Play at Your Own Risk

Created in New York after the Planet Rock sessions, the track used unused musical material connected to Afrika Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force. Planet Patrol featured Boston vocalists Herbert J Jackson, Joseph Lites, Rodney Butler, Michael Anthony Jones and Melvin B Franklin with production by Arthur Baker, Francois Kevorkian and John Robie. Released by Tommy Boy in 1982, Play At Your Own Risk became Planet Patrols breakout single and reached number 21 on the Billboard R and B chart and number 10 on the US dance chart. Its electro funk arrangement linked the Planet Rock sound to freestyle and street dance club culture. The record remains one of the defining early electro singles and a major source for later dance, bass and hip hop records. Its rhythm and hook elements have been sampled widely and it remains a staple of electro retrospectives and Tommy Boy reissues.