[1990-1994 Best Songs]
Billboard Top 100, 1991, #91
Groove Is In The Heart features a lot of odd-ball instruments, samples, scratching, and one of the first really solid hip-hop bridge segments in a pop song. This all combines to produce a lot of dissonance in the sound - that stop-and-start rhythm and warble-y melody that makes you uncomfortable. Normally, you won't see much of this because the goal of most songs is to make people connect. But in this case it works brilliantly, blending against the vocal which floats up and down the scale. It deliberately throws you off-balance, then brings you back a bit. You could say it plays hard-to-get, making it that much more attractive.
At some point, this song became a classic. Go out dancing - not to some club where everybody is under 24 years old, but a place they place a variety of R&B - and you'll see. The same way the crowd may get excited for a Michael Jackson song or a Disco hit like Brick House, Groove Is In the Heart will get the place moving. And if you happen to be a lady all done up in Funk-a-delic, with false eyelashes and giant lady-boots, well then you my dear, get center stage.
Extra Credit: find the Dr. Seuss reference!
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