RIP Whitney Houston

I'm not knocking her voice at all. I'm just saying, let's not get carried away.

Could she raise goosebumps? Sure. So could some lonely woman in Scotland who had never sang outside if her church before she appeared before Simon Cowell and a British TV audience on the X-Factor. How many undiscovered Susan Boyles are their out there?

And, I'm not going to defend every nam eput out there on this thread, but I'll put anyone I've named up there with Whitney.

Yeah, I don't really even mean what I said as a huge criticism. Churning out hit after hit isn't easy. (What has Norah Jones done lately?) But, she did have an incredible hit making team behind her -- among the best in the business.

My comments were in regard to Versitile's comment about her, well, versatility. I would just say that she didn't stray far from her comfort zone.

 

Indeed. Katy Perry and Kesha don't have any special chops.

 

Grrrr, Dre! You're such a meatball, dammit. I wish you wouldn't insert your tough-guy manliness into the conversation. Some of us are taking this conversation VERY seriously!

 

You have a point with Ke$ha, but we'll just have to disagree on Perry. I think she has a lot more raw talent than some of the rest of you do.

 

Have you seen her try to sing live? It's painful. Her producers are much more talented than she is.

 

I've got to take Dick's side on the Super Bowl XXV "performance".

Her rendition of the Star Spangled Banner was stunning, but it wasn't live.

We have no idea how many takes it took her to nail it. We don't even know if it's one complete take, or if it's edited together.

She had the best recording instruments, and production value on the track. She didn't have to deal with the echo/delay created in a stadium. She didn't have to deal with the nerves of performing live before hundreds of millions of people. She didn't have to time her performance to an Air Force flyover. And, though the game time temperature was a comfortable 71 ( http://football.about.com/cs/superbowl/a/sbtemperatures.htm ), she had no way of knowing that ahead of time, and didn't have to worry about cold weather, humidity, or rain.

It was the safe choice. it might not even have been hers. I believe the NFL actually insisted on it.

It doesn't make her recording any less stunning. Put her "performance" on game day was lip synching to her previous recording.

 

A pissing match over Whitney Houston. Awesome.

 

Always glad when David Puddy checks in.

 

The thing about being a performer in general, and a pop culture icon in particular is that talent is only a small part of it. You can't sing on pitch? They'll fix that. You don't dance very well? They'll surround you with people who do and cut the videos artfully to minimize your awkwardness. What you need is 'the look'. Or as they sang in "Gypsy", 'you gotta get a gimmick'.

Susan Boyle can sing. Absolutely. But she was a frumpy middle-aged woman. She sent out demo recordings in the late 90's, singing the very songs she's praised for now and didn't get any result. But it's the Cinderella story that made her because now there's a 'hook'.

There are a lot of great singers driving cabs because it's about way more than voice. It's personality, it's looks, it's the hunger for success.

 

This is all I'm trying to say, and it is not a criticism of Whitney in any way. She had it all, including a great voice.

 

I thought you were above personal insults?

 

Oh, brother. :