Run-DMC, the only rap band ever to receive both a gold and a platinum album, will perform at NIU’s Chick Evans Field House next Monday at 8 p.m.

The three-man band, featuring three grade school friends, Run (Joseph Simmons), DMC (Darryl McDaniels) and Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizell), was formed in 1982 shortly after the trio’s graduation from Andrew Jackson High School in Queens, N.Y.

Their first album, “Run-DMC,” was released in 1984. The following year their second release, “King of Rock,” went gold.

But it was last summer, with their release of “Raising Hell,” which featured the single “Walk This Way” (accompanied by the song’s original performers, Aerosmith), that Run-DMC crossed the barrier into mainstream music.

“Run-DMC became a national act with ‘Walk This Way,'” WDEK programming director Dave Bavido said. “They were no longer just considered a black act. Rock stations across the country began to play them, and the song became a monster hit.

“Their style is message music. And the messages are positive.” Bavido added, “They don’t advocate violence, drugs or dropping out. To use a university term, they’re into ‘unity through diversity,'” he said. “A while ago their concerts were sometimes marred by violence, but that’s no longer a problem. Parents don’t have to worry about sending their kids to a Run-DMC concert.”

un-DMC has become a considerable force in the pursuit of positive changes in the world. In 1985, along with numerous other rock luminaries, the group was featured in the “Sun City” song and video, a protest of apartheid-ruled South Africa.

They also are active in a number of anti-drug and anti-gang activities, said David Broustis, Campus Activities Board Concert Committee member. The band recently performed with the Allman Brothers and Crosby, Stills and Nash at an anti-crack rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden.

The band’s videos are shown on MTV and other urban contemporary video shows. They have starred in the motion picture “Krush Groove” and will be featured in “Tougher Than Leather” due out next year.

Tickets to the NIU concert are $12.50 and are available at Record Revolution, 817 W. Lincoln Hwy.; Appletree Records, 1022 W. Lincoln Hwy.; and at the Rockford Metro Center.