During the week of November 10, 1990, Vanilla Ice took his debut album, To the Extreme, all the way to the top of the Billboard 200. The album featured subjective hits like “Hooked,” “Play That Funky Music” (an interpolation of the Wild Cherry original), and, of course, the controversial single “Ice Ice Baby”.
Not only did this album rise to the top of the charts after a five-week jump from No. 23 to No. 7, but it also stayed there for 16 weeks. Almost four months of “Ice Ice Baby” at No. 1.
Initially, it debuted on September 10, 1990, as Vanilla Ice’s first major label release on SBK and EMI Records. In 1989, Vanilla Ice released Hooked on Ichiban Records. But after being signed to a major label, he re-recorded the original album and repackaged it as To the Extreme. This move clearly paid off, as it sold two million copies in a little more than a month.
Before To the Extreme took over the charts, MC Hammer was enjoying a 23-week run at No. 1. Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em, MC Hammer’s third album, dropped in February 1990 with Capitol Records and EMI. However, nearly six months later, Vanilla Ice swooped in to claim the crown, riding a frosty chariot and blasting a Queen riff.
Vanilla Ice Captured His Audience on the Charts As Much As He Underwhelmed Critics
To the Extreme was named the fastest-selling debut album of all time in its first 14 weeks on the chart, selling over 6 million copies. When January 1991 rolled around, Vanilla Ice’s debut became the fastest-selling album since Prince’s Purple Rain in 1984. It had been at No. 1 for 16 weeks at that point. At the end of its run, it had sold seven million copies in the U.S.
Additional accolades from the December 1990 issue of Billboard magazine claim that To The Extreme tied the Beastie Boys’ Licensed To Ill for the longest-held No. 1 spot by a white rapper. In a feature by Paul Grein of the biggest surprises in music from 1990, Vanilla Ice made the list during his album’s sixth consecutive week at No. 1. Grein predicted there was “no end in sight” for the chart-topping run. He also claimed the album was “shaping up as one of the most phenomenal hits in the history of the music biz.”
Despite the long chart run, Vanilla Ice’s debut garnered mixed reviews from critics. Generally, it was a novel and interesting idea at first. But after a while, the shine wore off, and the mediocrity was exposed. A review in the U.K. magazine Select called the album “spectacularly hollow.” Still, it didn’t discourage “kids and neophytes” from enjoying it. Mostly, critics were middle-of-the-road about the debut. Not necessarily something you want when your album is called To the Extreme.
Photo by Walter Iooss Jr./Getty Images
The post On This Day in 1990, Vanilla Ice Went ‘to the Extreme’ With Record-Breaking, Controversial Debut Album appeared first on VICE.
