The Evolution of 'Rocket' and Musical Innovation

Hear a DJ mix I made that includes most of the tracks referenced in this episode.

The tracks:

Herbie Hancock - "Rockit" (1983)

Miles Davis - "Freedom Jazz Dance" (1967)

Herbie Hancock - "Maiden Voyage" (1965)

Miles Davis - “Shhh/Peaceful” (1969)

Herbie Hancock - "Chameleon" (1973)

Herbie Hancock - "I Thought It Was You" (1978)

Material ft. Nona Hendryx - "Take A Chance" (1982)

Malcolm McLaren - "Buffalo Gals" (1983)

Run-DMC - “Sucker MCs” (1984)

Daniel Ponce - “Solo Para Ti” (1983)

Led Zeppelin - "We're Gonna Groove" (1982)

Pharoah Sanders - "Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt" (1966)

Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force - "Planet Rock" (1982)

Beside & Fab Five Freddy - "Change Le Beat" (1982)

Eric B & Rakim - "Paid in Full" (1987)

Gang Starr - "DJ Premier In Deep Concentration" (1989)

Grand Mixer DXT - "Rockit (Mega Mix)" (1983)

Grand Mixer DXT - "Megamix 2 (Why Is It Fresh?)" (1983)

Double Dee & Steinski - "Lesson 1: The Payoff Mix" (1985)

Grooverider - "Rockit Remix" (1997)

Janet Jackson ft. Khia - "So Excited" (2006)

Charizma & Peanut Butter Wolf - "Pacin' The Floor" (2007)

Chali 2na - "Rockit Freestyle" from Z-Trip's BBC Radio1 Hip Hop Takeover Mix (2014)

Herbie’s performance of “Rockit” on the 1984 Grammy Awards broadcast was a landmark event in hip-hop history.

Here's another great live performance of "Rockit" with Grand Mixer DXT from 1984.

I don’t really talk about the “Rockit” music video because Herbie himself was barely involved in it, but you can be disturbed by it if you want:

The sad thing is that Herbie has such a limited presence in the video by his own choosing, because MTV did not play videos by Black artists before Michael Jackson’s breakthrough with Thriller.

This episode includes an excerpt of pages 212-213 from Herbie's autobiography Possibilities, written with Lisa Dickey.

Read more about the synths that Herbie has used on his albums.

Read more about the creation of “Change Le Beat”.

Here’s DJ Shortkut demonstrating scratching "ahhh" and "fresh".

Read more about the vocoder.

Read more about the concept of the rhizome.