The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel was not the first hip-hop hit but it was a landmark in the emergence of rap upon its release in 1981 – and the first hit to use scratching.

It’s only now, digging for info, that I find it was actually recorded ‘live’ – inasmuch as a DJ mix can be live – with Flash using three turntables to mix and scratch records.

The most notable samples are Chic’s Good Times, Blondie’s Rapture, Queen’s Another One Bites The Dust and the real first hip-hop song of note, Rapper’s Delight by the Sugarhill Gang – as well as spoken word vocals from a 1966 album titled The Official Adventures of Flash Gordon.

Incorporated its diverse sources into a sound collage through crossfading, cutting, rubbing and backspins, it’s a big influence on the development of turntablism, with its techniques of sampling, megamixes and mashups.

Foreshadowing the kind of criticism that rock fans would level at hip-hop – that it wasn’t “real” music played with real instruments – Flash was surprised Sugar Hill Records boss Sylvia Robinson agreed to release the single.

He later said he’d been hesitant even to ask her to “let me make a record with records” – but she had seen him play out at block parties and observed the frenzy his performances prompted.

It’s also, surely, one of the longest titles for a single: The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel.