RIP Whitney Houston

She was also wildly inconsistent for the last 15 years. Or maybe just consistently bad.

And, to say she was good live and in the studio isn't some testament to versatility.

It really cracks me up. If she was born into music "royalty", she's likely never seen by Clive Davis. There is so much undiscovered musical talent out there. Take someone like Susan Boyle. How many other voices like hers are out there? And hers is definitely able to raise goose bumps.

A for true versatility, I'll go back to Audra McDonald. She's younger than Whitney by a few years, but is a true contemporary. She has four TONYs and two Grammys. She's done Broadway and opera. She's sung at Carnegie Hall and with the New York Philharmonic.

She's recorded jazz and pop standards.

She's acted on Broadway, TV, and in the movies.

But, because she's never been on MTV, LiteFM, been in a celebrity marriage, had a reality show, or melted down in public due to sustained drug use, you've probably never heard of her.

But, if Clive Davis had signed her at 18, I have no doubt she would have been every bit the pop star as Whitney Houston. She has every bit the voice of Houston's, and probably more.

But, I'll wait for Drip to tell me how wrong I am.

 

Please take into consideration the spirit of the times before criticizing her for cheesy lyrics.

This was partly an effect of Ronnie's "family values," which sodomized punk with pop punk, bubble gum pop, radio control and good-feelings corporate commercialism.

 

She's the Mitt Romney of music!

 

If we're going to consider her performance at the 1991 Super Bowl the peak of her career, then we can also acknowledge that Reagan had already been out of office for two years.

1991 might not have been the best year in terms of songs that topped the charts -- mostly forgettable pop:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hot_100_number-one_singles_of_1991_%28U.S.%29

But, Nirvana's Nevermind was released before the year's end, and "feel good" music no longer ruled the roost.

But, Whitney didn't take many chances musically. She stuck with the same kinds of songs she had always performed. And, I don't get any sense she was the driving force behind her own career. Does anyone think she was determined to cover a Dolly Parton hit, or had previously even heard it.

Her career was driven by Clive Davis and Arista, and it was with the goal of cranking out hits and selling millions of records. In that regard, it was a fabulous success.

But artists from Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Elvis Costello, U2, and others have taken chances -- and sometimes failed miserably -- in the pursuit of testing their talents, and challenging themselves artistically.

 

I'm not Drip, but I'll have to do for now. You're completely underestimating Houston's voice, range and ability to style a song. There are NOT loads of people out there who can do it, and some of the people mentioned in recent pages notably can't do it.

And if the Letterman performance I linked can't raise goosebumps, you may well be goosebump-proof.

 

Yankee_Fan, I agree she didn't seem to be the driving force behind her career. Maybe she was malleable or knew the way she was being routed was the quickest way to fame and fortune. And I think SB XXV was her peak as an entertainer-performer, though not as an artist (so to speak). Was stuff like "All at Once" really any worse than mush lyrics like "I Want to Know What Love Is"?

 

One other thing about artists in general.

We love to pick out relatively obscure names and say, "If she's gotten this break, or been born to this mother, or chosen to chase fame, she would've been better than any of them." Hey, I've done it with Kate Bush (although she's a goddess in the U.K.).

Well, no.

There's a reason why the Whitney Houstons of the world rose to popular fame. And it's because they had the chops to do it. It really doesn't have to be any more complicated than that.

 

She did not perform at Super Bowl XXV.

 

That's just one part of the puzzle.

 

You're wrong, Whitman. But you've heard that before.

 

She did the National Anthem at Super Bowl XXV.