Cavalcade of Awesome

Well, I was going to take this week off, but, now, I can’t. I just remembered two things I really want to talk about.

The first being that today is the 55th anniversary of Doc Brown slipping on the edge of his toilet and inventing time travel (Nov 5, 1955).

(Via Gizmodo)

So let’s all remember one of the greatest American inventors of all time and his Flux Capacitor and his incredible time traveling Delorean.

The other thing I want to talk about?  In the madness of AWESOME-tober-fest, there is one thing I didn’t get to mention while I was going on and on and on about werewolves and monsters.  The movie Krush Groove turned 25 years old on Oct 25 (it was released in 1985).

I don’t know about you guys, but I LOVED this movie.  I saw it in the theater, I recorded it off HBO, I now have watched it twice since it popped up on Netflix Instant Streaming.  It is still a good movie.  It helps that I was introduced into rap music by both Run-DMC and The Fat Boys, who appear prominently in this movie.  It’s the fictionalized retelling of the rise of Def Jam records, its owner Russell Simmons, its most popular acts Kurtis Blow and Run-DMC and the appearance of newcomers The Fat Boys.  The movie is funny, the music is great and I had a lot of fun watching it again recently.

Just as awesome as the movie is the kickass soundtrack.  Featuring songs by Rap/R&B heavyweights Run-DMC, Kurtis Blow, Full Force and The Fat Boys.  You also get songs from Sheila E and the then unknown Beastie Boys and LL Cool J (who both cameo in the movie).  I listened the s**t out of this tape back in the 80s.  You can download the entire soundtrack and see for yourself how badass it is here.  Check out the awesome video for the title single on the album here.

I think the movie is more famous as a joke than anything else. Kevin Smith even wrote a quick joke line about it in his movie Dogma. It’s between Matt Damon and Ben Affleck while they are on the bus talking about being able to tell right from wrong.  During the discussion Affleck mentions a bet they have about which would be the bigger movie; ET or Krush Groove. Matt Damon says time will tell on that one.

I’ll agree, the movie is cheesy, and you really have to be interested in the music and subject matter to really enjoy it. It works on the same level as Breakin’ or Beat Street (but Krush Groove is a much better written movie).  One of my favorite scenes in the movie, and I mentioned this in my unofficial movie trilogies article back in July, is the quick cameo by LL Cool J. At the time, LL was not world famous. This was his big break. The scene involves auditions for Def Jam artists and they say the interviews are over, but LL Cool J ain’t havin’ none of that. He busts in, yells, “BOX!” at his friend who turns on the “box”, and Cool J begins spouting some sick ass lyrics to a booming beat. As an introduction to movie audiences, this can’t be beat and it’s hard to really describe the shock of seeing this scene when LL Cool J was still a n00b. Here’s the scene:

I love that scene and that song.  Now, to be fair, there is one thing in the movie I hate.  It brings the movie to a screeching halt.  It’s Sheila E.  Don’t get me wrong, I like Sheila E’s music and her contribution to the soundtrack album is actually pretty good (Holly Rock).  However, her movie scenes are terrible.  She’s inserted as somewhat of a love interest in a love triangle with brothers Run and Russell (played by a young Blair Underwood).  I. HATE. HER. IN. THIS. MOVIE.  Whenever she’s not on-screen, though, I love it.

If you’ve never seen this movie, I say check it out.  It’s a fun movie with good music.  Not bad considering it’s a quarter of a century old now.