Weirdest Collaborations - Songs and Albums

SGR · 03-23-2022, 09:25 AM

Mods, please merge if there's already a thread about this - I searched but wasn't able to find one.

I figured we might as well have a thread about the strangest collaboration songs/albums we've heard. I guess what makes it strange is up to interpretation, but some examples might be a juxtaposition between styles, genres, time periods in which the artists were popular, and perhaps the nature of the overall end product.

The first song that comes to mind for me is Blondie's "No Exit" - which featured a video for a remix version that Coolio, Prodigy, U-God, Havoc and Inspectah Deck rapped on, alongside Debbie Harry. The actual song isn't that bad - it's not great or anything, but the results are better than I thought they'd be. Coolio's verse was probably weakest. But when I first found out about this song, I had to double take. Debbie Harry, the singer of such sweet and infectious pop songs as "Dreaming" and "Heart of Glass" was rapping with the Wu-Tang Clan and they even made a video for it? Just strange. I'm imagining that the band or the label was trying to ride the popularity of mainstream rap in the late '90s. It definitely isn't a song with Blondie's early fans as the target audience in mind. I don't think fans of Wu-Tang Clan are the target audience either - a classic RZA beat, the somewhat stale live drums and phantom of the opera synths are most certainly not.

Apparently this version was used in the 1999 film '200 Cigarettes', which was released in February of 1999. U-God and Inspectah Deck's first solo albums wouldn't come until October of that year. Which is kinda hilarious - U-God and Inspectah Deck had to do a collab with Blondie before they got their own solo albums (It's funny for U-God but sad for Deck, since Deck is one of the best and most consistent rappers in the Clan). Maybe if Masta Killa collabed with Tears for Fears or Soft Cell or something, he could've got his solo album out before 2004.

Who else has some examples?

(p.s. in before Gregg Allman and Cher are brought up)

Psy-Fi · 03-23-2022, 10:55 AM

Here's a memorable two-fer...

David Bowie & Bing Crosby - Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth

Willie Nelson & Snoop Dogg - Superman

Queen Boo · 03-23-2022, 04:12 PM

Who could imagine the guy who made Harvest doing this a decade later?

**Frownland** · 03-23-2022, 05:04 PM

Some cool ass dude made a thread like this a while ago but whatever

jadis · 03-23-2022, 05:13 PM

^ two great tastes that taste great together

SGR · 03-30-2022, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psy-Fi

Here's a memorable two-fer...

[CENTER]

David Bowie & Bing Crosby - Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth

Damn, they're great together! I wish that was on my christmas albums as a kid.

Here's another I just thought of - John Lydon's vocal contributions to progressive house group Leftfield's track "Open Up"

jadis · 03-30-2022, 10:49 AM

I used to love this Lydon collab so much, now it makes me cringe

SGR · 03-30-2022, 11:49 AM

Why's that?

Queen Boo · 03-30-2022, 03:10 PM

The duo behind synth pop one hit wonder Buggles joining Yes to make an album was pretty out of left field, like imagine if Thomas Dolby joined King Crimson. Drama is a pretty underrated album too, I especially love this track and it even has a cheesy music video to go with it, hell yeah.

jadis · 04-01-2022, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SGR

Why's that?

It conjures images of fat gen xers doing the hand horns

03-23-2022, 09:25 AM	#1 (permalink)
SGR No Ice In My Bourbon Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: /dev/null Posts: 4,327	Weirdest Collaborations - Songs and Albums Mods, please merge if there's already a thread about this - I searched but wasn't able to find one. I figured we might as well have a thread about the strangest collaboration songs/albums we've heard. I guess what makes it strange is up to interpretation, but some examples might be a juxtaposition between styles, genres, time periods in which the artists were popular, and perhaps the nature of the overall end product. The first song that comes to mind for me is Blondie's "No Exit" - which featured a video for a remix version that Coolio, Prodigy, U-God, Havoc and Inspectah Deck rapped on, alongside Debbie Harry. The actual song isn't that bad - it's not great or anything, but the results are better than I thought they'd be. Coolio's verse was probably weakest. But when I first found out about this song, I had to double take. Debbie Harry, the singer of such sweet and infectious pop songs as "Dreaming" and "Heart of Glass" was rapping with the Wu-Tang Clan and they even made a video for it? Just strange. I'm imagining that the band or the label was trying to ride the popularity of mainstream rap in the late '90s. It definitely isn't a song with Blondie's early fans as the target audience in mind. I don't think fans of Wu-Tang Clan are the target audience either - a classic RZA beat, the somewhat stale live drums and phantom of the opera synths are most certainly not. Apparently this version was used in the 1999 film '200 Cigarettes', which was released in February of 1999. U-God and Inspectah Deck's first solo albums wouldn't come until October of that year. Which is kinda hilarious - U-God and Inspectah Deck had to do a collab with Blondie before they got their own solo albums (It's funny for U-God but sad for Deck, since Deck is one of the best and most consistent rappers in the Clan). Maybe if Masta Killa collabed with Tears for Fears or Soft Cell or something, he could've got his solo album out before 2004. Who else has some examples? (p.s. in before Gregg Allman and Cher are brought up) Last edited by SGR; 03-23-2022 at 09:34 AM.

03-23-2022, 05:04 PM	#4 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	Some cool ass dude made a thread like this a while ago but whatever __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x

03-23-2022, 05:13 PM	#5 (permalink)
jadis Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2021 Location: dont ask Posts: 1,360	^ two great tastes that taste great together

03-30-2022, 10:49 AM	#7 (permalink)
jadis Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2021 Location: dont ask Posts: 1,360	I used to love this Lydon collab so much, now it makes me cringe

03-30-2022, 11:49 AM	#8 (permalink)
SGR No Ice In My Bourbon Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: /dev/null Posts: 4,327	Why's that?