News

Ginuwine Is Ready To Ride

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Ponies, pool halls and moonwalking in this week's Forgotten Videos
GRAMMYs
Jun 21, 2017 - 12:57 am
GRAMMY.com

Welcome to Forgotten Videos. For some, these videos are forgotten, for others just filed away, and for others still, a totally brand-new discovery. Whichever category you fall into, each week we'll feature a video that's possibly been collecting dust when what it really deserves is a fresh look. Or vice-versa…. We're not here to judge, we just want to take you on a little trip down memory lane. Yep, you'll remember when hair was really that big, when drums were that up front in the mix, when video was young(er) and so were you.

Ginuwine
"Pony"
1996

At first it all makes sense for a song titled "Pony," sort of. R&B Romeo Ginuwine pulls into a cowboy biker bar where he precedes to mimic a side-step moonwalk across the stage (it's no surprise Ginuwine cites the late Michael Jackson as an early influence). But then you start thinking, "What's this urban singer doing in a place like this? And is this 'pony' a horse after all?" We're guessing that Pony is another name for Ginuwine, judging by the lyric, "My saddle's waiting/Come and jump on it." It seems like Ginuwine may have a little more in mind than horseback riding.

But to follow the Romeo theme, all's well that ends well. What looks at the start like something that could end up in a cowboy hats versus doo-rags war, instead ends with a peaceful comingling of the races, even as Ginuwine himself succeeds in attracting a floor full girls who can't help but move and sway to the music.

"Pony" appears on Ginuwine's debut album, 1996's Ginuwine…The Bachelor. Produced by GRAMMY winner Timbaland, the album peaked at No. 26 on the Billboard 200 and "Pony" shot to No. 1 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Ginuwine followed up with 100% Ginuwine in 1999, which was again produced by Timbaland and flew to No. 5 on the Billboard 200. The album produced three Billboard Hot 100 hits in "None Of Ur Friends Business," "So Anxious" and "What's So Different," and features a cover of Jackson's "She's Out Of My Life." Solidifying himself as one of R&B's lovermen, Ginuwine released The Life in 2001 with songs resembling love letters to the woman in his life such as "Why Did You Go," "Differences" and "Just Because." The album reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and paved the way for 2003's The Senior, which brought out Ginuwine's hip-hop side.

Ginuwine continued to release several albums, including 2005's Back II Da Basics, 2007's I Apologize, 2009's A Man's Thoughts, and his most recent release, 2011's Elgin, all of which charted in the Top 30 on the Billboard 200, and the latter features two tracks written by GRAMMY winner Diane Warren, "How Does Your Heart Forget" and "Break." Though Ginuwine has continued to see success in a career that spans nearly 15 years, "Pony" remains his signature hit.

"I still remember in '94 when I was in front of the mirror practicing ["Pony"]," recalled Ginuwine in an interview in 2009. "I just knew that it was a hit. I was so proud of it and I was just so happy."

Do you have a pony? Got any Forgotten Video recommendations? Leave us a comment.

Last week's Forgotten Video. Click on the "Forgotten Videos" tag below for links to other GRAMMY News stories in this series.

 

News

Is Rockwell Still This Paranoid?

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'80s anxiety in this week's Forgotten Videos
GRAMMYs
Jun 21, 2017 - 12:57 am
GRAMMY.com

Welcome to Forgotten Videos. Well, for some forgotten, for others just filed away, and for others still, a totally brand-new discovery. Whichever category you fall into, each week we'll feature a video that's possibly been collecting dust when what it really deserves is a fresh look. Or, we'll be giving a fresh look at a video that deserves to be collecting dust. We're not here to judge, we just want to take you on a little trip down memory lane. Yep, you'll remember when hair was really that big, when drums were that up front in the mix, when video was young(er) and so were you.

 

Rockwell f/Michael Jackson

"Somebody's Watching Me"
1984

In 1984 Kennedy Gordy, aka Rockwell, had the year's biggest paranoid-themed hit with this song and video inspired in equal parts by "Thriller" and Psycho, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and scoring a No. 1 R&B hit. If the name sounds familiar, Gordy is the son of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. (though no apparent relation to John F. Kennedy), which, ummm, may have factored in to his landing Michael Jackson to sing the chorus during the King of Pop's hottest streak in the midst of his Thriller success. (For the record, the story has always been that Rockwell signed to Motown without his father's knowledge.) The video raised the not-so-enduring question: Did Gordy always shower with his shorts on? Perhaps the question was quickly moot. By the time of his follow-up single, the talking verse and über-paranoia shtick had already run its course as "Obscene Phone Caller" stalled at No. 35, Rockwell's last charted record. (In the "cryptic but probably not actually interesting" category, we'd love to know if anyone can translate the characters on the newspaper at the video's opening for us.)

Bring back great memories, or recurring headaches? Got a recommendation? Leave us a comment.

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News

Can't Fight The Seether

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Veruca Salt's hardcore attitude in this week's Forgotten Video
GRAMMYs
Jun 21, 2017 - 12:57 am
GRAMMY.com

Welcome to Forgotten Videos. Well, for some forgotten, for others just filed away, and for others still, a totally brand-new discovery. Whichever category you fall into, each week we'll feature a video that's possibly been collecting dust when what it really deserves is a fresh look. Or, we'll be giving a fresh look at a video that deserves to be collecting dust. We're not here to judge, we just want to take you on a little trip down memory lane. Yep, you'll remember when hair was really that big, when drums were that up front in the mix, when video was young(er) and so were you.

Veruca Salt
"Seether"
1994

It was in 1994 when grunge saw one of its first female-fronted outfits hit the scene with the release of American Thighs featuring "Seether" and the stringy-haired, fierce vocals of Nina Gordon and Louise Post. It's almost hard to believe Gordon and Post started as two folk-singing coffeehouse troubadours before adding bassist Steve Lack and drummer Jim Shapiro to record a song that would likely never be heard in a coffeehouse. (It's also hard to believe they didn't name the band Violet Beauregarde.) "Seether" became a hit on MTV and landed the band a spot on tour with the always unpredictable Courtney Love and Hole. Though Veruca Salt was criticized by some as too pop to be grunge, American Thighs went gold and in 1997 the group traded ripped jeans and Dr. Martens for heavy metal chic when they released "Volcano Girls" off Eight Arms To Hold You. Unfortunately, as there were no cat fights or doll-eating humans in this video, it wasn't met with the same success. Gordon and Post eventually had a cat fight of their own and parted ways in 1998.

Got a Forgotten Video recommendation? Leave us a comment.

Last week's Forgotten Video

News

Kiss This Song Hello

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Bringing back Lita Ford in this week's Forgotten Video
GRAMMYs
Jun 21, 2017 - 12:57 am
GRAMMY.com

Welcome to Forgotten Videos. Well, for some forgotten, for others just filed away, and for others still, a totally brand-new discovery. Whichever category you fall into, each week we'll feature a video that's possibly been collecting dust when what it really deserves is a fresh look. Or, we'll be giving a fresh look at a video that deserves to be collecting dust. We're not here to judge, we just want to take you on a little trip down memory lane. Yep, you'll remember when hair was really that big, when drums were that up front in the mix, when video was young(er) and so were you.

Lita Ford
"Kiss Me Deadly"
1988

A decade before this song hit No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, Lita Ford was a runaway. Well, technically, she was a member of the all-girl punk rock group the Runaways, which might have been an even more serious situation than running away from home. The Runaways never broke through commercially, and between their breakup in 1979 and the release of "Kiss Me Deadly" Lita supported herself as everything from a perfume salesperson to a gas station attendant (apparently, when they still had such jobs). "Kiss Me…" is undoubtedly catchy pop/rock, but what it means to be kissed deadly isn't quite clear in the song, though the sound of it — combined with Lita's sexual advances on her guitar — does somehow conjure male teen fantasies. And she does sing "laid," which, as Paris would say, is hot. One of Lita's other interim jobs was hairdresser, though we're not sure if she did her own very '80s-metal vixen coif for the video. Lita followed up in 1989 with "Close My Eyes Forever," a duet with Ozzy Osbourne, which was the only Top 10 hit for either artist.

How did those ice sculptures not melt being next to Lita? Got a Forgotten Video recommendation? Leave us a comment.

Last week’s Forgotten Video

News

Smells Like Nirvana

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An ode to the 20th anniversary of Nevermind in this week's (not so) Forgotten Videos
GRAMMYs
Jun 21, 2017 - 12:57 am
GRAMMY.com

Welcome to Forgotten Videos. For some, these videos are forgotten, for others just filed away, and for others still, a totally brand-new discovery. Whichever category you fall into, each week we'll feature a video that's possibly been collecting dust when what it really deserves is a fresh look. Or vice-versa…. We're not here to judge, we just want to take you on a little trip down memory lane. Yep, you'll remember when hair was really that big, when drums were that up front in the mix, when video was young(er) and so were you.

Nirvana
"Smells Like Teen Spirit"
1991

On the Billboard 200 chart dated Jan. 11, 1992, three stringy-haired guys from Seattle displaced pop icon Michael Jackson's Dangerous to take the No. 1 spot. The trio was Nirvana and the album was their major label debut, Nevermind. That album went on to spend 253 weeks on the chart and spawned three hit singles, including this youth rebellion classic, which peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was the directorial breakthrough for music video producer Samuel Bayer, who was reportedly hired for the gig because of how "bad" his B-roll was. The end product was likely just what frontman Kurt Cobain had ordered — a non-corporate punk video that showcased a high school gone to hell complete with dancing cheerleaders, moshing students and plenty of anarchy. "By the first chorus the place was just a riot," recalled drummer Dave Grohl in the Classic Albums — Nirvana: Nevermind documentary. For those select fans who were invited to be part of the making of the video, it was the best gig they could have ever imagined. They, along with the band, were on the precipice of a phenomenon. And that guitar Cobain thrashes at the end of the video? Yeah, they got to help with that too.

Formed in 1987 in the rainy town of Aberdeen, Wash., by Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic along with original drummer Chad Channing, Nirvana quickly gained a cult following in the outskirts of grunge-laden Seattle. A year later, the band was signed to Seattle-based Sub Pop Records and released their first single, a cover of Shocking Blue's "Love Buzz." In 1989 the band released their full-length debut, Bleach, which ultimately peaked at No. 89 on the Billboard 200 in February 1992 catapulted by the popularity of Nevermind. But Bleach, which was recorded over a short 30 hours, was enough to make fans out of bands such as Dinosaur Jr., Mudhoney and Sonic Youth, and attract the attention of major labels. That summer, drummer Grohl was brought on, solidifying the lineup, and Nirvana signed with Geffen Records.

Released in September 1991, this month marks the 20th anniversary of Nevermind. Produced by GRAMMY winner Butch Vig, Nevermind was greeted by unexpectedly large fanfare, propelled by "Smells Like Teen Spirit," which caused the album to sell out of its initial shipment of 50,000 copies. The album garnered Nirvana their first GRAMMY nomination for Best Alternative Music Album in 1991, as well as two additional nominations the following year for Best Hard Rock Performance With Vocal and Best Rock Song for "Smells Like Teen Spirit." By 1992 the album had been certified triple platinum. To date, the album has sold more than 10 million copies.

"It changed my life," recalled Vig. "It changed everyone's life affiliated with it. Those don't come by very often [and] when they do it's a magic moment."

The band went on to release two more albums, 1993's GRAMMY-nominated In Utero and 1994's GRAMMY-winning MTV Unplugged In New York, both of which topped the Billboard 200, before Cobain's untimely suicide on April 5, 1994. Grohl went on to found Foo Fighters, and Novoselic moved into a career in politics. But being a part of Nirvana is no doubt high on the list of the coolest accomplishments for both.

"When I listen to [Nevermind] I hear a sense of purity and honesty that I haven't heard in a long time," recalled Grohl.

"It's undeniably the best thing I ever did in my whole life," said Novoselic.

It may be the best thing Weird Al Yonkovic has done in his life too.

Have you ever thrashed a high school gymnasium? Got any Forgotten Video recommendations? Leave us a comment.

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