Don’t Lie, You Were Jamming Too: 7 Singers & Groups We Used to Get Made Fun Of For Listening To

Macy Gray

Okay, so she was no Sade. In fact, for many, her voice was like listening to a teacher scratch a gritty chalk board. When Aaliyah passed away in 2001, I even knew a guy who said, “Why do the good singers have to die? Why couldn’t they take Macy Gray???” Word? Macy Gray was kind of an acquired taste, and if you could overlook the unique qualities of her voice and listen to the lyrics and the production of her songs, you’d know she was actually pretty dope. But alas, to each their own.

Hootie & The Blowfish

Hootie and his crew were that deal back in the day. Don’t lie, “I Only Wanna Be With You” is an extremely relaxing and nice song. But aside from that, they had some other big songs that had us bobbing our heads: “I Go Blind,” “Let Her Cry” and “Time.” Too bad that when I bring up Hootie & The Blowfish, and ask if people were fans, they’d rather give me the hell-no-I-sure-wasn’t face.

Shania Twain

MAN, I feel like a woman! Though clearly a country singer, Shania Twain and her warm voice had crossover appeal that had folks thinking she was pop. Her love ballads were wedding-worthy and beautiful, and her faster pop-ish tracks used to have me acting a fool with my Walkman on when folks thought I was listening to that new Mary J. Blige album. She was to people what Taylor Swift is to today’s young and impressionable folks. Twain has been on sabbatical for a while now, but we’ll always have the Greatest Hits album girl…

P.M. Dawn

If you watched any of their videos, clearly the creators of “Set Adrift on Memory Bliss” weren’t the hardest rap acts or deepest ones out there. But they were a pretty sensitive and colorful ensemble that could put together some memorable tracks (none more popular than the aforementioned song). If you weren’t bobbing your head kind of hard to “Set Adrift” or dancing around in a circle, you have no pulse…or soul. (Just kidding! *Smiles*)

The Canadian Angst Singer: Alanis Morissette

These ladies were pretty much saying everything I was thinking as a young woman growing up, or at least saying things to guys I wasn’t bold enough to say or even whisper nowadays (“Are you thinking of me when you f**k her?”). Alanis always sounded like she was screaming at the top of her lungs/yodeling when she would sing, but somehow it sounded so good and the messages in her songs were so deep you could easily forget who and what you were listening to.

Spice Girls

Yes, it’s true, if you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends. Or at least, that’s what these five ladies were preaching when they hit the scene back in ’96 (DAMN, it has been a while…I’m getting old). I was trying to get their album for Christmas and see their movie to the dismay of my brother, and if that weren’t enough, they had me craving the highest pair of platform sneakers out there even though those joints, looking back, were tacky as hell. Their music wasn’t all that good, but when Scary Spice and her friends hit the scene, you couldn’t tell me nothin’. It was all about Spice World. Shout out to the folks who used to have “Wannabe” on repeat on “The Box.” Clearly I wasn’t the only fan…

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