Amidst the barren late '80s American musical landscape (Mr. Mister or Cutting Crew, take your pick) where import magazines become your paper internet, I somehow managed to stumble on a series of records by UK dance/pop label Rhythm King. Not bad for a Minneapolis Catholic schoolboy in a musical wasteland surrounded by Guns n Roses and classic rock.
Rhythm King started as a Mute label offshoot (odd) and floundered a bit before hitting a stride at the beginning of 1988 with the Cookie Crew-assisted single by The Beatmasters, 'Rok da House':
1988 was the beginning, and probably the peak of their powers. We got the #2 UK single 'Beat Dis' by Bomb the Bass, one of the first sample-heavy singles in the charts:
Similarly sampladelic, on a more RnB/disco tip, S'Express made an even bigger splash with their 'Theme' tune, which became arguably one of the first acid house-tinged #1 singles anywhere; this actually slightly dented the U.S. charts:
The Beatmasters had a sadly neglected debut album and really pushed the subgenre of 'hip-house'; MC Merlin was omnipresent on multiple Rhythm King artists' releases, including this:
Every scene needed a pretty diva and Betty Boo was Rhythm King's, even if her releases didn't hold up as the label's best:
The label really had a pop heyday (1988-90) before creating offshoot labels (Outer Rhythm that released Leftfield and others) and getting a distribution deal with Sony. By the mid-90s they were signing rock acts like Echobelly and Sultans of Ping before ultimately closing by the end of the century.
But who could forget their late '80s moment of not only being on the pulse of pop/dance music but creating it.
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