Dust Brothers

The Dust Brothers are the Los Angeles, California based, Grammy Award winning producers, E.Z. Mike (Michael Simpson^[1]) and King Gizmo (John King), famous for their sample-based music in the 1980s and 1990s, and specifically for their work on the albums Paul's Boutique by the Beastie Boys, Odelay by Beck, and the soundtrack to the film Fight Club.

1980s

The Dust Brothers started working together in 1985 at the Pomona College radio station, KSPC, hosting a weekly hip-hop show, started by Simpson in 1983, called 'The Big Beat Showcase'.

They eventually turned to DJing at parties, and 1987 began writing and producing for the Delicious Vinyl label. There they produced and sequenced tracks on Tone Lōc's album, Lōc-ed After Dark. They also produced two tracks on Young MC's debut album Stone Cold Rhymin.

Through a mutual friend, Matt Dike, the Dust Brothers were introduced to Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys. Dike played some instrumental music created by the Dust Brothers for Yauch, and he recruited the Dust Brothers to make the music for the Beastie Boys' highly acclaimed sophomore album, Paul's Boutique, which was considered one of the best albums of all-time by Time Magazine in 2006.^[2]

1990s

Beck had the Dust Brothers produce his album Odelay, released in 1996. The album spawned the hit songs "Where It's At" (#64 on the Hot 100), "Devils Haircut" (#94 on the Hot 100), "The New Pollution" (#74) and "Jack-Ass" (#73). In 1995 they co-produced Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil's second solo album Carved in Stone.

In 1997, the Dust Brothers produced a track with Korn called "Kick the P.A." for the Spawn soundtrack; produced the hit "MMMBop" for Hanson's first major label album Middle of Nowhere; and created a song on the soundtrack to the Howard Stern film Private Parts (1997 film) named "Tortured Man", featuring ad-libbed vocals by Stern. They also took part in the production of The Rolling Stones album, Bridges to Babylon and Sugartooth's album The Sounds of Solid.

In 1998, the duo were approached by director David Fincher to assemble the score for the film Fight Club, most notably "This Is Your Life", a song featuring lines from the film, including a monologue by the character Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). This remains their only original release to date.

In 1999, the Dust Brothers collaborated with Carlos Santana and Eagle-Eye Cherry on Santana's multi-platinum album Supernatural. They received their first Grammy for 'Album of the Year'; after having received numerous nominations for their past work with Beck and as artists for their instrumental song on the X-Files soundtrack. They also recorded, produced and mixed an album by the rap group 10 Cents, named Buggin Out.

2000s

In the 2000s, the Dust Brothers have had continued success, again collaborating with Beck on the albums Guero and The Information; Tenacious D on their self-titled debut; Linkin Park with a track called "With You" on their album Hybrid Theory; remixing the Styles Of Beyond track "Winnetka Exit" on their promotional CD Spies Like Us; and producing the They Might Be Giants album The Else.

Note

• The Dust Brothers was also the original name used by the British duo, The Chemical Brothers. They took it as an homage to the American group, but they changed their name when they were threatened with a lawsuit by the producer duo.^[3]

References

1. ^ Mikesimpson.com
2. ^ Time.com
3. ^ nyrock.com

External links

• Official website
• Discogs
• Mike Simpson's Official Website

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