Life in the Mind of a Modest Genius

Thursday Throwback

I Like It - DeBarge

I always wondered by DeBarge never made it bigger than they did.  Sure, they flirted briefly with crossover success thanks to "Rhythm of the Night" in the 80s; however, that wasn't even their best song.  They really should have blown up more so what happened? 

Well this video reminds me of what kept them from being more popular.  They didn't have much stage presence.  They didn't wear matching outfits.  They had no synchronized choreography.  Exactly what are James, Bunny, Randy and Mark doing back there anyway?  That's okay thought because this one and "All This Love" were to of the greatest mid-tempo slow jams ever made...

Thursday Throwback

Player's Ball - Outkast

There are probably lots of readers that didn't know this, but this cut is considered a Christmas song.  At least it was to LaFace records.  It was on their "A LaFace Family Christmas" album that was released in 1993.  It was the debut of the then unknown duo from the ATL.  Funny how times have changed since then.  Including a much more ordinary looking Andre...

 

Thursday Throwback

Christmas in Hollis - Run-DMC

The best Christmas song EVER!

Thursday Throwback

Take Your Time - The SOS Band

The best thing about this video is the fact it was "Soul Train" at its finest.  Although I always wondered why they made even the bands lip sync.  And if they had to do it, do they really had to start off with a shot of the drummer pantomiming drum play when it's obvious he wasn't making contact with any of the  pieces of the drum?  Still a great song though...

Thursday Throwback

Juicy Fruit - Mtume

Thursday Throwback

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday Throwback

Give It to Me Baby - Rick James

Yes, it's a little racy, but it's Rick James (RIP).  What do you expect?  There's no denying that he knew how to make some good music back in his day.  Here's another one that I didn't even realize had a video.  The video just makes the song that much better.  You can't help but wonder how a shirtless Rick James with dooky braids would ever get any play.  I guess cocaine really is a helluva drug...

Thursday Throwback

Happy (belated) Veteran's Day...

Throwback Thursday

Sesame Street

It turns 40 this week.  Of course I had to pay homage to it for this week's throwback with that kind of accomplishment.  I decided to go with this clip that has always stayed with me.  There are STILL times to this day that this song runs thru my head whenever I see the letter "C" by itself...

Thursday Throwback

Ebony Eyes - Smokey Robinson and Rick James

I can't believe all these years I've never known this video had a short little introduction to it.  I always caught it from the part when the music already came in.  That was always good enough anyway since you can still glean from that what the storyline was.  Still, it was nice to see the full thing.

I always wonder what inspired Smokey to team up with Rick James.  That's such a random pairing.  Obviously, Smokey was trying to stay relevant by hooking up with whoever was hottest at the time.  Whoever advised him of that should have also said something to him about getting rid of the caterpillar on his lip before they started shooting...