More than enough ink has been spilled about Blondie and their impressive streak of hits during the late 70s and early 80s, including “Rapture,” which is one of their most familiar, most covered, most sampled and most remixed singles of their career. That shouldn’t be surprising as the song, which landed at number 1 on the Billboard Top 100 possessed elements of disco, funk and rock, was the first US number 1 song to feature rapping as a key element of the song. And naturally, the song introduced a then-new, underground, seemingly New York-centric genre and its pioneers to an arguably wider audience than The Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight.” But interestingly enough, while this year marks the 35th anniversary of the release of Blondie’s Autoamerican, this upcoming January marks the 35th anniversary of the release of “Rapture.”
To celebrate the release of the beloved single, the prolific DJ and remixer Rhythm Scholar, who you may remember if you’ve been frequenting JOVM for some time, is releasing a series of remixes, all of which feature his signature genre-hopping, psychedelic-leaning mashup sound. Rhythm Scholar’s Recurring Dream remix retains Debbie Harry‘s vocals and pairs it with an uptempo, club friendly beat that features samples from Run DMC‘s “It’s Like That,” The Beastie Boys “Sure Shot” and “Brass Monkey,” Digital Underground’s “The Humpty Dance,” Sammy Davis Jr., Sea Level, Dexter Wansel, Thomas Newman, Charlie Clouser, Paris, K9 Posse, Fat Albert, Jimmy Fallon as Barry Gibb and the video games Donkey Kong, Galaga and Resident Evil 4. The remix is a seamless and inventive reworking of a familiar and beloved song that explores the past 35 years of dance music, hip-hop, funk and beatmaking while amazingly retaining the feel and spirit of the original song that inspired it.