Controversy

Vanilla Ice sampled Queen and David Bowie's song "Under Pressure," and he was repeatedly called out for not paying them royalties or admitting the similarities.

The most famous run-in involved an MTV VJ questioning Ice and him coming up with this memorable quote:

"Theirs goes, 'Ding ding ding dingy ding-ding.' Ours goes, 'Ding ding ding ding dingy ding-ding.'"

 

That video has been lost in the canon of history, but we do have an awesome homemade comparison to check:

 




Not Exactly Citizen Cane

Ice's blowup success (11 million albums sold) led to a couple of movie roles.

He recorded a song for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, and I would be a liar if I didn't say that I still have that soundtrack on cassette. Go ninja:

 

 

 



His real moment in the sun came with a starring film role in Cool As Ice, a pretty blatant rip-off of Rebel Without a Cause. It was possibly the worst movie ever made...making it pretty damn awesome.

 

 

James Dean, Vanilla's not.

Ditch the hero and get with the zero:




Fall From Grace

Vanilla tried to make it with a few more songs and sampled Wild Cherry for "Play That Funky Music." He didn't credit them, either.


It was going to happen. Everybody made fun of the Ice Man.

 

 

Jim Carrey took him on for an episode of "In Living Color" and made us all wonder whether he or Vanilla Ice, himself, was the better dancer.



Kevin Bacon suited up as Ice to get interviewed by the militant Nat X (Chris Rock) on SNL:



It's Over

Van Winkle attempted to climb back with a few more albums and failed miserably.

In 1994, he grew some dreads and released Mind Blowin' with the single, "Roll Em Up":

 

 

Yes, that song is about marijuana.


'94 was around the time that Suge Knight allegedly held Ice out off of a balcony. The saga continues...

In 1999, he remixed "Ice, Ice Baby" for a metal song. Wowzers:

 



The same year as his metal disc, "Rob" appeared on an MTV show, "25 Lame," to retire his "Ice, Ice Baby" video with Jon Stewart, Chris Kattan, Janeane Garofalo, and Denis Leary. He went berserk smashing the vid and injured Kattan.

 

Possibly the best YouTube video besides that Indian dude dancing:



Sweet Dr. Evil t-shirt.


Next page: "An Unlikely Comeback..."