VANILLA ICE
Vanilla Ice (born Robert Matthew Van Winkle; October 31, 1967) is an American rapper, actor, and television host. Born in South Dallas, and raised in Texas and South Florida, Ice released his debut album, Hooked, in 1989 on Ichiban Records, before signing a contract with SBK Records, a record label of the EMI Group which released a reformatted version of the album under the title To the Extreme. Ice’s 1990 single “Ice Ice Baby” was the first hip hop single to top the Billboard charts. (More from Wikipedia)
Everyone but Judy Molish had previously been in a band called Butt Trumpet – with similar sensibility though not all-female – along with vocalist Thom Bone and drummer Jerry Geronimo. Betty Blowtorch was formed in 1998, and while not exactly a pose, their brand of sex-obsessed punk is clearly performed with a wink at the audience – their first single, “Size Queen” has guest musician Vanilla Ice (“Ice Ice Baby”) rapping about the size of his member – and also has surprising professionalism. After their full-length album, Are You Man Enough? came out in 2001, Betty Blowtorch began touring with the hard rock/psychobilly band Nashville Pussy.
(June 2016)
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The same issue came up with the Vanilla Ice hit song “Ice Ice Baby” (1990) that was released on the heels of “U Can’t Touch This”, where in this case the sample was taken from “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie. Robert Van Winkle (Vanilla Ice’s real name) wrote “Ice Ice Baby” in 1983 when he was 16 years old.
“Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice took a lot of heat at the time and in later years for not being authentic, etc. I don’t have a dog in that fight myself; I found “Ice Ice Baby” then and I find it now to be a well crafted piece of music. Whatever else might be said about “Ice Ice Baby”, as noted by Wikipedia: “‘Ice Ice Baby’ was the first hip hop single to top the Billboard charts. Outside the United States, the song topped the charts in Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom, thus helping the song diversify hip hop by introducing it to a mainstream audience.”
Vanilla Ice was inaccurately called the first white rapper by many in that time period, but this was not at all the case. For one thing, future superstar Eminem was already rapping in high school by the age of 14 (in about 1986). For another, past UARB Ja Ja Ja released “Katz Rap” (“Cat Rap”) in Germany in 1982 as the first female rap song in Europe. As a third example, “Under the Gun” (1984) by a long-time favorite New Wave band called Face to Face features a Christian rap passage.
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As far as I know, none have been to Biloxi yet, but many of the early rap and hip hop artists have begun hitting the oldies circuit; and several came through Charlotte while I was there this summer. I couldn’t find the line-up for that show; but on November 12, 2016, a joint concert with Vanilla Ice, Salt-N-Pepa, Kid ’N Play, All-4-One, and Coolio will be at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro.
(September 2016)
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Since I am down to a quarterly schedule rather than a monthly schedule, my annual list is a lot shorter, so I will try listing all of the people that I have discussed in some depth rather than just the Under Appreciated Rock Band and the Story of the Month. They are all punk rock bands of one kind or another this year (2015-2016), and the most recent post includes my overview of the early rap/hip hop scene that an old friend, George Konstantinow challenged me to write – probably so long ago that he might have forgotten.
September 2016 – 1980’s punk/rap band LIGHTNING STRIKE; Story of the Month on Patti Smith; also, Hamilton, School of Rock, MFSB, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Bob Dylan, Run-D.M.C., Aerosmith, LL Cool J, Snoop Dogg, the Fat Boys, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Kid ’N Play, MC Hammer, Rick James, Vanilla Ice, Blondie / Deborah Harry, Salt-N-Pepa, the Sugarhill Gang, Nile Rodgers / Chic, Ravales.
(Year 7 Review)
