Public Enemy (band) Mainstream success (1987-1994)
What mainstream success did the band have?
What mainstream success did Public Enemy have?
Their debut album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, was released in 1987 to critical acclaim. The album was the group's first step toward stardom. In October 1987, music critic Simon Reynolds dubbed Public Enemy "a superlative rock band". They released their second album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back in 1988, which performed better in the charts than their previous release, and included the hit single "Don't Believe the Hype" in addition to "Bring the Noise". Nation of Millions... was the first hip hop album to be voted album of the year in The Village Voice's influential Pazz & Jop critics' poll.  In 1989, the group returned to the studio to record Fear of a Black Planet, which continued their politically charged themes. The album was supposed to be released in late 1989, but was pushed back to April 1990. It was the most successful of any of their albums and, in 2005, was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress. It included the singles "Welcome To The Terrordome", "911 Is a Joke", which criticized emergency response units for taking longer to arrive at emergencies in the black community than those in the white community, and "Fight the Power". "Fight the Power" is regarded as one of the most popular and influential songs in hip hop history. It was the theme song of Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing.  The group's next release, Apocalypse '91...The Enemy Strikes Black, continued this trend, with songs like "Can't Truss It", which addressed the history of slavery and how the black community can fight back against oppression; "I Don't Wanna be Called Yo Nigga", a track that takes issue with the use of the word nigga outside of its original derogatory context. The album also included the controversial song and video "By the Time I Get to Arizona", which chronicled the black community's frustration that some US states did not recognize Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a national holiday. The video featured members of Public Enemy taking out their frustrations on politicians in the states not recognizing the holiday. In 1992, the group was one of the first rap acts to perform at the Reading Festival, in England, headlining the second day of the three-day festival. CANNOTANSWER
Nation of Millions... was the first hip hop album to be voted album of the year in The Village Voice's influential Pazz & Jop critics' poll.
Mainstream jazz is a term coined in the 1950s by music journalist  Stanley Dance, who considered  anything within the popular jazz of the Swing Era "mainstream", and did not include the bebop style.

Jazz in the mainstream 

After Dance defined mainstream jazz in the 1950s, the definition changed with the evolution and progression of jazz music. What was mainstream then would not be considered mainstream now. In a general sense, mainstream jazz can be considered what was most popular at the time: For example, during the Swing era, swing and big band music were in their prime and what target audiences were looking for. Although bebop was introduced into jazz during that time, audiences had not developed an ear for it.

Mainstream jazz musicians 
The jazz musicians listed below were either considered "mainstream" musicians, or were influenced by mainstream musicians.

Swing era 
 Duke Ellington was an important influence on mainstream jazz; his music during the swing era was not known for breaking rules.  
 Coleman Hawkins made significant contributions to big band music prior to introducing bebop to his style. 
 Johnny Hodges was a member of Duke Ellington's Orchestra and became a familiar voice within the orchestra itself. 
 Benny Carter was a major influence on the big band style.  
 Roy Eldridge has been named one of the most influential jazz musicians both within the swing era and to the development of bebop. His trumpet playing was influenced by Louis Armstrong.

Mainstream jazz in popular culture 
In the 1950s and 1960s, jazz was a mainstream part of pop culture. Jazz music was on the radio and Hollywood frequently incorporated jazz in television and films.

References 

 
Jazz genres Wither Blister Burn & Peel is the second album by the American industrial rock band Stabbing Westward, released on Columbia Records. The album was recorded in New York in May 1995, and released in New York City and Los Angeles on January 4, 1996. The album was released throughout the rest of the United States on January 23, 1996. It includes the singles "What Do I Have To Do?" and "Shame". Wither Blister Burn & Peel was certified gold on September 27, 1996.

"What Do I Have To Do?" was the band's first hit, thanks to heavy MTV exposure, first reaching the Modern Rock Tracks chart, where it would peak at #11, then achieving even greater success on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, where it peaked at #7. "Shame" was released soon after, matching "What Do I Have To Do"'s #7 peak on the Mainstream Rock chart, and peaking at #14 on the Modern Rock chart.

Track listing

Personnel 
 Christopher Hall – lead vocals, guitar, drum machine programming
 Jim Sellers – bass, guitar
 Walter Flakus – keyboards, programming, backing vocals
 Andy Kubiszewski – drums, guitar, keyboards

Appearances 
The song "What Do I Have to Do?" was featured in the movie Masterminds in 1997. It was later featured in the Smallville episode "Tempest" in 2002.

References 

1996 albums
Albums produced by John Fryer (producer)
Columbia Records albums
Stabbing Westward albums Big Brother & the Holding Company is the debut album of Big Brother and the Holding Company, with Janis Joplin, their main singer. Recorded during three days in December 1966 for Mainstream Records, it was released in the summer of 1967, shortly after the band's major success at the Monterey Pop Festival. Columbia took over the band's contract and re-released the album, adding two extra tracks, and putting Joplin's name on the cover. Several tracks on the album were released as singles, the most successful being "Down on Me" on its second release, in 1968.

Recording
The band signed to Bob Shad's local record label Mainstream Records while stranded in Chicago after a promoter ran out of money when their concerts did not attract the expected attendance. Initial recordings took place in Chicago in September 1966, but these were not satisfactory, and the band returned to San Francisco. The band recorded the tracks "Blindman" and "All Is Loneliness" in Los Angeles, and these were released by Mainstream as a single, which did not sell well. After playing at a "happening" at Stanford in early December 1966, the band traveled to Los Angeles to record 10 tracks between 12 and 14 December 1966, produced by Bob Shad.

Release and reception

The album was released by Mainstream Records in August 1967, shortly after the band's major success at the Monterey Pop Festival. Two tracks, "Coo Coo" and "The Last Time", were released separately as a single, while the tracks from the previous single, "Blindman" and "All Is Loneliness", were added to the remaining eight tracks. When Columbia took over the band's contract and re-released the album, they included "Coo Coo" and "The Last Time", and put "featuring Janis Joplin" on the cover. The album has been reissued in various formats several times since 1967.

The album was a minor success, peaking at number 60 and almost producing a Top 40 hit with the song "Down on Me". In a retrospective review for Allmusic, Joe Viglione feels the production by Bob Shad is weak, though the material and the performances are respectable.

Track listing

Personnel
Big Brother and the Holding Company
 Janis Joplin – vocals
 Peter Albin – bass guitar
 Sam Andrew – guitar, vocals
 David Getz – drums
James Gurley – guitar, vocals

References

External links
 

1967 debut albums
Big Brother and the Holding Company albums
Albums produced by Bob Shad
Mainstream Records albums