Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

The title says it all. In 1988, when this album was released, Public Enemy's music cut with a wholly revolutionary edge. Rarely has fear, anger, paranoia and anxiety been so masterfully compressed onto a record's grooves. The bomb squad's artistry is the keynote to the hard, lean delivery, while Chuck D's supremely pointed lyrics leave no stone of the black experience unturned. It is not comfortable listening, but on tracks such as 'Don't Believe the Hype', 'Night of the Living Baseheads' and 'Rebel Without a Pause' the listener is left in no doubt that they are facing a fantastically potent force.

1) Countdown to Armageddon (1.41)
2) Bring the Noise (3.46)
3) Don't Believe the Hype (5.19)
4) Cold Lampin' With Flavor (4.17)
5) Terminator X to the Edge of Panic (4.31)
6) Mind Terrorist (1.21)
7) Louder Than a Bomb (3.38)
8) Caught, Can We Get a Witness? (4.53)
9) Show 'Em Watcha Got (1.56)
10) She Watch Channel Zero?! (3.49)
11) Night of the Living Baseheads (3.15)
12) Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos (6.24)
13) Security of the First World (1.20)
14) Rebel Without a Pause (5.03)
15) Prophets of Rage (3.19)
16) Party for Your Right to Fight (3.25)