Mr. Vain
Writers - Katzmann/Levis
First released - 1995
Original album - DiscoVery - Live in Rio 1994 (2021)
This 1993-94 dance hit, originally by the German group Culture Beat, was performed in a medley with "One in a Million" during the 1994 DiscoVery shows. I may be wrong about this, but I doubt that any great meaning should be attached to this match aside from the facts that the two flowed nicely into each other and that it gave Neil and Chris a chance to perform a song that they undoubtedly liked tremendously. Then again, the refrain "I know what I want and I want it now" jives with the sentiment of largely frustrated sexual longing in the Boys' own song.
It's also worth noting that Culture Beat's "Mr. Vain" was one of two songs (the other being DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince's "Boom! Shake the Room") that kept the Boys' #2 hit "Go West" out of the #1 spot on the U.K. singles chart during its late 1993 chart run. Whether this had anything to do with their decision to cover it live is anyone's guess.
List cross-references
- PSB "cover songs" and who first recorded them
- 3 dance-music classics that the Boys have blended into live versions of their own songs
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