27 lines
1.6 KiB
Plaintext
27 lines
1.6 KiB
Plaintext
2
|
||
“Ice Ice Baby” was originally the flipside to Vanilla Ice’s debut single “Play
|
||
That Funky Music”. When it was later released as its own single, it became an
|
||
international smash hit.
|
||
|
||
After every record company turned Vanilla Ice’s original demos down, Tommy Quon
|
||
(the owner of the Dallas club City Lights) had the club’s DJ Earthquake produce
|
||
two tracks for release on his label Ultrax Records. “Play That Funky Music”,
|
||
based on the 1976 hit of the same name, was the A-side, and “Ice Ice Baby”,
|
||
based on the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity chant in the film School Daze spoken
|
||
over Queen’s “Under Pressure”, was the B-side.
|
||
|
||
A DJ at an FM station in Georgia liked the B-side better and played it on air.
|
||
Soon it became that station’s #1 requested song, leading stations in Tennessee
|
||
and Texas to do the same. It also became Video Jukebox’s most requested video.
|
||
After SBK Records' founder was played the song over the phone, he signed Ice the
|
||
next day. In August of 1990, his label released “Ice Ice Baby” as the A-side
|
||
with “Play That Funky Music” as its flipside.
|
||
|
||
The song began climbing charts around the world, eventually reaching the top 10
|
||
in twelve countries – hitting #1 in six of them including the UK and the US
|
||
(where it became the first chart-topping rap single in history).
|
||
|
||
That year “Ice Ice Baby” was certified Platinum two months after its release and
|
||
was ranked the #45 song of 1990 by Billboard. The song was also nominated for a
|
||
Grammy that year for Best Solo Rap Performance, but lost to MC Hammer’s “U Can’t
|
||
Touch This”. |