MAN PARRISH, Electro Hip-Hop PIONEER w. WARHOL, BOWIE & a WILD TRIP through 80s NYC (18+)
Man Parrish
1:13:42•257 views
This documentary interview contains frank discussion of childhood sexual abuse, exploitation, violence, adult themes and strong language. Viewer discretion is advised.
Man Parrish helped shape electro with “Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don’t Stop)”—but he initially hated the record that would define his career.
In this candid and often extraordinary interview, Man explains how a boy from Brooklyn entered the underground world of 1970s New York, encountered Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat and the artists surrounding Studio 54, and began creating electronic music without being able to read or write musical notation.
He recalls building and collecting synthesizers, making his earliest experimental recordings and discovering the stripped-down sound that became “Hip Hop, Be Bop.” He also explains why the record embarrassed him at first, how radio helped turn it into a landmark electro track and how “Boogie Down Bronx” followed.
Man discusses performing at Studio 54 with an unknown Madonna as his opening act, living through the AIDS crisis, his encounters with New York’s club culture and the personal experiences that informed his creativity. He also speaks honestly about surviving a deeply troubled childhood and how therapy helped him understand its lasting effect.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
00:46 Growing up in Brooklyn
03:40 Mental illness and instability at home
07:18 Entering New York’s Performing Arts school
09:18 Times Square in the 1970s
11:59 Working at the Metropolitan Opera
15:15 Leaving home and surviving abuse
20:00 Living independently in a dangerous New York
24:40 Max’s Kansas City and the underground scene
25:36 Warhol, Keith Haring and Basquiat
27:48 Creativity, trauma and survival
30:56 Beginning his musical journey
33:00 Building a collection of synthesizers
36:24 The beginnings of “Hip Hop, Be Bop”
36:52 Performing at Studio 54 with Madonna
39:15 Creating music without formal training
40:07 His first soundtrack commission
43:42 The experiment that became “Hip Hop, Be Bop”
45:24 Why Man hated his breakthrough record
49:41 Creating “Boogie Down Bronx”
52:46 Living through the AIDS crisis
57:46 The extraordinary Michael Alig story
1:03:00 Becoming the subject of a fabricated Madonna story
1:06:41 Therapy, anxiety and recovery
1:11:50 Recognising Man Parrish’s cultural contribution
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