Like Elvis and the Beatles before him, Vanilla Ice ushered in a seismic shift in the way we listen to pop music. But unlike his forebears, he went the extra mile and redefined the very meaning of the words "talent" and "innovation." Never before had such fine songwriting been wedded to such ground-breaking production... Upon the release of Ice's debut To the Extreme, Paul McCartney was reputed to tell Rolling Stone's David Fricke, "The bar has been raised to an unthinkably astronomical height; I now have no choice but to retire," while revered rock critic Robert Christgau proclaimed Vanilla Ice "the Winston Churchill, nay, the very Mahatma Ghandi, of the canon of western music." This utterly superlative collection begins with what is perhaps Ice's definitive piece, "Ice, Ice Baby," a song which defies explanation, and must simply be listened to, over and over, on the cassette deck in your girlfriend's Chevy Citation, to be appreciated. This is followed by yet another masterpiece, "Get Wit It," in which Ice claims his place on the musical throne with the line "Man, I wouldn't lower myself; I got your record and I put it on the shelf." Poetry, pure poetry... "Rollin' in my 5.0" is a tribute to Lee Iacocca, whose genius wasn't so much creating the Ford Mustang as anticipating that Vanilla Ice would one day validate his efforts by driving one. On "I Love You," Ice invokes LL Cool J's spare, romantic delivery, but takes it to an entirely new level, irresistably crooning "You're my queen, I'll buy you everything; Yes girl, even diamond rings!" Even diamond rings! Would that I still had my virginity to offer this man... All drooling aside, it's this anthology's penultimate track, "Ninja Rap," with its infectious chorus "Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!" that truly brings Vanilla Ice's mastery of the form into focus, invoking his audience to "fill in the gap, drop that bass and get the ninja rap." If that doesn't get your juices flowing, Vanilla's reworking of the Stones' "Satisfaction" will undoubtedly leave you and your juices... ahem... satisfied.
Some other thoughts:
#378, Creed's Human Clay: Of all of the Christian Rock singers to have placed their indelible stamp on Eddie Vedder's vocal delivery, Scott Stapp is simply, well, my King. I can scarcely listen to Pearl Jam's "Animal" without hearing My Lord whispering His Sacred Message into my Ear, via Stapp's lilting vibrato on "One," But Perhaps This Video Can More Properly Put My Thoughts Into Words... I can't help but wonder: What Would Tom Waits Do?
#379, The Bee Gees, Peter Frampton and Steve Martin's Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Soundtrack (yes, this actually exists...): The Beatles could be forgiven for priding themselves in releasing Sergeant Pepper to a groveling, sycophantic public in 1967. It was a relatively decent work for its time, to be sure, but it would take another eleven years, and the tri-continental efforts of Australia's Bee Gees, England's Peter Frampton and America's own Steve Martin to elucidate the true brilliance of the material, as evidenced here.
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