Crazy Town is a rap-rock group that shot to
popularity in the early 2000’s thanks to their single Butterfly which propelled the
group’s debut album to go platinum., The band’s story is full of tragedy and adversity
& it really shouldn’t have been surprising since there was a lot foreshadowing even before
the band formed. . Today Let’s discuss the history of Crazy
Town and whatever happened to the group. Formed in 1995 by two musicians Bret Mazur
and Seth Binzer Mazur would adopt the alias Epic, while Binzer would be known as Shifty
Shellshock Both musicians had an introduction to the industry early on in their lives with
Binzer’s dad being an art director for Chess Records, working for Chuck Berry and Muddy
Waters. His father even contribute to the cover art
for Crazy Town’s debut album The Gift of Game. & Mazur’s dad meanwhile was a music manager
whose clients included Billy Joel and at a young age he would move his family across
the country to Los Angeles. Mazur’s father would take his son to recording
sessions, where he was introduced to some of the best musicians in the industry but
he also saw the dark side of fame recalling to Rolling Stone. “There were a lot of addicts around. There wasn’t nothing mysterious and cool
about taking drugs for me.” Mazur would attend the same san fernando valley
high school as ice cube, brad wilk of rage against the machine and house of pain members
everlast and dannyboy. At the age of 13 he got his first turntables
and began breakdancing. He would earn money DJing at black nightclubs
around LA & he would soon start his own production company with a DJ who was double his age This
success led Mazur to drive fancy cars, and own his own 24-track studio but wasn’t passionate
about mixing albums telling Rolling Stone how artist Sheena Easton forced him to change
paths in life recalling “She was no fun; I wanted to talk to her
about Prince, and she wouldn’t say anything,” By 1993 Mazur was done working with Sheena
Easton and began working with a hip hop group named Blood of Abraham who collaborated with
members of another pop group named Black Eyed Peas. It would be Will I am who introduced Mazur
to Binzer. Binzer meanwhile went through a number of
phases in his childhood gravitating towards extreme sports including dirtbiking & skateboarding
while later becoming a punk rocker named Romeo and then a breakdancer named Paco while also
becoming one of the few whites kids to partake in freestyle rap competitions around LA. Binzer would earn the name Shifty Shellshock
for his criminal behavior including shoplifting at an early age telling Rolling Stone “I’ve
always been dodgy. When I was younger, I was a shoplifter and
then a graffiti artist. When I got older, I was a little shady dealing
with women. I’d always be juggling a couple of them. He would go on to explain how he tried to
rob a fellow drug dealer who was bad mouthing him and it resulted in Binzer being chased
by the police and eventually getting away, resulting in him becoming one of LA’s most
wanted. But the police would get their man arresting
him at a 7-11 with him recalling to Rolling Stone "we got surrounded by cop cars at 7-Eleven. I was on Fox II News for an extra week, because
they couldn’t find one of my friends, so they had my picture with Captured over my
face. Binzer would end up serving three months in
prison being relegated to the part of the jail typically reserved for murderers. Binzer would tell the LA Times "Until I got
caught for everything, I kind of felt like I was this invincible Biggie Smalls bad-ass
comic book character. All of a sudden it went from using drugs to
being a drug addict, and it turned from robbing people and beating people up because that
was the thing to do, to going to jail for it. Mazur and Binzer would collaborate sporadically
with each other, but the fruits of their labor would be intermittent resulting in one song
being created every 3-6 months. Binzer would tell Spin Magazine “we’d
do one song every 3 to 6 months. to celebrate finishing one we’d party our
asses off by get high as hell.” It would be this excessive partying and lifestyle
that soon hampered the group’s working relationship and productivity while at the same time providing
inspiration for their music. Binzer soon made a living becoming an extra
in hollywood productions, as well as starring in Levis commercials, while promoting clubs
while also selling drugs and stealing. By 1997 both Mazur and binzer would do their
separate stints in court-ordered rehabs. And the following year they started cranking
out demos for their new project Crazy Town & They would soon hook up with a childhood
friend of Binzer named DJ AM, The group would add guitarist Rust Epique to the lineup.. By 1999 they had a demo to shop around to
major labels and rap-rock was extremely popular, so it couldn’t have been better timing. They would eventually sign with Columbia Records
who put out their debut album the Gift of Game in november of 1999. During the tour to support the album the band
opened for Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee where they met a punk inspired guitarist named Squirrel
who was working as a soundman for the Motley Crue drummer. Epique would leave the band, while Squirrel
would take over on guitar duties. Crazy Town’s label would hold onto the song
butterfly choosing not to release it as the album’s first single. By Columbia records own admission they tried
to capitalize on the popularity of bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit with the first single
“Toxic’ which represented a more aggressive side of the group. They followed it up with a similar sounding
song in Darkside but both of the singles fell flat. Mazur would tell the LA Times “If ‘Butterfly’
would have been our first single, rock radio wouldn’t have broke it,”“We had to build
a foundation of fans that were going to be down for us regardless of that song.”. Binzer would tell Rolling Stone the origins
of butterfly revealing I wrote a bunch of the lyrics and told Epic, “It needs to be
like ‘Under the Bridge’ — you know, really pretty, mellow.” He looped part of the Chili Peppers’ “Pretty
Little Ditty.” The lyrics are about my ex-girlfriend. We were together three years, and the breakup
almost killed me. I was doing drugs; I was relapsing, and we
were driving each other mad." The women who inspired Butterfly would appear
in the music video with Binzer telling the LA Times “It’s a song that a guy could
feel cool enough to say to his girl, ‘This is our song “I think the realness of it
and the fact that I wrote it about a girl that I really cared about comes through" he'd
say. Butterfly would blow up on hip hop radio and
rock radio almost 1.5 years after the group’s debut album came out. The song would top the charts in seven countries
including the States. And one of the biggest stations to promote
the single in the states would LA’s KROQ who jokingly took Crazy Town to task the zealous
use of the word “lady” Program director lisa warden would tell Spin magazine “it’s
all in good fun, but it’s like who besides lionel ritche says that?” With such crossover appeal, how did Crazy
Town view themselves? Guitarist Squirrel tell Spin Magazine "Brett
and Seth are and always have been hip hop kids. They weren’t rock guys who happened to like
hip hop. Crazy town are a hip hop band first an foremost"
he'd say. To support their debut album Crazy Town would
tour with Buckcherry as well as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and appear on the second stage
of ozzfest in 2000. While the band should’ve been relishing
in the opportunities, the group hit a rough patch during ozzfest spending only a week
on the traveling tour. Binzer’s relationship with his girlfriend
would end, and he would relapse and destroy his hotel room tossing a chair through his
window.. As a result Crazy Town’s management pulled
them off the road and sent Binzer back to rehab. It was a volatile time for Binzer who admitted
to Rolling Stone that once he got off the road, his destructive habits continued revealing "I went on a destructive rampage and disappeared. My mom called Anthony Kiedis and said, “Seth’s
fing up.” He’s a buddy; the Peppers are a huge inspiration
to us. Anthony found me and took me to lunch — where
I tried to borrow money from him so I could get high. I didn’t finish my rampage for a couple
of days, but he showed me that I had people who were worried and cared about me. Anthony’s this angel who appeared in my
life" he'd say. Following Binzer’s visit to rehab Crazy
Town would get another shot at Ozzfest the following year. The band would also ready their follow up
single Revolving door, which was in sharp contrast to Butterfly, promoting promiscuity. Binzer would tell MTV" 'Revolving Door' is
about being young, being single, having a great time, and then at the same time being
like, 'What's the big picture? What am I looking for here?'" "I'm looking for this special person. ... You never know when a butterfly is going
to walk through your door." The single failed to make much of a mark
By September of 2000 Crazy Town would be caught up in a report the Federal Trade Commission
released at the time called "Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children," the FTC found
that labels continued to advertise and i quote "explicit content music" on television programs
and in magazines with teenage audiences. The report, took aim at TV ads for groups
and artists including Blink-182, Crazy Town, Rage Against the Machine, DMX and Ja Rule
& the report went on to point the finger at labels for not putting parental advisory sticker
on ads marketing their artists Following the album cycle for The Gift of
Game, Crazy Town soon turned their attention to their follow up album which they told MTV
would be quite different from their debut record exploring more hip hop sounds. Crazy Town would write in excess of 30 songs
ahead of their stint on ozzfest 2001 and at the end of the tour they hit the studio with
POD and motorhead producer howard benson. Weezer frontman rivers cuomo would even contribute
a guitar solo on the song Hurt You So Bad with Binzer telling Rolling Stone. “Rivers was sitting there backstage, “I
walked up and said, ‘You probably hate my band, but I just want to
say I’m a huge fan of your band.’ And he said, ‘I don’t hate your band. Binzer would acknowledge to Rolling Stone
the pressure the group felt on their follow up record revealing “We have a lot to prove
because of ‘Butterfly,'”. “We have to prove we’re aggressive punk
kids — a real band and not a pop act. If a band like Crazy Town can get into the
Top Ten, that’s one for alternative rock; that’s one more spot that Britney Spears
can’t have" he'd say. Crazy Town released their follow up album
Dark Horse in 2002, but it seemed like the record label dropped the ball on marketing
the album. The first single Drowning was sent to radio
stations and It proved to be a modest hit peaking at number 24 on the modern rock tracks
chart, but that was basically it for the album. The label lso didn’t know what path to take
to promote the album and had no promo tour stateside. Dark Hose sold a paltry 13,000 copies in its
first week landing at #120th on the billboard album charts. Mazur would tell MTV looking back at the album’s
lack of success "We were more than 'Butterfly,' and when the second record came out and it
wasn't hip-hop crossover like that song the label didn't know what to do with They would
also cite issues with management with Mazur telling MTV "Everyone seemed to love the album,
and then our management signed Shania Twain, we came back from Europe and it was almost
like the record was dead before it started." Following the disappointing performance of
Dark Horse Crazy Town would break up in 2003. Mazur would tell MTV regarding Crazy Town’s
breakup It's a lot easier to manage working on your own than as part of a band with six
people," Following the dissolution of the band Mazur
formed his own production company named the Pharmacy while guitarist Rust Epique formed
a new group called pre-thing but he would sadly die of a heart attack after the group’s
debut record 22nd century lifestyle in 2004 Binzer meanwhile pursued a solo career contributing
to the track Starry Eyed Surprise which was a top 40 hit in America. .In 2007 Crazy Town would reform but with
a new backing band to support Binzer and Mazur. Sadly On August 28, 2009, former member DJ
AM was found dead in his apartment, of an accidental drug overdose. The group would put out a new album in 2015
harkening back to their original name Brimstone Sluggers. In the years since they reformedBinzer would
struggle with his sobriety appearing on season 1 and 2 of celebrity rehab and one season
of sober house. In 2012 he would also end up in a coma due
to an overdose. In January 2017, Mazur announced he would
no longer be a touring member of the band, but would still possibly write with them. Binzer would eventually add an X to the band’s
name whether this was a legal move or something else is not clear, but he did tell a fan on
instagram and i quote "the X is used by gangs to symbolize a territory that has just been
won". In November of, 2019, Crazy Town's van hit
into a moose during a tour stop in Canada. The band members largely escaped unharmed
with bruises and cuts. That does it for today's video guys. Thanks for watching. Be sure to hit the like button and subscribe
& we'll see you again on rock n' roll true stories. Take care.
