Talk:Fear of a Black Planet

Comments
I have something on my mind that the track "Burn Hollywood Burn" was prohibited during the 1st Iraq War. Does anybody know if there's anything true in that story? Thanks!

Is it Hank or Keith Shocklee who has the majority of the songwriting credits? It's pretty confusing... And does Rodgers - credited for "Leave This Off Your Fu*kin Charts" - refer to Norman Rogers? Richaod 02:26, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

"Alternative band Duran Duran"
Say what..? Duran Duran had heaps of hits anywhere else but in America and are pretty much mainstream. Why are they described as "alternative"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vince In Milan (talk • contribs) 02:40, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

Saul Williams Blocked?
I tried to add a note to this page that Saul Williams' song "Tr(n)igger" on his Inevitable Rise and Liberation Of Niggy Tardust album uses a sample from PE's "Welcome to the Terrordome", and I got blocked. Not sure why, but it seems to have been a misunderstanding.

The Washington Post review
Transciption using Google News Advanced News Archive Search. The Washington Post (Harrington, Richard. g.03. April 15, 1990) review of Fear of a Black Planet (1990):

"If Public Enemy's new album "Fear of a Black Planet" were a letter to the editor, it probably wouldn't get printed. For the radical rap group, this is Word War III, and while the targets are assorted status quos-with institutional racism, white supremacy and the power elite crowding the bull's-eye-the sonic assault is as uniform as the angry energy that fuels and informs this 20-cut alarm. However, the album balances the critical with the positive with songs such as "Brothers Gonna Work It Out," "Power to the People," "Revolutionary Generation" (in which PE compensates for previous misogyny by celebrating the strength and endurance of black women) and "Fight the Power," which concludes an album full of "rhymes designed to fill your mind."

"Fear of a Black Planet" also contains "Welcome to the Terrordome," the dense single that set off a fresh storm of controversy last winter over what some groups dubbed antisemitic lines. "Terrordome" is [Chuck D]'s perspective on PE in 1989, certainly a turbulent year with all the criticism following inflammatory comments by Professor Griff, a nonperforming member of the group ("subordinate terror kickin' off in error," Chuck D intones). He has said that the questioned lines were a response to incessant media attacks on a group burdened by remarks it didn't make. The song is far more critical of blacks than it is of Jews: "Every brother ain't a brother 'cause a Black hand squeezed on Malcolm X the man the shootin of Huey Newton from the hand of Nig who pulled the trigger." "Terrordome" also addresses the slaying of Yusuf Hawkins and the Virginia Beach riot and chides those who "blame somebody else when you destroy yourself." If you search out words or lines to take issue with-if you insist on literal interpretation of words or deny the allusive and alliterative stylings central to rap-you'll find them.

The album closes with a power duo of "War at 33 1/3" and "Fight the Power," the latter having served as the theme song for Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing." Like the album itself, these songs may sound like a call to ohms and arms, but they are really a call to action ("turn us loose and we shall overcome"), a message to conscience and a plea for unity ("move as team, never move alone," both cautionary advice and game plan).

It powers, and is in turn powered by, the thick, textured sonics provided by the Bomb Squa production team-Hank Shocklee, Carl Ryder, Eric Sadler and Keith Shocklee. That raw sound wave envelops everything-samples, snippets of speeches and talk shows, drum machines and living percussion, electric guitar and brass, all tangled up and pushing for attention. Public Enemy has always stood by the political implications of its music, and while raising political consciousness, sparking self-awareness and challenging the very foundations of institutional racism must be both daunting and thankless, on "Fear of a Black Planet" the group shows it's willing to work on the edge, without a safety net. This album is less a revolutionary gesture than a challenge. How it's met depends on how it's understood."

- Richard Harrington

Dan56 (talk) 10:05, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Hatnote
I took out the hatnote about "Fear of a Blank Planet" on the theory that confusing this album with a more obscure one is rather unlikely, and that the main effect of the hatnote is to promote the other album (the article about the other album is also written in a somewhat promotional style). This was reverted -- I'm open to other opinions about whether the hatnote is justified or not, but in any case I certainly don't see it as "clearly appropriate" per the reversion's edit summary. I do think that the hatnote from the other article pointing back at this one is fine, because of the higher likelihood of confusion in the opposite direction. 66.127.55.46 (talk) 23:11, 17 May 2012 (UTC)


 * First of all, what do you mean by "promotional style"? I wrote this article, revamping it from inferior class/quality, and it passed GAN smoothly. Second of all, it seems appropriate if the only different in the title is a subtle, one-letter different. Not practical? Per WP:Hatnote, it's appropriate for two articles with similar titles. Dan56 (talk) 04:58, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
 * This present article is very good and I'm thankful for your work on it. The article with IMHO promotional style is Fear of a Blank Planet, the target of the hatnote, whose very title was designed as another band's attempt to cash in on the fame of Fear of a Black Planet.  That's why I removed the hatnote, because I don't see confusion as likely, so the main effect of the hatnote is to promote the other article (and therefore the other album) to people who otherwise weren't looking for it.  However, I'll defer to your judgment.  66.127.55.46 (talk) 05:08, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 15:00, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

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