House of Pain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see House of Pain (disambiguation).
House of Pain was an Irish-American-influenced hip-hop group who released three albums in the early to mid 90's before lead singer Everlast decided to pursue his solo career again. The group is best known for its 1992 hit single "Jump Around".
Contents |
[edit] Members
[edit] History
[edit] Rise to fame
Erik Schrody was a teenaged hip-hop enthusiast, and his career started as a protégé of pioneering West Coast rapper Ice T, who brought him into his Rhyme Syndicate fraternity. Everlast was signed to Sire/Warner Bros. and released the solo album Forever Everlasting in 1990. It was not a commercial success, but when he and friends Danny Boy and 'DJ Lethal signed to Tommy Boy Records, House of Pain's 1992 self-titled group effort went multi-platinum off the hit single "Jump Around".
Fashioning themselves as rowdy Irish-American hooligans (Lethal was actually of Latvian heritage), they toured with various rap and alternative-rock bands after their breakthrough. They participated together with Helmet, along with several other rap acts, on the influential 1993 rock-rap collaborative Judgment Night movie soundtrack.
[edit] Sophomore Albums and decline in popularity
Their follow-up effort, 1994's Same As It Ever Was, went gold despite minimal airplay and no major hits. The first single, "On Point," is noted for taking a swipe at another American rapper with a strong Irish heritage, Mark Wahlberg ("Calvin Klein's no friend of mine/So I don't like Marky"). Like Cypress Hill, who, with House of Pain, were a part of the loosely-affiliated Soul Assassins posse, they found urban radio airplay an increasingly closed path, which affected album sales.
House of Pain abruptly broke up in 1996 after the release of their third album, Truth Crushed To Earth Shall Rise Again, which featured guest appearances by Brand Nubian's Sadat X, as well as rappers Guru, Divine Styler and Cockni O'Dire.
[edit] Split, solo success and current affairs
On the release date of their final album, House of Pain was disbanded when Everlast announced his leave during a show that night. From this point on, the status of the group would seem to be in the past tense, though the members would continue their careers separately. Ironically, Everlast would finally get multi-platinum solo fame in 1998, when his folk-& blues-inflected Whitey Ford Sings the Blues album hit the charts; in 2000, a feud with rapper Eminem coincided with the gold-selling Eat at Whitey's, which had minor hits like "Black Jesus" and "Black Coffee", and featured a collaboration with Carlos Santana. Meanwhile, DJ Lethal became a founding member of Limp Bizkit.
After the sale of the Tommy Boy Records catalog of master tapes to Warner Bros. Music, Everlast signed with Island/Def Jam, and released the solo LP White Trash Beautiful in 2004.
Later the same year Rhino Records, a subdivision of Warner Music, has released a hit collection, Shamrocks & Shenanigans, with singles from Everlast’s early solo days, the House of Pain and his post-group solo efforts. Prior to the release, Everlast announced on his Island Records message board that he was not endorsing the compilation album.
La Coka Nostra is a new project that has reunited Everlast, DJ Lethal and Danny Boy for the first time since House of Pain's split. Other group members include the rappers Ill Bill, Slaine and Big Left.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Album cover | Album information |
|---|---|
 | House of Pain (Fine Malt Lyrics) |
 | Same As It Ever Was |
 | Truth Crushed To Earth Shall Rise Again
|
| Shamrocks & Shenanigans
|
[edit] Singles
- Jump Around / HOP Anthem (1992)
- Shamrocks & Shenanigans (US) (1992)
- Shamrocks & Shenanigans / Who's The Man (UK) (1992)
- Top O' The Morning To Ya (Remix) (1992)
- Who's The Man? (1993)
- Legend EP (US) (1994)
- On Point (1994)
- Over There (I Don't Care) (1994)
- It Ain't Crime / Word Is Bond (UK, CD 1/2) (1994)
- Legend / It Ain't A Crime (UK, CD 2/2) (1994)
- Word Is Bond / Legend 12" (1995)
- Pass The Jinn (1996)
- Fed Up / Heart Full Of Sorrow feat. Sadat X (1996)
- Fed Up (Remix feat. Guru) (1996)
[edit] Soundtracks
- Who's the Man (1993) -- song "Who's the Man"
- Eddie (1996) -- song "Punch Drunk"
- Jerky Boys (1996) -- song "Beef Jerky"
[edit] Trivia
- House of Pain was also the name of a level in the computer game Doom, which was coincidentally released around the same time the single Jump Around was released. It is also a name for a Marathon Infinity level.
- House of Pain is a phrase that Jim Cramer frequently uses on his televised show Mad Money to describe the situation of a person who has bought a stock that dropped substantially in value.
- House of Pain was also used to describe the Houston Astrodome during NFL games played by the Houston Oilers. This was during the days that Warren Moon was the quarterback, and the Oilers defense was a force to be reckoned with. The Oilers since moved to Tennessee, and were briefly known as the Tennessee Oilers before changing their name to the Tennessee Titans.
- Jump Around is played at every University of Wisconsin home football game between the third and fourth quarter. This tradition started on October 10, 1998 at the homecoming game versus Purdue in Madison and was so successful at firing up the crowd that many other sports venues copied the tradition to varying degrees of success. When the song blasts through the Camp Randall Stadium speakers, the crowd goes nuts, especially in the north end of the stands where the student sections are located. The marching band and even the Badgers players jump around too. In one instance, against Michigan State, the Badgers were up so big and the crowd was somewhat out of the game, the Badger defensive lineman started to jump around in the middle of the field. The crowd then went nuts.
- Jump Around is played at Angel Stadium during Los Angeles Angels home baseball games whenever the team's mascot, the Rally Monkey, appears on the stadium video screens. The Rally Monkey, as one might guess, jumps around.
- Jump Around is usually played during St. Louis Blues hockey games.
- House of Pain was used in the H.G. Wells story "The Island of Dr. Moreau" to describe the laboratory in which Dr. Moreau conducted his experiments. In a speech to the island's inhabitants, Dr. Moreau warns that those who "break the law go back to the House of Pain," a phrase that can be heard at the beginning of some versions of "Shamrocks and Shenanigans".
- House of Pain is the nickname of a sports stadium called Carisbrook in Dunedin, New Zealand.
- The song Top o' the Mornin' to Ya was used in the movie Daredevil, in the bar sequence that introduces Bullseye and in the film Heat in an nightclub scene.
- Jump Around is also featured in the movies The Rookie (after the Owls win the championship), Mrs. Doubtfire (during a house party early in the movie), Look at Me (also during a house party), Black Hawk Down (during a basketball scene), and in Adam Sandler's movie Happy Gilmore.
- Jump Around is played before every home basketball game for the North Carolina Tar Heels in the Dean E. Smith Center.
- The group were briefly featured on the 2002 VH1 program 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders.
- B-Real of Cypress Hill appeared on the House of Pain debut album. He rapped on "Put Your Head Out".
- Pete Rock later remixed Jump Around.
- Pro wrestler Perry Saturn appears in the group's video to "Fed Up"
- In the movie Clerks., Dante Hicks wears a House Of Pain shirt.
Jump Around is played at the end of the 3rd Quarter at all home Wisconsin Badger Games.
[edit] Other Celtic Hip Hop Artists
[edit] External links
- myspace.com/lacokanostramusic La Coka Nostra, the new project featuring Everlast, DJ Lethal and Dannyboy
- Everlast World huge House of Pain/Everlast fansite
- House of Pain biography by All Music Guide's Stephen Thomas Erlewine
- Flavor's House of Pain Pagede:House of Pain
