Bold of you to admit to something so profoundly disturbing

What about just getting into pop-punk at 30 years old?

Something I missed on Wednesday: in the ongoing saga of New Edition/Bobby Brown/NKOTB/Maurice Starr, On May 5, 1990 Bell Biv Devoe had their biggest hit. You could say it drove people out of their minds, but it wasn’t hard for me to find.

Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, and Ronnie DeVoe were 3/5th of the original lineup of New Edition. After Bobby’s multi-platinum smash, 89’s Don’t Be Cruel, Jam and Lewis suggest the three of them make a group. Their first album was Poison, released March 20, 1990. The lead single was Poison, a month earlier.

They didn’t quite hit the highs Bobby did: Don’t be Cruel is 7x Platinum, Poison has only gone 4x Platinum… Poison, the single, didn’t hit pop #1 either, topping out at #3 behind Monday’s #1. And by Madonna’s first week, it was replaced at R&B #1 with Bobby Brown’s replacement Johnny Gill, with a Jam & Lewis produced track. But Poison slaps.

https://youtu.be/hgnhVcyLy1I

Bell Biv Devoe will have another R&B #1, but nothing on the rap chart. Johnny Gill will have more R&B #1s, but nothing on the rap chart. Bobby Brown will have another R&B #1 and Tom will be talking about him soon. Bobby Brown’s wife will have more R&B #1 and one of the best selling songs of all time (4th or 5th depending on who you ask).

I considered reviving my Essential Moment schtick for this song, because it’s one of the (very) few #1’s that caught my ear at the time and because there’s one moment in specific that did it for me. It’s at 02:58, when they’re singing the modified chorus. In between the lines one of the singers plays with the rhythm, dropping in a couple of quick echoes:

…Don’t you know (KNOW),
Things will change (CHANGE)…”

That little trick sold me on the whole affair. This isn’t a song I’m likely to seek out, but when I cross paths with it, that moment is still compelling. If anyone knows a name for this technique, please share it.

While I’m at it, I’ll say that ShallowGrouse finds Wendy Wilson, with the friendly eyes and that mane of tousled brunette hair, quite fetching.

Roxette’s “It Must Have Been Love” top YouTube official video comments:

1. The calmness in the songs of yesteryears is so impressive to me. No strain, no pain. Even for songs that are sad themed, the beauty emerges.

2. Everytime I listen to the song, I have to watch Pretty Woman. And everytime I watch Pretty Woman I listen to the song on repeat. It’s an endless cycle with me.😭

3. My boyfriend and I met like this… 5 years ago! I’m leaving him tomorrow morning and this is EXACTLY how I feel! I was never worth it to him! Smfh😭😭😭😭 (I have so many questions)

4. This song isn’t about a person. It’s about the entire decade of the 80’s and how we all had to let it go.

5. It takes a hell of a lot to make this 282 pound guy cry, the news of Marie’s death did it with ease. Most people don’t understand, growing up in the 80’s and 90’s most of our most precious memories are tied to songs from then. When she passed, it’s like a part of my past did too. Few will understand

My wife has always looked younger than she is. We were at a wedding reception in the mid-90s. The bride was a psychologist and many of her guests were, too. We chatted with many people including a psychologist with a stereotypical psychologist beard. It was small talk while standing around eating hors d’oeuvres, and he nonchalantly asked if we had kids. We told him about our son and asked about his family.

He told us that his wife couldn’t have children and they were hoping to find a surrogate mother. Then he turned to my wife and said something like, “You look young and healthy. Would you be interested?”

She took a second to compose herself and then said, “I’m 42. My eggs are fried.”

He dropped us like a hot potato and went on, I presume, in search of fertility elsewhere.

Hooray for the debut of The Asterisk sidebar! I’m really glad that Tom will be featuring those 1990s songs that were #1 radio hits but never topped the Billboard charts due to their screwy methodology.

Done

Don’t hate on the youth? My man, you are 31.

1) Got picked up by a record label.
2) Turns out that a jazz group I really like already knows and has listened to my interviewing/podcasting work.
DOIN THANGS

Awful, just so inappropriate and should be banned. Morrissey shouldn’t allow this clown to cover his work. It’s fraudulent.

disgracefull, shameful, we are in the last days, i repeat disgraceful, live your life as you choose, but why be so nasty

Must have been another slow news day in the indie music world.

Use Your Illusion I & II has stood the test of time more so than Nevermind has.

Perhaps my most hated album in history. All stop

Better than being 50 years old and covered in those shite tattoos.