"The Show" is released

Why it matters

"The Show" came out July 1985 as the A-side of a 12-inch single by Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew on Reality Records, a Danya Records subsidiary. "La Di Da Di" was the B-side, and history rewarded the B-side; "The Show" was the song the label was actually selling. What "The Show" is, as a record, is a Doug E. Fresh showcase for the human beatbox. Doug imitates a drum machine. He imitates a synthesizer. He imitates a saxophone. Slick Rick handles the rapping. The Inspector Gadget theme runs through the breakdown. The song was a Top 10 R&B hit in 1985 and proved that you could put a beatbox on a chart record, which sounds obvious now and was a real question in mid-1985. If you have ever heard somebody beatbox seriously, on a stage, with a mic to their lips and the room watching, you are downstream of Doug E. Fresh, and you are downstream specifically of this song.