*Every Thursday from now until Chicago Open Air gets here we will be releasing an article about a band playing the festival to get you familiar with them.*
This week’s artist is Body Count.
Body Count is an Los Angeles based metal band formed in 1990. The group is fronted by Ice-T, who co-founded the group with lead guitarist Ernie C . Ice-T first made his stamp on the music industry as a rapper and moved on to metal when he formed Body Count. If you think Ice-T looks familiar you may have seen him on Law & Order from the year 2000 and forward. Ice-T took his talents to cable tv and has since become even more of a household name. Body Count released its self-titled debut album in 1992. The band encountered controversy over their track “Cop Killer”, which was thought to glamorize killing police officers. Because of this song Body Count was banned from playing anywhere in L.A. The band was already star studded but this news made them even more popular. In a recent interview with Cathouse owner and former Headbanger’s Ball host Riki Rachtman he mentioned how the band was banned and he had them play in Hollywood anyway. “Cop Killer” also cause a disturbance once in Italy when they began to play the song live and an audience member spit at Ice-T. The show was cancelled and their tour bus was vandalized by audience members and the band barely escaped unharmed. The song had got the attention of the label, several police organizations and both the president and vice president at the time. (H.W. Bush, Quayle). Ice-T decided to drop the song from the album. In an interview, Ice-T stated that “I didn’t want my band to get pigeon-holed as that’s the only reason that record sold. It just got outta hand and I was just tired of hearing it. I said, ‘fuck it,’ I mean they’re saying we did it for money, and we didn’t. I’d gave the record away, ya know, let’s move on, let’s get back to real issues, not a record but the cops that are out there killing people.” Continue reading
