You gotta take it, if ya wanna shake it!
Now this is a bit random - even by my standards - but it's been a while since my last flashback post and, let's face it, you really need this song in your life! As most of you are probably aware, I'm completely obsessed with '80s R&B and dance music. It was just... better. The popular divas (excluding Janet) could actually sing and they were more interested in flaunting their sequined leotards, bad special-effects and Jheri curls in videos than shafting meth in a drug den or whatever Rihanna's doing in "We Found Love". One of my favourite ladies from that golden era is Stephanie Mills. She came to fame on Broadway playing Dorothy in the original production of The Wiz and went on to become a disco icon in the late '70s with her seminal hit "Never Knew Love Like This Before".
While that tune remains her highest entry on the Billboard Hot 100, the ravishing diva was still selling Gold and Platinum albums well into the late '80s. I haven't heard them all yet but I'm absolutely in love with 1984's I've Got The Cure. It's basically the campest album La Toya never recorded and features the epic "Medicine Song". Words can't describe my love for this US #1 dance hit. Everything about it from David 'Hawk' Wolinski's quirky production to Stephanie's outrageous vocal delivery is perfection. And then there's the fabulous cover art and video clip. You haven't lived until you've seen the amazing magical leotards at the 1:15 minute mark. Whoever dreamed up the scenario is probably still lying somewhere in a cocaine-induced coma. Watch in awe as Stephanie Mills shows Nicki Minaj how to do crazy right.
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