Set Adrift on Memory Bliss

PM Dawn's "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" -- the first single from their 1991 debut album, Of the Heart, of the Soul and of the Cross: The Utopian Experience -- posited new ways in which hip-hop could be combined with pop and other outside influences. Because the song was mellow, lush, and melodic, and because it had virtually no connection to the streets of urban America, it was dismissed in hardcore rap circles (most famously by Boogie Down Productions' KRS-One) as nothing but another diluted pop sellout. However, "Set Adrift" really had nothing to do with the over-simplified lyrics, obvious posturing, or hardly altered samples that informed the biggest pop-rap breakthroughs in the early '90s. The song fused samples from new romantic group Spandau Ballet's lush pop ballad "True" with a commonly sampled hip-hop drum track and urban soul vocals cast in multiple overdubs. It was a sort of fusion that hadn't really been attempted before, and that's why most critics gave the group such glowing reviews. PM Dawn was also a bit more serious and spiritual than most rap outfits, sort of the flip side of De La Soul's easygoing hip-hop hippie vibe; the lyrics of "Set Adrift" were full of Eastern-tinged, cosmic philosophizing that fit perfectly into the sonic background. Specifically, the song was about letting go of personal attachments once they had outlived their importance, allowing them to take their place in the recesses of memory, where they may or may not be recalled. Not the sort of subject matter most hip-hop groups were taking on, which gave PM Dawn a perspective as unique as their sound. Audiences responded en masse, as "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" hit number one in the fall of 1991.