Happy 30th Anniversary to House of Pain’s second studio album Same As It Ever Was, originally released June 28, 1994.
It’s hard to record a hit song. It’s just as hard to put together a hit album. And few artists ever record a near universally beloved anthem. And history has demonstrated many times over that many artists who score that one big hit spend the rest of their careers desperately trying to get back to that breakout level of fame.
I’ve always felt that it takes a certain amount of bravery to say, “Fuck it!” and go left. Which is more or less what House of Pain did. The group was comprised of Erik “Everlast” Schrody, Daniel “Danny Boy” O’Connor, and Leor “DJ Lethal” Dimant. They signed to Tommy Boy Records and began their career with their debut single “Jump Around,” and followed it up with their debut album House of Pain (Fine Malt Lyrics) (1992). Both were certified Platinum by the RIAA.
The crew positioned themselves as roughneck hooligans and frequently championed their Irish heritage in their music. They were members of the Soul Assassins crew, which also included Cypress Hill, Funkdoobiest, and others. DJ Muggs, Cypress Hill’s DJ and producer, hooked House of Pain up with the beat for “Jump Around” as well as numerous other tracks on their debut LP.
Tommy Boy is frequently thought of as a “singles” record label. Groups once signed to the label frequently maintained that if an artist/group got that one single, the label brass expected them to churn out essentially different versions of that same song. House of Pain very much did NOT go that route. A cursory listen to their second album, Same As It Ever Was, released 30 years ago, showed that the group lacked interest in re-hashing their past success.
The first inklings of the sonic direction of Same As It Ever Was could be heard over a year before the album’s release. House of Pain recorded “Who’s the Man?”, the “title track” on the soundtrack for the film of the same name; it’s included on their sophomore album as a bonus track. The song itself is hilariously incongruous to the film. Who’s the Man? was a slight buddy comedy/thriller that was intended to be a vehicle to make Yo! MTV Raps co-hosts Doctor Dre and Ed Lover into stars and marketed through the abundance of rappers who made cameo appearances. I imagine that both New Line Cinema and Uptown/MCA Records hoped House of Pain would give them a decently pleasant “Jump Around” clone to help promote the film.
What they got instead was a brooding track about using whatever means necessary to get ahead as criminals. DJ Lethal’s production sets the tone, hooking up a deep, hollow-sounding bassline from Gene Russel’s “Get Down” and eerie, echoing vocal samples. On the mic, both Everlast and Danny Boy describe “kick[ing] it with the thugs, pushing drugs in the park” and “making all the runs, raking in the funds.” The track ends with an incarcerated Everlast giving a particularly harrowing description of murdering a fellow inmate in order to command respect. The song is extremely dope but not easily marketable.
Listen to the Album:
And indeed, the majority of Same As It Ever Was follows suit. It’s a largely uncommercial album, with the group deciding to move in an even more confrontational direction. There are very few references to “Irish Pride” in the song’s lyrics. With vocals and a delivery that are somehow even more gruff, Everlast is very much the album’s lyrical star. It certainly feels like Danny Boy commands less of a presence, but he still lends his distinctive vocals to three songs recorded for the album.
Musically, it shares similarities with Cypress Hill’s sophomore release Black Sunday (1993). The tracks are dark and haunting, layered in grit. But whereas Black Sunday was Cypress Hill’s best-selling release, Same As It Ever Was is considered a slight commercial letdown, going Gold instead of Platinum. But while it might not have had a single that’s still played at college football games three decades later, Same As It Ever Was is an artistic triumph.
In between albums, House of Pain faced some bumps in the road. Some were annoyances like persistent rumors that Everlast had died from a drug overdose (either from cocaine, heroin, or PCP, depending on the story). Others were legit issues, like when Everlast got busted at JFK Airport after security found an unloaded pistol in one of his suitcases. While the former is easy to laugh off, the latter impeded the recording process, especially when the group’s frontman was sentenced to multiple months under house arrest.
Same As It Ever Was begins with the raucous “Back From the Dead.” Produced by Muggs and The Baka Boyz, it starts off with a grimy horn sample, grabbing listeners by their throats. Everlast proclaims that any reports of his demise, both physical and artistic, are unfounded. He has fun mocking the persistent rumors of his death, boasting, “I'll rock a mausoleum, backyard, or colosseum.”
“On Point,” the first official single from Same As It Ever Was, is about as close that the group ever comes on the album to recreating something like “Jump Around.” Everlast crafts an entertaining call-and-response chorus, alludes to his legal issues, and disses Marky Mark and record exec Joe Niccolo (again). The track is one of Lethal’s best produced gems, as he hooks up numerous ridiculously funky horn samples. He even kicks a brief 4-bar verse (suffice to say, he wasn’t a particularly seasoned emcee).
Back in 1992, Pete Rock did an amazing remix to “Jump Around,” which is almost as beloved as the original version of the track. For Same As It Ever Was, the group also went outside of the Soul Assassins camp to collaborate with another of the best producers working, Diamond D. The Diggin’ in the Crates crew member both produces and raps on the jazzy and hard-hitting “Word Is Bond.” Diamond negotiates tempo changes, sampling the thick bassline from Freddie Robinson’s “River’s Invitation” and vocals from the Love Story soundtrack.
But truthfully, the group sounds best when rapping to DJ Muggs tracks, fitting in well with the dusty and gritty production. Tracks like “Running Up On Ya” and “Over There Shit” move at a break-neck pace, anchored by resonant basslines and blistering drums. On the former, Everlast forsakes the shaved-headed image he became known for, rapping, “Now I got a fade ’cause I’m paid and the bald is played / Everybody’s done it, so Ev can never run it.”
Everlast mines some deeper territory om the Muggs-produced “Keep It Comin’”. Everlast contemplates the psychological trauma he’s sustained. He speaks on his at times adversarial relationship with his family, as well as the overwhelming feeling that his success has attracted assorted hangers-on. “I can't deal with who's real and who's not,” he raps. “Who treated me the same when my record wasn’t hot.” The title track serves as a more forceful statement that fame hasn’t changed them, with Danny Boy and Everlast trading eight-bar verses, asserting that they’re as raw as ever. Muggs is top-notch behind the boards, using his chopping skills on the track’s bassline and incorporating shouts and yelps from various soul tracks.
The Lethal-produced “Where I’m From” further explores the group’s origins, with Everlast contemplating his bleakest days while now enjoying the fruits of his hard work. He describes life after losing his deal with Warner Brothers, which entailed living in a shack in the backyard of his homie Bilal Bashir. He describes tripping on LSD and subsisting on peanut-butter sandwiches while trying to survive, with Danny Boy and Lethal visiting and beginning to put together the ideas of the group. He explains how these experiences have helped him stay grounded, fashioning one of the group’s best songs in their discography.
It may sound goofy or haughty on my part, but I do always enjoy when a group places artistic integrity over the pursuit of record sales. Which is why I thoroughly enjoy albums like Same As It Ever Was. I don’t know if I can say that the album is better than their debut, but it is uncompromising and ballsy, showing House of Pain’s depth and conviction.
Listen: