- Intro (Jeopardy Theme)
- Excerpt: N.W.A. – Straight Outta Compton
- Excerpt: N.W.A. – Fuck the Police
- Excerpt: N.W.A. – Gangsta Gangsta
- Excerpt: N.W.A. – 8 Ball
- Excerpt: N.W.A. – 100 Miles and Runnin’
- Ice Cube – No Vaseline
- Paul Oakenfold – Get ‘Em Up
- Peter Gabriel – In Your Eyes
- Peter Gabriel – Shaking The Tree (Live)
- Paula Cole – Hush Hush Hush
- Paula Cole – Mississippi (Live)
- Paula Cole – I Don’t Want to Wait
- No Doubt – Spiderwebs
- No Doubt – Comforting Lie (Acoustic)
- Foo Fighters – Gas Chamber
- Foo Fighters – One by One
- Foo Fighters – Darling Nikki
- Prince – All Along the Watchtower/Best of You (Live)
- Prince – Love Sign
- Ice Cube – What Can I Do?
- Eazy E – No More ?’s
- The Lonely Island – Natalie’s Rap
- Fresh Air with Terry Gross – Interview
SUBJECT OF SHOW: ICE CUBE
PAUL OAKENFOLD
Paul Oakenfold (born 30 August 1963 in Greenhithe, Kent, UK) is a record producer and a trance DJ. Paul Oakenfold’s career was set to be a chef, after having hopes of becoming part of a band. He describes his early life as a “bedroom deejay” in a podcasted interview with Vancouver’s 24 Hours, stating he grew up listening to The Beatles. Later 21-year-old Paul Oakenfold and Ian Paul moved to 254 West 54th Street. Studio 54′s Steve Rubell ran the place and only allowed popular people inside. Oakenfold and Paul used fake passes to sneak into places in New York where they met Maze, Bobby Womak and Bob Marley, whom they also interviewed, as they said to be NME and Melody Maker journalists. Other people were Brooke Shields, Cher, Donald Trump and Bianca Jagger, Warhol, Dali and Yves Saint Laurent.
In 1985, Oakenfold traveled to the island of Ibiza for a week to celebrate his birthday. Trevor Fung, Nicky Holloway, Ian Saint Paul, Danny Rampling and Johnny Walker accompanied him. It was during this time when playing at Amnesia that Oakenfold demonstrated the Balearic trance sound that he would later become known for.
Blade II: The Soundtrack was released on March 19, 2002 through Virgin Records and featured collaborations between hip hop artists and electronic artists. This soundtrack managed to make it to 4 different Billboard charts, peaking at #26 on the Billboard 200, #23 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, #2 on the Top Soundtracks and #1 on the Top Electronic Albums. Track #4 featured Paul Oakenfold in a collaboration with Ice Cube in the song “Right Here, Right Now”
Also in 2002, Paul released his first studio album signed to Maverick. Bunkka is a compilation of styles which Paul has learned to mix throughout his career; the blending in of progressive trance with goa makes the album different from other conventional dance album. An extended play was released featuring live versions of four songs under Peoplesound Records. It is also Oakenfold’s best selling album to date, with sales largely exceeding 1,000,000 (1 million) copies worldwide. The album features the popular rapper Ice Cube on “Get Em Up”
The name Bunkka comes from Peter Gabriel’s studio in the UK, where the album was recorded.
PETER GABRIEL
Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career. More recently he has focused on producing and promoting world music and pioneering digital distribution methods for music. He has also been involved in various humanitarian efforts. Gabriel was awarded the Polar Music Prize in 2009.
Gabriel achieved his greatest popularity with songs from the 1986 So album, which produced three UK Top 20 hits (“Sledgehammer”, “Big Time”, and “Don’t Give Up” — a duet with Kate Bush). The album also produced three Top 40 hits in the U.S. (“Sledgehammer”, “In Your Eyes”), and “Big Time” (Gabriel’s most recent Top Ten hit), as well as the single “Red Rain”.
In 1989, Gabriel released Passion, the soundtrack for Martin Scorsese’s movie The Last Temptation of Christ. For this work he received his first Grammy Award, in the category of Best New Age Performance. He also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score – Motion Picture.
Following this, Gabriel released Us in 1992 (also co-produced with Daniel Lanois), an album in which he explored the pain of recent personal problems; his failed first marriage, his relationship with Rosanna Arquette, and the growing distance between him and his first daughter. Gabriel followed the release of the album with a world tour (with Paula Cole or Joy Askew filling O’Connor’s vocal role) and accompanying double CD and DVD Secret World Live in 1994.
PAULA COLE
Paula Cole (born April 5, 1968, Rockport, Massachusetts) is an American singer/songwriter. Her single “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone” reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1997, and the following year she won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
Cole got her first big professional break when she was invited to perform on Peter Gabriel’s 1993-1994 Secret World Live tour. Shortly after this, she was signed on with her first record company Imago Records. Through this record company, she released her first album Harbinger in 1994. Within that year of Harbinger’s release, Imago Records went out of business. In 1995, she was signed on to Warner Bros. Records. The record company reissued Harbinger in the Autumn of 1995.
In late 1996, Cole released her second album on Warner Bros. Records, This Fire, which was entirely self-produced. The albums’ debut single, “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone”, became an instant smash radio (reaching #8 on Billboard magazine’s pop chart) and MTV hit. The follow-up single, “I Don’t Want to Wait”, was a #11 pop hit single. The single “Me” (#35) was also released. The title “Hush, hush, hush”, a duet with Peter Gabriel talks about AIDS and about a young gay man dying in his father’s comforting arms.
“I Don’t Want to Wait” was the theme song for the WB teen drama ‘Dawson’s Creek’.
NO DOUBT
No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, founded in 1986. The ska-pop sound of their first album, No Doubt, failed to make waves due to the popularity of the grunge movement at the time. The band’s diamond-certified album Tragic Kingdom helped to launch the ska revival of the 1990s, and “Don’t Speak”, the third single from the album, set a record when it spent sixteen weeks at the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart.
The group released its next album, Return of Saturn, four years later, but despite positive reviews, the album was considered a commercial failure. Fifteen months later, the band reappeared with Rock Steady, which incorporated reggae and dancehall music into their work. The album was primarily recorded in Jamaica and featured collaborations with Jamaican artists Bounty Killer, Sly and Robbie, and Lady Saw. The album produced two Grammy-winning singles, “Hey Baby” and “Underneath It All”.
In addition, pop-star Prince co-wrote, produced, and performed on “Waiting Room” from Rock Steady. Stefani had previously provided vocals for a song on Prince’s Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic album, “So Far, So Pleased”. In November 2002, No Doubt made an appearance in the Dawson’s Creek episode “Spiderwebs”. Dawson’s characters head to Boston to see No Doubt play. Three songs are featured on the show: “Hella Good,” “Underneath it All” and “Magic’s in the Makeup.”
Tony Kanals favorite musician is Prince and in July 1997 he and the band jammed with Prince at Paisley Park after Prince attended a No Doubt show in Minneapolis.
On August 10, 2004 the compilation Rock Against Bush Vol. 2 was released. It contains a collection of songs by various punk rock artists, some of which were previously unreleased. It also includes a bonus DVD with political facts, commentary regarding the U.S. presidential election, 2004, comedy footage, and music videos. No Doubt recorded a song for the album called “Comforting Lie”.
FOO FIGHTERS
The Foo Fighters were also featured on the 2004 album Rock Against Bush Vol. 2. They recorded a song called “Gas Chamber” which is an Angry Samoans cover.
Dave Grohl joined Nirvana as the group’s drummer in 1990. In order to occupy himself during tours, he took a guitar with him and wrote songs. Grohl held back these songs from the band; he said in 1997, “I was in awe of frontman Kurt Cobain’s songs. And intimidated. I thought it was best that I keep my songs to myself.” Instead, Grohl occasionally booked studio time to record demos, and even issued a cassette of some of those songs called Pocketwatch under the pseudonym “Late!” in 1992.
Cobain was found dead in his Seattle home on April 8, 1994, and Nirvana subsequently disbanded. Grohl received offers to work with various artists including the Melvins, to which Grohl accepted; however this never came to fruition. He also almost accepted a permanent position as the drummer in Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Ultimately Grohl declined and instead entered Robert Lang Studios in October 1994 to record twelve of the forty songs he had written. With the exception of a guitar part on “X-Static” by Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs, Grohl played every instrument and sang every vocal on the tracks. “I was supposed to just join another band and be a drummer the rest of my life,” Grohl later said. “I thought that I would rather do what no one expected me to do. I enjoy writing music and I enjoy trying to sing, and there’s nothing anyone can really do to discourage me.” Grohl completed an album’s worth of material in five days and handed out cassette copies of the sessions to his friends for feedback.
Grohl hoped to keep his anonymity and release the recordings in a limited run under the title “Foo Fighters”, taken from the World War II term “foo fighter”, used to refer to unidentified flying objects. However, the demo tape circulated in the music industry, creating interest among record labels. Grohl formed a band to support the album. Initially, Grohl talked to former Nirvana band mate Krist Novoselic about joining the group, but both decided against it. “For Krist and I, it would have felt really natural and really great”, Grohl explained. “But for everyone else, it would have been weird, and it would have left me in a really bad position. Then I really would have been under the microscope.” Having heard about the disbanding of Seattle-based emo band Sunny Day Real Estate, Grohl drafted the group’s bass player, Nate Mendel, and drummer, William Goldsmith. Grohl asked Pat Smear, who served as a touring guitarist for Nirvana after the release of its 1993 album In Utero, to join as the group’s second guitarist. Grohl ultimately licensed the album to Capitol Records, releasing it on his new record label, Roswell Records.
Prior to the release of Foo Fighters in 1995, Grohl drafted Nate Mendel (bass), William Goldsmith (drums), and Pat Smear (guitar) to complete the group. Goldsmith left during the recording of the group’s second album The Colour and the Shape (1997), soon followed by Smear. They were replaced by Taylor Hawkins and Franz Stahl, respectively, although Stahl left prior to the recording of the group’s third album, There Is Nothing Left to Lose (1999).
Chris Shiflett joined as the band’s second guitarist after the completion of There Is Nothing Left to Lose. The band released its fourth album One by One in 2002. The group followed that release with the two-disc In Your Honor (2005), which was split between acoustic songs and harder-rocking material. Foo Fighters released its sixth album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace in 2007. Over the course of the band’s career, three of its albums have won Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album, and all six have been nominated for Grammys.
In 2003, the band recorded a cover of the Prince song “Darling Nikki”, which they included as a B-side on their 2004 single “Have It All”. Though their version of “Darling Nikki” was never officially released as a single, it surprisingly found success at American Modern Rock radio, peaking at #15. This version was performed on the MTV Video Music Awards with Cee-lo guesting on vocals. On 4 February 2007 Prince covered their song “Best of You” at Super Bowl XLI. This may have been in retaliation as Prince objected to having “Darling Nikki” covered by the Foo Fighters, and he would not allow them to release it as a single in the US.
PRINCE
“Darling Nikki” is a song produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince and originally released on his Grammy Award-winning album Purple Rain (1984). Though the song was not originally released as a single, it gained wide notoriety for its sexual lyrics. Partly because of the lyrical content of “Darling Nikki,” Tipper Gore founded the Parents Music Resource Center, which eventually led to the use of “Parental Advisory” stickers and imprints on album covers. Trinity Broadcasting Network and Jimmy Swaggart both attacked the song as being “pornographic” and “satanic.”
Prince Rogers Nelson (born June 7, 1958) is an American musician. He performs under the mononym of Prince but has also been known by various other names, most notably the unpronounceable symbol which he used as his stage name between 1993 and 2000. During this period, he was usually referred to as The artist formerly known as Prince.
Prince is a songwriter and musician, having released several hundred songs both under his own name and with other artists. He has won seven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the first year he was eligible in 2004. Rolling Stone ranked Prince #28 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2008.
Prince’s musical palette covers many musical genres including R&B, soul, funk, rock, blues, new wave, psychedelia, folk, jazz and hip hop. Some of his influences are Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Sly & the Family Stone, Curtis Mayfield, Parliament-Funkadelic, Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, Joni Mitchell, the Beatles, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis. The distinctive characteristics of his early-to-mid 1980s work, such as sparse and industrial-sounding drum machine arrangements and the use of synthesizer riffs to serve the role traditionally occupied by horn riffs in earlier R&B, funk and soul music, were called the “Minneapolis sound” (a hybrid mixture of funk, rock, pop, R&B & new wave) and have proved very influential.
“Love Sign” is a track from the 1-800-NEW-FUNK compilation album released by Prince, from his independent record label NPG Records in 1994.
“Love Sign” was the most successful song released from the album, and it is a duet with Nona Gaye, credited to Nona Gaye only even though the track is a duet. The reason behind this is because Prince (who was known as “TAFKAP” at the time because of his name change to an unpronounceable symbol) was still under contract with Warner Bros. and they would not let him release the single with his name on it, so he decided to release the song under Nona Gaye’s name. A promotional single was sent out to radio stations independently through Prince’s record label NPG Records, and it was not commercially released. The song has an anti-violence message.
The music video was shot by rapper Ice Cube in 1994. Nona Gaye and Prince are both featured prominently in the video. It received major airplay on BET and was very successful on its Top 20 countdown. The video shows Nona Gaye at an anti-violence convention and Prince as a secret love tryst. At the end of the video Nona is laying in Prince’s bed and Prince walks away shaking his head jokingly. Most of the video was shot at Paisley Park.
ICE CUBE
O’Shea Jackson (born June 15, 1969), better known by his stage name Ice Cube, is an American rapper, actor, screenwriter, and producer. He began his career as a member of the rap group N.W.A along with group leader Eazy-E, and later launched a successful solo career in music and cinema. In 1992, he married Kimberly Woodruff, with whom he has four children, and converted to Islam. From the mid-1990s onwards, Cube focused on acting, and his musical output has slowed down considerably. He remains one of the most visible West Coast rappers, having helped originate gangsta rap.
What Can I Do? a single from Ice Cube’s compilation, Bootlegs & B-Sides includes lyrics which make reference to Prince. “They tried to blast me for selling a boulder, Now I got my ass in Minnesota, Got my own crew, it’s on brand new, Damn, what can I do? Already done stack me half a mill ticket, Bought a house next to Prince, so now I can kick it” Prince himself samples Ice Cube in his own recording entitled “Good Life(Big City Remix)”, in particular the verse stating his name.
