1987 was the year hip-hop went mainstream in the UK. Or at least it felt like that at my school.
A few of the ‘cool’ kids were nicking the VW signs popularised by Mike D of the Beastie Boys (a major tabloid cause célèbre) and friends’ parents were even playing Licensed To Ill at parties.
Public Enemy, Run DMC, LL Cool J, Eric B & Rakim and Salt-N-Pepa were the dog’s b****cks, graffiti culture was getting big and DJ Tim Westwood was fast becoming a household name, thanks to his progression from Kiss FM to Capital.
This excellent, recently-unearthed BBC documentary handily incorporates all of the above:
Two legendary gigs seem to epitomise London’s love affair with classic hip-hop in ’87: Run DMC & Beastie Boys’ notorious double-header at the Brixton Academy – the first night of which happened 30 years ago today – and also the Def Jam package tour which checked into the Hammersmith Odeon later in the year.
As the late great Shaw Taylor used to say on ‘Police 5’, were you there? If you were (I wasn’t), let me know your memories of these seminal London gigs.
movingtheriver.com 
Some of my favourite music ever.
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Haha. Yes I remember, but it was me making mixtapes for the parents’ parties with Beastie Boys etc on it. My mum never really got past the Beatles (with the exception of the Gypsy Kings – gna gna ;-))
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Ah, it was you, not your folks! I do remember your dad impressing me by having Roxy’s ‘Avalon’ and Steely’s ‘Gaucho’ on CD… And I think he had the first CD player I ever saw.
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I was 14 when I went to see the BEastie Boys and Run DMC in Brixton – the best gig I have ever been to – and I still think about it!
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Claire! Nice to hear from you. What a cool debut gig. Brixton was definitely THE London venue for hip-hop back then – did you also catch the PE gig there?
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Saw Beasties, LL Cool J, Whodini and RUn-DMC in ’86 at Hammersmith when I was 16. Mike Allen was still in charge of Hip-Hop on Capital Radio at the time.
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It is a badge of honour that aged 17, Run DMC and the Beastie Boys at the Brixton Academy was the first gig I attended.
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Nice one Faisel. Badge of honour indeed…
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I was at this gig also, which was awesome, but my over riding memory of the gig was a load of people leaving after the Beasties set, baffling.
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Thanks Tony – that is odd… But I guess a measure of how massive the Beasties were at the time.
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i was at Brixton.
I was 17, totally freaked out by what an amazing gig it was! I’ve been to loads since but it was the best!
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Cool, thanks Rebecca. Seems to be a recurring theme…
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