"The Planet Raps Back"

Enjoy "The Planet Raps Back" from Time Warner's bonkers 1990 all-star The Earth Day Special (seriously, check out this cast), featuring Quincy Jones, Ice-T, Fresh Prince, Tone Lōc, Queen Latifah, Kid 'n Play and Heavy D:

 

Ice-T, "Personal"

Seeing Heart this week reminded me that they inadvertently connected Ice-T to Metallica. On Ice-T’s 1988 song “Personal,” he samples Nancy Wilson’s guitar track for “Magic Man.” Kirk Hammett, a longtime Ice fan, credits “Personal” with inspiring the guitar solo for “Enter Sandman.” Check out the little gallop that first comes in around :55 and you can hear what Kirk’s talking about.

Kirk: “I think the time has come to reveal where I actually got the guitar lick before the breakdown in Enter Sandman: It’s from "Magic Man," by Heart, but I didn’t get it from Heart’s version; I got it from a cut off Ice-T’s Power album, where he sampled it. I heard that and thought, ‘I have to snake this!’”

Metallica Saved My Life

 

Super excited for the upcoming documentary Metallica Saved My Life. Check out the trailer above, and read an excerpt from my book about Metallica fandom here.

The Giraffes: The Greatest Band No One Knows

I love the Giraffes, and was honored to speak about them for their upcoming movie. Check out the trailer:

Join me at Nitehawk Cinema May 8.

Body Count

"What you’re listening to right now is the new Body Count album. It’ll be in the stores March 31, it’ll be banned March 32, you’ve gotta get it quick.”

—Ice-T, 1992. 

Happy 33rd to a record that shook up the world.

Flannery O'Connor

Happy 100th, Flannery O'Connor. I'm fascinated by artists who use the language and themes of religious texts to articulate their own personal struggles with the church—Flannery, Nick Cave, Sinéad O'Connor, and of course James Hetfield. I didn't have anything about Metallica's spirituality in my book proposal, but once I started getting more in-depth with my research (particularly after reading John Van Sloten's The Day Metallica Came to Church) I knew I had to include a chapter about it in my book. Of course I included a Flannery O'Connor quote.

Cake courtesy of Fordham.

Original Lollapalooza lineup, 1991

In honor of today's Lollapalooza announcement, check out this backstage photo of the original tour lineup in 1991—Jane's Addiction, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Living Colour, Nine Inch Nails, Ice-T with Body Count, Butthole Surfers and the Rollins Band, all together. I had blast speaking with some of these musicians about Body Count, and loved reading the upcoming Lollapalooza oral history book compiled by Richard Bienstock and Tom Beaujour. Let me know if you read it!