Why 90’s music? Considering that I just heard some 80’s music on an “oldies” station not so long ago, and I was only listening to said “oldies” station because I get so bored with today’s music, I figured I’d make an attempt to give 90’s music its due before it officially becomes old.
Maybe it is a bit too early to wax nostalgic on this decade, but maybe it isn’t. To be clear, this is not a countdown of my favorite songs in a particular order, but rather it’s a retrospective of the decade, a taste of what music was like in those days, for better or worse.
Long before we had boys heading their One Direction, there were some New Kids on the Block. Rihanna may have found love in a hopeless place, but once upon a time Mariah Carey was dreaming of her Dreamlover. And then there is that big meat-wearing, chart-topping, little monster-courting, Lady Gaga and her occasional tendency to spout French sweet nothings while describing her Bad Romance. But I remember a certain other lady at the dawn of the 90’s, who enchanted our ears with some faux-French, and it wasn’t the territorial Madonna.
I am of course speaking of Lady Miss Kier from the group Deee-Lite. In the late summer of 1990, a certain dance-pop track with “house” origins began hopping around the charts.
#90: “Groove Is in the Heart”, the first song to be showcased on this countdown, was a one hit wonder kind of thing for Deee-Lite. The song itself sampled heavily from other artists, but that’s probably why it has remained such a unique song over the years. It also proved to be a hard act to follow, as Deee-Lite disbanded in ’96 without another major hit to their name. The funky quality of the song, the infectious percussion, and the highly crafted mixing that only club DJ’s can offer make this song timeless.
The highly stylized costuming and effects in the video also set it apart from the other songs of its time. As dated as it may look to modern eyes, the difficulty lies in *when* one would try to date it. Lady Miss Kier and her fellow band mates look like extras from the super-swinging-sixties set of The Avengers. True to its house music roots, this song is a staple in the dance music and club scene, so maybe it will never really get “old”, but here’s hoping it has a de-groovy, de-gorgeous couple more decades.
Unfortunately, the quality of this video is, as the poster put it, “shitty” due to legal stuff that prohibit a decent version from appearing on Youtube. However, if you can stand the myopic fuzziness, enjoy the video by following the link:
Stay tuned for #89!
Snarkoplex 