Lately, I have been listening, off and on, to 93.9 FM, which used to be known as "Sunny 93.9" and which also used to be pretty awful, showcasing the worst of soft rock, scraping the bottom of a barrel that was already pretty shallow. But, as some of you who live in the greater Raleigh metroplex area may already know, the station is now known as The New 93.9 KISS FM, having switched formats (and call letters -- from WRSN to WKSL) to something called "Rhythmic AC," which I had never heard of. (I am in equal measure fascinated and vaguely terrified by the extent to which Big Radio has managed to segment and commodify musical tastes demographically.) And while I don't think I'm quite in the target market Clear Channel has in mind for this venture, I have to admit that it's not nearly as crap as I had automatically assumed it would be, in all of my effete Eastern intellectual ivory-tower college-radio-nurtured elitism. It's kind of fun, lively and disposable. If I danced, it would make me want to. As the station IDs constantly remind us, they are providing us with "good-time music." And who doesn't like a good time? I mean, come on: in the past hour or so, I've heard, like, five songs that were written by Prince. Are you going to tell me Prince isn't good music? If you are going to tell me that, warn me before you start to tell that to me, so that I can totally ignore you. Because you will be about to say something that is Wrong.
Anyway. That's all background; that's not really the thrust of the gist of what I wanted to Admit Grudgingly. (This may become a series on Idiom Savant, since a lot of the things I like I end up liking in spite of myself.) What I want to Admit Grudgingly this evening is this:
"All 4 Love" -- by, God help me, Color Me Badd -- is actually a pretty good song.
I can't aesthetically parse why I dig it, but I remember liking it when I heard it on the radio fifteen years ago (but not telling anybody). I know for a fact I like the bass voice going "dooo-do-dooo" at the end of each chorus. Overall, it's kind of reminiscent of something Smokey Robinson or the Temptations might have done at Motown in the early '60s. It's a happy, frothy, bouncy number, with nice, tight R&B-inflected harmonies. The spoken-word interlude is kind of cheesy, but it's part of a long tradition of cheesy spoken-word interludes going back at least as far as the Ink Spots.
The video totally gives me the hives, however:
Look at it this way: In the early '90s, bands like Color Me Badd just made Nirvana all the more necessary. You kids like the Nirvana, don't you? Also, the CMB video somehow makes Dick in a Box seem all the funnier.
I'm figuring, here, that this "All 4 Love" song got mainstream radioplay back when it was released? That helps me date just WHEN I stopped listening to the radio.
Before this post I had not ever heard, nor even heard of "All 4 Love" or Color Me Badd. So the video was my first exposure.
NOT GOOD!!!!!!!!!!! HATE! HATE! HATE!
Posted by: Stew | January 07, 2007 at 10:29 PM
"All 4 Love" was #1 back in 1991. Color Me Badd has kind of fallen off the cultural radar, but it is a little amazing to hear about somebody who is roughly my contemporary who hasn't ever heard of them. "I Wanna Sex You Up" doesn't ring any bells?
In a way, I envy you. Of course, I ruined it all for you -- up until a few minutes ago, the world as you knew it did not include Color Me Badd, and now it does. I do like that one song, but I can't really fully endorse the band.
What I'm trying to say is: I'm sorry for ruining your life.
Posted by: Jerry | January 07, 2007 at 10:42 PM
Hey. I thought the video was kind of scary; the man in pea green especially. But I likee the Dick in a Box. What a gift! Thanks.
You didn't ruin my life - not yet.
Posted by: Judy | January 08, 2007 at 03:41 AM
I came here in a fit of insomnia, and now you've guaranteed I won't be able to fall asleep. All 4 what? All 4 stinking Color Me Badd (don't forget the 2nd b) catchier than crabs in a brothel bathroom Love! I Wanna Sex You (not U?) Up is officially the least sexy, double leg cross inducing song ever.
I love that the local Christian radio station call letters are WFTK (working for the King), but of course I always misread it as WTFK.
My grudging admission is I listen to The River, which started out playing classic 80's sort of mainstream indie stuff which you never hear anymore, then got acquired by ClearChannel and got into adult contemp. (almost typed contempt there), but now seems to play Led Zeppelin and Hendrix a lot.
Stew: listen to me - THEY'RE JUST PRETEND! They don't exist anymore and THEY CAN'T HURT YOU! (actually, I'm pretty sure that they do exist but hopefully they've changed. A lot)
Posted by: Marianne | January 08, 2007 at 03:57 AM
I just watched the video, and yes, it does make DIAB even funnier. I think I must be a bad mother, because my son and I laugh about DIAB and sing it around the house etc, and none of the other kids in his grade at school have heard of it. Because their parents rightly shield them from such filth instead of making their kids watch it with them like I do (hangs head in shame).
Posted by: Marianne | January 08, 2007 at 04:03 AM
Oh wait, Dick in a Box is a song or something?....running over to check it out....
Posted by: Stew | January 08, 2007 at 10:18 AM
OMG OMG!!!
i TOTALLY 100% forgive you for CMB, because now I have DIAB....
Posted by: Stew | January 08, 2007 at 10:25 AM
The best part of the CMB video is that in part of it, they are dancing around in what appears to be a model home. Maybe they snuck the camera crew in during an open house.
Marianne: All boys need to learn about dicks in boxes some time. It's better that your son is learning about them from loved ones in a nurturing home environment.
Judy: I'm glad I haven't ruined your life -- yet. Stick around; I'm sure the blog will get around to it eventually.
Stew: We'll call it even, then. Although some credit has to go to Minty for introducing dicks in boxes into our little blog circle.
Posted by: Jerry | January 08, 2007 at 10:59 AM
I've been credited! I'm so honored.
I'm a little afraid that watching the Color Me Badd video will send me hurtling into bad 90s video nostalgia on YouTube, thus keeping me up half the night, so I haven't clicked on that big "play" button yet.
Posted by: minty | January 08, 2007 at 08:42 PM
Update: I completely hate this song now.
I think it's just been too much a part of my life for the past 24 hours. I've watched that video more than the people who worked on it probably did (including the designer responsible for color-coordinating the boys' shirts with the set design. Did you notice that? And the colors themselves, standing out in a mostly B&W field, seem to have some sort of phosphorescent pastel early-'90s glow). The song has gone through my head, at a conservative estimate, about thirty shmajillion times.
Hearing Color Me Badd's "All 4 Love" once every 15 years seems to be about the right way to go. You may look forward to another post about it in 2022. I'll be 53, and at least one of the members of Color Me Badd will be in the US House of Representatives. (Hey, if John Hall could make it happen...)
Posted by: Jerry | January 09, 2007 at 01:00 AM
Speaking of DIAB, may I make sure you all check out the Dildo song right here at Google Videos?
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7561891079024207771
Unlike DIAB, Dildo cribs off an existing tune (the Slinky jingle), but what I really like is the overall quality: good lyrics, good production, and a nice voice. I once tried to figure out who produced the thing, but they seemed to have stayed anonymous. Make sure to check the outtakes, too.
Oh and re: CMB and similar music of it's time, I'm a big fan of Boyz II Men's "I'll make love to you." Some really excellent voices they've got, those boys from the Frank Palumbo HS. Maybe there's a similar future for Marianne's boy?
Posted by: Phil | January 09, 2007 at 01:42 AM
Oh and hey -- didja see the "Box in a Box" followup to DIAB?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xElIik0Ys0
Posted by: Phil | January 09, 2007 at 10:19 PM
That Box in a Box video is very cute!
Posted by: Marianne | January 10, 2007 at 08:30 AM
I saw that "Box in a Box" video a week or so ago, and while I think it was more clever than "Boobs in a Box," I still think it doesn't work when the gender stuff is turned around, either conceptually or in this case anatomically.
Posted by: minty | January 10, 2007 at 12:33 PM
According to the "Box in a Box" singer (a fellow TypePad user!), her box is up for sale.
I agree with Minty, though -- the video, while clever (and well-done musically; that box gal can sing) doesn't really work with the genders flipped, or without the early-'90s fake R'n'B quiet storm vibe.
Posted by: Jerry | January 11, 2007 at 08:01 PM
I was just reading that "Box in a Box" girl's blog, wherein she dispels some rumors the tabloids are spreading about her.
This one's my favorite:
3. I am NOT seeing Wilmer Valderrama. Did we spend Sunday night in a hotel room together doing body shots? Yes. Are we dating? NO! We are FRIENDS!
Wow. The Internets are a crazy-ass place.
Posted by: minty | January 11, 2007 at 11:34 PM
I ain't saying Prince is bad music. I ain't saying that so don't worry. What I am saying is, when I listen to Prince, I always listen for that little unobtrusive knocking noise. It is in several songs, perhaps most clear in "When Doves Cry" (that is a Prince song, isn't it?). It's kind of syncopated and demure at the same time. Like I like my women too. And my cars. The uneven tire wear on my Michelins is no accident.
Posted by: Benjamin Turney | January 15, 2007 at 04:44 PM
Mr. Turney: I know exactly the knocking noise you're talking about. Yes, it's in "When Doves Cry" and a bunch of other songs by Mr. Prince Rogers Nelson. ("Let's Go Crazy" and "1999," just to name the first two that come to mind, but I think it's most prominent in "WDC.")
Me, I like my women like I like my coffee: bitter.
Posted by: Jerry | January 17, 2007 at 10:34 PM