Also, lessons in positive encouragement.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THE ALBUM?
One of the guys in Joe Public went to my high school. Not at the same time as me. But one of my teachers told me that. He wasn’t sure which guy, but he was pretty sure the guy’s name wasn’t Joe. This tale may have been apocryphal, but it is not my job to question my teacher’s memories. My job is to question whether or not Joe Public should be on your CD shelf. If anyone other than me still has one, that is. Another reason I hate the digital revolution. Scrolling through someone’s mp3 playlist in order to silently judge them isn’t as fun.
I’m not sure why new jack swing is all but dead as a music genre these days. Maybe Bobby Brown’s crack smoking destroyed America more than we ever realized. Or maybe people don’t need music to get laid anymore. Seriously, where are the sexy songs? The kind that get people in the mood. Sure, listening to Adele may lead to sex, but your woman will be crying the whole time. Or man. Or you. Hey, I’m not judgmental, I’m just relaying scientific facts. Someone will be crying if you try to bone while listening to Adele.
I couldn’t find a proper copy of Joe Public’s self-titled debut online, but Spotify has a compilation that collects material from both of their albums. Good enough to groove.
Opening with “Live and Learn,” this quickly lays down what new jack swing is all about. Sultry R&B grooves with hip hop beats, alternating between sly crooning and positive rapping. Track 2 is listed as “Do You Everynite,” but in the chorus, they keep singing “I’ve Been Watching,” which is the title of track 4. Track 3 is listed as “Easy Come, Easy Go,” but in the chorus, they keep singing “I Miss You,” which is the title of track 6. In the chorus of track 4, they sing “I’ve Got A Thang For You,” which is the title of a song not on this compilation. Okay, off to Wikipedia I go.
Apparently, this actually is Joe Public’s self-titled album. Spotify just mislabeled it with the tracklisting from a compilation that sort of exists. It’s kind of like those bootleg cassettes you buy from the Korean grocery store where the song listing is out of order and the artwork is backwards. Wait, did I accidentally download the Korean version of Spotify?
“This One’s For You” gives shout-outs to Jasmine Guy, MC Lyte, the Fly Girls, and Downtown Julie Brown, among others. It doesn’t get more 90s than that. And the Joe Public guys are classy enough to apologize to anyone they forgot to mention. Drake wouldn’t have the class to do that, and you’d think he learned something about class from his time on Degrassi.
Sure, nothing here rivals Bobby Brown’s oeuvre, but really can anyone rival his brand of perfection? Still, there’s grooves here to last for hours, well, technically 45 minutes, but that’s what the repeat button is for, dammit! “Do You Everynite” is basically Color Me Badd’s “I Wanna Sex You Up.” If Color Me Badd were good, that is. Oh, snap. I went there, Team CMB fangirls.
FINAL VERDICT: Former Erie County Executive Dennis Gorski pronounced April 13, 1996 to be Goo Goo Dolls Day. Yet we never received a Joe Public Day. Asshole. That’s why I never voted for you. Well, that and the fact that you stopped running for office by the time I was legal voting age.
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