Klymaxx — Meeting In The Ladies Room

JUL 01 1985 · 12:00

Klymaxx — Meeting In The Ladies Room (1985) Director: Gerald Casale (co-directed with Bruce Olinder) Era: Mid-Decade MTV Era (1984–1986) - Peak period of all-female R&B/funk acts on cable television, when synth-driven production and high-concept narrative videos dominated the channel's rotation. A high-value preservation artifact representing the convergence of Black female R&B instrumentation, mid-80s MTV aesthetics, and cross-genre directorial collaboration. The video documents fashion, dance, and social performance conventions of the 1984–85 LA club scene, and carries additional archival significance as early screen documentation of Vivica A. Fox. Its confirmed director credit to Gerald Casale makes it a notable data point in the cross-pollination between new wave visual art direction and mainstream R&B video production. Context: Released in 1985 on MCA Records, 'Meeting in the Ladies Room' was the title track of Klymaxx's album and became a landmark moment for all-female R&B instrumentation in the MTV era. The song reached No. 4 on the Billboard R&B chart and No. 59 on the Hot 100, and its success helped the album reach Platinum status. Billboard later ranked the song at No. 85 on its list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time. The video arrived at the precise moment when MTV, VH1, and BET were amplifying Black female-fronted acts with visual concepts, giving Klymaxx — an all-female band who played their own instruments — a platform that underscored both their musicianship and their comedic personality. The video also serves as an early screen credit for Vivica A. Fox, then an unknown performer. Director notes: The video is confirmed co-directed by Gerald Casale (credited as Gerald V. Casale) and Bruce Olinder, per IMDB full credits (imdb.com/title/tt7803498/fullcredits). Multiple sources — including Wikipedia's song article and burningtheground.net — confirm Casale's directorial role. The IMDB cast list confirms the band Klymaxx appeared as themselves, alongside credited performers Cheryl Cooley, Bernadette Cooper, Joyce Irby, Lynn Malsby, Lorena Porter Shelby, Robin Grider, and breakdancer Bruno Falcon. The Wikipedia article for the song also confirms that a then-unknown Vivica A. Fox appeared in the video, consistent with the IMDB cast listing. The song was included on the MCA Records soundtrack for the 1985 film Secret Admirer.