John Robie
John Robie is an American musician, producer and songwriter. He has produced and/or written for such artists as: Chaka Khan, New Order, UB40, Cabaret Voltaire, Soulsonic Force, Boy George, Planet Patrol, Laura Branigan, and Freeez, among others.
John Robie
- Name
- John Robie
- Occupation
- Musician, record producer, audio engineer
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John Robie is an American musician, producer and songwriter. He has produced and/or written for such artists as: Chaka Khan, New Order, UB40, Cabaret Voltaire, Soulsonic Force, Boy George, Planet Patrol, Laura Branigan, and Freeez, among others.
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In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — John Robie • Origin — New York City, United States • Occupation — Musician, record producer, audio engineer
Career
Career
Robie launched his career as the co-writer and synthesizer "wizard" on Planet Rock by Soulsonic Force. Robie subsequently went on to produce other hits for Soulsonic Force; Looking for the Perfect Beat and Renegades of Funk (later covered by Rage Against The Machine), and continued to pursue an experimental approach towards electronic music, which resulted in his help pioneering a completely new musical genre, Electro. "One More Shot", performed by C-Bank, and "Body Mechanic", performed by Quadrant 6, both written and produced by Robie, were among the first to define this art form. His songs have been sampled by such artists as City Girls, Lunchmoney Lewis, Snoop Dogg, Calvin Harris, Plump DJs, Jamie xx, LL Cool J, Black Eyed Peas, Limp Bizkit, and Tag Team. He entered into the world of video/film production making his directorial debut with the short film, The Future Is Mine, which was released in the wake of George Floyd's murder.
Reception
In 1984, Stephen Holden of The New York Times said of Robie and fellow producer Arthur Baker, that they "reinvented the modern dance record as an arcade-like interior soundscape with all kinds of echoes and rhythmic voices in intense push-pull crosscurrents. With their sharply edged synthesized textures, their machine-gun clatter of electronic percussion, and electronically altered vocals that suggested musicalized strobe-light afterimages, Baker and Robie created a sound that evoked the crossfire of urban pressures with the vividness of a horror movie." Rick Rubin in Rolling Stone described Planet Rock by Soulsonic Force as "one of the most influential songs of everything, it changed the world".
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.John Robie. Discogs.
- 2.50 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time. Rolling Stone. 2012-12-05.
- 3.Ratliff, Ben. The Good, the Bad, the Rare: '98 Boxed Sets; Various Artists: The Perfect Beats - New York Electro. The New York Times. 13 December 1998.
- 4.Planet Rock by Afrika Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force on WhoSampled. WhoSampled.
- 5.Tracks that Sampled John Robie. WhoSampled.com.
- 6.Blistein, Jon. Bun B, Mr. Biggs Dissect Centuries of Racist Violence in 'The Future Is Mine' Short Film. Rolling Stone. 2020-08-20.
- 7.Holden, Stephen. Pop Records Turn to Hip-Hop. The New York Times. 23 September 1984.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 29 September 2026.
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