Deeee-lite-ful!

I wasn't fully-exposed to the power of MTV until 1990, when our rural house seven miles outside my hometown finally had access to cable television. Prior to that my only exposure was the occassional glimpse at a friends home or the one weekend in which my best friend and I watched and rewatched 4 pre-recorded hours of the network that his older brother had recorded on VHS and mailed to him from Colorado.
Around the time that we finally got cable and, subsequently, MTV, I stumbled across the video for Deee-Lite's "Groove is in the Heart!", a spectacularly colorful display of 70's-esque fashion and funkadelic combined with a club-ready beat and a spectacular rap from Q-Tip, the lead performer from A Tribe Called Quest. While there was no denying the allure of the video, the song itself was transformative to me. Never before had I heard something so unique, so fun, yet so artfully structured.
For Christmas that year I asked for and received the entire album, World Clique, and while none of the other songs were nearly as radio-ready as the first, I still loved nearly every track. The quirky opening prologue quickly gave away to the ferocious "Good Beat", a hard hitting dance track that challenges the listener to refrain from letting loose.
The following song, "The Power of Love", was their follow-up single to "Groove...", and while it's lyrically fun (and, in hind-listen, aged wonderfully), I didn't find it nearly as enjoyable as "Good Beat" or the album's funkiest track, the piano & bass-driven "Try Me On... I'm Very You". Even to this day, as I'm listening to and writing this entry, I feel an urge to sing and dance along. It's a unique and catchy sentiment that I suspect could have propelled them to a follow-up hit - an opportunity lost, I'm certain.
Another fun, quirky song, is the randomly ridiculous "Who Was That", perhaps one of hte only danceable songs about dealing with a home invader - quirky, spooky, perhaps disturbing, but featuring a "good beat" of it's own.
Following World Clique, the group produced two more less successful albums, Infinity Within and Dewdrops in the Garden. The sophmore work featured a number of big beats, yet they coupled many of these lyrics with left-leaning lyrics that tackled issues from safe sex (on Rubber Lover), the environmental crisis (I Had a Dream I was Falling Through a Hole in the Ozone Layer)and the corrupt judicial systems (Fuddy Duddy Judge). Perhaps fearing that the lyrics may have scared off some fans, their final album was much less political in nature, focusing more on providing dance-ready tracks.
Admittedly I purchased and love all these albums and to this day still hope for a reunion of the members - these days it feels like America could use a good dose of Groove in their Hearts.