Crazy Town: Butterfly singer Shifty Shellshock dies at the age of 49

Shifty Shellshock, the frontman of the rap rock band Crazy Town, has died at the age of 49.

The musician became known primarily through the 2001 single Butterfly, which was a number one hit in the US and reached number three in the UK.

Born Seth Binzer, the artist founded Crazy Town in 1995 and later had success with DJ Paul Oakenfold with the club track Starry Eyed Surprise.

However, he struggled with his addiction throughout his life and addressed his illness in reality shows such as “Celebrity Rehab” and its sequel “Sober House”.

He was found dead in his Los Angeles home on Monday, June 24. The cause of death has not yet been announced.

Binzer was born in 1974 and grew up in the music business.

His father, Rollin Binzer, directed the 1973 concert film “Ladies And Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones” and designed album covers for Chess Records, while his mother, Leslie Brooks, was a model.

He was inspired to make rap music after discovering the Beastie Boys’ album “Licensed to Ill” and formed Crazy Town after meeting Bret “Epic” Mazur at a recording session in the early 1990s.

Although they were conceived as a hip-hop group with a full instrumental backing band, they did not get off to a particularly good start.

The first two singles from their debut album “The Gift Of The Game” failed to chart and the group withdrew from the Ozzfest festival in 2000 after Binzer was arrested for throwing a chair out of the window while drunk.

However, the album also included “Butterfly” – a laid-back love song that sampled a riff from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ instrumental “Pretty Little Ditty”.

The album, released in 2001, became an instant hit, thanks in large part to Binzer’s indelibly catchy chorus: “Come, my lady / Come, come, my lady / You are my butterfly / Sugar, baby“.

He said the song was written as a counterpoint to the more chauvinistic lyrics he had previously written.

“We wrote songs like Lollipop Porn when we didn’t have a girlfriend, and suddenly I was in this relationship,” he recalls in Fred Bronson’s Billboard Book Of Number One Hits.

“I was in love and she asked: ‘What kind of text is that? Are you like that?’

“That’s when I got the idea to write a song for her. Instead of writing a chauvinistic song, I wanted to write something sweet and nice for a girl I cared about.”

However, the band was skeptical about releasing the track as a single, fearing it would define them.

“A song like Butterfly is a no-brainer,” said Binzer. “Everyone seems to love it, no matter how difficult it is.”

“It’s very radio friendly, the female audience loves it and at the same time I think we’ve maintained our integrity.”

His prediction proved correct. Crazy Town were unable to build on the success of their biggest hit. Their next single, Revolving Door, peaked at number 23 in the UK, and they never appeared in the charts again.

Crazy Town disbanded in 2002 after disappointing sales of their second album Darkhorse.

Binzer subsequently pursued a solo career and released a solo album entitled “Happy Love Sick”, which had moderate success in Europe.

During this time he also released Starry Eyed Surprise, which reached number six in the UK.

In August 2015, he reunited with Mazur for another Crazy Town album, “The Brimstone Sluggers”, before Mazur left the band for good and Binzer renamed it “Crazy Town X”.

The musician spoke openly about his drug and alcohol problems and said that as a young man he spent time in prison for incidents such as assault with a firearm and drug trafficking.

In 2012, he was arrested for domestic violence and cocaine possession. That same year, he was hospitalized after losing consciousness and falling into a coma before regaining consciousness.

He was arrested for driving under the influence in 2022 and was kicked off a nu-metal tour last year after a performance in South Carolina ended in a bloody on-camera brawl with bandmate Bobby Reeves.

According to Stereogum, the two later reconciled and Crazy Town played concerts with Binzer in May 2024.

The musician leaves behind three children: Halo, Gage and Phoenix.