"Good Enough," Bobby Brown (1992)
A very pretty (and quite dirty) song
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Peak: #7 on the Hot 100
Streams: 8.5 million
Never forget that Babyface can get freaky.
Perhaps you’re familiar with his songwriting. The man has written 46 top 10 hits, including classics like “End of the Road” and forgotten gems like this sprightly ditty that I covered last year. But thanks to his many ballads, I’d argue Babyface’s vast catalogue has been distilled in the public consciousness. Nowadays, he’s synonymous with "R&B for grown-ups,” meaning tasteful music adults can enjoy while preparing a quinoa bowl.
However, Babyface also wrote hits like Bobby Brown’s “Good Enough.”
To a casual listener, this might sound like a typical Babyface jam. That mid-tempo beat and those sweet keyboards could easily be on the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack. When Brown sings, “If it ain’t good enough, good enough, I’ll work harder,” you might assume he’s talking about his emotional commitment to his lady.
But reader, he is not singing about his emotions. What Bobby Brown’s saying is that he will do whatever it takes to make a woman climax. “I will not stop ‘till I know you’re hot,” he says. “I’ll taste the wine and give you pleasure,” he says, and I guarantee you the “wine” in question is not dripping out of a bottle.
It’s impressive, really, that “Good Enough” uses G-rated language to be so very sexual. That harkens to the blues, when singers would croon about the sugar in their bowls. And good on Babyface! He deserves credit for letting his “grown and sexy” persona include the sweatier side of adult romance.
Even though it makes me blush a little, I like this song quite a bit. I can remember being scandalized by it when I had it on cassette back in middle school, but I also remember happily bobbing my head whenever it came on. My head is still bobbing!
Meanwhile, though “Good Enough” was a minor part of Babyface’s epic 90s run, it was the last top 10 hit for Bobby Brown. In fact, it marked his sudden chart death (a phenomenon I wrote about a few weeks ago.) His previous album, Don’t Be Cruel, delivered five consecutive smashes, and he got to #2 with “On Our Own,” the theme song from Ghostbusters II. Brown was so popular that he even sent an album of dance remixes into the top 10.
Brown’s 1992 album Bobby launched with “Humpin’ Around,” a thundering club track that made it to #3. That was to be expected, and when “Good Enough” followed it up the charts, it wasn’t surprising. But that was it. Though he did make the top 10 a couple of times when he reunited with New Edition in the late 90s, Bobby Brown never had another smash as a solo artist. Instead, he became infamous for his troubled marriage to Whitney Houston, as well as a host of legal troubles.
Many people have strong opinions about Bobby Brown’s legacy, and I’ll let them make a deeper analysis of all that. What I know is that no matter what happened later, he ended his chart career with a good song that showcased a different side of an all-time songwriting legend.