Color Me Badd is back…

In case you missed it — and I know that I did — Oklahoma City's own Color Me Badd is reuniting. They will play a show with All-4-One in Oklahoma City on July 30th at some place called Casablanca near the Kilpatrick Turnpike.

If you are under the age of 25 and wondering why this is news, it's because Color Me Badd is a "boy band" from Oklahoma City that made it huge in the early 90s. They are kind of like Oklahoma City's version of Hansen, except the band members are not related, not as talented and none of them look like 11-year-old girls.

The fact that a band like Color Me Badd achieved such high levels of success is kind of remarkable. They really weren't great singers, performers, and they even came across as dorky in 1991.

In fact, I think a group like Color Me Badd could only have been successful in the early 1990s. That was just a weird period in music. There were lots of musical styles beginning to take shape and control of the landscape (think hip hop and alternative), and music didn't seem as categorized as it is today. It wouldn't be odd to turn on KJ-103 and hear some dude rap about the summertime, some homosexual from Georgia sing about religion (over the chords of a mandolin), and then some monks chant about sadness.

It also wouldn't be odd to turn on MTV and see a Color Me Badd music video where they fall in love with a transvestite:

Anyway, I guess it's cool that the group is getting back together. This is something we suggested a few years ago. It almost happened then, so I guess we shouldn't be surprised to see it happen now.

That being said, the entire band didn't reunite. This version of Color Me Badd is just the black dude, Hispanic dude and the recovering alcoholic, wife-beating, VH1 starring, tire changing, fried food eating white guy who could sing. The guy who looked like Kenny G with AIDS (and was the son of my 6th grade music teacher) had some dignity and declined to participate.

And is All-4-One the best they could do for an opening act?

If I wanted to see some washed up awkward multicultural acepella group play old hits from the 1990s, I would just go see Color Me Badd. They should have gone after a different style opening act. You know, something like Timmy T, Natural Selection or KLF.

Also, Color Me Badd's biggest hit was "I Wanna Sex You Up." All-4-One topped the charts with "She's Got Skillz."  They should just call this thing the "Songs-that-made-you-feel-uncomfortable-when-they-came-on-the-radio-and-you-were-riding-around-with-your-mom-in-the-car" Tour.  It could be presented by Slap Bracelets or Hyper Color.