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Vanilla Ice: Wembley Arena, London

Caroline Sullivan, Melody Maker, 6 July 1991

WHAT IS IT that makes Vanilla Ice simultaneously a great among pop's icons and one of its classic punchlines? I suspect it's the Robert Van Winkle in him. The baby-tough cool of those Teutonic features, which rank him up there with Nico and, oh, Fabian, is constantly undermined by the dumb-blonde things he says. It's one of life's little tragedies; the desire to be swept away by a steely Robo-Ice being thwarted by the discovery that he's really Arthur Fonzarelli.

Total word count of piece: 337

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