''World Clique'' is the debut album by American

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...

band

Deee-Lite Deee-Lite was an American house and dance music group formed in New York City. The group's best-known single is "Groove Is in the Heart", which was released in 1990 from their debut studio album ''World Clique'' (1990), and was a top-ten hit i ...

, which was released in 1990. The album's first single, "

Groove Is in the Heart "Groove Is in the Heart" is a song by American dance band Deee-Lite, released in August 1990 as their debut and lead single from their first album, ''World Clique'' (1990). Written and produced by the band, it was a hit in many countries, reach ...

", was a top-five success on both the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

as well as a No. 1 hit on the U.S.

Hot Dance Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart. Three subsequent singles also hit the top ten on the U.S. dance chart, including " Power of Love/Build That Bridge", which also hit No. 1, and "Good Beat". Guest artists on the album include

Bootsy Collins William Earl "Bootsy" Collins (born October 26, 1951) is an American bass guitarist and singer. Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s, and later with Parliament-Funkadelic, Collins established himself as one of the leading n ...

, Q-Tip,

Fred Wesley Fred Wesley (born July 4, 1943) is an American trombonist who worked with James Brown in the 1960s and 1970s and Parliament-Funkadelic in the second half of the 1970s. Biography Wesley was born the son of a high school teacher and big band lead ...

and

Maceo Parker Maceo Parker (; born February 14, 1943) is an American funk and soul jazz saxophonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s, Parliament-Funkadelic in the 1970s and Prince in the 2000s. Parker was a prominent soloist on many o ...

. When ''World Clique'' was released on

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

, two bonus tracks were added to the album: "Deee-Lite Theme" and "Build the Bridge". "E.S.P." contains a sample of actor

Bela Lugosi Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (; ), was a Hungarian and American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic ''Dracula'', Ygor in ''S ...

from the 1934 film '' The Black Cat''.

Critical reception

Robert Hilburn Robert Hilburn (born September 25, 1939) is an American pop music critic, author, and radio host. As critic and music editor at the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1970 to 2005, his reviews, essays and profiles appeared in publications around the wor ...

of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' called ''World Clique'' "seductive and smart", while ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' called it an "innovative, media-saturated debut". In 2003, ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

'' included ''World Clique'' in its list, Vital Pop: 50 Essential Pop Albums. Charles Pitter for Zouch notes that album track and single "Groove Is in the Heart" is a "dance classic".

Commercial performance

The album's initial success occurred in the UK, where it peaked at No. 14 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

in September 1990. Simultaneously, the album entered the ''Billboard'' 200 at No. 180 for the week of September 15 in the US. Fueled by the success of "Groove Is in the Heart", ''World Clique'' continued to climb the chart for several weeks, peaking at No. 20 for the week of November 24. The success of subsequent singles "Power of Love", "Good Beat", and "E.S.P." helped the album to sustain steady sales throughout the following months, with the album achieving RIAA Gold certification in December 1990 and remaining on the ''Billboard'' 200 for a total of 41 weeks before falling off the chart in June 1991, following its final chart position at No. 199. ''World Clique'' is Deee-Lite's most successful album, outlasting ''

Infinity Within ''Infinity Within'' is the second studio album by American house and club/dance group Deee-Lite. Released in 1992 on Elektra, the second album, through its lyrical content, instrumentation, and overall tone, showcases the band's political activi ...

'' (1992) and '' Dewdrops in the Garden'' (1994) on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart and outperforming its successors in terms of highest peak position and mainstream exposure and sales.

Track listing

Personnel

Deee-Lite

*Super DJ Dimitry * Jungle DJ Towa Towa * The Lady Miss Kier Kirby

Additional personnel

– additional bass ("Who Was That?"), additional guitar ("Smile On"), guitar ("Try Me"), background vocals ("Groove Is in the Heart") * Q-Tip (from

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip

) – rap ("Groove Is in the Heart") *Sahirah – background vocals ("World Clique") *Sheila Slappy – background vocals ("World Clique") *

– trombone ("Smile On", "Groove Is in the Heart", "Try Me On") *

– saxophone ("Smile On", "Groove Is in the Heart", "Try Me On") *Bill "Chicken on Fire" Coleman – vocals ("Build the Bridge")

Technical

*Deee-Lite – producer, arranger, mixing *Mike "Tweekin" Rogers – additional background vocal production and arrangement, engineer, mixing *Eddie Sancho – assistant engineer *Derek Lategan – assistant engineer *

Bob Power Bob Power is an American Grammy Award–winning and multi-platinum record producer, audio engineer, composer, arranger, performer, and music educator. Early life Power was born in Chicago, moved to Rye, New York, then moved to St. Louis, Missou ...

– additional engineering *Herb Powers – mastering *Bill Coleman – executive producer *

Nick Egan Nick Egan (born 4 July 1957 in London, England) is a visual design artist and director of music videos, commercials and film. He graduated from the Watford College of Art and Design with a DGA in 1976. While attending college, he created cover ...

– art direction, design *Daisy – art direction *Tom Bouman – design *Michael Halsband – photography *Michael Economy – comics * Tabboo!! – hand lettering

Critical reception

Commercial performance

Track listing

Personnel

Deee-Lite

Additional personnel

Technical

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References