SINGLES GOING STEADY: "SHE'S PLAYING HARD TO GET" BY HI-FIVE

When it comes to new-ish R&B, I tend to respond favorably to the most dated stuff of the early 90s.  Music critics would classify this sub genre of R&B as "New Jack Swing." With its hip hop drum samples and cheap synthesizers, the majority of this music doesn't really hold up by today's standards.   Why it holds up for me, I'm not exactly sure.  I think it might have something to do with me being very young at the time of its popularity.  If that means I miss being a little kid, I don't think I'm alone.

Hi-Five was a reasonably successful R&B quintet from Waco, Texas.  Signed to Jive Records, the same record label The Backstreet Boys would become famous on several years later, the group had a few hit songs and were featured on the soundtrack to the movie Boyz N The Hood.  The standout member was a talented singer named Tony Thompson, who joined the band when he was 15.  The band broke up in 1994 but apparently still plays from time to time today. Unfortunately, Tony Thompson passed away in 2007.

I don't think I heard this song when I was a kid—or at least I'm not pretentious enough to claim I remember a song that wasn't a huge, worldwide smash when I was three years old.  Come on, who would believe that?  That said, since I don't have any warm, fuzzy memories associated with this song specifically, I think it speaks to how good it actually is.  In other words, my opinion is influenced only by the words and music.   Here's how I describe it: catchy.  

"She's Playing Hard To Get" by Hi-Five

There is something about those synthesizers that soothes me like a lullabye.  If you've already read my article on smooth jazz , you will recall that I like to sleep to this kind of thing.  I won't deny that they sound awful though.  Sounds sort of like the synthesizers they used for music on the show Barney—and I never was a fan of that particular dinosaur.  He would have ruined the movie Jurassic Park if he had made a cameo.   Let's be thankful that Spielberg had the good sense to not include Barney in that movie—or in any of his movies, for that matter.   I haven't seen Lincoln, but I guess we'll have to take a chance and assume Barney the Dinosaur doesn't play Robert E. Lee!