Musicians collaborate all the time. But for the most part, artists in the same or similar genres will often work together. In these four historic instances, two completely opposite musicians and bands decided to collab… and the results were actually pretty cool. Let’s take a look at just a few of the strangest collaborations in music history!
Videos by American Songwriter
1. Lou Reed and Metallica
Heavy metal outfit Metallica and The Velvet Underground art rock icon Lou Reed once collaborated on the 2011 album Lulu. Despite being an unlikely match, the album is actually pretty cool… despite being so polarizing among fans of both parties and garnering quite a bit of negative feedback. Lulu is an avant-garde take on metal with spoken word elements. Allegedly, Metallica and Lou Reed met while working together for Neil Young’s late-1990s benefit concerts.
2. Nelly and Tim McGraw
If you were around in 2004, you probably heard the country rap track “Over And Over” everywhere. This song features rapper Nelly and country music star Tim McGraw. The collaboration was surprising among fans, to say the least. But oddly enough, the song worked quite well.
Music critics and fans alike loved the track, and it peaked at no. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The collaboration came about after Nelly’s management team got in touch with McGraw to propose the duet.
3. Elton John and Fall Out Boy
The strangest collaborations in music often result in pretty successful songs, and this collab between Elton John and Fall Out Boy is no different. The album Save Rock And Roll features guest vocals from Elton John on the title track, but the record also features collaborations with Courtney Love, Foxes, and Big Sean.
According to the band themselves, they connected with John after learning that he enjoyed their music.
4. Fred Durst and Christina Aguilera
This unlikely MTV VMAs collaborative performance from 2000 is burned into the minds of 90s kids, and the whole thing still seems pretty weird today. Both Aguilera and Limp Bizkit were at the height of their careers that year, so it kind of makes sense why Aguilera and Fred Durst performed together.
However, the unlikely duet wasn’t the first time the pair met. According to Aguilera, they met a year earlier when Durst asked Aguilera to be his date to the VMAs in 1999. Aguilera’s label, RCA, basically forbade her from doing so. Durst would later bemoan the fact that Aguilera didn’t even show up to rehearsals for their VMA performance.
Photo by L. Cohen/WireImage
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