No Rock And Roll Fun

TRICKY, TRICKY, TRICKY: You'd hope that Run DMC would have got a more fitting memorial than the re-release of Its Tricky as a single to bark up an audience for the career-closing Best Of.
We're bemused by the rubbish mix that's been dumped out onto the racks - considering how grumpy the band were about that Jason Nevins remix a couple of years ago, it's hard to see how this reworking got cleared; or indeed "why" - Run DMC were a rap act, so why bury the rap in a cloud of so-so beats? It's like "improving" Placido Domingo by really turning up the strings in the mix.
But what's worse is the horrible video - and we mean "horrible" in the sense of "it fills us with horror watching it." If you've not had the pleasure yet, an elderly security guard is locked in a booth while a bunch of skate kids and BMX boys run riot in what looks like an underground car park. Now, the old "the kids versus the man" set-up is a fine tradition in music videos and rock movies, but this is a much nastier reworking of the idea. Whereas in, say, that Musical Youth video or Footloose, the authority figure is pretty much a comic foil. The rules they seek to impose are unfair, or outdated; their come-uppence is delivered by the wits of the kids and their superior ability to skank or breakdance - so in 'Pass The Dutchie', the Youth's victory is won in court through a demonstration of how it's just some tunes for everybody to enjoy. The 'It's Tricky' promo, though, has no saving graces - the old guy is clearly shown as being trapped and afraid in the booth, the youths menacing and self-involved. There's no Roscoe P Coltraine looking on and blustering as the youths skate round him; just one old, exposed, vulnerable old man looking on the brink of a heart attack and unable to even run to safety.
For a band who worked hard to improve their own community, Run DMC deserve a better memorial than this; a clip which apparently makes heroes of mindless thugs.