Judgment Night Soundtrack – Various Artists – Released September 14th 1993
Back when I was in school we didn’t have the pressures of social media. All we had to worry about was the constant threat of getting our heads kicked in based on what music we listened to. (Oops, sorry, trigger warnings and all that bollocks.)
There were two main camps back in the day:
Ravers – baggy jeans, baseball caps, US sportswear who listened to rave and hiphop.
Metallers – tight jeans, black t-shirts, long hair, leather jackets who listened to rock and heavy metal.
And if you didn’t rigidly comply with the edicts of either one of these subcultures you were getting a batterin’.
Since I happened to like all of the above styles of music I was constantly getting waylaid in corridors – the only “safe spaces” we had back then was if we hid in one of the lockers.
Three albums changed this situation. The first was the 1992 debut by Rage Against The Machine, the second was The Prodigy’s Music For The Jilted Generation, which normalised electronic music with guitars and the third was the Judgement Night soundtrack.
Judgement Night was like an official papal decree from the satanic Vatican which allowed all those greaseballs in hash-bombed Megadeth t-shirts to finally come out of the hiphop closet.
It was therefore a rare, unifying album which you could publicly listen to without running the risk of getting in fights. It’s also one of the best albums of the 1990s and one of the best conceived movie soundtracks of all time.
Wait, Judgment Night’s A Movie Too?
Judgement Night is one of those rare examples of a soundtrack being vastly more successful than the actual movie. Not to brag, but we were into it from day one, way before it gained gradual cult status.
I’m not sure if this movie ever got a theatrical release on this side of the Atlantic. It bombed in the US so from what I can recall it went straight to video, which, in Ireland, meant dodgy pirate video.
My mate Ed’s travelling video van man dropped it off with a batch of other straight-to-video classics (well they were classics to us anyway) and he never asked for it back.
As such it became a perennial throw-it-on-in-the-background video, ideal for killing time on rainy days (of which there were many) or, in later years, staggering in from the pub nights (of which there were also many), when you just wanted some familiar background chatter and Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E
So, if you’ve never seen the movie before, or you have seen it but can’t remember it, I don’t blame you. Luckily, I’ve seen the movie more times than most people on Earth (with the exception of my mate Ed probably) so here’s a refresher.
The movie stars Emilio Estevez and Cuba Gooding Jr., with 90s street cred via House of Pain’s Everlast playing a henchman. Rappers were always being cast in movies back in the 90s, regardless of their acting abilities or lack thereof. The movie also stars Dennis Leary because, again, … 90s.
That said, some of the characters feel more 80s (obnoxious yuppie who doesn’t know when to stfu? – check) while the overall style and premise of the movie – a group of men trapped in a rundown urban nightmare pursued by criminals – is more of a 70s throwback. Think of Assault on Precinct 13 or The Warriors, except instead of besieged cops or funky gang members they’re a bunch of lame middle-class wankers in a Winnebago who take a wrong turn and end up the huuuud.
And that’s the last place you wanted to be stuck in in a 90s action movie, suburban America’s fear of urban poverty being worth a thousand Freddy Krugers.
So yeah, after an ill-advised shortcut and witnessing a murder in the huuuud, they’re forced to fight for their lives and endure extended (and presumably unscripted) Dennis Leary monologues.
Judgement Night’s not a great movie by any measure, but it’s a decent one – albeit one that would have long been forgotten were it not for its brilliant soundtrack.
The Concept
Whoever came up with the idea for the Judgement Night Soundtrack’s a genius.
Sure, there was already precedent; Ice T’s Bodycount project, Public Enemy’s team-up with Anthrax and, of course, Run DMC and Aerosmith.
But an entire album of rock/rap crossover music – and for a movie soundtrack no less – that was unprecedented.
(This approach would later be emulated on 1997’s Spawn soundtrack, teaming up rock and electronic artists with mixed results. Now that was a terrible movie.)
The selection of artists is very much of the era. Many have stood the test of time, others haven’t.
There’s also a couple of acts who were already deemed past it in 1993 but whose careers have long since rebounded – De La Soul, for example, who actually rap about the fickleness of fame on the album. (But more on that later.)
Some pairings work better than others, of course, and some tracks are heavier than others too, but overall the album gels together really well, even after 30 years.
Just Another Straight To Video Victim
The Judgement Night Soundtrack starts with Just Another Victim by Helmet & House Of Pain. This is essentially two songs in one.
The first half sounds like a regular Helmet track, one which could have easily been a leftover from 1992’s Meantime. But then halfway through something interesting happens, the track slows down, the riff continues but we get some nice DJ Lethal vibes.
Suddenly a phat boom-bap beat slaps us in the chops while Everlast’s unmistakable gravelly delivery rides on top. This is one of my favourites from the album and it also includes one of my favourite lines of his:
“Cuz I’m gifted, I read Sun Tsu, I bought a gun too so you’ll never come to.”
– Everlast, Just Another Victim
Just Another Victim – Helmet & House Of Pain
Next a complete change of pace, as De La Soul team up with Teenage Fanclub on the track Fallin’.
Fallin’ takes its musical cues from the Tom Petty song Freefallin, while the lyrics, ironically enough considering De La’s enduring popularity, are about taking fame too seriously, realising you were just the flavour of the month and have become a “washed-up rapper”.
“I lost touch with reality now my personality is an unwanted commodity…“
– De La Soul, Fallin
It’s one of my favourites from the album this one and always cheers me up, I mean hell if even De La Soul can feel like they’re past it there’s hope for us all, right?
Fallin’ – Teenage Fanclub & De La Soul
Track three, Me Myself & My Microphone by Living Colour & Run DMC.
I mean Run DMC are the granddaddies of this thing. Sure, MCs were rapping over rock beats for years but the Run DMC/Aerosmith collab essentially created the rock/rap crossover genre.
The track itself is based around a sample from Run DMC’s famous track, Sucker MCs. But since Sucker MCs had come out ten years prior and hiphop had advanced so much since, this one always felt practically prehistoric in the post-Chronic era.
Looking back now, though, I realise it was the right call to include the Addidas-clad OGs on here as a mark of respect, even if the track itself just sounds like a poor man’s Walk This Way.
Track four is the title track, Judgement Night, performed by Biohazard and Onyx.
This pairing works really well with the rap group’s shouty style lending itself well to the genre while Biohazard lays down some horrorcore-friendly powerchords and squealing guitar atmospherics. Then there’s that headbanger of a hook… Huh! Huh! Huh! 🤘
Judgement Night – Biohazard & Onyx
Track five, Disorder, sees the original gangster and Bodycount frontman team up with Slayer.
This is the least hiphop and most metal track on the album, so if you hate metal you’ll hate this. But if you love metal in general and Slayer in particular like I do, you’ll enjoy this one immensely.
I just wish Ice T would stop making me feel old by repeatedly shouting, “LA ’92!”
Disorder – Ice T & Slayer
Track 6, Another Body Murdered, by Faith No More and Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E – this is certainly one of the better pairings on the album. Its raw, bumptious, head-banging energy never fails to get me pumped. 💪
Fact is, I’ve yet to meet someone who disagrees that it’s the best track on the album.
“Bang yo’ head to this!” – no need to tell us twice.
Another Body Murdered – Faith No More & Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.
Next we have a track that’s definitely been rummaging around in Peter Frampton’s ice cooler. Track 7, I Love You Mary Jane, sees Cypress Hill team up with Sonic Youth. One can only imagine the fumes coming out of the studio that day.
This is another genius pairing, blending DJ Mugg’s blunted beats with the band’s trademark discordant guitar jangling and squawling loops of distortion. Cypress Hill deliver their trademark hazy flow alongside Kim Gordon’s infectious mantra, “Sugar come by and get me high.”
A timeless stoners’ anthem.
I Love You Mary Jane – Sonic Youth & Cypress Hill
Track 8 was the track we all skipped, regardless of which side of the subcultural divide we were on.
Now it’s fair to say me and Sir Mixalot, have at least one thing in common.
But putting our predilections for well-upholstered posteriors aside, we never really clicked.
Yes, There’s a few tracks of his I like.
Alas, Freakmomma featuring Mudhoney’s not one of them.
Track 9, Missing Link sees Del The Funky Homosapien team up with Dinosaur Jr.
Never was a fan of this one either. Where’s that funky Mr. Dobalina dopeness? A huge missed opportunity in my opinion.
This is why we always avoided these ones and skipped ahead from Faith No More to track ten, Come And Die with Therapy? and Fatal.
Course we were biased, Therapy? were the biggest Irish metal band at the time. Still, this is another one of the better pairings on the album where both the band and hiphop elements gel together perfectly.
Note the Brion James “time to die” Bladerunner samples throughout, pure Therapy? that. You can just tell they’re all having a blast in the studio recording this one too – listen to that maniacal laughing right at the end, never fail to crack a smile when I hear it.
Come And Die – Therapy? and Fatal
The album ends with a second appearance from Cypress Hill, this time teamed up with Pearl Jam on a track called Real Thing.
It’s more of a straight-up rock track this with Sen Dog and B-Real rapping over Pearl Jam riffs while DJ Muggs scratches on top.
Real Thing – Cypress Hill & Pearl Jam
It’s fitting that this album ends with Cypress Hill. Of all the acts featured here, they’re the ones who most closely followed the Judgement Night blueprint throughout their career.
Cypress Hill have always been darlings of the rock crowd and would later begin incorporating hard rock elements into their albums starting with their fifth album Skull and Bones.
But if you ask me, it all started Judgement Night.
Final Judgment
With some of the other pairings here you do get the distinct feeling that their hearts weren’t in it and they only showed up due to contractual obligations.
Though it scarcely matters.
We’re inclined to gloss over those because the tracks that do work are so exceptional, they elevate the entire album.
When both sides click the result is studio magic – and you can really get a sense that they’re having a lot of fun doing it.
And you can no doubt imagine a sense of relief listening back too, because don’t forget this was still uncharted territory back in 1993 and required a creative gamble first as proof of concept.
“What’s that? You wanna put rappers and rockers inna recording studio together? They’ll kill each other! This is the movie business kid, not the uzi business!”
No doubt there were plenty of studio executives who weren’t exactly on board with the idea, only to have the soundtrack sales outgross the movie by a considerable degree. That thought amuses me no end.
Judgement Night’s overall legacy has many positives and negatives. The immediate positives for me were less trips to the principal’s office over fights I never started, merely caused by differences in musical taste.
Rockers gradually began to appreciate hiphop while twitchy teenage e-heads everywhere learned to appreciate the simple pleasures of banging your head to some loud guitars without having to worry about getting a broken nose or knife-popped Nike Air bubbles.
This album done a lot to help tear down musical barriers but, in doing so, one might argue it also laid the foundations for groups like Korn, Limp Bizkit and all that nu-metal bullshit.
I abandoned metal as a genre around the end of the 90s once that crap went mainstream. So, although my love for other genres continued unabated I honestly couldn’t tell you the name of a single heavy metal band from the 21st century. Near’s I can tell it’s all just EDM with powerchords nowadays anyway.
So instead, whenever I feel the urge to bang my head, I regularly return to this classic – ain’t nuthin’ like the real thing.