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BODY COUNT
1992 - Body Count.
1994 - Born Dead.
more BODY COUNT.
way more Helter Skelter.

March 31, 1992 - 2022: 30 years of: Body Count.

The L.A.P.D.'s favorite band.

The early 90s, the ultimate whirlwind of styles and sounds and from out of nowhere, a rapper would forever break the boundaries of heavymetal ...Ice-mutherfockin'-T brings forth: ghettometal ! Hot on the heels of his solid Original Gangster 1991 rap CD, Ice tagged along with high-school rock-buddy Ernie-C and the slums of L.A. now had a hardcore thrashmetal band they can call their own.

Who's in the house ?

The definite down-picking of "Body Count's In The House" opens the celebration. Mosh-pit bound, this is NYHC done South Central style, entangled in street-rhymes. The thrashmetal of "Bowels Of The Devil" rips faces while the cap-peelin' lead-single "There Goes The Neighborhood" received positive MTV-attention, in the all too generic and sterile 1991-92 hardrock-era.

"SHIT AIN'T LIKE THAT !"

The O. G. goes full carnage on the "Body Count" title-track. Obnoxious intense metal ass-kicker and true wake-up call from the decaying inner-cities ...Ice calls it out loud: "Don't you hear the guns, you stupid dumb dick-suckin' bum politicians ?" ...and from the stiff "Evil Dick" fun to the reptilian-rage of "Momma's Gotta Die Tonight", BC represents the rock-spectrum of attitude, dope and DIY anger.

Now sports:

Straight outta Compton of the crack-epidemic mid 80s. The Heavy-Metal State Of The Union Address, a new hardcore anthem. Step aside law-enforcement, this is our song, this is our time. The hate and abuse explode in a 4:09sec thrash and sing-along crowd-gathering metal-event. Straight outta the war-zone, no song has since been written on the matter. Serious actions need serious consequences. The 5-O speedmetal "Cop Killer" responds with a simple yet definite crystal-clear message: "But tonight we get even".

Out in the parking lot...

One month before the Rodney King riots, BODY COUNT and the hiphop underground already knew shit was 'bout to get real. From primary black neighborhood, far from the so-called glamorous American Dream, N.W.A. yeld it back in 1988 and Cube's 1991's Death Certificate CD was just another warning-shot.

Ice-T pushed harder, so hard that even the puritan government took note. The single-track "Cop Killer" alone hijacked the news and put the entire country on it's knees. From the FBI to the NRA, to local Police Departments across the US to the suit and tie Capitol Hill, they were all shit-scared concerned about this new found violence of anti-establishment. Yet on the other side of the spectrum, in real life filled with real people, when did these tight-ass politicians ever took notice about police-brutality and racial-injustice from past decades ?

Rapidly in retaliation, some agencies refused to answer calls from low-income neighborhoods and eventually, masses of Wall Street stock-holders pressured Warner Brothers Records to cancel the artist. Within weeks, Ice-T was removed from the label's roster and BODY COUNT's record was reissued with an alternate-artwork and edited track-listing. Forever banned, even under the 1st Amendment, the song "Cop Killer" will never be available through commercial-networks, ever again. Yet they cannot stop the underground and the live-performances. In concert, this now legendary-track has become an anthem of the dirty 90s and an anthem for oppression for generations of rebels to freely shout out loud: FUCK THE POLICE !!!

BC's cultural impact on traditional heavymetal is immense. Not en-vogue, yet bound to happen: a black metal-band. From another galaxy than LIVING COLOUR and 24-7 SPYZ, the all African-American BODY COUNT is the signature from the other Los Angeles. Between black and white and between Bloods and Crips, this is the real alternative to alternative. Metal-kids got into it and suburb-punks got into it. Ultra raw and underground, this modern crossover outlook on heavymetal was a welcomed addition to the genre's stagnant portfolio and paved the way for the adventurous 1990s all-together.

Befriending with GUNS 'N ROSES, MOTÖRHEAD, SLAYER and MEGADETH, the computing of dead bodies would pile-up on indie-label Virgin Records, on 1994's metal-filled and still politically-charged Born Dead CD.

*
Body Count's In The House = censored video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceSJCsLOoT4
There Goes The Neighborhood = censored video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9DnRy5IEs4
Body Count = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhuBWW2DvZU
The Winner Lose = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKX_yH4TauI
Body Count = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAvi51e0Zgk&list=PLZD_S_OUQa_dKoomg7fXMkl6vUmWAr4nt&index=2
MTV spotlight in 1992
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpZd6uTDMPI
Interview with Ice-T in 1992
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYLrvAs9_9c
Live on Arsenio Hall in 1992
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWUQtSXVoQM
Live at CBGBs in 1991
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiSu1co7tJY
Cop Killer live at Lollapalooza in 1991
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUPfuQOGLNw
Live in L.A. in 1992
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlzoW-14v84

September 5, 1994 - 2024: 30 years of: Born Dead.

Time for another drive-by.

While all the cops are gathered at the local donut-shop, Ice-T friendly frolics by, swingin' middle finger in the air. From the bowels of the Devil, here's Round Two for BODY COUNT's ghettometal drive-by.

"Radio copy, all units Code Red", as the "Body M/F Count" intro-track sets the mood to riot. Massive vendetta metal, the band is ten feet tall as BC are the "Masters Of Revenge" ...1994 ...rise ! Live-rounds are shot on all three speedmetal selections: the hit-the-ground of "Killin' Floor", the drinkin' n' smokin' n' snortin' "Street Lobotomy" and the get-even-payback-mothafukka of "Drive By".

Maestro Hendrix's "Hey Joe" gets an update, while the Titanic centerpiece title-track for "Born Dead" is a full 6min call for the human-race to fight the evils amongst us ...these forces that fights against your God given rights.

Back in the underground and now under new partnership with Virgin Records, Ice's material would not be fuckin' censored. The mosh-crew would present more hardcore shit, united between the red and blue on 1997's Violent Demise: The Last Days CD.

RIP Beatmaster V (1959-1996)
RIP Mooseman (1962-2001)
RIP D-Roc (1959-2004)

*
Hey Joe = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZKkCH5jrSM
Born Dead = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVcAmDGsfjc&list=PLF0yIDuA63HWuGbfFr8IHdpUo9Xbbtf2k
Interview in Germany in 1994
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JcPxzsGQBs
Live in New-York in 1994
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7NNQlQ_-WY

more BODY COUNT:

ICE-T
&

Alternative-Metal 1992