Case study Queen and Vanilla Ice
- Jack Badby
- Dec 5, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: Dec 11, 2020
The creation of Under pressure and a disagreement between Queen and david bowie..
Forming in 1970 Queen one of the most iconic british rock bands in the late 70s and throughout the 80s being responsible for the making of such songs Bohemian rhapsody, somebody to love and can't stop me now, Queens earliest songs were inspired by progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal then later incorporated elements of pop into their later songs. In 1981 Queen released a the hit song Under pressure with collaborative help from david bowie the band released the hit song in the queen album greatest hits featuring the songs We Will Rock You, We Are the Champions, Another One Bites the Dust, Killer Queen, etc.
Bowies & Queens disagreement.
Although the late David Bowie was good friends with Freddie Mercury they did encounter a disagreement after the release of queen's greatest hits album, this disagreement came in way of the removal of bowie's lyrics in the Queen song Cool cat, understandably bowie's frustration with Queens decision to remove his singing was spontaneous and he had no idea about the removal of his part until he listened to the album. Though Bowie's frustration with freddie was Justified cause of the time and effort he put into the writing his particular parts for Cool cat Bowie never expressed any anger towards freddie and the same could be said viceversa on freddies part though the media tried to say otherwise.
The creation of Ice, Ice Baby and Queens thoughts on the song.
Vanilla ice is a american rapper mainly known for song such as Ice, ice baby and Play that funky music which may ring a bell if you are familiar with the band Chic, though Vanilla ice takes samples of the song Play that funky music by Chic, His other song Ice, Ice Baby is definitely considered a rip off of some kind though Vanilla ice would claim Ice, Ice Baby had samples from under pressures bassline it is obvious throughout the song the bass is effectively copy and pasted from under pressure.
Vanilla Ice before the release of Ice Ice Baby wasn't very well known though the album consisting of the song Ice Ice Baby made the top 100s and was actually the first Hip hop song to does that make Vanilla ice's song not a rip off?
Listen to the songs what do you think?
What did queen think about ice ice baby?
After the release of Ice Ice baby Queen not having known of the songs existence until the song reached the top 100s each respected member of the band must have been shocked by the clear similarity with between there song and this new stolen rebranded copy of their work.
Freddie mercury's reaction.
A few weeks after Vanilla ice's song reached the top 100 in america Peter phoebe freestone brought the track to Freddie mercury while he was eating breakfast Initially Mercury thought he was listening to Under pressure since he heard the exact bassline from under pressure in ice's song, after realising that the song was a Rip off Freddie proceeded to call Queens manager then left it at that saying that the imitation of under pressure was merely a compliment to the original song. Though freddie saw the good in Vanilla ice's rise in popularity of the song the rest of the band didn't take to lightly to this "rip off song".
Roger taylor's reaction.
Rogers taylor's response to Vanilla Ice's song was mainly aimed towards his disappointment in Vanillas claims that the song was not a exact rip off of Queens and Bowie's song but merely a entirely new bassline and song overally, Roger expressed that he was happy the song was a hit but the fact that Vanilla denied that the songs bassline was a entirely new thing pushed queens hand towards heading to a lawsuit, Roger also claimed Vanilla ice had a funny haircut expressing rogers understanding he didn't need to take Vanilla seriously.
Brian may's reaction.
Brian may was the first to hear about the song but originally never worried about it because he believed that nobody would listen to the track though after finding out the song had reached the top 100 and was about to reach number 1 in the United states Brain may changed his tone claiming that Vanilla wasn't a being a very honorable person by taking the Queen song without permission but knowing that they were never going to originally get money for the song made brain irritated. Luckily for Queen Hollywood records had brought Queens music catalog got upset and decided to sue Vanilla so Brian wasn't too worried after finding this out cause he saw it as Vanilla earning money for the band. Later brain would also change his mind about Vanillas song realising it introduced the band to a new audience.
Vanilla ice's Thoughts.
Vanilla has talked about the situation about under pressure and Ice, Ice Baby over the years when originally claiming thats the song was just a sample and queen didn't deserve the earnings for his song in recent years Vanilla has grow up and strayed away from his character accepting that he was wrong to say that the song wasn't exactly his and the thinks he said when he was younger was apart of his ego and not actual fact.
My thoughts.
Realistically the situation of is definitely a difficult one to talk about and to speak without bias i'd say that Ice, Ice Baby is it's own song granted the fact that the entire bassline was completely taken from Queen and Bowie's song under pressure I believe that Vanilla Ice's song did a lot more for queen than it took from the band thanks to the fact people from Vanillas audience realised were the original song came from and introducing the audience in queens music.
Research links.
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