Pre-formation (1990–1991) Ice-T's interest in heavy metal stemmed from sharing a room with his cousin Earl, who was a fan of rock music and only listened to the local rock stations. Ice-T particularly enjoyed heavy metal, citing
Edgar Winter,
Led Zeppelin and
Black Sabbath as his favorite bands. Explaining the motivation behind the name, Ice-T later said: "Body Count is an all-out metal group. We've got the stage props and everything and we're coming in for the kill. That's what the title Body Count means. In Los Angeles on a Sunday night the lady comes on the news and says "13 people killed in gang warfare this weekend, now sports." To me being a black man in Los Angeles make me just a statistic, another one in the body count. The earliest formation of Body Count was in 1989 when Ice-T had Ernie C, Mooseman, and Beatmaster V participated in live instrumentation on Ice-T's album
The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say! They played on the tracks "The Girl Tried to Kill Me", "Hit the Deck", and "
What Ya Wanna Do?" Ice-T co-wrote the band's music and lyrics with lead guitarist Ernie C, and took on the duties of lead vocalist, even though he felt that he did not have a great singing voice. The original line-up consisted of D-Roc on rhythm guitar, Beatmaster V on drums and Mooseman on bass.
Touring and debut album (1991–1992) Ice-T introduced the band at
Lollapalooza in 1991, devoting half of his set to his hip-hop songs, and half to Body Count songs, increasing his appeal with both alternative music fans and middle-class teenagers. Ice-T described it as "the best tour I've been on in my life as far as the music thing" and some considered the Body Count performances to be the highlight of the tour. The group made its first album appearance on Ice-T's 1991 solo album
O.G. Original Gangster. The song, "Body Count", was preceded by a spoken introduction in which Ice-T responds to allegations that he had "sold out" by incorporating rock elements into his rap albums by pointing out that rock music originated with African-American artists such as
Chuck Berry,
Bo Diddley and
Little Richard, in addition to stating that "as far as I'm concerned, music is music. I don't look at it as rock,
R&B, or all that kind of stuff. I just look at it as music. [...] I do what I like and I happen to like rock 'n' roll, and I feel sorry for anybody who only listens to one form of music". Body Count's
self-titled debut album was released on
Sire/
Warner Bros. Records on March 31, 1992. On the strength of the album, Body Count toured internationally, developing a strong following. According to Ice-T, "I thought I was safe. I thought within the world of rock'n'roll, you could be free to write what you want. Hell, I was listening to
Talking Heads singin' '
Psycho Killer'. Fuck it, I'll make 'Cop Killer'! But, that was the cross of metal with something that was real. Now we're not just killing your family, we're killing somebody so real that everybody just went, 'oh shit'". The Dallas Police Association and the Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas launched a campaign to force
Warner Bros. Records to withdraw the album. Within a week, they were joined by police organizations across the United States. In an interview, Ice-T stated that "I didn't want my band to get pigeon-holed as that's the only reason that record sold. It just got outta hand and I was just tired of hearing it. I said, 'fuck it,' I mean they're saying we did it for money, and we didn't. I'd gave the record away, ya know, let's move on, let's get back to real issues, not a record but the cops that are out there killing people."
Variety reported that the album had sold 480,000 copies by January 29, 1993.
Continued albums: Born Dead, Violent Demise and Murder 4 Hire (1993–2008) In 1993, Body Count recorded a cover of "
Hey Joe" for the
Jimi Hendrix tribute album
Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix. The band released their second album,
Born Dead in 1994 on
Virgin Records. Prior to the recording of Body Count's third album
Violent Demise: The Last Days (1997), bassist Mooseman left the group and was replaced by Griz. Drummer Beatmaster V died of
leukemia soon after the album was completed, and a new drummer named O.T. filled in the position. Bassist Griz left the band later on, and in the meanwhile, former bassist Mooseman was shot in a drive-by shooting in February 2001 after recording an album and preparing for another tour with
Iggy Pop in his band the Trolls. The then-line-up included drummer O.T., bassist Vincent Price and rhythm guitarist Bendrix. The band then took an extended hiatus for a couple of years; in regards to the future of Body Count, Ernie C stated, "We will carry on the band. I don't know if it will be Body Count, but in some form, Ice and I will always play together." Also on the bill were
NOFX,
Katy Perry,
Pennywise,
Bad Religion and
Rise Against. Mike Sullivan of
ExploreMusic caught up with Ernie C at the 2010 edition of the Vans Warped Tour. While briefly chatting, Ernie C divulged that the band was recording its fifth studio album. Body Count wrote an exclusive song, "The Gears of War", for the video game
Gears of War 3, and performed it at a party promoting the game.
Resurgence: Manslaughter, Bloodlust, Carnivore and Merciless (2013–present) 2015 On December 9, 2012, Ice-T announced on
Twitter that Body Count would begin production on a fifth studio album in January 2013. The following day, Ice-T revealed that Body Count has signed with
Sumerian Records. Ice-T suggested that the album was going to be titled
Rise! On May 10, 2013, Ice-T announced that work on the fifth studio album had begun and that it would be titled
Manslaughter. The album was released on June 10, 2014. On May 13, 2014, Ice-T played the song "Talk Shit, Get Shot" as a teaser for the new album. Their sixth album, titled
Bloodlust, was released in March 2017 via
Century Media Records. On December 28, 2016, Ice-T posted a preview of the first single "No Lives Matter" to Twitter. Guest musicians confirmed to appear on the album were
Max Cavalera,
Randy Blythe and
Dave Mustaine. Upon the release of
Bloodlust, it was confirmed that Ice T's son Tracy Marrow Jr, aka Little Ice, is now a part of the band, performing backing vocals. In May 2018, Ice-T revealed to
Loudwire that Body Count would enter the studio around September to start recording tracks for their seventh studio album
Carnivore. On the meaning of the album title, the rapper said, "It's basically: 'Fuck vegans.' We figure, anything carnivorous pretty much kicks ass. We're carnivorous! I'm not [really] saying 'Fuck vegans.' Everyone's so pussy right now, [so] we're carnivores". The recording sessions began in April 2019. The title track was released as the first single on December 13. The album was released on March 6, 2020. On June 22, 2021, Body Count announced on their Facebook page that they had started work on their eighth studio album
Merciless. In 2022, it was ranked by
Metal Hammer as the 46th most anticipated metal release of that year. After several delays,
Merciless was finally released on November 22, 2024. ==Artistry==