Mint Condition’s Stokley talks scoring an unlikely TikTok hit with “Breakin’ My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes),” more than 30 years after the song’s release
Much like executives at Warner and MCA, the manager of Jam and Lewis’ label didn’t hear a future hit on Mint Condition’s demo. “When we got signed, bands were on their way out,” Williams says — the rise of sampling and drum machines would eventually kill the ensemble approach to R&B — but “we were still out here singing, dancing, playing our own instruments.” As a result, “We’d bump heads with the general manager.
After that, the group decided to go against type and release “Breakin’ My Heart ,” the demo track that had been dubbed “not a single” by so many record executives. Naturally, it became a massive hit, going Top Five on the R&B chart and Top 10 on the pop chart. The song was so big that Mint Condition got in trouble if they performed without playing it. “That was a no-no,” Williams says.
One of the most famous versions of the track, captured in a live recording at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., has truly monstrous drumming, a flashy flurry of speed and power. “Double-timing the drums is just fun to do,” Williams says. “And that became a staple for younger generations — when people play it now, a lot of times they’ll do it like that.”
Mint Condition hasn’t released a new album since 2015; during that time, Williams has been focusing on his solo career. He’s not on TikTok himself, and might not even have watched all the videos built around his song if he hadn’t been laid up sick. But he’s grateful for the latest wave of attention. “My latest album,, talks about looking backward to travel forward,” he says. “And here we are, you call me about this. This is the gift that keeps giving.
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