Keith LeBlanc: Major Malfunction

Saturday is lost classics day. Continuing my focus on artists who have died this year, I’ve selected the title track from Keith LeBlanc‘s groundbreaking 1986 album Major Malfunction. LeBlanc died on April 4, 2024. Most people have never heard of Keith LeBlanc, but he was influential as a pioneer in the music sampling that is now the cornerstone of most popular music, and was also an influential musician during the early days of hip-hop. LeBlanc was the drummer for the Sugar Hill Records house band, along with bassist Doug Wimbish and multi-instrumentalist Skip McDonald. He also released one of the first sample-based singles (“No Sell Out”) on Tommy Boy Records in 1983. After several years at Sugar Hill, LeBlanc, Wimbish, and McDonald joined up with British electronic-dub producer Adrian Sherwood and his On-U Sound Records. The trio formed the group Tackhead and also released solo material. I could write dozens of paragraphs about the music produced by this group and how influential that music was on a young DJ Faux back in the late ’80s. Instead, I’ll keep it simple and say that the music this group of musicians created, including recordings by Tackhead, Dub Syndicate, African Head Charge, Mark Stewart’s Mafia, Keith LeBlanc, Bim Sherman, and others is still some of my favorite music ever recorded.

To learn more about Keith LeBlanc, check out his Wikipedia page.

To listen to all of the songs of the day, check out the Radio Faux Show Song of the Day playlist.

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