Steinski And Mass Media, ‘We’ll Be Right Back’, 1986.
“How a nice Jewish boy from the suburbs became one of the most influential producers in hiphop, sampling, and cut & paste… Dropped out of 2 colleges (Temple U, Franconia College), never went back. Worked as an advertising copywriter for 6 years – Polaroid, Volkswagen, Atari, etc. Taught copywriting at The School Of Visual Arts. Spent all disposable income on records. Promoted and DJ’ed dances in Brooklyn, hung out at early downtown Manhattan hiphop clubs; Negril, the Roxy. Quit advertising. With partner Double Dee (Douglas DiFranco; a prince), co-produced the series of records known as The Lessons: The Payoff Mix, Lesson 2 (The James Brown Mix), Lesson 3 (The History Of Hiphop) for the Tommy Boy label. These analog tape cut-and-paste collages, still widely bootlegged (and wildly illegal), are generally acknowledged as three of the most influential works in the world of hiphop and dance music production. Cited as defintive influences by DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, and Fatboy Slim, among others. As a solo producer, crafted The Motorcade Sped On, turning historic broadcasts of the Kennedy assasination into a hiphop record. The NME (British music magazine) gave away a quarter-million copies of the song as a Flexidisc stapled to the cover of the magazine. Produced We’ll Be Right Back for Island Records. Music and video of this advertising satire were licensed to Ovaltine UK for television advertising for 6 months. Go figure” – Steinski
