Readers of That Grape Juice know what avid music lovers we are – especially of hits past.
So, as our retrospective features ‘From the Vault’ and ‘TGJ Replay’ allow us the chance to re-spin the gems and jams of yesterday of one artist, our newest feature Chart Rewind – a variation of our current Retro Rewind assay – accedes salutes to an entire era of music history.
This week we’ll throw it back to TLC‘s inaugural chart-topper, 1994’s ‘Creep’:
After the multiplatinum triumph of their debut album, 1992’s ‘Ooooooohhh… On the TLC Tip,’ the pressure was on for R&B trio TLC (Tionne “T-B0z” Watkins, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas) to prove their seemingly overnight success was not a fluke. To answer the challenge, the group reassembled the craftsmen who helped hoist their inaugural effort to its Billboard 200 top 10 status – Babyface, L.A. Reid, Darryl Simmons, Jermaine Dupri, and Dallas Austin.
Under their direction, TLC’s sophomore LP – ‘CrazySexyCool’ – was born.
Selecting the Austin-produced ‘Creep’ as the project’s first single, the song – despite initial opposition from band member Left Eye for its lyrical content – was lauded by feminists for showcasing the female perspective as it relates to infidelity.
After two scrapped music videos (one of which is seen above), October 1994 finally saw the tune’s official music video (directed by Matthew Rolston) premiere – much to the acclaim of the group’s growing legion of fans.
In fact, ‘Creep’ hadn’t even been on radio for two months before it hopped into the Hot 100’s top 10. Certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in that same time period, it eventually went Platinum and unseated Boyz II Men‘s ‘On Bended Knee’ from the top spot in January of the following year. It was their first #1 hit and held the position for four weeks before being dethroned by Queen of Pop Madonna‘s ‘Take a Bow.’
After the dust settled, ‘Creep’ would go on to win a number of awards including a Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 1996 ceremony. As we salute the legendary cut – easily a leader among the TLC’s discography and the decade as a whole (if you ask us) – look below to see who joined the girl group on the Hot 100 this week 25 years ago:
Hot 100 This Week in 1995
Hot 100 This Week
Click here to read this week’s full Hot 100 review, as provided by That Grape Juice‘s ‘Chart Check’ segment.