Reviews (page 7 of 8)
That was…..interesting
Interesting idea but ultimately not that great
Boyoyo boys bringin’ that South African groove! 2.75
There's talent here, but everything feels like "continued cultural appropriation from the British".
Have you ever been to a buffet where you didn't know what you were eating and just took little bits of everything to see if you would like it and found out that only a few mouthfuls were to your taste, yeah this was that.
got progressively worse as it went on
Well, this didn't sound aggravating, but it was a far cry from something I was able to enjoy. The genre mix seemed pretty contrived and the international influences seemed more like shallow representation than true ethnic music. That the South African musicians were apparently not credited correctly for their contributions fits the picture. As for the more familiar elements of hiphop and simple electronica - I'm not a fan of those styles anyway and they didn't seem particularly well done either.
It was definitely interesting, not interestingly good unfortunately. The entire album doesn't exactly feel cohesive jumping from (to my ears) genre to genre. I liked a couple of tracks like "Punk It Up", "Jive my baby". Would not relisten
Entiendo su inclusión, pero no hizo nada por mí.
It's one of those albums where the story behind the scenes seems more interesting than the music itself. And I reckon that's why all those retrospective reviews keep on singling this one out, in spite of common sense. Rock critics love it when they have a story to tell for a review, don't they? But that doesn't necessarily mean the contents of the record they praise are *that* important. Here's the thing about Malcom McLaren: there's probably a good reason explaining why his first foray into the music business was being a manager and not being an actual musician. The man had good instincts, don't get me wrong, and this both in the business/promotion area and in the manner he chose his collaborators for this album. Yet as good as the future Art Of Noise collective Trevor Horn, Anne Dudley and J. J. Jeczalik are as producers/music writers, they can't save this record from the hodgepodge that it is at heart. There are two main issues preventing this LP to be an "essential" one. First, on a couple of pivotal tracks, there's the cheesy, dated imitations of a rap style that was in its infancy at the time--an imitation that has none of the cultural importance and social urgency you can still assign to those early attempts today (See Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster flash, etc.). And then, there's the lack of cohesion of this whole thing: fusing different "global" sounds into a single offering is a valuable idea. But when the execution sounds awkward overall decades later, it means that the concept was not enough. You need a real vision, cruelly lacking in this LP. If at least McLaren had brought something truly personal to that mix, maybe his project would have been worthwhile. But the point is that this project has no identity. Hence why it sounds a little shallow today. Under that light, accusations of cultural appropriation against what is only a very obscure release today make me smirk. If you say "Malcolm McLaren" to anyone interested in music history, 99% of them will reply: "Oh, yeah. The Sex Pistols manager". They won't reply: " Oh yeah. *Duck Rock*". So if ever McLaren appropriated other people's music for this... *thing*, it didn't bring him very far as an artist anyway. Well, sure, it *did* bring him money, especially since he "forgot" to give credits to some of the other artists he pillaged. But I guess that beef is settled for now. Or is it? Do we only have access to the tip of the iceberg here? Yep, that's a question that looms over the way you can "feel" about this record as well, even if that doesn't necessarily mean the music itself is bad... Speaking of which, I have to say that "Obatala" was an interesting ambient introduction for the LP, very dreamy, and that "Soweto" sounded quite uplifting, along with a few afro-beat or latin tracks here and there. Those good moments save this record from a 1/5 grade. Not so bad, all things considered: as I see it, a 2/5 grade for the purposes of this list means a 7/10 grade for more general purposes (5+2). Number of albums left to review: 579 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 201 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 97 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 125 (including this one)
meh
Interesting new at the time.
At times interesting, at other times messy, and felt more like a compilation.
This is like world music lite. Just a taste of all different cultures smushed together. I'd rather listen to the real thing but I appreciate it for being forward thinking among British/American peers. And that it has Keith Haring art.
Wasn’t really too much my thing, I could definitely see why people would like it though. I did like the opener though. Fav tracks, Obatala, double dutch
Listened to this album while working quite focussed. Apart from the first song, I can't recall what was on the album, so it's not exceptional in a good or bad sense.
Listened to it but don't remember anything except the bit Eminem stole which is usually not a good sign
This was quite weird, not necessarily in a good way.
Was probably very influential/groundbreaking at the time but it's not for me...
It's a mixed bag. This album isn't sure of what it's trying to be. Is it new wave? African music? Synthpop? Sample-based hip hop? I can't even try to pin it down. I should clarify that there are plenty of albums out there where genres can merge and coexist very well. In the case of Duck Rock, the problem here is that there's no rhyme or reason to the genre choices. It's like emptying the refrigerator and hurling the contents at a wall and hoping some of it sticks. The last song is a particularly dated attempt on novelty country pop; it leaves a rather sour aftertaste.
Not my favorite album the style wasn’t really me. Low 2
This is ok. 2.5
Obatala- 2 (???) Buffalo Gals- 4 (most of the song is nothing) Double Dutch- 3 El San Juanera- 1 (not even a song) Merengue- 7 (bias) Punk It Up- 4 Legba- 2 (so boring) Jive My Baby- 4 Song For Chango- 3 Soweto- 2 World's Famous- 7 Duck For The Oyster- 1 (...what is this) This album can be explained in three words. What. The. Fuck.
I mean... it's interesting... there's lots going on here. I'm not really on-board with this wild ride, but I appreciate it's out there somewhere and people are jamming with it.
Some cool moments here and there, but otherwise unremarkable.
Perhaps the first british "hip hop" record, showing a certain fascination with the music and culture without actually taking part in it. It's an outsider album if I ever heard one. It blends so many different genres and styles but it seems to firmly planted in a sampling-based music (not quite plunderphonics). Frankly, I'm more puzzled by this release. What is McLaren's point of bringing in African folk music and interspersing it with hip hop radio djs? And what about that closing song? God what a weird album.
What in the hell was this. It was a mix of Merengue, West African-style music, hip hop, etc. It was all over the place and each song was a surprise, and not a particularly good one. Just not good. 3/10.
helvete vad knepigt det här var då. massa inklippta dialoger och grejer. nehedu
What a weird album. Genres jump between each other so much that it feels like listening to someone's entire music selection on shuffle. The strange thing is that it actually works, since the musical whiplash at least keeps the record from being monotonous. However, that also makes it harder to take this album seriously as a piece of music. It sounds like a novelty album more than anything, something that you listen to once and then never think about again. Well, it was an interesting listen at least. Standout tracks are Buffalo Gals, Punk It Up, and World Famous.
Hell no
Started out just sort of meh for me and then I feel like it got progressively weirder, and not in a good way.
Weird stuff, man.
Little too eclectic for me - didn't seem to have a thought out theme
Sound like a lot of samples and a little early rap
Two buffalo girls gets two stars
Un peu all over the place
Merengue is a really strong track. but oh my god the rest is so incoherent. i like good plunderphonics and this is not an example of that. Duck for the oyster is one of the worst songs I've had to hear this year. 3/10
Weird time
Duck rock Cool album cover. I liked a lot of the music, it was kind of all over the place. Felt like an eclectic radio show ( I liked that it had the team supreme radio show bits tying it together and the weird square dancing lyrics throughout). I wonder how much of a role musically McClaren played (curator? Producer? Singer?). I saw it said on Wikipedia the boyoyo boys were uncredited for “double Dutch”. It sounds similar to the boyoyo boys tune that Paul Simon wrote “gumboots” to. I hope everyone involved got their dues- is he just singing over other peoples songs and adding some keys/ synths- like what is going on on “Merengue” did he just add that vocal and name it Merengue?? I liked punk it up I’d be curious to learn more about this album, how it was made, cultural context etc.
Nothing memorable about this album to me. Also apparently the “songwriter” got sued for not giving credit to the actual songwriters and musicians. Lame.
I wasn’t insulted by this but that’s all I can say.
interesting. I thought I was going to hate it but it was ok
Some good beats but weird wedding DJ shoutouts
Another "refreshingly ahead of it's time" LP. Good to hear the influential mix of hip hop, sampling, afro beats, but I'm not going to listen again.
Very little joy with this one.
Literally no idea what I listened to
Maybe it’s Cuase I was working but was not a fan
Eh interesting
The Svengali of the Pistols and British punk goes solo. First time of listening to this and certainly surprised at the content. Starts with the Vangelis-esque "Obatala" which is a bit of an earworm to be honest, slowburn and quite ethereal really. Surprising start. "Buffalo Girls" much more recognisable, Malc jumping on the Hip Hop bandwagon before it went mainstream. Linked of course to the next track "Double Dutch" which where the most popular singles from the albums.
An interesting contemporary/world music album that put together a whole bunch of sounds and evoked a feeling of whimsy. Not a favourite, but could potentially have a couple of tracks on as background music. Best: Merengue Worst: Duck for the Oyster
This was tough to listen to, gave it 2 stars cause I did save one song off it
This was too off-putting for me.
Didn't feel it.
Really wanted to like this because the title is exceptional but sadly, for the most part, I really didn't.
I don't think album is made for me. I don't super like all the sounds on it. I think it's interesting to hear buffalo gals, and now to have some frame of reference for where the trailer park girls go round me outside on without me comes from. Pretty funny. But yeah, this shit feels like a Musical Safari.
Ehh… this one was weird. A bit everywhere. The problem with a lot of the songs is they’re just a bit… annoying. I imagine the spoken sections don’t age well through multiple listens. There’s some nice instrumentation but I’m not gonna sit through one of these songs for it. I had to ask myself if this was some kind of satire at one point. The two nicest tracks are, consequently, the instrumental tracks. Gonna give this an extra .5 stars for em, as they’re generally pleasant. This isn’t my worst two stars, but it’s gonna be a 2.5 from me
I don't like it.
Corny but interesting.
N sei o q dizer kkkk sério
Silly.
its a bunch of 80-90 hip hop beats 2.5
Buffalo Gals is obviously catchy, and Double Dutch was a cool jam. Jive My Baby got me feeling the sunshine. But I can't listen to a whole album of this stuff. Especially all the "radio program call in" gimmicks, that got old fast.
Colorful
Okay, so - fine. Early 80s hip-hop with a little island vibe - I can dig it. Hearing the source of Eminem's "two trailor park girls" hook was cool. But, overall - whatever. This isn't really my genre, but - even so - it certainly doesn't measure up to Grandmaster Flash and those who (imho) really popularized the genre.
Not really for me, but gotta give em a point for combining styles
A couple of catchy tunes I'll save to my Playlist but other than that, he's more of a footnote than a musical milestone.
Dit begon nog best aardig, maar het einde niet kunnen halen. Klonk wel als een album waarvan veel gesampled is en een grote invloed was voor velen.
This one's a bit of a mystery. I knew Malcolm McLaren's name as a promoter/manager (e.g. Sex Pistols, Bow Wow Wow) - was totally unaware he released music? I had to read about this one as to what makes it worthy of *the list* - "bringing hip-hop to a wider audience in the UK" is one, which ... ok, decent reason but maybe I had to be there. There's definitely a strong African-beat influence and perhaps is/was an early blending of music genres; not hard to hear that. Unfortunately to me a lot of it ends up sounding like giant sample patches for the first Korg keyboard I bought. Or mid80s Sesame Street music. It's not bad. Just not much in the way of songs and doesn't really hold up for me - kinda boring and not very memorable. 3/10 2 stars.
Sample music can be great, but quite rarely. I don't get what vibe this was going for other than annoying
Interesting and diverse mix of styles from MMcL, throwing everything against the wall. Some of it stuck, though.
Have to confess, I only had time for a quick skimming thru this album. I liked the African music bits, but the DJ nonsense and 80s hiphop bits sounded really dated, and overall it just felt like one big mess.
Second listen. 2/5 first time. Such a mix of different styles throughout the album. It's kind of distracting. Buffalo Gals is definitely semi-classic. The scathing was definitely the thing back in the early 80s. Double Dutch seems like a good island calypso song. Someday this might be more than 2/5 for me, but not today.
Ehh... I guess it was kinda cool but it ultimately didn't do anything for me
Couple of tracks sound like a piss-take but the album accidentally includes some good tunes. 2 stars.
Wtf... Sikke en mærkelig blanding af hiphop, reggae og alt mulige genrer i en store pærevælling. Måske et par enkelt ok numre, men virkelige ringe og underligt
I had heard of one song. Not a bad album. 2/5.
Weird, unsettling, fills me with an impending sense of pending doom. Much like the sting of an Irukandji. Some of it seems to fall into the realm of what Talking Heads were doing around the same time with the world music integration. I imagine I would've absolutely frothed how weird and abstract it was given the benefit of time, space and place but here and now it doesn't sit right at all. *shudders*
Mostly forgettable tracks with some interesting features. Really not like any albums I've heard before, even though most of the songs sounds pretty similar to each other. It's a mixture of world music combined with McLaren yelling random stuff. I think most of the songs would be better without him.
The first song really doesn't prepare you for what you're going to listen to. Although some of the album is interesting to listen to, it's just world music, but it has a bit of an identity problem in that it's world music with confusing genres mixed in, such as country or rap. It doesn't make too much sense and drags the album down significantly. Favorite track: Obatala
Not my kind of music. Turned it off after maybe 4-5 songs.
It's okay. I'm not too interested in this album. Some of the elements come together quite nicely, but I really don't care for the skits. Highlights: 1, and 2.
Malcolm McLaren's Duck Rock is definitely an interesting record, but it's just... so.... weird? I am a bit torn on my rating, as I couldn't say I loved any track, but I did not outright hate anything either. If the whole record could be like the extremely catchy tunes on World's Famous, I would have loved it. 2/5.
Definitely original, liked the first few songs than got a little weird.
DJ album, not really my vibe, but can see them laying the groundwork for beastie boys and others
Repetitive and from another culture and time and was t my thing.
O sofrimento é imensurável, ouvir isto foi terrível. Não existe um fio condutor neste álbum, nem sei quais são os músicos no álbum, isto começa com música eletronica, chato, depois vai para rap, por muito tempo, depois música brasileira e termina com música tribal e no meio disto tudo fala de uma Supreme Team. E realmente nada é bom, não sabes para onde vais e nunca é nada de bom. O álbum é tão inconsistente que nem tenho bem por onde pegar nele, o raciocínio fica esfarelado pela falta de lógica no álbum. Acho que vou terminar aqui que isto parece um turbilhão. Nota: 3/10 06/06/2024
Not 100% sure what I listened to here. Best track: Buffalo Gals
Que experimentação maluca!
I was not ready for how diverse this album was going to be, wow. Never had heard the name before. A lot of these tracks I don't think I would ever particularly want to return to but it's interesting enough. I liked the skits tying things together like it's a radio broadcast. There are some BAD songs on here though. Duck for the Oyster, Punk It Up and Merengue I felt were particularly weak.
Un poco mezcla de estilos, entre folk, algo de electrónica, ritmos variados. Poco definible el disco. Y le falta pegada y muchas cosas. Prescindible.
70s hip hop, has a song eminem referenced
I didn't really care for this. Most songs were just one simple groove with one line repeated over and over again. It reminded me a bit of the Talking Heads, without the captivating lyrics and quirky vocals. 2 stars.
quirky
Old school hip-hop/electronic. Almost sounds like a mixtape. Mainstream hip-hop definitely pulled tracks from this album.
I can't say I enjoyed this, but I understand why it was historically significant and why it was sampled so much. I'll enjoy the sampling, but I'm never returning to the source material.
Some interesting music on this. Multiple genres and some just outright kooky. Definitely unique.
I had high hopes for this album, but it was not very good.
Meh.
Plays like a bizarre radio show, and as that it's pretty good. However, it's unfortunate that the obviously best cut is also the one which seems to be stolen. I don't like to think too much about the historical context when listening to an album, and it especially rankles to defend intellectual property, but failing to credit artists is crossing a line. There's also so little Englishness here: Perhaps it would feel less artificey to me if McLaren leaned into that a bit more. Or maybe I'm just trying to mask my love for more English music.
only notable for me is the one eminem sampled im sorry
Album title is unrelated to the rest of it. at first I thought this was new age.... but then it became a mix of african tribal music, caribbean & latin jazzy numbers, 80s scratching/hip hop, country/dance hall stuff, disco.... and it was mixed as if it was a radio show, with "call in now!" samples. by the end I was bored of its shtick. Not knowing what was coming next didn't make me curious - it just made me roll my fkn eyes. There should be a rule against joke albums being on the list. But hey, at least I heard it before I die, right? 2/5.
While being somewhat responsible for bringing punk music to the mainstream, Malcolm McLaren was a colossal piece of shit. He took advantage of marginalized people and by most accounts he really sucked.
I went into Duck Rock expecting to find something interesting, especially considering how experimental and influential the album is supposed to be, but I honestly didn’t enjoy it that much. There are a lot of different influences throughout the album, including hip-hop, African and Caribbean music, electronic sounds, and various samples. While I can appreciate the ambition behind mixing all of these styles together, I found the result quite messy and difficult to follow. The biggest problem for me was that the album didn’t feel very coherent. It constantly moves between different sounds and ideas, and instead of making the album feel exciting, I often found it distracting and a little annoying. Some of the spoken sections and samples especially became tiring after a while. McLaren’s vocals also took some getting used to. His detached and almost awkward delivery is clearly intentional, but it didn’t really work for me.I found it too chaotic and irritating to really connect with. There are some good ideas throughout the album, but they didn’t come together in a way that worked for me.
I can hear the influence this one had musically. As much of a cultural vulture as McLaren was, he was an equal opportunity thief/exploiter across race and class. What a scumbag.
what was that
Serial plagiarist. Mclaren may have his place in history but not as a musician.
All the annoying parts of hip hop with none of the redeeming features, by a phoney white dude. Ugh.
If cultural appropriation was an album
actually couldn't get though this
The whiplash from first to second track is wild. Kind of cool at first, but by the end of the album I was just annoyed.
bela bosta puta que pariu viu
Not surprisingly, the hack who found Vivienne Westwood and lucked into the Sex Pistols didn't really know what he was doing with his own "music". Sure he found some ok stuff, but he pasted it together as if it was a hip hop mix tap. The music is fine, but McLaren is an exploitive hack. Review more for the person than the album.
26/100. I'm so confused. Did not expect whatever this is from a Sex Pistols manager/creator... It sounds like a mix of the early days of New York electronic music and tropical music that gets all the grandparents in their Hawaii shirts turnt up on a cruise ship, mixed with a radio show where a bunch of females are calling in and saying that it's the best show. And by the way, no disrespect towards any genre that was on this record. This was just very horrid. What did I just listen to?
This just wasn't any good.
I think I've heard some of these songs sampled in some rap/hip hop groups... but anyway, the album isn't good. It just sounds like a collage of random sounds, and not in a good way.
Liked Soweto. Other than that, there isnt much here. Great that it inspired others and has been sampled but shame on McLaren and his failure to credit the original artists. Enjoy your star Malcolm.
This reminds me of those music samplers that you could buy mail-order from a TV commercial for $9.99 + S&H. But then someone taped over part of the cassette with a NY hip hop radio station.
Pretentious noise nonsense.
Plagiarism
1.3/5
This album was absolutely terrible. There was absolutely 0 identity for the music throughout the album. It felt like I was listening to a crock pot. There were 2 good songs almost everything else was utterly terrible. I do not know what to say this felt like a fever dream.
Was kind of enjoying it until I read the review about the guy.
Garbage
Una por y una onga
not for me :')
I don’t even know what this was
Crazy how boomers always complain about participation trophies when THIS album made the 1001 albums you need to hear before you die list cuz man I genuinely feel gross listening to this bullshit. Best: Soweto Worst: Jive My Baby Liked songs: 3/11 High 1
Rart å tenke på hvor innflytelsesrikt det albumet har vært, for i dag høres det ut som Banana Airlines med hiphopinnflytelser og Gil Scott-Heron-imitator.
This sounds like someone really tried hard to create fun and enjoyable music, but ended up achieving the opposite for me. These radio-style intros are genuinely annoying. I can't find any song I like, only ones I hate less.
Meh album, apparently terrible person. Last song is awful. It's tantamount to torture.
#958. Holy shit this is bad. Get this shit away from me. 1/5: absolutely not
Buffalo Gals Double Dutch Soweto
I was expecting Punk. I was not expecting Hip Hop and World Music. I was also not expecting to hear something that Eminem sampled in Buffalo Gals. My mood lifted when hearing Double Dutch and Punk it Up because of the clearly South African influence, only to be disappointed to read that it was plagiarised. The more i listened to this album the more i realised how almost this entire album has been culturally appropriated and plagiarised from artists around the world, and especially South African Artists in a period when they were already heavily marginalised. If it was just about the music then my view might be slightly different, but I can't look past this. How disappointing. 1 star Go listen to Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens instead
🎧Remove from list immediately.
This album promised so much with a fusion of multiple styles, but just falls flat. It’s at its best when the South African influence is at the fore. Unfortunately McLaren vocals (if you can call them that) spoil tracks like Double Dutch. Duck For The Oyster is a fun closer though .
I don't know what this is. I kept waiting for something to happen on each track, but it was a lot of jumbled clips of radio broadcasts and phone messages. Not for me. Not sure why its on this list.
Appropriation. Boo.
The radio shit is obnoxious. Calling women "females" is dehumanizing.
This is not hip hop, this is not world music, this is a boring white dude who suddenly discovered that black people make great music and he wanted to steal some of their pie. This is the first album on this list that I can say with 100% certainty was an actual waste of time and did not need to be listened to by me before my eventual passing. Give the actual musicians some credit, but this "album" is def a 0.
Id malcolm mclaren wasn't famous, this would never have been released let alone made this list. Its the noodlings of a man who has some interesting ideas but has 0 musical talent.
Bad, really bad.
I was not impressed with this on first listen and the idea of giving it my customary second listen filled me with dread. This is what everyone was always accusing Kanye of doing with sampling - stealing someone else's song and yelling over it. The oyster song at the end was particularly abominable. If you want a GOOD album that fuses Western and African influences where everyone was credited, Graceland exists. If you don't want the Western influence, The Indestructible Beat of Soweto exists. This sucks.
The Brits are at it again. It's kind of profound that the first "hip-hop" album on this list is a white British guy doing "world music" The music isn't bad, but it makes me feel gross that this is hear instead of the music it's largely inspired by. On principle this is 1.
I listened to the first few tracks and turned it off.
Unfortunately this seems to me like a big case of cultural appropriation in his purest form. I like the album, the album is fun but I can't ignore him being a big culture vulture.
Not my jam
p504. 1983. 1 star. Really badly dated cultural appropriation at its worst. And McLaren was a twat. Hard pass from me.
Did Malcolm McLaren write this list?
Stolen trash
What is this shit
Listened Before? N Wait... this was made by a nearly 40-year old (at the time) white guy? No thanks. Added to Library? N Didn't add a song.
McLaren’s usual exploitation shtick. Some of the stuff he stole for this was pretty good, listen to that instead.
Fresh from his appropriation and commercialisation of punk, Malcolm appropriates and commercialises African and Cuban culture. This is essentially an Art Of Noise album with Malcolm as "creative director", whatever that might mean. Forgettable, unremarkable.
It’s amazing how good the stuff that other artists do on here is and how fucking ass his stuff is. This also spawned the abysmal British white guy does parody hip hop song that was basically all over the UK until like 2007
This album felt very disjointed to me...hard to really explain it was just...not good.
Felt like noise
WHY
Nope
The music was catchy and enjoyable but the history behind this album was not.
Sigh... Let's ignore the fact that Malcolm McClaren is a complete piece of shit, and that this album is 100% appropriation of black and latin music with little to no credit given to the actual creators and performers. Even what he has curated here is mediocre at best. This era has so many better examples of EVERYTHING represented on this album. Thought I might enjoy this, but it's embarrassing and infuriating.
Cultural exploitation - the album. Didn't even like it, too confusing for my taste. And the way this guy just puts his name on other people's work is disgusting.
I guess this might have been a bit influential but it is a chore to get through in this day and age.
How the hell did this "bring hip hop to a wider audience in the UK"? If anything I'm surprised it didn't make British hip hop even less popular. Yea this is complete bullshit that can barely be considered hip hop in the first place. Favorite track: World's Famous 1.5/5
I suppose I can understand why this album was included on the list, it was ground-breaking in the UK at the time. But McLaren's rapping is awful, the mixing is ragged, it's a dumb mess. Worst was the use of African musicians without giving them due credit. That's basically stealing, isn't it?
WHAT WAS THIS WHAT
This album feels like flipping between channels on the GTA V radio trying to find a good song and yet never finding anything for 43 minutes straight. This album is a very novel idea of meshing together so many different sounds in an attempt to reach a loud of different audiences, but when those sounds being tested are even more niche for the time of this album's release than the already very niche genre of Turntablism you already know this won't appeal to very many people. This project is kooky and bizarre in a lot of ways I feel are very exclusive to the time and era this project came out and could never be effectively replicated in today's day and age. I did not get any sort of satisfaction or enjoyment out of this album and I truly don't think anyone will unless they are mentally stuck in the 80s and even then I don't think many people enjoyed this then either. Just a very strange project to deem as "essential" when it is one of the furthest projects from that on the entire list.
Real Phil Spector vibes. A window into 80s "world music," as told by some random British guy. Lacks cohesion.
yea i dont know. didnt like it. felt like every catchy bit was diffused by something weird or goofy. plays like a gta radio station without the songs, only the host insterstitials and weird parody ad breaks. best sounding thing was Double Dutch
Rating: 1/10 Fuck this guy! He didn't write or compose or produce any of the music created on this record and as a super early example of turntablism this thing might have been influential to Beastie Boys and whatever else after it, but the whole story of this album is lame as fuck. True turntablists and plunderphonics artists put in such heavy work to transform the art they're using into something unique and interesting. This dude just appropriated international sounds and styles and didn't pay any of them for the work they, not he, actually put into this album. And I really don't think anyone gives a shit about this album anymore, if they ever did
Of its time I guess, a couple of reasonable tracks but not enough to warrant a listen or being on this list
God this fucking sucked. Appropriative and annoying. The only decent elements of this did not even originally come from McLaren. Obatala is a nice track but now that I've learned about Malcom McLaren, it can not save this rating and I feel none the wiser.
Baffled by the choice of this album over any of the Art of Noise albums, who worked on this album, but were much more influential on their own records. It was the Art of Noise albums that were essential to long term music history, not the lame Malcolm McLaren. I would argue that his girlfriend Vivienne Westwood was a much more influential to the popularity of punk and new wave than anything that McClaren personally did by himself. But Art of Noise was influential to how everyone writes and records albums all the way up to today. I respect the artists who were sampled on this record, but do not respect Malcolm McLaren's bullshit take on their efforts. This album has no place on this list. And it does not exemplify hip hop at all much less the good to great hip hop from the 1980s.
First record I couldn't make it through. I really tried, but it was actively killing my mood, and eardrums.
Feels more like cultural appropriation than a fusion of musical styles.
DNF. Fuck this Best Song: N/A Rating: 1/10 Stars: 1
Can't take thiss seriously..doesn't deserve to ve here though a couple of catchy tracks.
It’s like a caricature of an album, as if someone went on vacation to an exotic place, fell in love with the music there, and then rushed home to create something that mimicked the sounds of their trip.
White Boy Listens To World Music once:
Like the Art of Noise but somehow worse.
Not my thing
wtf was that
1 star because fuck this guy.
Man, I just can’t with the cultural appropriation here. Some of the songs sound great, but my understanding is that that’s primarily thanks to the uncredited artists of color who aren’t named Malcolm McLaren….the songs where McLaren is most present are the worse ones. Apparently the album is an important historical document in the introduction of hip-hop to a UK audience? Yeah cool, I still can’t say it merits inclusion on this list. Or, at the very least, there should be an asterisk next to the artist’s name. Not coincidentally, McLaren is also the exploitative “architect” of the Sex Pistols (i.e., the guy who put them all in a band together and decided how they should dress, then took near-total credit for their success and talent even though he was basically just their marketing department). This album is the same type of exploitative shit, but with hip-hop and South African and Caribbean music instead of punk. McLaren is like a pretentious curator in an art gallery where all the names on the artwork are crossed out and “Malcolm” is written in crayon. BOOO.
Lacked cohesion
1. McLaren is a horrible person 2. Idk what I'm listening to here. 3. What did McLaren actually do here in terms of production? All vocal/speaking sections are definitely not him, and none of the sounds were created by him because it's mainly sampled/plagiarised. The second half is better, but I will not accredit that to McLaren
Weird, the genres of the songs were all over the place
Upsiii. Da ist wohl aus Versehen ein total beschissenes Album in diese komische Liste gerutscht - schon wieder … 🐣 bald kann ich das Buch bzw. die Liste wirklich nicht mehr ernst nehmen - halte es für unwahrscheinlich, dass ich bis zum Ende dabei bleibe. Ich schätze, es lässt sich an jedem Tag eine Platte finden, die eine hier gelistete verdrängen kann.
This album feels like an exercise in how to make the most annoying music possible. 0.5/5.0: Unlistenable
i was actually enjoying the world music aspects of this album until learning about how the actual creators of the music went uncredited and didnt receive any royalties. the other components of this album were straight up bad and annoying. not to mention, the last song, duck for the oyster might be the worst thing ive heard through 581 albums on this project.
What the hell did I just listen to? I knew Malcolm McLaren was utterly crap as a person and an impresario, but to credit him with "bringing hip-hop to a wider audience in the United Kingdom" according to Wikipedia, seems way too much. I mean, Derek B. did a whole lot more for hip-hop and rap in the UK than this persona non grata. Add to that the fact that he never paid any royalties to the South African and Caribbean artists, who made this album at least a kind of appreciable, and the utterly lame rap, the '80s production by Trevor Horn, and the pirate-radio samples that were supposed to make this a genuine experience, and you've got all the ingredients of an incompetent, unimpressive, and totally misplaced album on this list. 1/5
Uma metralhadora giratória sem pontaria. Atira pra todo lado e não acerta em nada. Perda de tempo.
Wow. This is bad. It's cultural appropriation at best and plagiarism at worst. But even beyond that, it's just put together terribly. A few of these tracks would be ok on their own, maybe on albums by the artists it was appropriated from. I see a lot of comparisons to Graceland. I guess they are both 80w albums with "World" influences. Paul Simon at least made the appearance of working with the artists he narrowed from. He also has talent, which is very much lacking here.
WTF is this? When did he do this? And why?
# Album Name: Duck Rock # Artist: Malcolm McLaren # Rating: 1/5 # Comments: Absolute dog shit. Not sure about all these comments saying he ripped off the black genre's as his own. He obviously picked the wrong content. # Top Tunes: # Would I listen to it again? No
Wow this is terrible!
A random selection of samples put together into a rancid gumbo that is sure to get the limbo party jumping! we might even see a white boy try to breakdance! This works best as the backing music for a group of roller-skating buskers in the Florida Keys who milk an unimpressive trick for a long period of time in order to get the maximum guilt donations at the end. Chango is rolling in his grave. Get this away from me. 0 HIGHLIGHTS: X-Games crashes compilation 2013 (VIOLENT)
Bad
Bråkigt och iband helt galet, men lyssnade tyvärr inte så fokuserat så den fick TRE VARV! Fortfarande inte bra, men Punk It Up har NÅT!
Inget emot tidig, lite gladlynt och campig hiphop, men varför lyssna på det här när man kan lyssna på sugarhill gang eller grandmaster flash? Inget emot diskant afrikanskt gitarrplock, men varför lyssna på Graceland från temu när man kan lyssna på Graceland? Värst är det väl när McLaren själv rippedirappar.
Vad hände här egentligen... Kan det här ens klassas som ett album... Måste vara det fulaste omslaget jag sett... Och det sämsta namnet på ett "album"... Aldrig igen...
80-talet var så fackat…
80-talet strikes back! Tänkte ett tag att "jag gillar ju lite sväng" men den världsfrånvände britten i örat tar för mycket plats.
eh not really my jam, a bit of a mix of sounds but none of them really landed well.
My garbage can makes sounds more pleasing than this record.
Officially the worst album I've ever listened to.
This would be "World Music" if the world in question was full of old sunburnt drunk white Englishmen. Disgusting.
Worst album of all time
This is fucking dogshit
Pretty cheeks album. I didn’t hate the first few tracks. Very avalanches vibes. It became hard to listen to. Maybe I just don’t love “world music” that much. I can appreciate the notion that this album introduced hip hop to the UK, but that doesn’t outweigh not crediting artists in the album.
First two songs were kinda cool but I didn’t really like it at all.
yeah.... i get it, 1001 albums, its supposed to be diverse and enhance your view on music.... this just makes me wish another album was recommended and i can get my 50 minutes back
Måske et af de mest UK-brained valg til listen overhovedet, hvilket ik siger så lidt. Lyder mest som at lytte til en enormt irriterende radiokanal i tre kvarter, og produktionskvaliteten på det egentlige musik var meeeh langt det meste af tiden. Lille 1er.
Awful, some genres are meant to be separate. I listened to a couple of his top 10 to see if he could redeem himself but he failed
Awesome!
This felt like a schizophrenic attack this whole album. Not for me. Did not tickle the tism
Not impressed, will not be listening again
It’s a no from me 👎
Okay, so there’s a lot to unpack here and none of it’s good. We’ve McLaren, a Brit, mixing South African melodies stolen from Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens with New York talk radio, then he throws in a dash of hiphop, square dancing (!?), and the odd pan flute to capture a vague sense of exotic “otherness.” It’s so phoney and uncool that I’m baffled anybody could find this listenable, especially with McLaren’s saying words like “ebonettes” and “mambo” with his thick North London accent. I cringed so hard I may have given myself whiplash. Hard pass.
Interesting album, but kind of a mess overall. Taking into account the fact proper credit was not given to the musicians, easy 1/5
Dire, self indulgent, rubbish. How did this crap make the list?
Gross untalented appropriation. There are fleeting moments of fun but overall this album needs a shower.
I could skip this.
There's aspects that are fun and funky, but a lot of it is annoying and kinda off putting so I have to give it a 1
This is one of the most useless album I've ever listened to.
Gear: 64 Audio Duo Artwork: 📻🐍✴️ Production: 🎧🤔🤷 Music: ♻️🗑️❓ Ratinng: 🦆/5
Duck Rock? More like Duck Sh**. "Obatala" is pleasant listen. The rest of the album is as already stated.
There feels like there should be some cool stuff here, but it never really materializes for reasons directly connected to the cultural web of shit Duck Rock is embroiled in. From the research I've done, it truly seems that anyone unfortunate enough to interact with Malcolm McLaren feels slighted in one way or another. If you just give his wikipedia article a brief look, it seems that nearly every band who he was involved with felt mismanaged. He's not even a musician really, he's a businessman, an organizer and a curator, which is admittedly a kind way to put it. And this is his debut album. I think he does some vocals here, but aside from that, I don't think he contributes a whole lot. It feels like a DJ Khaled situation, where it's more that he uses his money and industry status to summon talented artists into a room together to make music for him. And that's on the songs where he isn't just ripping songs by African artists wholesale, slapping some percussion on them, and yelling a little (I'm not even sure if he's doing the yelling). Like even on "original" composition Buffalo Gals, someone else programmed the drums, scratched the records, and recorded a lot of vocals. And his part, as far as I can tell, is just yelling out squaredance calls. I even found an interview with Trevor Horn in which he describes the process of physically forcing McLaren to stay on beat to just record *this*. In fact, more often than not, it doesn't even feel like McLaren's really doing much that's transformative at all. Which compounds with the fact that this album was created without any attention given to ethics. McLaren manages to exploit the African artists he samples, the American hip hop artists he was working tangential to, and probably the studio musicians he gathered to pull it together. And just to set ethics aside for a second, he exploits hip hop for the first three songs, and it doesn't sound bad, all things considered. But then he turns to world music, and his laziness really hurts the album. The majority of Duck Rock feels directionless and sloppy. Who would have thought that when you rip a bunch of songs from people without doing anything transformative, the "collage" approach doesn't really work. Nothing is incorporated with anything else, a cohesive picture never forms. And any goodwill I feel towards this project isn't due to the contributions of McLaren. This has the distinction of being one of the albums to introduce Hip Hop to The UK, so it's place in the history books is set. But, even though I didn't hate listening to it, I'd honestly rather just check out the artists featured and sampled. Artists like The World Famous Supreme Team, Boyoyo Boys, Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens, The Roan Mountain Hilltoppers and any other uncredited contributors to Duck Rock. I'm not feeling particularly kind to McLaren: this just feels lazy, and we know he knew what he was doing, because he did it with punk a decade earlier.
Dit was vreemd.
I usually don't let other people's opinions of things weigh on mine. But after reading some of these reviews, I almost didn't want to listen to this at all (ie: I did't want to give him the "plays"). But I did skim through about 30 seconds of the first 5 tracks before I decided that I wouldn't continue because my heart just wasn't in it at all. I can't overlook racial appropriation to this degree. As someone who is a fan of the punk scene and British second wave ska... It's sickening to see someone try to monopolize in this way. It's very much the opposite of what those two scenes as well as Hip Hop stands for. The very least I can do as a white person to help end traditions such as this is a hard "pass". Eff this dude.
wtf was that
Remarkable. The album belongs to the two genres that annoy me the most. Nevertheless I listened to the first track with interest and was excited to hear what was coming next. By the second track, I knew. To confirm my impression, I listened to a few more tracks. I'm not interested in this rubbish. 1/5
ok s sind es paar bekannti produzente debii. ähm. ich lies zerst emol wikipedia bevor ich komplett abhate. yo buffalo gals isch vlt es bitz en hit gsi und de eminem hets vlt es bitzli interpolliert. buffalo boys go round the outside und so. ok das slappt no. double dutch au en hit gsi anschinend. ich unterstehe. es het afoch de malcolm mclaren sich de trevor horn gschnappt und mol öpis gmacht. komischh merengue?? was lauft do?? das album isch meega acclaimed? sie hend anschinend d lüt vo südafrika wos ufgnoh hend nöd credited. super. soweto isch wieder huuere fun. aber die wichser hend nöd credited. merci what the fuck isch das album? wer isch de guy wo redt? wiso hets son hillbilly track als letsts? zwei. vlt 1. huere ass.
Nah, started off pretty well but lost interest over time. Guy sucks big time too.
Just quite boring for what it could be. Not sure why this didn't click with me the way other sample based records work. The opening track is somewhat interesting, but then the album just completely loses me. I guess this is historically significant? Oh well.
Hoover rock. Because it really sucks.
Kudos for being an innovator and creative champion for unrecognized and unrepresented in the art and music community. But, he was self-serving and exploited many of the artists he produced. His nihilism just left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I like some of the music on this album, but that is tempered by my negative opinion of the man. The music has good qualities. The man didn't.
Vrøvl
non mi è piaciuto e non è manco rap
an absolute waste of time and effort. mclaren should’ve put this effort into making sure that sid vicious stayed alive longer.
Cant even finish it
Not my thing at all
Honestly, it was awful. Just noise.
A very annoying album
Horrible, horrible album - how did this make the list?
Oh absolutely not
Fear I had to skip through this. Guitarist was killing it though!
What the serious fuck is this shit?
A stain on humanity
1. obatala - 1 2. buffalo - 1 3. dutch - 0 4. juanera - 0 5. menera - 1.5 6. punk - 0 7. Legba - 0 8. Jive - 0 * awful 9. Chango - 1 10. Soweto - 0 11. Famous - 0 12. Duck - 0
During the listen I was thinking, this sounds unfocused like a mixed bag of stolen goods. Sounds like colonialism. Not required listening. If the other albums on the list were a bowl of party mix this would be the crumbs left in the bottom of the bowl.
Colonizer theft ... But it's okay because hEs A vIsiOnAry... Uncomfortable listen, feels like McLaren recorded this whole album while wearing blackface.
I dont like this at all
I heard this before. I get that it's hip hop from the beginning, but I don't like it.
This is some white people culture vulture shit. And I also dislike world music so... yeah no
I prefer Duck Stab. At least that was original material.
For the life of me I can’t figure out what this guy was going for. It wasn’t good though, and forgettable.
Really clunkily thrown together old school hip hop, and reading how shady the making of it was makes it an extra turnoff.
Unbelievable, that's just not right. How does such crap get on a best-of list? What was etched onto vinyl under McLaren's aegis is, at best, a collection of cheap attempts and test recordings. It's unbelievable that something like this could even be released. Absolutely unlistenable for me. Whether someone was exploited or everything was stolen, I can't judge, but I know that musicians and musical styles influence each other; it always has been and always will be. This is simply garbage.
??????????????????????????????? WHAT THE FUCK LMFAO
I did not need to hear this album before I died or at any other time.
19/1001 :: Duck Rock - Malcolm McLaren Heard before? ❌ Would I revisit? ❌ Rating: 1 Fav Tracks: - Alrighty…this album is NOT good. The best thing about this album is the cover art which is kinda cool but has some stereotypical 80s graffiti stuff on it which is pretty lame… I hate to say this, but this album was almost unlistenable for me. It’s early hip hop DJ work. Lotta record scratching and samples and frankly the songs are not good and for the most part nonexistent. There must be some historical significance to this album because It does not deserve to be on this list based on quality.
scuffed drums
I am readint that this guy stole the music. So I choose not to listen to it
This was a mad mix of sort of African beats, square dance country and house music. Really didn't gel very well was like listening to three bad albums on shuffle sometimes. Radio phone in bits added nothing. I was more confused than an annoyed while listening but looking back I very much did not enjoy this.
Lots of stolen polka, folk rhythms and radio noise, Beach Boys-esque bits... No cohesion, other than the pursuit of greed. Taking that out of the equation, just not for me; some of it was bad holiday park entertainment.
Absolute shit
What an annoying prick
Turns out ducks listen to shit music.
While I respect the vision on Duck Rock, this album isn't for me. This album feels both sophisticated and amateur at the same time. While there are bits of production here and there that grab my attention, as a whole, the album is so disjointed that the ideas either are far too fleeting or overstay their welcome. If the record were at least a bit catchy, then it'd be fine to put on in the background, but this is yet another area where the album fumbles. There aren't many good melodies or interesting ideas on display to grab my attention. Maybe if you're more into novelty music, you'd dig this. Otherwise, stay away.
This asshole 100% edited his own Wikipedia page to describe himself as an “impresario”. I’m still not quite sure if he actually did anything artistry-wise on this album. Reading his page - yup, just a dude who made a bad album that ripped off more talented artists and took credit for all of it. He’s basically an 80’s DJ Khalid.
shite
Strong dislike
Buffalo gals has the Eminem sample but not my jams
Some consider this a unique mash of African music and hip hop. I consider it colonizing shite that co-opts Black music without the proper respect or credit. When I start to enjoy the music, there usually some bullshit talk vocals, radio interjections, or other useless crap that ruin it for me. Basically, what is true to the origins of the music is joyful and exciting. Unfortunately there’s too little of that and it’s too often interrupted. I really didn’t like this.
Malcolm McLaren is a giant POS, but Buffalo Gals is a good song. 1.5/5, but I think I’ll round down anyways.
Some cool samples and music, but through research, questionable if McLaren did anything to be credited as an artist.
This set of songs based on samples & others work, has no attributes and is just a mess, don't love it.
A record of shit samples. Just a white owner of a fashion store ripping off black folks. Cool.
Cultural appropriation is an anagram of "corrupt liar papulation". This album manages to be both. Fuck Malcolm McLaren!
Too much is happening here for me. was grateful for the end
Hearing a white man “discover” Black music is not revolutionary, I’ll pass.
Graceland for dickheads
Artifice. Pure and simple
british moment
gets a 1 on principle. who cares
Rubbish
This is basically the textbook definition of cultural appropriation in music
not sure how to explain this album other than it sounds like kids music in everything but lyrical content (and sometimes also in lyrical content)
A couple of familiar pop songs on this
Is this an album you must listen to before you die so you know what not to do if you make an album of your own? Yow.
Dogshit album, can’t even call it hip-hop when there is no lyrics💔
Nah, no good -- if you were also wondering what this this is and also only recognize Malcolm McLaren because he was the manager of the Sex Pistols, I guess it's a weird mix of early hip-hop with some turntablism and different music from Africa and the Caribbean. Could be really cool in theory. I don't like it because it's so corny and all over the place that it borders on novelty music, and I think that's kind of a disservice to all the different styles of music it pulls from. Feels less like it's trying to make something cool and more like it's presenting these things as weird and exotic and wacky. It just doesn't work in a way that is annoying to me.
Terrible. Painful to listen to! A lot of non musical crap worked into this album!
A boring and messy record
Meh
Shite
Hot garbage
The Good: terrible ‘80s pop-art over classic ‘70s pop-art? The Bad: that the music is worse than the pop-art… The Ugly: a boom-box with horns sticking out of it… I was unfamiliar this morning with this album, and I wish it had stayed that way… what utter crap. I know that there are people who can see the genius behind all this, even if half of the content is stolen—the amount of people screamin’ cultural misappropriation is enough to make me giggle! Anyway, for me, this is crap. Couldn’t enjoy it at all, so you know what that means… 1* for F
Albummet med verdens højeste CO2 aftryk. Det flyver jo rundt mellem Bronx, Carribien, Afrika, Arkansas og har endda en afstikker til Frankfurt med et Kraftwerk agtigt nummer. Inter er godt i sig selv, sammen er det en katastrofe
Not for me, sorry... I wouldn't think of this as one album to listen before die, as a matter of fact :-/ Also, can't remember a thing from McLaren worth listening :-(