Five times bizarre collaborations really worked
Musicians never want to put themselves into specific genre boxes whenever they put out an album. Music has always been about testing the limits of what can be done, and what better way of working than going outside of one’s comfort zone and collaborating with someone new? Although acts like Nick Cave managed to take a few risks throughout their careers, sometimes their strange taste makes for the perfect chocolate-and-peanut butter combination.
Because looking at the songs on their own, most people would cringe before the record even came on. We all knew these artists for being the kings and queens of specific sounds, so bringing in an R&B singer on a country track or a pop diva onto a metal song was always going to be a bit of a gamble.
But that’s only if you look at the window dressing. For those willing to look under the surface, every song that the artist worked on had the same creative ingenuity that they shaped their career on, normally doing whatever they could to make sure they served the song rather than getting caught up in the pageantry of playing with a fellow superstar.
Although many artists have tried a collaboration and come together with a pretty audible thud, hearing genres like rock, hip-hop, country, and folk music concave in on each other has never sounded so good. It may not have satisfied the hardcore fans, but those feeling adventurous were in for a treat when they picked up these tunes.
Five bizarre musical collaborations:
5. ‘Black Gives Way to Blue’ – Alice in Chains and Elton John
Nothing Alice in Chains ever made was intended to be about optimism. Half of their tracks explore the darkest parts of the human psyche, and once they tried to come together after Layne Staley’s passing, it was always going to be difficult to capture that same spirit all over again. As much as Black Gives Way to Blue was a triumph, they did have to give back to their past with a little help from a rock and roll monarch.
Although Jerry Cantrell had been an enormous Elton John fan for years, hearing the rock icon playing a beautiful piano concerto for the title track is the perfect way his services could have been used. After all, the whole song was about the band trying to move out of Staley’s dark shadow, and while it will always be a gaping wound for them, this was them doing their own version of ‘Funeral for a Friend’.
4. ‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’ – Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue
Most people who have only listened to pop music in their lives would be running scared the minute they heard Nick Cave sing. Even though his songs aren’t death metal by any stretch, hearing Cave talk about the most macabre tales of all time is still the most oddly satisfying songbook in all of goth rock. So, naturally, people would have had a few questions the minute that they found a pop princess working with him.
But ‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’ occupies a different side of Cave’s discography. It still has the same folksy darkness of his early work, but hearing Kylie Minogue bounce off of him makes the song feel more like a love song gone wrong half the time. There are still different pieces of the tune that sound out of place coming from him, but considering how many of his songs were about the dark side of life, it’s nice to know that he does have a heart under that tough exterior.
3. ‘Walk This Way’ – Run-DMC feat. Aerosmith
By the time the 1980s kicked in, Aerosmith was dead in the water. They hadn’t had a hit in years, and even when Joe Perry finally returned to the group after a long time away, the public’s collective shoulder shrug meant that they would be relegated to the bargain bins for the foreseeable future. One thing that no one had forgotten was their sense of groove, and bringing that on top of a hip-hop song was too good not to work.
Although Run-DMC had to be talked into working with the rock icons, ‘Walk This Way’ translated perfectly to a golden-era hip-hop tune, with Run and DMC trading verses before Steven Tyler came screaming in, sounding even more feral than he did in his prime. While this song does come with baggage for convincing acts like Kid Rock that rock and hip-hop work well together, it’s hard to deny that the song itself has earned a spot in rap-rock history.
2. ‘The Memory Remains’ – Metallica feat. Marianne Faithfull
There are still legions of Metallica fans who would rather forget everything that came out of the Load era of the group. The band could still play, but hearing them get a bit looser and embrace alternative fashion was never going to sit well with those who jumped on during Master of Puppets. If they had stayed in that realm their whole lives, though, no one would have realised how well they worked opposite a 1960s icon.
While the thrash titans aren’t known for playing well with others, having Marianne Faithfull at the end of ‘The Memory Remains’ is pure genius. The whole tune is about someone looking back on their life of vanity and seeing how little they have to show for it, so hearing Faithfull play the role of that faded primadonna is one of the best pieces of social commentary they ever made. And by the time she plays out the final few moments of the song, she’s left completely alone, surrounded by all the heartwarming pieces of junk money could buy.
1. ‘XXX’ – Kendrick Lamar feat. U2
It’s safe to say that most people have learned from the sins of rap and rock working together. It was certainly a good idea back in the 1980s, but by the time Limp Bizkit started making their own stabs at spitting hot fire on the mic, it was clear that it had become ridiculous. Kendrick Lamar was hip-hop to his core, but even for a project that can be as spotty as Damn, he managed to pull off the impossible with U2.
Since most of ‘XXX’ deals with Lamar feeling like an outsider in a world that seems actively malevolent towards him, hearing Bono and The Edge cameo on the album is one of the most inventive ways that he could have used them. Bono has always championed himself as a man of the people, but considering what his style of music means for someone like Lamar, he may as well be the musical personification of Big Brother here.
