Moby, Public Enemy Make War

Moby and Public Enemy's new collaboration, "Make Love F*ck War" is being released this week through the iTunes Music Store. The song, originally written and recorded for an upcoming compilation for the 2004 Olympic Games, is being sold as a single for ninety-nine cents, or as an EP with varying versions for $2.97.

Organizers for the Olympic compilation were responsible for putting the collaboration together. "They approached me and asked if I'd like to do something with Public Enemy," Moby says. "Back when I used to DJ in the mid- to late-Eighties, I played Public Enemy all the time. I've been a fan of theirs since forever, so of course I said yes."

Moby created the music for "Make Love F*ck War," while PE's Chuck D and Flavor Flav inked the lyrics, inspired by events of the past year. Moby went back in time to complement the duo's lyrics. "I was trying to go for that late-Eighties Bomb Squad production sound," he says. "A few of my friends said, 'Wow it sounds really dated.' [Laughs] I said, 'Well yeah, that's the point.' I didn't want to make some kind of Neptunes-ish, slick R&B track with Chuck D on it. I wanted to make something that sounded like a building falling down."

In addition to making the song available through the iTunes, Moby contributed a list of his top ten protest songs to the Music Store, a task that proved more difficult than he initially anticipated, as half of the songs he picked weren't yet available on iTunes. "You can't fault iTunes, you can fault the slow people at the labels who would rather see their music downloaded illegally," he says. "My favorite protest song of all time, though I'm not sure if it's technically a protest song, isn't there yet: John Lennon's 'Imagine.' But popular music is full of great protest music, so I found another five. There's great stuff from Creedence Clearwater Revival, Public Enemy and the Clash."

Moby also says he's targeting an April 2005 release for the follow-up to 2002's 18, though he's not really sure what it will sound like, as he's already recorded three albums and plans to release one of the three. "I guess I'm a little bit of an overachiever," he says. "I'm playing them for my friends and asking, 'Which one do you guys like?' Cause I think I like them all."

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »

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