Before we get to this week’s Cage Match, I want to share my newest musical crush with you: Meet Garfunkel and Oates. Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci (aka Garfunkel and Oates,) are reason number 8,020 why Youtube is awesome. The video below might be a trailer of coming attractions for future weeks here on the Cage Match.

While the group name is an obvious spoof of you know who and you also know who, it worked out well for the pair, who will open a CA show this week for Mr. John Oates of the famous rock duo Hall & Oates. The gig is set for July 11th – get the details here.

And check out the Garfunkel and Oates Youtube channel featuring several of my favorites including Sex With Ducks, and One Night Stand. Crude. Awesome. Sexy.

You say that I never give you anything here on the Cage Match? Sheesh.

Hope ya’ll enjoyed that.

As much as I enjoyed “Poison” by Bell Biv Devoe when it was released in 1990.

With BBD, former New Edition members Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, and Ronnie Devoe officially sent a thumpin’ memo to former New Edition lead singer Bobby Brown that said “yo, we don’t need you anymore to make hit records.” And for a couple of years, Bell Biv Devoe ruled the world with “Poison” and tracks like the followup single “Do Me.”

Michael Bivins eventually moved onto discovering and producing artists and helped to bring the world the initial sounds from Another Bad Creation (ick) and Boyz II Men (alright, that’s kind of better.)

Bell Biv Devoe have been on again/off again through the years, regrouping for the occasional New Edition reunion tour, and assorted other projects. BBD member Ronnie Devoe works in real estate these days, so if your next agent looks a little bit like that guy that used to be in Bell Biv Devoe, it might be THAT guy.

The group are currently working on a new album, with two new tracks already available via Itunes, and BBD also performed on the BET Awards last month with Ne-Yo.

And then there is our second contender.

Alice Cooper.

‘Nuff said.

Cooper ushered in an entirely new generation of Alice fans with this one, and scored one of the most successful comebacks of 1989 with the Trash album.

Trash was produced by Desmond Child, who had his own personal death grip on songwriting success at the time. Child already had lent his pen to tracks like “I Was Made For Loving You” by KISS and both “Dude (Looks Like A Lady,) and “Angel” by Aerosmith, the first of several tracks that he would write with the band. Additionally, with several Bon Jovi tracks in his back pocket, including the band’s first number one single “You Give Love A Bad Name,” Child was hot property by the time he answered the door and let Cooper inside. Upon the release of Trash, the album probably made some folks at MCA Records, Cooper’s previous label, ask the very important question: Where the hell were those songs on Constrictor and Raise Your Fist and Yell?

I guess it’s possible that they were still rubbing their hands together with glee over the unexpected success of “True Love” by Glenn Frey. Who knows.

Back to “Poison.”

I wanna love you but I’d better not touch – Don’t touch!

No means no, dude.

Bell Biv Devoe or Alice Cooper – What’s your pick??