Body Count’s Body Count

On Ice-T’s 1991 classic O.G. Original Gangster, he introduced his all-Black hardcore band Body Count with lead guitarist Ernie C, bringing them on the first-ever Lollapalooza tour that summer. The next year, Body Count’s self-titled debut album, rounded out by rhythm guitarist D-Roc the Executioner, bassist Mooseman, and drummer Beatmaster V, made them the most incendiary band in the world, confronting white supremacy and police brutality with pulverizing songs that shattered musical boundaries. Body Count’s rage and shock humor sparked nationwide protests and boycotts, including death threats, censure from the federal government, a spot on the FBI National Threat list, and a denunciation by the President of the United States. The album was removed from stores and remains banned to this day, but decades later Body Count are performing to their
biggest audiences and greatest acclaim, pulling off one of the most remarkable comebacks in punk or metal history.

Drawn from years of research and dozens of new interviews, this is the story of a band of high school friends who revolutionized modern music, brought explosive live performances, and raised questions America’s lawmakers didn’t want to answer, overcoming some of the country’s most powerful forces to reshape the world’s cultural conversation.

Ben Apatoff is a New York-based writer and educator whose work has been published in Metal Injection, The New York Daily News, The Deli, Electric Literature, Beyond Race, and Outburn. He is the author of Metallica (2021).