Despite being the best-selling American Girl Group there was a time when the members of TLC had to file for bankruptcy – just like M.C. Hammer, for whom they had been opening act in the early 1990ies. But neither that, nor sickle-cell anemia or burning down a multi-million-dollar mansion in a drunken fight with a boyfriend stopped them from having careers filled with both hits and headlines.

Their signature song, is very socially conscious, with the eponymous “Waterfalls” referring to elusive fantasies and their “chasing” giving little thought to consequences. It was addressing the prevailing problems of the 90ies, notably the dangers in the illicit drug dealing scene and the importance of safer sex due to the rising number of HIV infections. It’s certainly the first number-one song that contained the word “AIDS”.

The video, featuring liquefied versions of the band members which were notoriously difficult to render was absolute state-of-the-art at the time and cost over a million dollars to create.

When Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, who had written and performed the rap part of the track died in a car accident in 2002 the verses were engraved into her coffin.