I’m in a bit of a musical mood this evening, denizens. I’ve said before that I don’t really know all that much about music. If you want to read things written by someone who actually does know music, I’d recommend you go here.
No, I just want to write about the sentiments I feel when I think of certain songs or CDs or musicians. I just want to remember. I just wanna…dance with somebody…
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/eH3giaIzONA
I know, I know…that was a truly horrible segue. Whatever. Just watch the video. Watch happy, healthy Whitney. Watch that amazing eye makeup. Watch that hair. That hair! That hair screams 1980s louder than the highest note Whitney ever could hit.
It was the constant airtime rotation of this song and video that made Whitney the first CD I ever bought. I paid $30 for it at The Wall. Yeah, kiddies, you read that correctly. $30. For one CD. You know, it’s not really that difficult to understand why so many people turned to things like Napster so rapidly when they became available. Not that I’m condoning such behavior. But $30? For something that you can now download instantly from Amazon.com for $9.99? Ballsy, RIAA. Ballsy.
But I digress, per usual. I must have damned near worn out my little boom box playing this CD, not just because it was the only one I owned at the time, but because I enjoyed listening to every single song. They had catchy hooks, lots of 80s-era synth (which I apparently really enjoy), bubbly, bouncy lyrics, and Houston’s amazing voice.
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/0YjSHbA6HQQ
When I was in college, I sold my copy of this CD at the local used store for pocket money. I was well into my alternative rock phase by then; also, by that point in Houston’s career, she had already started turning into the sad punchline to her very unfunny personal joke. I didn’t want to watch this artist I had looked up to and adored so much as a child imploding in on herself in such a painfully public way. When she died, all I could think in the moment I heard the news was that hers was the first CD I ever bought. And I wished I could have it back.
More than that, I wished I could have that time back, if only for a moment…before Bobby Brown, before the drugs, before she was called difficult or a diva and the worst thing people were saying about her was that she might be gay. Really not that bad a rumor in comparison with what ultimately transpired, wouldn’t you say?
In 1987, though, she was perky, vivacious Whitney, belting out inescapably happy tunes, flouncing about in music videos with handsome male dancers and poorly CGIed bodyless dance shoes. And that hair.
That hair.
Only thing that could outclass that hair are the lapels from this live performance of one of my favorite songs from Whitney, “Love Will Save the Day.” She made performing seem so effortless in this video. Sadly, the white people caught on tape do not make dancing seem effortless. You’ll know them when you see them. Love wasn’t going to save that day…
