All language subtitles for 21bc52c8a2fd4f8caeca2304e3074bf9

Hey!

The '80s, a decade
of incredible creativity...

...born from incredible conflict.

It was like, "What the hell
are they doing to our song?"

A time
when new young voices demand to be heard.

He would have had me taken out and shot.

Rubbing conservative
America the wrong way.

These lyrics to these songs...
It was really pornographic.

Oh, for God's sakes! Ugh.

And when the '80s culture clash
gets explosive,

new stars are born.

Took us to a whole level
and made us rock stars.

It's the early 1980s, and those
that already have, are getting more.

Power dressing, muscle pressing
and stock price guessing are all the rage.

But the have-nots want
their voices heard too.

And for three young men,

their revolution will begin
in a New York Catholic school yard.

12-year-old Darryl McDaniels
is about to listen to a cassette tape

he's never heard before.

We heard a voice go...

And we was like, "Do that again!"

What Darryl is listening to
is a recording of local DJ, Eddie Cheeba.

We wanted 30 seconds
more of whatever that was.

We stood there
for a whole half hour rewinding.

It felt good, it sounded good,
it just hit us in our cores.

Darryl and his friends,

Joseph Run Simmons
and Jason Mizell want to do it too.

For us, it started as a release,
it was a party.

In the early 1980s,
they spend their teens in Joey's attic,

where Darryl writes rhymes.

The D is for doing it
All of the time

The M is for the rhymes that are all mine

The C is for cool, cool as can be

Then, why you wear those glasses

So I can see

And in 1982,

Run's brother, Russell Simmons,
block party promoter,

gives them a name, Run DMC.

No instruments needed, just two
record players, a stage, a crowd and...

Two rhyme sayers.

Russell records them
on a demo tape,

but if white boys hated disco,

they loathe rap.

Russell took it to every major
record label, they turned it down.

The style of Hip Hop was so new

that people just considered it
a one-summer fad!

And potentially illegal.

Now, Hip Hop relies on using the music
of others, much of it copyrighted.

But rising star producer Rick Rubin
has a different idea.

He wants Run DMC
to make a bold new move for the mainstream

by re-recording a hit song
by rock legends Aerosmith.

We thought the idea
to do a full cover of Walk This Way

was the most ridiculous thing ever!

It wasn't the only thing
blocking their way.

Buongiorno, Giovanni.

We were on tour and somebody said,

"Hey, these guys wanna do Walk this Way,
and they've been rapping to it."

And I thought about it and it was like,

"What the hell are
they doing to our song?"

Now there is rock music...

...and there is rap music...

...but the music
doesn't wanna play together.

- One, two and three.
- Okay.

...until Rick Rubin hatches a crazy plan,

he puts the rap newbies and the rock
legends in the studio together.

I didn't know what I was walking into.

We saw Rick's big-ass smiling face,
and it just was, "What is this?"

We were black B-Boys and MCs

and DJs and graffiti writers
from New York City,

so when we walked in there,
it was kind of like, "Oh, shoot!

"It's The Rolling Stones."

I don't know if they knew
who we were or not, uh, you know?

It's not like we were sitting around
listening to rap either.

In the studio,
cameras roll as great musical minds meet,

and tear up the rule book.

They kept looping
the intro drums...

And they were rooting for taters man,
they were just throwing down gang vocals,

and, um, it was crazy good, man.

Jase showed Steve exactly
what we used to do with the record,

how he used to mix it so we could rap.

Every time Jay would "Deh" and go back
to the front of record,

Steven Tyler said to Jay,

while Jay was still showing him,
"Hey, when do you get to hear me?"

And Jay was like, "That's it, Steve,
we never get to hear you."

And Steve was like, "Wow."

Now, I know when something's good,
and I'm the first one

to jump on something... Something...
Something better.

How is this version
going to be different from the original?

'Cause we're gonna be on it.

Opposites not only attract,
they make magic.

Not just in the recording studio,
but in a classic video made for MTV.

We had to do a video,
and we came up with this idea

of breaking the walls down between
black and white, and hello!

I grabbed the mike stand, and I go over,
and I go...

And it was like in the old cartoons
where it went boing!

Damn near pulled every muscle in my back,

and I got so pissed
that I thought they were with me

that I went back and whammed it again.

And that's when it
started breaking through.

And then the light came through,
and it was perfect.

It took us to a whole level
and made us rock stars,

made us rock stars.

Run DMC's latest album
has sold more than a million copies

in just 13 weeks.

Yo! Check this out.

It felt so good
to be a part of breaking down the walls.

Such the God child, you know?

There are stories
of kids going away to college

that would say because of Walk This Way,

in my dorm room, the black people
and white people were able to sit together

and listen to music.

Hit it!

With rap and rock
coming together,

the old walls of division are crumbling.

But if America's teenagers think
that they can listen to what they want,

they've got another thing coming.

I heard the lyrics, "I met a girl named
Nicky, masturbating with a magazine."

I was like, that's really
pretty raunchy for this kid.

It's the summer of 1984,
with the economy booming,

all is well in the capital.

But a group of local mothers
are about to get a wakeup call.

I was in my daughter's room
when she was like,

"You've gotta hear my new album,
I love this album.

"It's by a guy named Prince,
but just don't listen to the words."

It was kind of like, "Whoa!"

That's really pretty raunchy for this kid
who, you know, and I was like,

"I don't like that."

And that started me thinking about like,
"What else is out there?"

This was like picking up a rock
and looking under the rock

and seeing all these things.

It was drugs and alcohol.

It was very violent.

And it was pornographic lyrics.

"I like a beast," I mean, please.

You know, I feel that I have
to do something about this.

Do other parents know about this?

I was a journalist, and so I wrote a piece
about it for Newsweek.

It turns out Kandie Stroud
is not the only outraged mother in DC.

She's joined by Susan Baker,
wife of the Treasury Secretary,

and Tipper Gore, wife of Senator Al Gore.

Mary Elizabeth Gore says she was shocked

at what she was hearing.

Gore's the mother of four and the wife
of a United States Senator.

The Washington wives
form the Parents Music Resource Centre,

or PMRC,

an organization with one intention.

The goal was, "Gentlemen,
with all due respect, clean up your act."

And there's one particular band
they want to target, Twisted Sister.

The PMRC were saying that Under the Blade
is about sado-masochism and bondage.

And I was like, "What?"

They had read into lyrics
about a throat operation.

A throat operation!

So, when the PMRC
and the Washington Wives, uh,

started rearing their ugly heads,

or their well-quaffed heads, I should say,

um, we didn't take it seriously.

Nobody took it seriously in my world.

We just thought,
"Who's going to pay attention

"to a bunch of complaining housewives."

It's only rock and roll,
but a lot of people don't like it.

Today, some rock songs
are downright X-rated,

and that's got people from Main Street

to Pennsylvania Avenue
saying, "Enough is enough."

Suddenly, this thing started
to snowball and steamroll,

and it got bigger and bigger and bigger.

"Out go the lights, in goes my knife,
pull out his life,

"consider that bastard dead."

Oh, for God's sakes.

I mean, it doesn't mean that some kid's
gonna go out and murder someone

because the song told him to.

I don't really care about the words.

I listen to the beat so I can dance to it.

Those kids put on
their favorite Twisted Sister record,

and then mom and dad come in and say,
"Take that crap off." It's like, "What?"

We would like to see a warning label
put on records, albums, cassettes

where you have sexually explicit
or violent material.

The PMRC draws up the filthy 15,
a hit list of the worst offenders.

I think we were celebrating,
you know, it was like,

"Yeah, we're on the filthy 15!"

But it's no laughing matter
for the founding wives of the PMRC,

who soon use their husband's political
clout to haul those on the naughty list

into the principal's office.

Tipper got a hearing set up on the hill
through her husband, Al Gore.

It is believed to be
the biggest media event

in the history of congressional hearings.

No, not on the budget or deficit,
but on raunchy lyrics in rock music.

The whole event
would never have happened

if these weren't the wives
of prominent US Senators.

Rock lyrics have turned from,
"I can't get no satisfaction"

to "I'm going to force you
at gun point to eat me alive."

When management called and said,

"They've asked
if you would like to testify."

And I was like, "Hell, yeah."

He kinda walked in and in his kind
of t-shirt and blonde hair out to here,

uh, which I think was a wig.

I thought, "Oh, my God."

I was certainly not going to dress up
or be somebody I was not

to impress these Senators.

Mr. Snider, thank you for being here.

At that point, the seriousness hit me,

and terror set in,

and I said, "Oh, my God,
what have you gotten yourself into?"

But then the other voice said,
"Snap out of it man!

"You've got a job to do here, damn it,"
and I just started reading.

I would like to use this occasion to speak
on a more personal note

and show just how unfair the whole concept

of lyrical interpretation
and judgement can be.

And how many times this can amount

to little more
than character assassination.

Dee Snider was...
You know, he impressed me actually.

The beauty of literature, poetry and music
is that they leave room

for the audience to put its own
imagination, experiences and dreams

into the words.

As the creator of Under the Blade,

I can say categorically

that the only sado-masochism bondage
and rape in this song

is in the mind of Miss Gore.

Al was fuming, fuming.

He would have had me taken out
and shot, uh, if he could have. He was...

The fire in his eyes...

Mr. Snider, thank you very much.

Thank you for your time.

I was really proud of Dee Snider
because he took them on.

The PMRC hearings really backfired.

They got their warning stickers,

but some artists saw that
as a badge of honor,

saying to themselves,

"if we haven't gotten
the warning label sticker,

"we haven't been offensive enough."

The iconic parental advisory
sticker becomes the everlasting symbol

of the '80s culture war
between conservative America and its kids.

All the songs that PMRC had on that list,
the filthy 15, are looked back on fondly

by everybody and sung loudly and proudly
at every karaoke bar in the world.

If America's teen rockers
have silenced their parents,

a different group of young rebels
is about to face tougher opposition

on the streets of New York.

This is not a game, you know,
it is a crime, you can go to jail for it.

It's the early '80s,

and there's a battle
on the streets of New York.

It's the spray can versus the man.

I hate graffiti.

I think it's the most disgusting thing
that New York City has.

But to some of the people
spritzing out their fluorescent visions,

graffiti is a profound expression
of creativity.

We were just teenagers
going out there painting

without any art training whatsoever.

It was pure. It was coming from the gut.

How did you get started painting graffiti?

These guys came into the scene,
and I just started hanging out with them.

Got to love graffiti, the trains.

Aren't you scared to be a girl and do it?

It was one
of the few cross-racial movement.

So there were white kids,
there were black kids, and Latin kids,

and I think that our whole movement
was based on rebellion,

we were sticking it to the man.

The subway car
becomes the canvas of choice.

It was the matter of getting a tag
on each line and each division,

you know, it's called, "going all city."

People see your tags
in Queens, uptown, downtown, all over.

The trains were a natural vehicle
because writers were presenting art,

sending it to the other end of the city

for those on the other end of the city
to see.

And then the people
on the other end of the city would say,

"Wow," and they would do something
and respond.

So, basically send it back
to the Bronx, and that's how we did it.

And we exposed our work
to thousands and thousands

of schmucks going to work.

So, our audience was large, it was huge.

But graffiti has no appeal
for the authorities.

I will show you graffiti
such as the letters on the end of that car

directly in back of me.

Is that an art form?

I don't know, I'm not an art critic,

but I can sure as hell tell you
that that's a crime.

You have the right to remain silent
and refuse to answer any questions.

Do you understand?

I knew full well
what I was doing, this is not a game,

you know, it is a crime,
you can go to jail for it.

Realizing it's fighting
a losing battle,

the city launches a new attack
on the rebels.

So if you really wanna make something
out of your life, use your head.

Or your voice,
but don't waste your time making a mess.

Make your mark in your society,
not on society.

New York Mayor Ed Koch
delivers the message loud and clear.

Put your mark on society,
in doing something in society.

I screwed it up a little bit,
but nevertheless, you got the message.

Sort of.

But the graffiti train
is quickly becoming the gravy train.

I'm into making money.
You go to school and your teacher says,

"It's not worth anything,
you don't make any money from graffiti."

And you tell them, "When was the last time
you made $2,000 in a month huh?"

What you had is a group
of non-school trained kids

who were producing some of the most
prolific works of art ever seen.

By the age of 16, I was exhibiting
in galleries and selling my paintings

like hot cakes.

Well, graffiti is more
than just the style, it's a culture.

It's an entire culture.

The movement
gives rise to artists like Keith Haring,

Jean-Michel Basquiat and Fab 5 Freddy.

All my friends call me Fab 5 Freddy,
you know?

And it's not long
before the A-list glitterati

are getting their faces
painted for the party.

When Blondie referenced
Fab 5 Freddy in the hit Rapture,

which I liked the song, by the way...

...it did wonders for taking graffiti
into mainstream America

and also across the globe.

Not to be outdone,
Madonna gets her own spray can out

in her hit song Borderline.

And even Andy Warhol
and Michael Jackson embrace graffiti.

For the urban artists of America,

the graffiti movement will go down
in history

as a fairytale story of tags to riches.

What we see across the
1980s is forces rising up.

On one side you had conservative America,
on the other hand you have artists

who are willing to stand up
to that tidal wave

and say,
"We're not gonna take it anymore."

The '80s, the decade
when pop culture waged war on its masters

and changed America forever.