BEAT STREET
Meanwhile, Lightning Strike sends up tinges of hip hop throughout the album and covers a Furious Five classic, “Beat Street” as their first single. “Get Ready” starts the Lightning Strike album off as a serious party, and “Beatbox International” is one of several songs that references hip hop culture.
The first single by Lightning Strike was “Beat Street” b/w “The Pack”, featuring their twisted coat of arms on the front side of the jacket. “Beat Street” is their only cover, though the apparent songwriting credit on the 45 doesn’t acknowledge that; the other songs on the album are originals. Maria McKee of Lone Justice has a vocal interlude on this song.
“Beat Street”, the debut single by Lightning Strike has true royalty among its songwriters: Melvin Glover (rapper Melle Mel of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five), Sylvia Robinson (“the mother of hip hop”), and Reggie Griffin. As recorded by Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five, “Beat Street” is the title song of the 1984 hip hop movie Beat Street, featuring a host of rap pioneers.
“Beat Street” was actually the second choice by Lightning Strike for their first single. As related by Paul Fischer: “Debut single was due to be live favorite ‘Exocet Alley’, a blast of Rick Rubin-esque rap-rock via Sigue Sigue Sputnik, which derided Jeffrey Archer in the lyrics.” Jeffrey Archer is a Conservative Party politician in England who had been caught with a prostitute in 1986. In July 1987, Archer launched a high-profile libel suit against one newspaper who reported the story, the Daily Star; and the record label decided to pass on the release.
(September 2016)
