Music Monday: TLC 1994
Twenty-five years ago, this week, the song Creep by TLC debuted on the Billboard Hot 100, entering the chart at #71. Written and produced by Dallas Austin, it was the first single released from their second studio album CrazySexyCool. It is based on member Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins‘s experience with infidelity. The lyrics portray the singers as women who cheat on their unfaithful lovers for attention.
You’re with a guy and he’s not showing you attention, so another guy comes along and you’re like, “Hey, if you were where you were supposed to be, he couldn’t be showing me attention right now!” I was in the middle of this drama, because the other guy was [my boyfriend’s] friend and my boyfriend was just not getting it together.
[From T-Boz]
The idea was controversial. [M]ember Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was opposed to it. She threatened to wear black tape over her mouth in the song’s music video to express her disagreement with its message, and its selection as CrazySexyCool’s lead single, [in] part because of the group’s history of advocating for safe sex.
The women sing about infidelity, revenge, status and power plays, not as victims but as contenders. [W]hen they’re cheated on, they cheat, too.
[From Jon Parales @ The New York Times, advocating for the concept.]
The song made it to #1 and remained for four weeks. It also made it to #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart and the Billboard Rhythmic chart.
Lisa Lopes passed away April 25, 2002, from injuries in a car crash. She was 30 years old.
[I have to confess that I have never heard this song. The middle 90s was the time I stopped listening to Top 40 and moved to Alternative Rock stations. ~Vic]
Accolades
Legacy
Cover Versions
Lyrics via LyricFind:
(Creep) oh ah, oh ah, oh ah yeah,
(Creep) oh ah, oh ah, oh ah yeah,
(Creep) oh ah, oh ah, oh ah yeah,
(Creep) oh ah, oh ah, oh ah yeah,
The twenty second of loneliness
And we’ve been through so many things.
I love my man with all honesty,
But I know he’s cheating on me.
Look him in the eyes,
But all he tells me is lies to keep me near.
I’ll never leave him down though I might mess around.
It’s only ’cause I need some affection, oh.
So I creep, yeah, just creepin’ on,
On the down low, ‘cept nobody is supposed to know.
So I creep yeah, ’cause he doesn’t know what I do
And no attention goes to show oh.
So I creep.
The twenty third of loneliness
And we don’t talk, like we used to do.
Now this is pretty strange,
But I’m not buggin’ ’cause I still feel the same.
I Keep giving loving till the day he pushes me away.
Never go a stray.
If he knew the things I did, he couldn’t handle me.
And I choose to keep him protected, oh.
So I creep, yeah, just creepin’ on,
But I’ll know. ‘cept nobody is supposed to know.
So I creep, yeah, ’cause he doesn’t know what I do,
And no attention goes to show oh.
So I creep, yeah, just creepin’ on,
But I’ll know. ‘cept nobody is supposed to know.
So I creep, yeah, ’cause he doesn’t know what I do,
And no attention goes to show.
So I creep, oh ah, oh ah, oh ah yeah
So I creep, oh ah, oh ah, oh ah yeah
So I creep, oh ah, oh ah, oh ah yeah
Baby, oh ah, oh ah, oh ah yeah
So I creep, yeah, just creepin’ on,
But I’ll know.
So I creep, yeah, ’cause he doesn’t know what I do,
And no attention goes to show.
So I creep, yeah, just creepin’ on,
But I’ll know.
So I creep, yeah, ’cause he doesn’t know what I do,
So I creep, ‘cept nobody is supposed to know.
Cosmic-Observation 
November 19, 2019 at 12:03 AM
1994 was a seriously good year for music 😀
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November 19, 2019 at 1:09 AM
Yes it was. Also the same year we lost Kurt Cobain. 😦
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November 19, 2019 at 1:19 AM
Ooh yeah it was. Just remember leaving high that summer, cramming inside someone’s knackered old van and going to my first Glastonbury.
Jeeez a lot went on in 1994 now I think about it
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November 19, 2019 at 3:02 AM
What’s a Glastonbury? I’m a dull-witted, un-traveled, un-cultured American…
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November 19, 2019 at 3:29 AM
Oh sorry – it’s a very British festival I forget the rest of the world isn’t automatically aware.
Glastonbury used to be one of the UK’s best festivals held every year with loads of different stages that each had a specific type of music and fantastic line up.
1994 was the first time I went aged 16 and that year saw everyone from Bjork, Rage Against The Machine, Radiohead, Oasis, Blur, Beastie Boys, Paul Weller, Van Morrison and my favourite set of all time was from The Levellers which they headlined on the Saturday.
Link to The Levellers set that night it was mint and as a 16yr old fresh out of school it was mind-blowing.
First time we took the kids when they were 6 and 8yrs old I told school they were both deathly ill with some contagious disease and BBC 3 went and busted my ass in one clean hit showing them during the live coverage.
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November 19, 2019 at 1:25 PM
Gotcha. I recognize all those names except Paul Weller & The Levellers.
Heh. Busted by the BBC. Sounds like something that would happen to me. 🙄
Your Glastonbury sounds much like Austin’s SXSW or, in Boomer terms, Woodstock. I lived in Texas for nearly a decade. SXSW is enormous with music for all tastes.
I was 27/28 in 1994.
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November 20, 2019 at 12:36 AM
I didn’t see the links on my phone (they don’t show up). I enjoyed The Levellers and was fascinated with their backstory. Who was the dude in the kilt?
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November 19, 2019 at 12:11 AM
Did you listen to it when you wrote this blog?
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November 19, 2019 at 1:09 AM
I did.
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November 19, 2019 at 10:29 AM
I can listen to Waterfalls anytime and still like it.
That’s about it for me, for TLC.
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November 19, 2019 at 1:40 PM
I agree with you. As I listened, I wasn’t particularly moved. When it comes to R&B/Soul music, I’m a “Motown Sound” type. But, “Waterfalls” is a good one.
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November 19, 2019 at 2:49 PM
Ok, and is anything better than “Heard It Through the Grapevine” I ask you?!
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November 20, 2019 at 12:03 AM
Better than that? NO. Just as good? Many. “Baby, I Need Your Lovin'”, “The Tracks of My Tears”, “Reach Out I’ll Be There”, “Love Child”, “The Tears of a Clown”, “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone”, “Love Hangover”, “Reflections”, “Don’t Leave Me This Way”, “Oh No”… Then, I foray into Beach Music.
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November 19, 2019 at 8:22 PM
Can’t do it…for once I’m the heretic! I would love to go to Glastonbury this year…McCartney I think is going to headline.
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November 20, 2019 at 12:53 AM
Hey. No shame. I’m not fond of this song, myself. I don’t necessarily post what I like. I’m merely covering history and try to use five year increments. It doesn’t always work out that way.
Glastonbury sound COOL. Ever been to a SXSW?
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November 20, 2019 at 9:29 AM
No I’ve never been to s SXSW but my neighbor has and he loved it. He lived in Texas for a while.
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November 20, 2019 at 6:24 PM
I went to a couple. It is HUGE. A lot of drunks…a lot of drugs…many fights. The food was awesome. Most of the music was awesome.
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November 20, 2019 at 10:03 PM
Drunks, Drugs and Fights…lol sounds like a fun time. Tennessee has Bonnaroo but I’ve never went before…that traffic is awful.
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