiti in the background 6:56 and he is Debbi's first rap line 6:31, and pioneer of hip hop.
Yo MTV Raps - NWA with Fab Five Freddy 1989
ruclips.net/video/MFrNfbOxWU8/видео.html
Fab 5 Freddy Talks Evolution Of Hip-Hop, Relationship With Basquiat, Blondie’s 'Rapture' + More
ruclips.net/video/ZtNERYEKJAI/видео.html
That was awesome!!! Love seeing these younger guys listening to history in the making!!!
I love your reactions. I want to listen to and see your original content and broaden my horizons. Thank you!
Pegasus your interpretation is pretty close, she uses the word rapture simply because of the play on words, rapture has RAP in the word and means a feeling of intense pleasure or joy. She was fascinated with early RAP, the NY club scene and had many RAP friends.
This was during raps infancy and NYC had alot going on and Blondie hung out with some of the people who were in that scene but not known yet.
The DJ is Jean-Michael Basquait, one of the first (if not the first) graffiti artists to become well known as a “fine art” painter. One of his paintings sold in 2017 for 110.5 million dollars. The first painting he ever sold was to Debbie Harry.
True this is the very first song to hit #1 on the Hot 100 to feature rap and most of the song is done rap style thus this is why it considered the first song to feature rap to go to #1.
Whoooah... mind blown. I grew up in the 70's and 80's. I listened to this music and I never once thought about the meaning of the lyrics. I mean, I memorized them so I could rap along, I even had a cat named Fab 5 Freddy. What a cool take on this song. I appreciate it, youngster. ❤ Also, as a sidenote: I moved to Oklahoma as an older teenager and completely missed all of what was happening in New York. They never played this sort of thing on the radio. I swear, radio silence. I'm an artist and I missed the entire graffiti thing. Aaauuurghh! Later I find out it's Jean-Michel Basquiat playing the dj in this video. omggggg His paintings sell for 10s of millions. Crazy f'n Oklahoma. Now I feel like I was raptured into Oklahoma. lol Great reaction!
ya to Us music was like in a movie ..the background music to set the mood. i can t count how many songs i sang the wrong words for last 40 yrs.. like led Zep wtf knew the words coming out of Plants mouth
? lol
@@VegasheatX-tra Riiight? lol I had to watch this video again. She starts out at a house party. When she steps up to the dj and out onto the New York City street scene is when she starts rapping. I think rap IS the rapture mentioned. And shout out to Lee Quiñones, graffiti artist famous for his trains. omggg there is so much I missed. Hip hop and the arts. I have to pour one out for my wasted youth spent Living on Tulsa Time. haha...there's one to react to. ugh
@@clfrancis to most of us PUNK And RAP was sounds...to those that lived it it was attitude...white Rapers and new PUNKS killed the original attitude for
money. I was in Germany in mid to late 70s I lived punk when we made or own cloths not bought at mall....to each their own I guess...
@@VegasheatX-tra Led Zeppelin lyrics are so over my head. lol
@@VegasheatX-tra Oh that's so cool. I always felt like there was a divide between punks making their own clothes and posters and zines and what was categorized as punk on the air waves. I think you had it correct.
This came out in 1981? I remember a interview with Debbie Harry and she said it was street language.
As lyricists, I would suggest listening to the John Lennon solo track "Working Class Hero" from his first solo album, or even "Gimme Some Truth" from the "Imagine" album. "Mother" from his first album is also worth a listen. This guy wrote lyrics to trigger your feelings....
I was born in '72. I grew up on Blondie due to my parents. Love it still.😊
The great thing about music and songs is they can mean whatever you want them to.
As a member of Gen Z, Blondie ruled!!! Fab Five Freddy was the host of Yo! MTV Raps, but he was much more to the genre of rap, hip-hop, and graffiti. Nice job and take care to all 🙂
Your interpretation of the lyrics is unique and outside the box. I never considered this interpretation before, it does make sense. It’s about clubbing, dancing and fun.
You're EXACTLY right Pegasus!!..it was a new thing...MTV just came out and helped it with heavy rotation!
You should know Fab 5 Fredy there with Debby, he introduced her to grandmaster flash who the song is for and mentioned. I believe this song brought rap mainstream it didn't make it blow up but it brought it to a huge audience.
I love your reactions! Keep them coming!!
Yeah this song introduced me to Grandmaster Flash and others. Never knew what rap was until I heard the story how this song came about? It intrigued me to find out more. So glad Blondie exposed it earlier to mainstream music.
First rap lyrics I ever heard…9 years old on a compilation album in 1982! Great stuff👍
Sometimes when we overanalyze things we miss the whole point. When we were kids in this time period we just jammed to the music ! We really didn't care... ; )
Blondie will always blow your mind
💥💥💥💥💥💥
If meaningful lyrics are what you seek, listen to 70's music. The 80s were about having fun and good songs for dancing at the clubs.
My interperation; It is a literal Sci-Fi song story.
First part people are scared of whats coming (hiphop)
Second part people going about daily normal lives before the aliens attack (punk rock and other genres everyone listened to at that time)
Third part with the long rap is aliens attacking eating cars and people who turn into aliens too (hiphop arrives and converts people to hiphop and the double references og artists and pillars of hiphop all in 80's terminology)
Final part aliens leave earth and only eats musicians (aliens/hiphop made its mark but if anyone questions it on tv/media the aliens will come back just for them (ie hiphop battles)
Good theories but keep in mind this before the theory of THE rapture became popular. Also it was Blondie introducing rap to pop music which explains the simplistic style of the piece.
He’s such a cutie 😊 Love to you Mr Black P and G- Colo - Very insightful for a young man Love from Lisa a lyme warrior 💚🦠💚🦠
Singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein were friends with Brooklyn- and Bronx-based hip-hop artists such as Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Brathwaite) in the late 1970s. Brathwaite took Harry and Stein to a rap event in the Bronx one night in 1978, and they were both impressed by the skill and excitement as MCs rhymed lyrics over the beats of spinning records and people lined up for a chance to take the microphone and freestyle rap. Harry and Stein went to a few more such events, before deciding to write a rap song of their own in late 1979. They decided to combine what they had seen and heard in the Bronx with Chic-inspired disco music. Keyboardist Jimmy Destri found some tubular bells in the back of the studio, which added a haunting touch to the song. The title "Rapture" was a pun on "rap", according to Stein.
Good reaction by your young accomplice!! Peace, Love!!
I read an essay once that touched on the symbolism in this song as it relates to the Biblical rapture. I don't remember a lot of the details, but the goat, the dancing African girls in the beginning and the fact that the band exits in the end into a bright light at the end of the sidewalk. But the word "rapture" means enthralled, which is the feeling one gets when going out to clubs.
Yeah Right 💯
Rap in it's earliest days
DO IT BLONDIE ❣️🤗❣️
The graffiti artists that tip their hats to Debbie are George “Lee” Quiñones and Fab Five Freddy. Lee became famous for tagging subway trains in NYC with his name “LEE”. Fab Five Freddy was a rapper that introduced songwriters Debbie Harry (singer) and Chris Stein (guitarist) to (very) early hip hop, and of course he later became famous on “Yo! MTV Raps”.
The guy in the white suit is Fab 5 Freddy. This was legendary for being the first song featuring rap to reach number 1 on the billboards.
Rapture was a pun on rap blondie met grandmaster flash and Fab 5 Freedy who both are mentioned in the song. in the brooklyn sceneand the song is just a variety of nonsense and things going on at the time. Debra Harry says there were young black men with something to say and just got on the stage and said it " therefore the old " Rap is just a bunch of talking not singing" rap in a sense was the black version of PUNK ..both gave a voice to hte youth of the time. all the Mars stuff and eating cars and bars was a reference to B level movie of the time which they were a fan of. early original before commercial was about issues the youth rebelled against... best understood if you lived it...just saying
Another twist. The Black guy in the White tux is portraying Baron Samadi , a voodoo spirit
He is also Fast 5 Freddy 🫶
I love this kid as much as I love the music. Rapture was a secular word used to define intense pleasure back then. I have to credit his interpretation because I honestly haven't heard the word used that way since maybe the 80’s. It shows his understanding of modern language more than naivety. I love that he didnt cringe when she started rapping. He's just open and accepting all the way. We can all learn from him.
The saxophone player on this track is Tom Scott, one of the true greats.
Dude I've been blasting your song with Andiroo, "Prophecy", all week. Good weather is here and it's right at home in my summer playlist. Awesome song!
We listened to the blend of music and lyrics and learned the actual lyrics 10 years later by accident. How much truth can be dropped and people amazed by? Eventually going to run out of truth and have to make crap up. There, I just dropped some truth. Wow, I was thinking it and you put it into the verse...Wow!
Blondie kept us going and helped us get to where we needed to be w a smile…
Yes, Young Man, Sir! You're Right!!
Yes, I get where you're going with your reaction, the lyrics are so cryptic, yes, I reckon the man in white is the dark one himself ......from an 80's teenager, great reaction 👍
Not sure if the guy in the white suit is supposed to be the loa Baron Samadi or Papa Legba. But Debbie got the voodoo with this one.
According to Debbie she wrote this song after seeing and hearing Rap for the first time. She loved it and wrote this about what she saw and heard.
The Music back then is what made a song..... bands actually playing instruments, some songs don't even have lyrics?, and some lyrics are just for fun! Remember the Real Music comes First! At least back then it was because it wasn't just someone spitting out words, the music was the real talent!
The song is "Rapture", not "The Rapture".
those "red eyes" were a popular novelty sunglasses with little red lights. i had a pair... they were just a silly thing. no meaning behind them.
I love the way you comment, and btw rappers are poets who have a deep understanding of the rhythms of language spoken sung screamed out (as well as a deep sensitivity to the world around them) so please please don't even bother explaining yourselves
1. The DJ in the video is Jean Michel Basquiat (SAMO), the Haitian American graffitti artist, who was also the video's director. The man in white is Baron Samedi, the mythical Hai5ian voodoo spirit, and the women in white dresses are voodoo practitioners.
It's VERY NY with the horns ,and the whistle in the end. Whistles were always used in the disco era, in songs and on the dance floor ...
Man, this was my song back in the day. 🔥🔥🔥
At 13:26, when the video is over, RUclips shows you a suggestion for a 1970 song by the Kinks. Can’t wait for your reaction.
Fab 5 Freddy was the first host of Yo! MTV Raps back in the late 80’s.
.....the 'guy in white' is Baron Samedi, a deity of the vodoun religion of the Carribean black people..... 😇
And the women dressed in all white dancing during the second verse were actual voudou practitioners.
I always interpreted the song as a simple homage to Hip-Hop. She's telling people that Hip-Hop is here, it's coming to take over, it's been delivered to us from another world by a "man from Mars", it'll enrapture us, we'll play it in our cars, in the bars, it will consume everything, whether or not it's raining, we don't care, it's punk (which was the underground genre which had taken over the mainstream a couple of years earlier, a scene Blondie were a part of), etc and, in the end, enjoy it and just let the music take you with it
The first part of the song is about the rapture, feeling of pure joy, in dancing. Then the rap is name checking rap artist pioneers of the time she was getting into, then just going out there telling an unrelated story of the man from mars.
I think BP with the story idea is spot on and to go one further. Cars, bars, Mars those rhymes are what they are because that's the level of her rap skills
I could watch the stuff in the background of this video for days.
If you're into lyrics, you need to check out.This band called rush.The drummer's name is neil piert Who wrote almost all the lyrics to their albums
Debbie Harry is “FIRE”!!! 🔥🔥
Rapture is a play on the word rap. Blonde brought the New York club and underground art and club scene out into the mainstream. It was the first introduction to the rap scene. The people in the background included Jean Paul Basquiat who was hot on the underground art scene along with Andy Warhol. Grandmaster Flash was there. And the graffiti on the wall was a new phenomenon. The lyrics were just a simple story put together for the rhythm of the words. Just fun. It was all a tribute to the underground NYC art music and club scene.
when i was a teenager in the 80s everyone was into electro, and this song sounds a lot like it, especially the sax parts....i guess electro was a sort of proto-hip hop... i never heard of it again though
Baby, it means whatever you want it to. That's the beauty of music
Please react to Rappers Delight by the Sugarhill Gang. It was the first Rap song that charted it was released in 1979 and everyone memorized the Lyrics there is a 7 to 9 Min Version they played on the Radio or TV and a 14-minute version they would play at clubs and Parties.
It means whatever makes sense to you although you could look up what influenced parts of the lyrics. I like to think of this song like an abstract painting - little bits of this, sprinkles of that, swirl it around, and voilà.
Teh BAND is "Blondie" the performer is Debby Harry
I wonder if rappers (especially these younger kids) are obsessed about lyrics and breaking them down because that is the only part of hip hop music that has "heart". hear me out. Im not dissing but all the musical elements of hip hop (these days- and most music) has been created digitally inside a device. There are no analogue moments in hip hop, pop etc except when a mouth is in a booth and air comes out of said mouth into a microphone. The musical elements, while maybe cool and exciting, have very little heart or feeling in them. There is definitely a difference in the medium from when recordings were made in the analogue realm vs digital.
Been looking through the comments but haven't seen anyone mention yet (someone probably has I just haven't seen it) but, in case nobody has said it, this was the first billboard #1 song that was rap
Something you two might want to keep in mind as you delve into new wave and such from the very late '70s and early-to-mid-80s: Some of these songs weren't really meant to "mean" anything. Along with disco just before it, a lot of this was a counter-reaction to the seriousness of Vietnam and early post-Vietnam years.
People were just trying to have fun in some otherwise bleak times, and some of this music and the lyrics were written and produced with filling up dance floors in mind. Some of these songs featured silly, free association lyrics.
And usually "hidden meanings," if there were any, were sexual in nature. On some of these songs, the lyrics were more of an afterthought. The music and the beat were the stars. Discos and post-disco dance clubs were the target, not the studious and serious prog rock radio listener.
Lyrics are important but music is the universal language ! Plants react to it ,babies bop to it ...old ,new..it's the music that transcends time, age, labguage...