http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StlMdNcvCJo
Even today, it’s hard to tell. Is he saying “Leaky boom boom down” or “Licky boom boom down”?
Of course I am referring to Snow, that white Canadian dude who attempted to become the next Buju Banton. But his attempt only scored him a couple hits and erroneous status as a one-hit wonder not to mention getting spoofed by Jim Carrey on In Living Color.
Snow’s real name is Darrin O’Brien (not the Darin from Bewitched). He grew up in Toronto and was exposed to reggae at an early age. After being discovered by old school rapper MC Shan, he recorded an album just before he served a prison term on assault charges. The album, 12 Inches Of Snow, was released in early 1993 and “Informer” became a smash, making it all the way to number one. The song was omnipresent in the early 90s.
But with that success came a price. Many accused him of that classic case of white guy ripping off black music. The backlash wasn’t as strong as that against Vanilla Ice for instance. But it was still there. Add to that the fact that nobody was really sure what the hell Snow was saying on that album. Not even Jamaicans could understand him.
The backlash extended to the aforementioned In Living Color which spoofed him with the “Impostor” video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AwZ-I2U2cE
In some ways, much of the public sensed that Snow was more or less a novelty act. But he would score one more hit before fully melting away.
“Girl I’ve Been Hurt” made it to 19 on the charts. A hit. But this was definitely a step down after “Informer” made it all the way to number one.
And that was pretty much the last most people heard of Snow. He’s continued to release albums and have success elsewhere in the world, especially in his native Canada. But in the US, he’s more or less a trivia question. And people still wonder, what exactly is a leaky boom boom?
More Nope, Not a One Hit Wonder
I have never heard of this guy.
Not surprising. I’d wager that most people younger than 30 or older than 40 have no clue who Snow was and those who do know haven’t thought about him since 1994. While “Informer” was a smash at the time, it hasn’t quite achieved the same level of immortality that “Jump” or “Ice Ice Baby” or “Good Vibrations” has. That’s most likely for a couple reasons: it was seen as a novelty hit even then and Snow’s moment in the spotlight was so brief. Whereas Kris Kross had several hits, Marky Mark (minus the Funky Bunch) went on to a second… Read more »
My wife told me this morning she used to listen to him. She’s a young ‘un.
One reason I don’t write about music is that I have never been very clued in. So I’m glad you and Daffy cover the music scene.
I remember this song. Jeez, I’m really embarrassed to admit this now, I don’t know why but I actually bought the cassette single back in the day (shaking my head in shame). It’s long been buried somewhere in the basement, I’m sure now even the spiders are avoiding it.
According to Wikipedia, Informer spent 7 straight weeks at #1 in ’93. Wow, that’s crazy. I guess I wasn’t the only one foolish enough to buy the song. I’m sure there’s others bowing their heads in shame right now too. Leaky Boom Boom Down, indeed.
I can go one better. I actually owned the 12 Inches Of Snow album on cassette. I bought it in early 93. But didn’t listen to it all that much even then. It eventually became the first album that I ever gave away. A while back I was going through the bargain bin CDs at a major retailer and saw it on sale for about $3.50. Thought about re-buying it for amusement value. But figured that there had already been enough Snow for once. Informer also made it to 2 in Britain and 10 on the R&B charts here so… Read more »