Although a radio icon with major connections in the music world, Howard Stern has never actually had a song of his own played on the radio. In fact, his only music credit thus far is an informal feature on Rob Zombie’s “The Great American Nightmare”, the soundtrack single from the movie adaption of Stern’s 1993 book Private Parts that continues to serve as the lead-in for his satellite show on SiriusXM. However, the oft-described “King of All Media” is motivated to change that, undertaking a new recording project with some big name collaborators.
As Billboard notes, Stern reportedly assigned his longtime show staffer Fred Norris the task of writing him a “hit song,” albeit one that didn’t require much in terms of vocal prowess. His intention was to mimic his vocals after B-52s singer Fred Schneider’s atonal yelping on “Love Shack” and then “get a bunch of girls that can really sing.” To help realize the track, Stern recruited on of music’s most successful collaborators, Mark Ronson, who in turn brought in that “bunch of girls:” the HAIM sisters. Reportedly putting in “50 hours” of work on the track, Ronson also roped in the horn section from The Roots to contribute.
When Stern shared that he was getting nervous for his performance, Ronson offered some advice: “Take that voice, the platinum thing anyway, and just make it the star of the show.” Ronson even promised Stern that the song would end up a bigger hit than “Shallow”, his monster A Star Is Born single featuring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.
Stern’s track is currently being recorded and as of yet does not have a release date. Revisit “Love Shack” below to get a sense of what you might expect from Stern’s vocal performance.
