When VH1 premiered "Behind The Music: New Edition" last year, I cried foul because the show should've been on longer than an hour. As a guy who grew up during that era, the New Edition story was one that fans really never knew.
Sure we knew we loved their songs and Bobby Brown was basically an open book, but Ralph, Ronnie, Ricky, Mike and later Johnny has always remained mystery outside of their hits
VH1's recent Behind The Music with Bobby Brown, cracked the New Edition door a little bit more, but TV One's "Life After: Bell, Biv, Devoe" moved a few hinges.
As Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins and Ronnie Devoe spoke how they went from the background to one of the leading acts of the early 90's , you forget how musically intoxicating and influential their debut album "Poison" was, (keep in mind, this is before Sean "Puffy" Combs created Bad Boy. In fact this was prior to Combs working with Mary J. Blige and Jodeci at Uptown Records).
Couple of things that stood out from "Life After" includes how lead singer Ralph Tresvant wanted to leave the group prior to the "N.E. Heartbreak" album and that there is now a business divide with BBD one side and Ralph, Bobby and Johnny Gill one the other.
One thing that I also respected about rock acts like Fleetwood Mac and The Eagles is that even though some of these members may hated each other, they still understood that business is business and personal is personal.
Diana Ross and The Supremes has yet to figure this out, neither has Lionel Richie and The Commodores.
Hopefully New Edition will wake up one day before they turn 50 yeaqrs old, put their issues aside and make some money or better yet, make some good music.
Check out Life After: Bell Biv Devoe on TV One
Poison
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