218. TLC, "CrazySexyCool"

 


Oh my god, if this doesn't scream NINETIES baby, you can practically see 90210 playing in the background.  This monster-selling album practically defined the sound of the decade, and it's got just one banger after another on it.  I think I even owned this on CD at one point?  Or maybe my ex-wife did, it's really a sisters-are-doing-it-for-themselves thing.  Sure, Left Eye shouldn't have burned down Andre Rison's Atlanta mansion, but I bet he didn't fuck with her any more after that!  

The songs!  "Creep" was the first single, a story of revenge cheating set to a complex R&B beat.  Written by Dallas Austin, it was somewhat controversial!  Wow, that seems so quaint now.  Imagine, post-"WAP," a song being controversial because it's about stepping out on your man.  (Dallas Austin, btw, had a kid with Chilli - the "C" in TLC - and has had a rich production career.)  Both Radiohead and Stone Temple Pilots had a song called "Creep" before TLC's; here is the inevitable (and not very good) mashup of all three.

But we're just wasting time until we get to "Waterfalls," the best paean to not chasing your dreams maybe ever written.  Maybe that's why I vibe with this song so hard; my idea of a great time is watching TV at home, not out having a "natural obsession for temptation."  The video, which was omnipresent if you had MTV in the 90's like I did, makes great use of the water morphing effect from The Abyss and gives us two scenarios: the kid getting ripped off in a drug deal and getting hit so hard he dies?  I'm not clear on that part.  And then a guy getting HIV from a woman?  That is very unusual!  Anyway, the video and the song are, of course, both iconic.

The rest of the album is solid.  "If I Was Your Girlfriend" sounds uncannily like a slowed-down Prince song.  Andre 3000 shows up on "Sumthin' Wicked This Way Comes," a rock-solid R&B joint.  But really, you can't go wrong with any of it.

This album went on to sell 15 million copies.  In fact, TLC is the best-selling girl group of all time, sorry Supremes.  Sadly, Lisa Lopes died in a car crash in 2002 in Honduras.  TLC, however, continues to occasionally reform and play reunion tours.  

Does this album deserve to be in the Top 500? Without a shadow of a doubt.

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