The Story of The Queen and I

By: DThompson | in: Music |

Vinyl
When’s the last time you played a record? I mean, assuming you’re not a DJ, really, when is the last time you put the ol’ needle down? When’s the last time you heard that horrible “Kkkrrcccch” sound as the needle slid across the first two grooves? Heard the pops and crackles there are actually programs for these days? This is a story about a very old piece of music. SO old that many of you may have never even heard of it. At least, that’s what I’m hoping. OK, we’re going back, way back, twenty years ago to 1987. The beta-VHS war is going strong, Reagan is President, Thatcher, Prime Minister, cold war, still pretty darn chilly. We’re going to The Ooze, my favorite hole in the wall record store, and we’re going to buy a record.

The JAM’s (for Justified Ancients of Mu Mu) first LP was titled “1987: What The Fuck’s Going On?” and, as it turned out, a whole lotta litigation was what was going on. The JAMs were two guys I’d never heard of, but if you’re British you may recognize them as a later incarnation, The Timelords, who had a hit ripping off Gary Glitter and the theme from Doctor Who to create “Doctorin’ The Tardis”. Well, “1987” was what you would today call “sample heavy” except no one had ever sampled before so it was either called “wow, I’ve never heard anything like that before” or “massive copyright infringement” depending on which side of the copyright you happened to be on. The best song was titled “The Queen And I” and it wasn’t just a sample of Abba’s “Dancing Queen” it WAS “Dancing Queen” with a heavy beat and some rapping mixed in. It’s fantastic and odds are you never heard it.

ABBA?

So, our two JAM guys realise that appropriating an entire freakin’ song just might be a problem as they didn’t bother to ask and therefore received no permission to do said appropriating,; so they head off to Sweden, hats in hand to basically beg Abba to say no worries. Mind you, the album was already in the stores and Abba said (in what I’m sure was a charming continental accent) “You vant to yoos our song, you first must be paying uz zhe mahnee.” And so “1987: What The Fuck’s Going On?” Was yoinked from the shelves after two months or so to be replaced by a stripped down album of beats and raps and a sheet of instructions telling you how you could recreate the thing at home. Anyway, I have a copy of the original LP (and how one ended up in Portland, Oregon is really a miracle in and of itself) and I’ve digitized it, so I’m happy to fork over “The Queen And I” for your listening pleasure. I’m sure Abba won’t mind.

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Posted on April 19, 2007

Comments

4 Responses to “The Story of The Queen and I”

Charbarred on April 19th, 2007 7:41 am

Thanks for the Nostalgia D.
My parents adopted the cassette player pretty early on due to problems we had with the old record player. Throughout my childhood there was a guy who kept coming over to fix it. One time (I was 5) at a family event I saw that guy. I was happy for the familiar face and told everyone “Here’s the guy who fixes the record player!”. All I remember is everybody laughing, apparently that was cousin, I just didn’t know it.

mozzer on April 19th, 2007 10:24 am

At 2:54, comedy gold!

DThompson on April 19th, 2007 5:59 pm

I hope this doesn’t mean the FBI will be breaking my door down. My parents also adopted the cassette player early on. So early, in fact, that the “cassettes” were the size of largish paperback books! I’ve been trying to get one of those to play for ages, send your cousin over if he’s got the time.
-Thanks mozzer, it’s really something, isn’t it?

geekgasmic.com on April 19th, 2007 6:44 pm

The Story of The Queen and I

When’s the last time you played a record? I mean, assuming you’re not a DJ, really, when is the last time you put the ol’ needle down? When’s the last time you heard that horrible “Kkkrrcccch” sound as the needle slid across the first two g…