The Message is released

Why it matters

The Message LP came out October 1, 1982, on Sugar Hill. Seven tracks. The title track had already been on the streets as a single since July, and it is correctly the song everybody remembers. The other six tracks include "It's Nasty (Genius of Love)," a cover-redo of the Tom Tom Club hit, and "She's Fresh," which is fine. What the album does that the single alone could not do is settle in. Sugar Hill house production. Melle Mel doing the bulk of the heavy lifting on vocals. Grandmaster Flash himself barely cutting on it. By the time the LP dropped in October, the title track had already done the work. The album shipped because the album had to ship. You don't get to release a song that landed like "The Message" landed and not also release an album with that song on it. So the album exists. The album is the title track and six other songs that exist because the album had to exist. You can listen to it. You should listen to "The Message" twice instead.