Black Eyed Peas

New lyrics gave the tune a basketball theme, and the spot featured Carlos Santana. The revised song had great success as a single, especially popular on the iTunes music download service. It was composed partly of re-recorded material and partly new, and failed to make an impact. The BEP's song "Let's Get Retarded" was restyled as "Let's Get it Started" for an NBA finals worldwide commerical. In 1995 a comeback album entitled Rainbow Nation was released. The Tagalog lyrics and backing melody were based on the the song Balita, an original composition of the 1970s Filipino folk rock group Asin. A very catchy single called Hit That Perfect Beat managed, amazingly, to equal the two previous biggest hits by making Number 3 in the UK charts, but one solitary Top 20 hit followed, plus the listless album Truthdare Doubledare, before the band's demise. The Apl Song, with the chorus written in Tagalog, from their album Elephunk, tells the story of Apl.de.ap. Bronski Beat recruited John Foster as Somerville's replacement, a singer of less stage presence, charisma and a deeper and more unprovocative voice.

During Black Eyed Peas' concert tour in Asia in 2004, Apl.de.ap's life story was featured in a weekly Filipino TV drama special called Maalaala Mo Kaya (Will You Remember), which explained his childhood with his poor family in Pampanga, Philippines, before sadly parting with them to live a better life in the US at the age of 14. He teamed up with Coles to form the Communards and in 1986 outsold all other singles in the UK with their version of Don't Leave Me This Way. The current line-up of the Black Eyed Peas as of 2004 (not including supporting band members) is: will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo, and newcomer Fergie­. Presumably this related to internal politics rather than the lyrical direction of the band, as his new project relied almost entirely on unpolitical songs and cover versions - and they were a huge success in doing so. The third single from the album, "Hey Mama" hit the Top 10 in the UK, Germany and several other European countries, and reached the Top 30 of the US Hot 100. Controversially, a reference to "dropping bombs like we in the Middle East" was edited out of some versions of "Hey Mama". Shortly afterwards, Somerville quit the band, stating he wanted a career which was "more political". Indeed the band have enjoyed greater mainstream success in Europe than in the US with "Elephunk" going Top 10, gold and (sometimes multi-)platinum in the UK, Germany and many other European markets, yet ultimately failing to break the US Top 10, although it did go platinum there. It reached Number 3 in the UK charts, equalling the feats of Smalltown Boy, and was memorably described by one critic as "the gayest record ever made".

The album subsequently spawned "Shut Up", which failed in the US but peaked at UK #2 (despite being referred to by one reviewer as "The single most vacuous, pointless, vile and generally loathsome song in a generation") and topped the charts in many other European countries including France and Germany. The full version was actually a medley, also incorporating snippets of Love To Love You baby and Johnny Remember Me. From "Elephunk" came the anti-war anthem "Where Is The Love?", which became their first major hit, peaking at #8 on the US Hot 100, but topping the charts practically everywhere else, including six weeks at #1 in the UK where it became the biggest-selling single of 2003. In 1985, the trio joined up with Marc Almond to record a version of the Donna Summer classic I Feel Love. She is the replacement of background singer Kim Hill who departed the band during 2000. Playing the clarinet solos in the song was Richard Coles, with whom Somerville would later team up to form the Communards. Their breakthrough album Elephunk was released in 2003, featuring a new female vocalist, called Fergie, born as Stacy Ferguson who used to be in a teen pop band named Wild Orchid. It Ain't Necessarily So, a song which questioned the authenticity of Biblical tales, reached the UK Top 20.

Their other album is 2000's Bridging the Gap (2000 in music). A third single was released from it, again causing controversy. After Eazy-E died of AIDS in 1995 (see 1995 in music), Atban Klann reformed as the Black Eyed Peas and released a debut, Behind the Front (1998, 1998 in music) that earned the group (and their accompanying live band) critical acclaim. At the time, the age of consent for gay men in the UK was 21. The group is composed of Will.i.am, Apl.de.ap, Taboo, and Fergie. The sleeve inside listed the varying ages of consent for homosexual sex in different nations around the world. As Atban Klann, they signed to Ruthless Records (run by Eazy-E), but their album was never released because the positive and peaceful lyrics were too unusual for Ruthless. At the end of 1984, the trio released an album which was provocatively titled The Age Of Consent.

The Black Eyed Peas are an American hip hop crew from Los Angeles, who have lately enjoyed massive international pop success. Again, it made the Top 10 in the UK. 2004 "Let's Get It Started" #21 US, #11 UK. The song quickly established the trio as an outlet for gay issues - all three members were gay - and the follow-up single Why? pursued the same energetic and electronic formula musically, while the lyrics centred more centrally and darkly on anti-gay prejudice. 2004 "Hey Mama" #23 US, #6 UK. Called Smalltown Boy, it peaked at Number 3 in the UK and was accompanied by a memorable video of Somerville leaving home, forlornly eating a plum on a train, being attacked by a homophobic gang and being returned to his family by the police. 2003 "Shut Up" #2 UK. Formed in 1983, their debut hit came the following year - the striking tale of a boy who was cast away by his family and neighbours for being gay.

Justin Timberlake) #8 US, #1 UK. At their height, the band comprised of distinctive and diminutive singer Jimmy Somerville, backed by Steve Bronski and Larry Steinbacheck, both of whom played keyboards and percussion. 2003 "Where is the Love" (feat. Bronski Beat were a popular British synth pop trio of the early 1980s. Macy Gray) #31 UK. 2001 "Request + Line" (feat.

2005 "Monkey Business"; due for release on April 4th. 2003 "Elephunk"; #14 US, #3 UK. 2000 "Bridging the Gap"; #67 US. 1998 "Behind the Front"; #129 US.