Clear (Cybotron song)
| "Clear" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Cybotron | ||||
| from the album Enter | ||||
| B-side | "Industrial Lies" | |||
| Released | 1983 | |||
| Recorded | April 1982 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:54 (radio edit) | |||
| Label | Fantasy | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Juan Atkins, Richard Davis | |||
| Producer(s) | Juan Atkins | |||
| Cybotron singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Clear" is a 1983 electro song performed by the American group Cybotron, and composed by Cybotron members Juan Atkins and Richard Davis.
Commercial performance and reception
[edit]Dennis Romero of Los Angeles Times in 1993 described the "Kraftwerk-sampling song" as "[i]nspired by Afrika Bambaataa's [...] 'Planet Rock'" and filled "with high-flying synthesizer loops, hard-driving beats and sparse, Chipmunk-style vocals-all elements", used in later techno songs as of September 1993.[6]
At least fifty thousand copies of the "Clear" single were sold, according to a 1997 article in The Wire, which describes the song as a "groundbreaking…first-generation piece of pure machine music."[7]
Cyclone Wehner of the Gold Coast Bulletin in 2005 described the song as precedence of Detroit techno and "Timbaland's tech-hop".[8]
Later uses
[edit]The song's instantly recognizable loop has been sampled by many rap, hip-hop and Freestyle music artists such as Missy Elliott's "Lose Control", Poison Clan's "Shake Whatcha Mama Gave Ya" and Stevie B's "When Your Heart Is Calling"
References
[edit]- ^ "Break Dancin' to Da Old School - Various Artists - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
- ^ "The Definitive Electro & Hip Hop Collection - Various Artists - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
- ^ "Electro Funk, Vol. 2 - Various Artists - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
- ^ Discotheque, Vol. 1: The Haçienda - Various Artists | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic
- ^ "Enter - Cybotron - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
- ^ Romero, Dennis (September 5, 1993). "Ready Class? Old School Hip-Hop's Back in Session". Los Angeles Times. p. 68(?) – via ProQuest. This was a Sunday issue. Probably at either one of sections or Los Angeles Times Magazine.
- ^ Shallcross, Mike (July 1997), "From Detroit To Deep Space", The Wire, no. 161, p. 21
- ^ "spins". Gold Coast Bulletin (G Go Magazine ed.). July 21, 2005. p. 6.
External links
[edit]- Jon Savage on song: Cybotron – Techno City The Guardian Music Blog
