Everybody say, rock it, don't stop it

Last night I watched a fascinating documentary on the New York music scene in landmark year 1977.
While disco claimed the headlines with its elitist clubs, punk was flourishing downtown and pioneering DJs were planting the seeds of the hip hop revolution.
So much of our mainstream pop music traces its roots to that city in that special year.
The documentary also raised an interesting theory -- that the rise of DJ culture received an unexpected boost after the summer BLACK OUT, because so many aspiring artists pilfered mixing equipment from looted electronics stores.
This morning, I am listening to a later creation by one of those pioneering DJs -- one who not only had his own mixing equipment and had no need for looting -- AFRIKA BAMBAATAA.
In 1977, Bambaataa's sound system was among the most feared in the Bronx and uptown Manhattan. Those were the days when DJs hotwired their equipment into street lights to power their outdoor dance parties.
Now, I am digging the 1982 smash "Planet Rock," a song with The Soul Sonic Force that shows Bambaataa's creativity. He took the main melody from Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express," the drum-machine track from the Kraftwerk song "Numbers" and bits from other songs to create a template for electro-funk and future dance music.
It makes for heady stuff, but also catchy as hell dance music.