07/03/25 Sometimes a single is released that reaches such dizzying heights of success that it becomes a pinnacle of the decade they're indelibly tied to. Groove Is In The Heart by dance-house trio Deee-Lite is one such single. The infectiously quirky, and eminently danceable track is prominently based around samples of Bring Down The Birds by Herbie Hancock, and Get Up by Vernon Burch, among many others, (Courtesy of dual producers DJs Dmitry and Towa Tei) paired with top-tier guest contributions from JB's veterans Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley, background vocals from Parliament-Funkadelic's own Bootsy Collins, and even a guest rap from Q-Tip, not to mention frontwoman Lady Miss Kier's own siren-like vocals. All disparate and disconnected elements, but ones that would come together to form dancehall greatness, and chart-topping success worldwide for Deee-Lite. Groove Is In The Heart managed to reach #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, but excelled at its best on the Hot Dance Club Play chart, where it reached to the #1 spot. On top of its success in America it was a smash internationally, climbing the heights of the charts in the UK, Canada, Australia, and a vareity of other countries. It remained in heavy rotation for much of 1990 on MTV as well. As the decades went on, Groove Is In The Heart would be ranked among the greatest dance tracks of all time, as well as one of the greatest songs of the 1990s by VH1, Pitchfork, Buzzfeed, and many more. Groove Is In The Heart was a potent single for Deee-Lite to lead with, but the album bearing it was nothing to slouch at either. The group's debut record, 1990's World Clique was released to major commercial and critical success, owing just as much to its addictive hybrid of seductive retro aesthetics, modern dancefloor flair, and esoteric, socially conscious messaging, on the back of celebratory club staples like Power Of Love, Good Beat, E.S.P., and of course Groove Is In The Heart. World Clique would reach top 20 charts in the US, UK, and Canada in sales, as well as earn rave reviews from NME, Chicago Sun-Times, Rolling Stone, and Slant Magazine, who called it an "essential pop album."
