TLC's Top 10 History-Making Achievements

by Jordan Runtagh 10/17/2013

It’s TLC week around these parts, and we’re showing mad props to the three lovely ladies who made our ’90s groove! Of course we know their hits, but that’s only part of the story. The trio have a whole heap of trailblazing facts and figures behind their unforgettable career. Read on to learn 10 historical firsts from our favorite scrub-hating singers! And don’t forget to tune in to the premiere of CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story on October 21 (that’s this Monday) at 9PM/8C on VH1!

10. Their second record, 1994’s CrazySexyCool, became the first album by a female band to be reach the RIAA’s Diamond status.

[Photo: LaFace Records]

That’s over 10 million copies sold in the U.S. alone!

9. On April 16th 1994, T-Boz, Left Eye and Chili appeared as the first musical guest on the premiere episode of Nickelodeon’s classic sketch comedy program, All That.

Embedded from www.youtube.com.

And they also sang the show’s theme song!

8. “Waterfalls” features CeeLo Green’s first appearance on a Billboard number 1 song.

Yup, that’s him on backing vocals!

7. The 1999-2000 North American jaunt to support their third album FanMail became the highest grossing female concert tour ever up to that that point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTNWxgiFImA
The FanMail Tour raked in over $72.8 million, according to Billboard! But that’s not all…

6. The accompanying concert film, TLC: Sold Out, became the highest grossing TV special in PayPerView history at the time.

[Photo: LaFace Records]

5. The ladies became the first group to thank thousands of their fans by name in the liner notes to their FanMail CD.

[Photo: LaFace Records]

The notes folded out to become a huge poster. If you look closely, you can see names of folks who wrote the band fan letters over the years.

4. “No Scrubs” became the first song to peak with over 140 million “audience interactions,” an industry term that calculates the number of times a song is played and the audience size of the station playing the tune.

In other words, the tune broke airplay records! We guess there are a lot of scrub haters out there.

3. The music video for “Red Light Special” was available in three variations: Sexy, Sexier, and Sexiest.

That’s gotta be a first!

2. The remix version of “What About Your Friends” features the first on-record appearance from fellow Atlanta rappers Outkast.

Embedded from www.youtube.com.

The duo were signed to LaFace in 1992, becoming their first hip-hop act.

1. They were most definitely the first band to make a fashion statement with condoms!

[Photo: Getty Images]

Jordan Runtagh

VH1 Music Editor + Seltzer Enthusiast

@jordanruntagh

Music

Famous Firsts: TLC’s Top 10 Trail-Blazing Achievements