Tuesday, April 09, 2013

This Is Why TLC Went Bankrupt

I love the song Creep by TLC. Hell, I love the entire Crazy Sex Coll record and if you don't have it, you need to download it and spend the day listening to it and reveling in it. It is pure 90's, but in a very good way. It was the dying gasp of making a lot of money in the music industry by selling records and you thought the money would never stop. The video below was unearthed two days ago. It is for the song Creep. It is the second of three videos that TLC made for the song. Yeah. They made three really expensive videos for one song and wonder what happened to all their money and why they declared bankruptcy. But hey, at least we got a a treat from them 20 years later.

35 comments:

FlakyB said...

I think Enty is a woman.

Seachica said...

Crazy Sexy Cool.

Am I missing something? I can't see the video.

FSP said...

@FlakyB - multiple

Cathy said...

Destiny's Child wishes they were as talented as TLC.

camembert said...

This video is awful, so it's no wonder they re-shot it.

Maybe the TLC girls profligate in their spending, but it's also well documented that they had a terrible record deal.

delete account said...

Actually, Enty, as I remember it it was the video for "Waterfalls" that bankrupted them.

Pharcyde said...

@Flaky--Based on the tone of a lot of the posts by Enty, I have to agree with you.

Syd said...

Holy Shit! Has it been 20 years???

Jeneral said...

I was obsessed with this album my freshman year of highschool. Waterfalls is still my jam.

delete account said...

Wow! It is bad. Like a smashup of Madonna's Express Yourself (the cat part), Janets What Have You Done For Me Lately (the diner part) and Lionel Ritchies All Night Long (the dancing in the street part).

saycheese said...

no scrubs was my song when I was a cute 19 yr old cruising around with my friends thinking we were hot shit

The BLS said...

CrazySexyCool was classic....

Christopher Cruz said...

I LOVE TLC!!! Fan Mail and 3D were also really good records- they don't make 'em like this anymore...

Flo said...

Or a gay guy who hangs out with Real Housewives and their friends. But yeah, if you are friends with any reality star, you are either a gay guy, or a catty bitch.

Katie said...

It used to be a guy who was a much better writer than the girl who took over. She mistakes snark and cleverness for cattiness and bitchiness

Katie said...

There was some special years ago about how they went bankrupt. They were only making three cents on the dollar. They were lucky to make $50k a year.

NomNom83 said...

Their "Behind the Music" should be required viewing for anyone about to sign a recording contract.

When Lisa/Left-Eye broke down the math of what TLC was responsible for paying for, it was sobering. Millions of records sold and almost nothing to show for it. Understanding the business side gave me a much better appreciation for the acts that go out on the road to keep earning or who find other lucrative avenues.

Amy in MI said...

I was watching the ESPN 30 for 30 on athletes who went broke and Andre "bad moon " Rison was on. My favorite part in the Behind the Music was when Chilli said "Lisa Burn the house down!" They showed clips of that on the 30 for 30


God I miss the 90s

Nina Roux said...

Actually, this is the reason the record companies went broke. They pay for music videos. Unfortunately, prior to YOUTUBE, all videos were merely promotional tools - so the only way $$ was made from videos was record sales.
Artists go broke because they spend the $$ the record companies front them, without realizing they have to pay it back in sales/touring.
Artists also go broke because they aren't business minded, and trust the wrong people to mind their money.

Robert said...

I remember Lisa Lopes saying, "Now, I'm gonna show you how you can sell 56 million albums and end up bankrupt." It was depressing; between reimbursing the record company, paying their management and various others, and the tax bracket their gross income put them in, they were left without a pot to piss in.

Nellie said...

He thought Sheryl crow was wearing denim yesterday. That's a very dude thing.

timebob said...

They were paid puppets to sing and dance and look pretty. Unless you are writing your own music and licensing it to pepsi commericals. Or like Madonna forcing writers to give up 1/2 the writing credit to her. But they get to say they worked with 'Madonna'

It's hard to make a buck.

CrazyCatLady said...

I always heard "Waterfalls" bankrupted them since it had a ton of CGI which was fairly new back then. Regardless they were such an awesome group!

r said...

I remember Trisha Yearwood getting a business degree in Nashville in the Music "Business" and thought wondered about it until I read about how corrupt the music is.

r said...

err, how corrupt the music "business" is, but I suppose the statement is valid that way as well.

bruce said...

lets not forget that they also had one of the worst recording contracts in history of the music business ( something laface records is notorious for)

Nothanksdarlin said...

Video would have been better if Left Eye caught that shit on fire before she left. I'm kidding. But I LOVE this band. I rock the hell outta them in the car

Maja With a J said...

Ah, the 90's.

Nancy said...

I loved TLC back in the day. Such a shame that Left Eye is no longer with us.

Kiki K said...

Ah my fav band as a teen. I listened that cd to death.

ablake said...

That's not why they went bankrupt. They had piss poor management and Lisa burning down her boyfriend's house didn't help.
Ent- here's a request: Check out Wiki first

Also, RIP Lisa

Agent**It said...

It's Enty Jr. Always sucks.

Jenn said...

Scrubs and Creep is the best. I love them. I've still got my CD's.

Anonymous said...

It was insinuated that Lisa burned Andre's house down because he gave her herpes. Just saying.....

kit said...

I remember this video and was surprised at the time when the other video came out. I think 'Red Light Special' followed on.

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