Rhythm Killers is the second studio album by Jamaican musical duo Sly and Robbie (pictured), released in May 1987 on Island Records. First known as a reggae band, the duo experimented in the 1980s with electronic sounds and contemporary recording technology, while branching out into international, cross-genre music. A funk and dance album, Rhythm Killers has a dense sound that incorporates reggae, hip hop, hard rock, worldbeat, and downtown music. Along with their live instruments, Sly and Robbie used electronic recording equipment such as the Fairlight CMI synthesizer and electronic drums. The album has been cited by music writers for its electronic rhythms, its treatment of African-American music elements, and Laswell's densely layered production. It peaked at number 35 on the British Albums Chart, and also charted in the Netherlands, Sweden, and New Zealand. The critic Robert Christgau named it the seventh-best album of 1987. Two promotional singles were issued, including the UK hit "Boops (Here to Go)". Sly and Robbie continued their digital direction on subsequent albums. The album has since been out of print.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhythm_Killers

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1227:

High Duke of Poland Leszek the White was assassinated during a diet of the Piast dukes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leszek_the_White

1642:

A Dutch expedition led by Abel Tasman reached present-day Tasmania, Australia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abel_Tasman

1877:

Anna Sewell's influential animal welfare novel Black Beauty, one of the best-selling books of all time, was first published. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Beauty

1922:

Irish Civil War: Author and Irish nationalist Robert Erskine Childers was executed by the Irish Free State for illegally carrying a semi-automatic pistol. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Erskine_Childers

1963:

Businessman Jack Ruby shot and fatally wounded Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, during a live television broadcast, fueling conspiracy theories on the matter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ruby

2012:

A fire at a clothing factory in the Ashulia district on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, killed at least 117 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Dhaka_fire

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

debacchate: (rare) To rant as if drunk. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/debacchate

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Hatred can never be good. … Here, and in what follows, I mean by hatred only hatred towards men. … Envy, derision, contempt, anger, revenge, and other emotions attributable to hatred, or arising therefrom, are bad … Whatsoever we desire from motives of hatred is base, and in a State unjust.   --Baruch Spinoza https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Baruch_Spinoza