Last week a friend from high school got married, and before he got on the plane he updated his Facebook status, "Off on my honeymoon. Don't disturb this groove."
I laughed out loud when I read it, mostly because I realized that I hadn't heard that 80s song, "Don't Disturb This Groove" in a really long time. The 80s have had quite the cultural resurgence over the past few years, but I feel like it's always the same 80s songs you hear over and over again: the one-hit wonders, the hair bands and for some strange reason lately, New Kids on the Block.
What about the Quiet Storm, those wonderful, gooey love songs that everyone secretly loves? The System, Jeffrey Osborne and Stevie Wonder aren't what usually come to mind when one thinks of an 80s compilation. At least from a melodic point of view, their stuff is leaps and bounds better than anything Devo ever put out. (Thank you, Quincy Jones!)
For the sake of taking a new angle on 80s music, these are my favorite 80s R&B slow jams, a genre we should all pay more attention to.
Bonus track (There's always a bonus track): "Exit Music," a song that five years ago I heard in a Starbucks and was so struck by it that I bought the CD for sale at the counter. Jazzy, dark and dramatic.
