Saturday Night Live: Deee-lite

Saturday Night Live: Deee-lite
NBC
February 16, 1991
Variety
VHS
B-

Host Roseanne introduces the band, featuring Bootsy, twice, as they perform the title track from World Clique, as well as "Power of Love."  This is the 2200th show I've reviewed.

Deee-Lite: Power of Love

Deee-Lite: Power of Love
MTV
Song released 1990
Music Video
VHS
B

A dreamier, less populated video than "Groove Is In the Heart," this has Lady Miss Kier in a variety of outfits, including flower-alien and Vegas showgirl.  And DJ Dimitry's dancing and grinning still make me smile.

Deee-Lite: Groove Is In the Heart

Deee-Lite: Groove Is In the Heart
MTV
Song released August 1990
Music Video
VHS
B+

I know this has nothing to do with how good the video is, but let me say that watching this today took me back to that summer and fall, as we moved inexorably towards the first Gulf War and the economy crumbled and I was an unemployed newlywed living with my husband in Oregon.  And I kept saying, "You know that woman that can't sing?  Why can't I get enough of this awful song?  OK, maybe it's not awful."  And the video that surpassed "Love Shack" for its blending of decades (and I mean puree) that I couldn't stop watching, and I didn't know anything about rave culture then, so I thought this was really disco, after all there was Bootsy Collins himself, stars and all, just like on the kitschy record albums I'd buy at bookstores.

So that all came back to me, plus how can you not be charmed by faux-fur-wearing and faux-French-speaking Lady Miss Kier; DJ Dimitry, man-bun pioneer, grinning throughout; and Towa Tei, who I think I thought was a somber lesbian.  Then and now I want to get up and dance with them and all those colorfully dressed people, and, yes, I still own the cassette of World Clique.  Oh, and I know this is from MTV because Adam Curry says the video has climbed to #5 that week, whatever week that was.