Body Count is the 1992 Self-Titled Album self titled debut by American Speed Metal, Thrash Metal, and Hardcore Punk band Body Count.
The record is Overshadowed by Controversy because of the single "Cop Killer", which became so infamous back in 1992 that actor Charlton Heston, various Moral Guardians and politicians like Tipper Gore, then US Vice President Dan Quayle and US President George H. W. Bush criticized the album. Under pressure, "Cop Killer" was eventually removed from the album. In a case of No Such Thing as Bad Publicity, the record nevertheless became a huge best-seller, but, in a case of First Installment Wins, their other albums would never receive the same kind of commercial success.
Tracklist
- "Smoked Pork" (0:46)
- "Body Count's in the House" (3:24)
- "Now Sports" (0:04)
- "Body Count" (5:17)
- "A Statistic" (0:06)
- "Bowels of the Devil" (3:43)
- "The Real Problem" (0:11)
- "KKK Bitch" (2:52)
- "C Note" (1:35)
- "Voodoo" (5:00)
- "The Winner Loses" (6:32)
- "There Goes the Neighborhood" (5:50)
- "Oprah" (0:06)
- "Evil Dick" (3:58)
- "Body Count Anthem" (2:46)
- "Momma's Gotta Die Tonight" (6:10)
- "Out in the Parking Lot" (0:30)
- "Cop Killer" (4:09) note
Personnel
- Ice-T: lead vocals
- Ernie C.: lead, rhythm and acoustic guitars.
- Mooseman: bass
- D-Roc: rhythm guitar
- Beatmaster "V": drums.
Trope Killer
- Anti-Police Song: "Cop Killer" may be the most infamous and effective example in the sense that it actually caused so much controversy that it was removed from later reissues of the album.
- Broken Record: They say the phrase Body Count 95 times, 130 if you count them saying BC.
- Cluster F-Bomb: There are a lot of "fucks" and "motherfuckers" thrown about.
- Controversy-Proof Image: Despite all the critical backlash the album went gold.
- Dating What Daddy Hates: "KKK Bitch", where Ice-T tells the story of his falling in love with a girl whose father is a white supremacist.
- Do Nut Mess With A Cop: "Smoked Pork"It's not my job to help your fuckin' ass out. Right now my job is eatin' these doughnuts.
- Drugs Are Bad: "The Winner Loses" describes the downfall and death of a crack user.
- Epic Rocking: The 6:32 "The Winner Loses", 5:50 "There Goes the Neighborhood" and 6:10 "Momma's Gotta Die Tonight".
- Fake Radio Show Album: The track "Now Sports" is brought like a fake news report.
- Gag Penis: "Evil Dick", about a man being commanded by his penis.
- If It Bleeds, It Leads: "Now Sports"This weekend, seventeen youths killed in gang homicides
Now sports - Instrumentals: "C Note".
- Intercourse with You: "KKK Bitch" and "Evil Dick" describe sexual encounters. "Evil Dick" even ends with a funny impersonation of a man and woman having sex.
- Kent Brockman News: —> This weekend, seventeen youths killed in gang homicides
Now sports - The Klan: "KKK Bitch" features Ice-T describing a sexual encounter with a woman whom he learns is the daughter of the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
- Mugging the Monster: In "Momma's Gotta Die Tonight", about a teenager murdering his racist mother, and "Cop Killer", about murdering crooked, racist police.
- Murder Ballad: "Momma's Gotta Die Tonight", in which the protagonist murders his racist mother by setting her bed on fire.
- New Sound Album: Many people were surprised that HipHop icon Ice-T made this album a Speed Metal record.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: "Oprah" features the band imitating Oprah Winfrey.
- N-Word Privileges: Used on the record, but in the music video of "There Goes the Neighborhood" the phrase "black boys" is used.
- One-Woman Song: "Oprah".
- One-Word Title: "Voodoo"
- Packaged as Other Medium: Upon its first release initial copies were shipped out in black body bags.
- Police Brutality: "Smoked Pork" features a policeman refusing to help a stranded motorist with the lame excuse: "Nah, that's not my job! My job's not to help your fuckin' ass out. (...) My job is eatin' these doughnuts."
- Protest Song: "Cop Killer".
- Power Ballad: "The Winner Loses".
- Raging Stiffie: "Evil Dick", about a man being lead by his penis into adultery.
- Rap Metal: Popularized the genre, though the vocals aren't rapped so much as they are shouted or chanted.
- Repurposed Pop Song: The song "Freedom of Speech" that replaced "Cop Killer" on later reissues was lifted from Ice-T's solo album "The Iceberg/ Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say" (1989), but re-edited and remixed to give it a more rock-oriented sound with a sample from Jimi Hendrix' "Foxy Lady".
- Self-Titled Album: The band name is the title.
- Shirtless Scene: The rapper on the album cover.
- Singer Name Drop: During the Title Track Ice-T introduces his band members.
- Speed Metal: Ice-T managed to become popular among metal fans with this album.
- Spoken Word in Music: The spoken interludes in between the songs.
- Spoof Aesop: "KKK Bitch":So what we really tryin' to say is Body Count loves everybody.
We love Mexican girls, Black girls, Oriental girls,
It really don't matter. If you from Mars, and you got a pussy,
We will fuck you. You know, that's all we're sayin', word. - Stock Sound Effects: Alarm sirens and screeching tires start off the track "Body Count's In The House". "Bowels Of The Devil" ends with a door closing. "Cop Killer" has gun shots sounds mixed in.
- Take That, Critics!:
- "KKK Bitch" provides a Take That! against Tipper Gore, who criticized many records for their audacious lyrics.
- "There Goes the Neighborhood" tackles the criticism that a rap band shouldn't play rock or metal.
Don't they know rock's just for whites? Don't they know the rules? Those niggers are too hardcore. This shit ain't cool. - There Is No Kill Like Overkill: The main character in "Momma's Gotta Die Tonight" sets his mother on fire, beats her to death with a Louisville slugger, chops up her body, and spreads the parts across the country.
- Time Marches On: "Body Count" mentions the year 1992.
- Unreliable Narrator: This was Ice-T's defense about the controversy over "Cop Killer".I'm singing in the first person as a character who is fed up with police brutality. I ain't never killed no cop. I felt like it a lot of times. But I never did it. If you believe that I'm a cop killer, you believe David Bowie is an astronaut.
- Where da White Women At?: Both "KKK Bitch" and "Momma's Gotta Die Tonight" features the black protagonist having a relationship with a white girl and getting scorn from a racist parent. In "KKK Bitch" it's the girl's father, who is a Grand Wizard with the Ku Klux Klan, while in "Momma's Gotta Die Tonight" it's the protagonist's own racist mother who hates everybody who isn't black.
