LIQUID LIQUID - CAVERN

In late 1982 the post punk band Liquid Liquid recorded their third and final EP Optimo in a studio on the top floor of New York's Radio City Music Hall. The songs on the album were created in a live jam style recording sessions. The record was released in 1983 featuring Cavern, the track the band is most known for. Later the same year Cavern was used by Melle Mel on his hip-hop anthem White Lines (Don't Do It), his rap was over a cover version of Cavern that had been recorded by Sugar Hill Gang. When the Melle Mel record replaced Liquid Liquid's original version on the radio and in clubs the band's label - 99 Records - sued Sugar Hill Records for plagiarism. After an expensive battle in court Sugar Hill was ordered to pay $660,000. Rather than pay, Sugar Hill declared bankruptcy and shut down. 99 Records, which was also a record store on 99 MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village, closed shortly after because of the case's legal costs.