Documentary about an iconic drum machine

Due out next year, Planet Rock And Other Tales of the 808 tells the tale of the Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, a drum machine introduced in 1980 that helped define the sound of hip hop, house, and most electronic music for decades to come. (via @chris_carter_)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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Donald Petersen

Don’t worry, Beschizza, I haven’t forgotten. If I ever manage to dig up my old TR-505, it’s yours, baby.
Frédéric Eloy

looks (and sounds) great, i only wonder what skrillex has to do in this piece…
cj howeareya

Nothing sounds quite like an Eight. Oh. Eight.
- TheKaz1969
  
  Time to dig up my 808 State records….
http://twitter.com/radley radley

*cough* 909 *cough*
oasisob1

I hope the entire documentary is like this.
- http://thebeatdown.disqus.com Franklin
  
  ugh. really? I appreciate what they’re going for, but I could barely watch the whole trailer. And I love electronic music and avant-garde editing.
  - http://www.commodorecrush.com/ Commodore Crush
    
    I couldn’t agree more. The editing makes the people being interviewed look ridiculous. Who edited it, Tim & Eric? I will be seeing the doc though when it comes out.
http://www.mikezed.com mzed

I love that the form mirrors the content. Well done.
Pope Ratzo

I had the first 808 that came to the Chicago area. Used to have to draw knob diagrams to save settings between songs, so it would take about a minute and a half between songs, which sort of slowed down the sets. We learned to do long intros sans drums so I could spin the dials for the next song and if I made a mistake it was disastrous.

But it sounded so good you could practically just start it and go have a cigarette and people would dance at the Lucky Number, Exit or O’Banions.

Had one knocked off a table about 2 hours before a show. Dead. Called a music store out in Roselle and drove like a maniac to get a replacement. Only problem is the tempo calibration was way off so everything was about 20% too fast. Doing live electronic music in those days was really a high-wire act.
RKTR ♫soundcloud.com/rktr

I love my 808. Boomp boomp boomp. Call me a snob but the sampled sound just isn’t the same as the real thing on its own channel.
http://twitter.com/manooshi Manel

I’m looking forward to this doc.
Mister44

“Everybody needs an 808!”
- http://thebeatdown.disqus.com Franklin
  
  I hope you got $2,500 lying around…
SomeGuyNamedMark

Big Black used a Roland drum machine. Steve Albini would have the band stop and yell “drum solo!”.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OAUXAA362EXWLYVMPJOKLFB5JQ Incipient Madness

The 808 was an instant success. I think the story of the failure in its own time Roland TB 303 Bassline is more interesting. Here is a documentary narrated by the same dude who did the “Amen Break” documentary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKy6wKCFMI8
http://twitter.com/chrisjimson chris jimson

Am I the only person in the world more infatuated with the Roland CR models like the CR-77 and CR-5000? I like that old corny Wurlitzer organ sound.
Preston Sturges

On the PBS history of rock series, they interviewed the early hip-hop bands and asked who had influeced them A couple of the mentioned Kraftwerk (!!!!) for their pioneering use of drum machines.
- joeinternet
  
  That series was fantastic! The part in particular was Afrika Bambaata reflecting on the influence being Kraftwerk and how he wanted to know who “these funky white boys from Germany that had this futuristic sound” were.
  Watch here:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esI7DgXPnD8
  
  Skip to 7:35
  
  Recommended viewing for reals.
- noah django
  
  Why the surprise? Have you never heard “Planet Rock?” It’s Bambaataa remixing TransEurope Express.
  
  Right up until they went out of business in the late 2000s, one of my local hip hop shops still carried vinyl of Trans Europe Express (EarWax, ATL.)
  
  I used to play “Numbers” in my mix of over 110bpm hip hop at an all black club. It’s not like I was introducing (all of) them to it, it’s a pretty established hip hop track.
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lDCYjb8RHk
  
  oh, and PS the trailer video is super wack, imo.
- http://twitter.com/MrAaronSwainEsq Aaron Swain
  
  If you liked that, you will really love this doc…. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1289806/
robuluz

Please let QuestLove speak!
http://www.jimdraws.com Thorzdad

Roland gear of that era was amazing. I still love my little SH-101. Monophonic goodness.
blearghhh

My brother worked a coop placement at a music store in 1990 or so, and they gave him an old TR-808 that was lying around that nobody wanted.

Boy oh boy that thing was fun fiddling around with.

I think he sold it a few years back for a considerable amount of money.
http://twitter.com/MrAaronSwainEsq Aaron Swain

The TR-808 definitely deserves its own documentary, but I hope the final film is not remotely as horrible as that trailer.
donovan acree

Cuz the 808 kick drum makes the girlies get dumb
show me

Drum machines are the scourge of good music.
- Wreckrob8
  
  And the inspiration for sick choons.
Robert Holmen

There’s a great feature length documentary (c. 1998?) about a bass line device from the same era. But I forget the name.