DISQUS

MatthewBolin · 1 year ago

To answer your footnote, Jeff: yes and no. The first single, "Lost in Your Eyes", was a #1 hit. And the album hit #1 also. But then she released the title track as the second single, and both it and the video that went with it were....um....I don't like to throw the phrase "the gayest thing ever" around, since that's pretty harsh, but in this case I might be willing to make an exception. Imagine "Up With People" for a new generation, and that was "Electric Youth", the song and video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cOoIlN5S0hY
That was pretty much the career-killer right there, if I recall correctly.

Rich · 1 year ago

That perfume was also available at Kroger's, or at least their store in the Memphis suburb I grew up in. It actually had a "fragrance counter" near the front, with sample bottles. That offered unemployed teenage shitheads (e.g., me) the excellent opportunity to douse friends-slash-employees with the cloying citrus reek of Electric Youth then race over to Little Caesar's (motto: "Jesus! Jesus! Don't eat that Pizza! Pizza!"), leaving said friends stuck in the deli, slicing lunchmeats and offending the customers, odiferously.

rwcass · 1 year ago

You didn't like Little Caesar's, Rich? If you don't like Papa John's, I'll have to fight you.

Rich · 1 year ago

Oh I love Big Papa. To paraphrase Mike Myers: in the red sauce, Papa puts an addictive chemical that makes you crave it fortnightly.

Neil Tenet · 1 year ago

The album this was from was basically a double, too--16 tracks in the halcyon days of the LP ceasing to be a factor. All of it pretty awful.

Lamont Dozier was bidding to be the male Diane Warren at the time: Simply Red's "You've Got It" would be a good song by him.

Remember that Tiffany's New Inside album came out at the same time and she also became a has-been on impact. Meanwhile, both Donny Osmond and David Cassidy were having comebacks.

"Losing Myself" from Debbie's attempted comeback in 1993 was a more interesting song, but forced sexuality didn't work on a 22-year-old. Maybe she (or even Tiff) could've done it at 32 with better material?

But using Playboy as a launch pad was pretty lame by then...

DwDunphy · 1 year ago

Playboy is the elephant's graveyard of popular culture in decline. "No one's paying attention to me anymore! What do I do? Hey, wait a minute... I've got boobs!!"

Neil Tenet · 1 year ago

I stand corrected, Debbie was 36 years old circa Playboy. Like the similar spreads with Carnie WIlson and Belinda Carlisle, the pics looked so untrue to life, there was nothing scandalous about it. A woman who makes music capable of appealing to men would be better off posing nekkid in a men's magazine, funny how that never happens.

Neil Tenet · 1 year ago

"Losin' Myself": Not as bad as thought, by me, three hours ago. She was still way young to be pulling the "mature" act:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=EfnrdZez6oo

1Py_Korry1 · 1 year ago

I'm keeping a mental list of teeny bopper female singers you love, and I think in a Debbie G/Tiffany throw down, you'd be putting money on Debbie. Please tell me I'm right.

jefito · 1 year ago

You'd have to point a gun at me to make me care enough about either of them to choose, but under those circumstances, yes, you'd be right.

1Py_Korry1 · 1 year ago

I don't believe you. I think you have a crush on Debbie Gibson.

jefito · 1 year ago

It's true, I do. I do have a crush on Debbie Gibson.

In 1987.

DwDunphy · 1 year ago

I'd totally tongue-tickle that schnoz.

1Py_Korry1 · 1 year ago

Now you can take a trip back to 1987 and see your crush by going to Atlantic City and seeing her in Pop Goes Broadway!

http://www.deborah-gibson.com/

Farrakhan Faucet · 1 year ago

Now let's not forget - Debbie also sang back-up with The Circle Jerks on a cover of I Wanna Destroy You. A noble move at cross-genre solidarity that also, from what I recall, resulted in a near-disaster stage dive during a Circle Jerks concert (Ms. Sparks from L7 also sang back-up at that show). And for the truly hard-core fans, Deb's album spawned a second cassingle b-side "The Most Beautiful Love Song." I was working in radio when that album dropped. If they chose the superior "One Hand, One Heart" as the lead single, the album would have been a smash. The album is a cut-out bin treasure trove.

jefito · 1 year ago

It's true -- Niko Bolas somehow ended up working on Gibson's 1995 album for SBK -- she got there after the Wilson Phillips money dried up, unfortunately -- and he introduced her to the Jerks. Hey, I never said she didn't have a sense of humor...only that this particular single, and album, are duds.

Rich · 1 year ago

To keep the competition alive - Tiffany sang with Front Line Assembly on a U2 covers album - We Will Follow. Terrible disc. Predictable title.

JS · 1 year ago

Trying to get an erection from a Playboy photo spread is akin to trying to prepare a nutritious meal out of plastic fruit.

deltablues2 · 1 year ago

Zappin' it to ya ! I love D. Gib (my cool, hip-hop flavored nickname for her) and I will fight any motherfucker who has a problem with that. Teen idols may be the ultimate guilty pleasure but part of that equation is indeed pleasure. I loved Deb's first 2 albums (on cassette, natch) and kept them safe and secure next to my hot pink leg warmers and cocoa body oil dispenser.

I also loved TIffany and never went in for this competition bullshit. Can't I have both of them for chrissake ? Yes, she got taken out at the knees, but for everyone whose still putting Debbie down, I remind you that Tiffany has undergone a nice transformation and is finally starting to be taken seriously. So don't count Deb out, you souless bastards.

:::theroux · 1 year ago

No mention of the 3rd entry in the 80's Teen Queen Troika, Shanice Wilson? Just as awful as Deb & Tiff, but with dance skillz and a bra over jailhouse couture.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=x97aSuscGro

Chuy · 1 year ago

Does that mean you didn't like her rapping on "One Step Ahead?" That song should have been the lead single from "Anything Is Possible" -- it DG's positivity vibe. It sounded C&C Music Factory-ish, which was a good thing at the time. When it was released as the third single they removed the rap on and remixed it slightly.

I actually really like this CD. Okay, so it was perfect and completely accessible. But it reminds me of high school. It was a good mesh of a Motown sound (which DG always proclaimed her love for) and pop. "Deep Down" is such a fun song -- it was featured on "90210" when she made a guest appearance. I love the bridge on "Where Have You Been?" and I feel her pain on the 8-minute song "This So-Called Miracle" -- esp when the choir kicks in.

At the time of it's release, the odds were against DG as grunge was making it's way in, and anything pop was considered shameful. Debbie really represented that pop sound that people were trying desperately to migrate away from.

PS -- I love you for blogging about this CD!

Ray · 1 year ago

I'm actually kinda partial to the leadoff track "Another Brick Falls".

brolinator · 1 year ago

you're right about the album having too many tracks, but your guess is a gross misunderestimate - the real number is somewhere in excess of 9000

Trencher93 · 8 months ago

What a huge disappointment! The MP3 link does not work, and Jeff Giles no longer has the MP3! Can someone with the MP3 put it on MegaUpload or something and put a link here? I used to have that cassette single and forgot the b-side's name. I found this page and got all excited. I scoured the usual sources (torrents, rapidshare, google, etc) and this MP3 does not exist on the Internet.