90's Guilty Pleasures #47: TLC "Baby, Baby, Baby" (1992) / TLC "Red Light Special" (1995)

TLC's most well-deserved moment of praise is the sleaze-fest "Creep" (which apparently was somehow influenced by Radiohead's "Creep" according to what I once read in SPIN... But I'll take that with a grain of salt..) Their most overrated moment by far is the preachy and annoying and hugely popular "Waterfalls," which along with "Creep" assisted in helping CrazySexyCool to become one of the rare releases to sell over 15 million units (ultimately making it one of the easiest CD's to locate in "Used" bins nationwide). With the exception of "Creep," the TLC slow jams (usually sung by T-Boz) shine brighter than almost everything else in their catalog, and unfortunately have remained in the shadows of "Waterfalls" and "No Scrubs" ever since.

"Baby Baby Baby" and "Red Light Special" are essentially the same song, with the exception of subtle time-stamp production elements, and also "Red Light Special" has a guitar solo running through most of it which I always thought sounded out of place. Regardless, I don't think Marvin Gaye would have minded either of these.

"Baby Baby Baby"


"Red Light Special"