7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7

D combined with bombastic, dissonant, and poignantly

detailed backing tracks created by Public Enemy’s produc-

tion team, the Bomb Squad (Shocklee, his brother Keith,

Chuck D, and Eric “Vietnam” Adler), to produce songs

challenging the status quo in both hip-hop and racial

politics. The Bomb Squad sampled (composed with other

recordings) a wide variety of genres and sounds, including

classic funk tracks by James Brown, jazz, the thrash-metal

of Anthrax, sirens, and agitprop speeches. Flavor Flav

provided a comic foil for Chuck D.

Comments by Professor Griff to the Washington Times

in 1989 brought charges of anti-Semitism, which ultimately

resulted in his leaving the group. Public Enemy’s open

admiration for the Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan

also brought it into conflict with Jewish organizations.

While Public Enemy’s activism inspired other artists to

take up topical themes, the group’s influence waned in the

early 1990s as younger, more “ghetto-centric” performers

such as N.W.A. and Snoop Doggy Dogg came to the fore.

The group seemed to have folded after Muse Sick N Hour

Mess Age (1994), but in 1998 they produced a new album of

songs for Spike Lee’s film He Got Game and went on tour.

U2

The members are Bono (byname of Paul Hewson; b. May 10, 1960,

Dublin, Ire.), the Edge (byname of David Evans; b. Aug. 8, 1961,

Barking, Essex [now in Greater London], Eng.), Adam Clayton (b.

March 13, 1960, Oxford, Oxfordshire, Eng.), and Larry Mullen, Jr.

(b. Oct. 31, 1961, Dublin, Ire.).

I

rish postpunk band U2 had established itself by the end

of the 1980s not only as one of the world’s most popular

bands but also as one of the most innovative.

Though forged in the crucible of punk rock that swept

Europe in the late 1970s, U2 instantly created a distinctive