ConsciousFilmmaker

The best productions that capture the energy, spirit, and the collective will and determination of a nation united in the greatest adventure in the history of humankind... This is the playlist that will take you on the unprecedented historic adventure that began over half century ago, and culminated with a human presence on the celestial body that moves oceans, inspires poets and musicians and has stood watch over the night since the dawn of our planet - our moon.

ABOUT THE "BEYOND THE MOONWALK" ERA

It was the 70's. It was the 80's. It was a time of analog recording perfection, and when the greatest dance moves gave the beat meaning. Not just any beat. But Human beats... beats with soul laid down with real drums, organic pulsing, pounding percussion and rhythm sections. Rhythm was never created with software driven machines. Bass, snare, cymbals, toms toms were driven with artists' hands, powered by muscle, sweat and heart...

It was a time when rock, soul, funk, pop, even disco would be played on the same radio station without apology. A diversity of genres ruled the airwaves, and no one could limit themselves to the cocoon of ITune or Rhapsody playlists. The ocean of music was big and the artists who swam its waters were the real thing. They were musicians - period. Their instruments were just another part of their bodies... Lead, rhythm, bass guitar, horns, keyboards were all just another appendage. And vocalists had to sing on key, there was no tacky Auto-Tune to save them, and rightfully so...

BTM era musicians didn't need saving. They descended from the heavens with songs in their spirits that uplifted us all. They could sing, dance, harmonize, and masterfully wield instruments with passion and perfection. When they played in sync, it was like making love... everything melded perfectly, passionately... unforgettably. And when it came time to record, there was no digital trickery. There was never a need for it. Even mediocre analog recordings of that era were more complex, demonstrated more musicality, than what are now considered this era's great digital mixes.

Most important, The Beyond the Moonwalk era was about joy. You went to the clubs and danced because the music was so great, the harmonies, melody, rhythms so hypnotic - you had no choice... Your body was subjected to an autonomic funkadelic response. If you didn't move, it meant you were dead.

Yeah, the BTM era was a time of passionate sensual class... colored by the timeless music and a zeitgeist that gave birth to incomparable street dance movements. First came the Lockers and The Poppers, and it was those un-celebrated pop culture heroes that took the BTM era to a new unworldly level. The greatest of the era's performers soon wanted to learn how to move like they did.

And it was from within their ranks... that one extraordinary teenage street dancer from the inner-city changed pop music history forever... teaching the world's greatest performer a move that stunned a global television audience - as pop music's newly coronated King floated across the stage in a back-sliding motion that the world will never forget.

From that point forward it only got better... with a new British invasion and an ongoing evolution of soul, rock and pop musicality that hasn't been matched since...

And, it was the last time when music was created by musicians, and not machines...

If nothing else could be said about "The Beyond the Moonwalk" era, we can define the magic in just three words: "It was real."

© - David Christopher Loya