Color Me Badd

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• Genre: New Jack
• Hometown: Oklahoma City
• Color Me Badd Website

About

Color Me Badd aren't "bad" musically -- the harmonies stand up -- and they aren't so "bad" that they're actually good. If anything, the etymology of "badd" is probably related to Michael Jackson's assertion in his hit single of the same name. Sure, Jackson meant to be scary, but he was dancing around with one glove on. He was the king of cuddle. Nobody was scared. Nobody was meant to be scared. Color Me Badd's similarly cuddly, emasculated boy pop touched off a flurry of imitators (including the current deluge), and stayed in the charts throughout the '90s. Then as now, incessant harmonies and a cappella ruminations sweated their earnest way onto airwaves across the country. Their first hit single "I Wanna Sex You Up" had parents across the country scrambling for "birds and bees" books to quickly educate transfixed -- and confused -- young listeners.

- Sarah Bardeen