NOW YOU’VE GOT SOMETHING TO STOP COLLABORATE AND LISTEN FOR

When Randy Blythe was nineteen years old and Jamey Jasta was thirteen years old, a really silly white dude who is named Rob Van Winkle but insisted on calling himself “Vanilla Ice” released a song entitled “Ice Ice Baby,” which was a huge megahit. There can be no doubt that Blythe and Jasta were aware of the song’s existence, for such was its prevalence in pop culture. Of course, we have no way of knowing what these someday-modern metal legends thought of the track, but I think we can reasonably assume that at no point did the thought “Someday Vanilla Ice will come see me perform and we will hang out backstage after the show” cross their respective minds.

And yet, this:

The above photo, which was posted on Mr. Blythe’s Twitter account, is, indeed, of Lamb of God and Hatebreed’s respective lead vocalists just kickin’ it with the one and only Vanilla Ice (or, as he’s known in France, Glace à la Vanille) backstage at the recent Orlando stop on the Rockstar Mayhem Fest tour. Rob at Metal Injection, who brought this delightful story to our attention, explains that Trivium bassist/onetime MetalSucks troll combatant Paolo Gregoletto attended the show as a fan, and tweeted that V-Ice was watching Korn from the side of the stage — which makes perfect sense, as frequent Korn kollaborator Ross Robinson produced Ice’s 1998 entry into nu-metal, Hard to Swallow. And I guess he ended up chillin’ with the LOG/Hatebreed crew after the gig.

I don’t know if Vanilla-illa-illa is also a Lamb of God/Hatebreed fan or was just happy that people wanted to take their picture with him two decades after he was actually popular, but I can’t blame Blythe and Jasta for wanting the snapshot — I’d certainly be down to take a semi-ironic photo with Mr. Van Winkle. But only if he performed “Ninja Rap” for me, first.

No word on whether or not Blythe and Jasta now plan to cover “Too Cold,” a.k.a. “The Metal Version of ‘Ice Ice Baby’.”

-AR