Cobra Starship’s mega collab for 'Snakes On A Plane' almost didn't happen

Back in 2006, the emo music world was introduced to Cobra Starship and their debut single “Bring It (Snakes On A Plane).” The mega collab brought together some of our favorite musicians for a song based on a movie we still don’t know if we love or hate.

Now, it turns out that Cobra Starship’s Gabe Saporta wasn’t too keen on the song to begin with. In fact, the collab almost didn’t happen at all.

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Following the break up of Midtown, Saporta went on to create his new band Cobra Starship. After linking up with Pete Wentz and his then new-found label Decaydance (now DCD2), however, they found themselves working on a rather strange project.

In a new interview with The Forty Five, Wentz reveals that he came across the concept for the film Snakes On A Plane. After hearing the controversial and seemingly unrealistic plot, he knew he had to be involved in the project somehow.

“I remember JD [Jonathan Daniel of Crush Music] was like, yo, ‘we could do the soundtrack for Snakes on a Plane.’ I was like, ‘what is Snakes on a Plane?’ Then he explained the concept of the movie, and it was like, ‘Oh, we have to do this. This movie is insane.’”

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During that time, Saporta was working on a new song called “Bring It” which Daniel and Wentz thought would be perfect for the Snakes On A Plane soundtrack. After getting in contact with the film’s music supervisor, Daniel realized that some parts of “Bring It” had to be changed. Saporta, however, wasn’t too keen on making those changes happen.

“A friend of mine was the music supervisor on the movie, so I called him and asked if we could get the song in,” Daniel says. “He said there weren’t going to be songs in the movie, only score, but I convinced him to let us do a soundtrack. We went to Gabe and told him he needed to add some parts to ‘Bring it’ to be about snakes on a plane. He wasn’t super happy with me at the time but he was a team player.”

Saporta goes on to say making those “Bring It” changes were painful for him, but he knew it had to be done.

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“First of all, I think JD is a genius,” Saporta says. “So after I was like, ‘OK Midtown is done, I was working on these songs for a year and nobody was getting it.’ I had this music and I had the name Cobra Starship ready, and JD was very smart because as painful as it was for me, he knew that he needed a platform. It felt divine that this movie came out called Snakes on a Plane and I was using that name already. I got stuck with it.”

Since Cobra Starship hadn’t gotten off the ground yet, they decided to create a Decaydance supergroup for “Bring It (Snakes On A Plane).” Together, they brought in The Academy Is…‘s William Beckett, Travie McCoy of Gym Class Heroes and The Sounds.

“I wasn’t signed to Decaydance yet,” Saporta says. “I had to get out of my deal at Columbia, but I was working with Crush, and we were trying to figure out how to do it. With Snakes on a Plane they put Travie and Will together and it was almost like a Decaydance supergroup plus me.”

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McCoy recalls going to see the actual film and well, not being all that impressed. However, despite the fact that the movie still remains incredibly controversial, at least the collaboration emerged from the project.

“We went to a screening of the movie and I was like, this shit is fucking horrible. But the video came out awesome,” he says. “It was better than the movie, to be honest with you. And I got to meet Samuel L. Jackson. I’m not mad. When the snake bit the dude’s dick, I was like, ‘I’m out. This shit is trash.’ But I had to wait for Sam Jackson to say, ‘I’ve had it with these motherfuckin’ snakes on this motherfuckin’ plane!’ After that, I went and got wasted with Kelly Osborne.”

The full interview with The Forty Five is available here, and you can stream the “Bring It (Snakes On A Plane)” video below.

What are your thoughts on the “Snakes On A Plane (Bring It)” song and video? Let us know in the comments below.