By the end of the '80s, though the group was still riding high - 1988's Heart Break had a Top 10 hit with 'If It Isn't Love' - the band ultimately took a hiatus for much of the 1990s.

Bobby Brown ultimately left the group for a successful solo career, and the group hired up-and-comer Johnny Gill (later a moderately successful solo artist for Motown). Telephone Man' and a cover of 'Earth Angel' for The Karate Kid Part II. The quick-working ensemble pressed on, securing a deal with MCA and releasing hit singles like 'Cool It Now,' 'Mr. (When the group left Starr's employ, he took their group dynamic and applied it to a quintet of white Boston teens, under the name New Kids on the Block.) Along with singers Ralph Tresvant and Bobby Brown, the quintet was first discovered by music impresario Maurice Starr, who proceeded to railroad the group despite respectable sales of debut album Candy Girl, released on Streetwise Records in 1983. Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins and Ronnie DeVoe were already known to fans of R&B and dance music at the time, as three-fifths of the Boston-based ensemble New Edition. While you may not want to trust a big butt and a smile, we hope you find today's Reissue Theory look at Bell Biv DeVoe a fun read, after the jump. It spawned three Top 40 singles and moved some 4 million units in the U.S., and provided one of the better 'second acts' in late '80s/early '90s R&B. And they won't let go. Since its release more than two decades ago, BBD's first album remains a pioneering LP in the New Jack Swing genre, itself one of the most insanely addictive musical genres of the 1990s. Warn youuuu.that if you listen to 'Poison' by Bell Biv DeVoe one too many times, those herky-jerky New Jack beats will affix themselves to your brain.

One of the biggest R&B hits of 1990 is still an earworm today - but is there more lurking underneath the surface? The debut of Bell Biv DeVoe is reassessed. Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on notable albums and the reissues they may someday see.

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