So that was one of the bummers of not getting that. I mean, those two bands at the time, were massive. They never really turned it in, and then Tool got weird and their label got weird, and we were running out of time. I think it was something where they just didn’t get it together. It was more the Tool side that flaked and never decided. It was a weird thing at the point, they were, at that time, was saying crazy stuff, it was anti-Semitic stuff, and all this. I wanted Public Enemy, and they were like, nah. I think this guy’s name was Peter Mensch, Metallica’s manager, he was like 45, was one of the biggest managers around, and here’s this 22-year-old schmuck calling and saying, “Hey, have you ever heard of Cypress Hill? They want to do a collaboration for a movie.” And they’re like, “What? OK, give us a million dollars.” It was “Fuck off, kid.” So, some of that didn’t go well. Some of the managers in those days were just dicks. See, in those days they were like the shit, the shit, right? They’ve obviously aged, and probably wish they would’ve done it. They were super pure and prissy in those days. I really was a huge fan of Nirvana’s, and Kurt was the one that was difficult, not Dave and those guys. Turns out there were many more artists that Happy wanted but couldn’t get. Rolling Stone interviewed many of the musicians involved for The Oral History of The Judgement Night Soundtrack. The soundtrack was the brain child of 22 year old Cypress Hill manager Happy Walters. Pearl Jam with Cypress Hill, Helmet with House of Pain, Faith No More with Boo-Yaa Tribe, Slayer with Ice-T, Mudhoney with Sir-Mix-A-Lot, plus many more. The soundtrack featured 11 songs that were collaborations between some of rock and metal’s biggest names with rap and hip-hop artists. The movie itself quickly faded into memory, but the soundtrack that came with it would help spawn the popularity of the sub genre Rap Metal. The Judgment Night soundtrack hasn’t aged particularly well, but it’s a fascinating time capsule into the fusion of music’s biggest genre of the past and the soon-to-be most popular genre of the future.In 1993 a movie came out staring Emilio Estevez, Denis Leary and Cuba Gooding Jr. No Limp Bizkit, no calls of appropriation or musical gentrification, and no overblown silliness. Whereas most of the Judgment Night soundtrack goes the aggressive route, Cypress Hill and Sonic Youth go for the trippy, weed-heavy feeling that was essential to Cypress’ appeal. The only real contribution from Sonic Youth comes from Kim Gordon, who intones the central hook. It’s a typical Cypress Hill, down to the complete lack of subtlety. Starting with atonal scratching noises that Sonic Youth basically invented, ‘I Love You Mary Jane’ eventually drops into a smoky haze. ![]() Their Sonic Youth track, however, is completely wild. Cypress Hill actually appear twice on the Judgment Night soundtrack, and their other collaboration with Pearl Jam is wonky but nothing really worth writing home about. ![]() But it’s the unexpected and somewhat questionable team-ups that remain the most fascinating: Scottish indie kids Teenage Fanclub and New York’s most chill group of jazz rappers De La Soul cutting a quasi-Tom Petty cover? Mudhoney and Sir Mix-a-Lot recording a song called ‘Freak Momma’? Just bizarre, and not always in good ways.īut the single most ridiculous pairing comes from the collaboration between New York no-wave noise rockers Sonic Youth and California-bred, eternally baked hip hop group Cypress Hill. Some of the collaborations make sense: Slayer and Ice-T share a similar face-melting power, while Faith No More had plenty of rap-rock in them already to make their pairing with the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. Rage had the kind of political platform that separated them from most musical acts, but their aggressive intensity was so intoxicating that it wasn’t uncommon for most listeners to completely miss the message. But leave it a four piece out of California to completely redefine the form: in 1992, Rage Against the Machine release their highly charged self-titled debut. From the Beastie Boys to Run-DMC to Red Hot Chili Peppers, there are plenty of forefathers pioneering this specific fusion. ![]() ![]() They want rap, and they want rock, but is the world ready for rap rock?Īt this specific moment, the answer is clearly yes. White kids from the suburbs, who want to experience the intensity of hip hop without sacrificing their love of the guitar, begin to champion a combination of the two. Inspired by years of one-off collaborations and false starts, the global appeal of a new fusion genre is getting harder and harder to ignore. It’s 1993, and a new phenomenon is making a slow creep into the world of popular music.
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