Me and "that song" by Whitney Houston

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Harry

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This post started out in the R.I.P. thread, but I felt it was better to place it in a thread all its own out of respect for Ms. Houston's passing.

I had quite the love/hate relationship with Whitney Houston's recordings. Early on, her pop stuff sounded exciting, her voice was just fine and her hits were all over the radio. And then she did "That Song". You know, the one written by Dolly Parton?

I was sitting in the office at work back in late 1992 and it came on for the first time. Within the first half-minute, she'd almost reached the incredible levels that she normally got to for the finales of other songs. I couldn't imagine where it was going. And just like a recording that's brick-walled, it quickly headed into the realms beyond which I was willing to listen. It grated on me. Big-time. Couldn't tolerate it.

On that first hearing, as bad of a reaction as I had to it, I could instantly tell that this song would surely go to #1, and I was right. But it would have to do so without me. I vowed then and there that I would do all in my power to avoid it wherever I was, whenever I could. It wouldn't be easy. A #1 song gets played a lot. Over and over. And working for an Adult Contemporary station, I knew it would be coming out of my radio at least once every day, sometimes twice. And this was the kind of record that had the potential to become an earworm - a song that gets stuck in your head and you can't get rid of it. And I didn't want THAT song in my head - ever.

Thankfully, our program director at the time, I think, realized the "irritant factor" of the song, and kept its playing times to a minimum for such a big record. So it really was just once a day that I'd have to either turn off the station or leave the office - which were my two choices. The problem with just turning it off is, the number of other office workers who also had radios at their desk, who'd turn it UP to revel in the song. So I was often forced to leave the office for the four and a half minutes that the song would play. Typically, I head for either the mens' room or downstairs to the snack shop, and the opening notes of the song began to trigger an almost Pavlovian response in me.

During any time in cars or at home when I was in control of the radio, it posed no problem to avoid the song. It was out in restaurants and shopping areas where difficulties could sometimes arise. But thankfully, it didn't really happen as often as one might think. I can recall maybe seven to ten times during the song's heyday that I was out in public and had to go somewhere else. There was the time in a diner and I excused myself and went outside for a few minutes. I recall another time in a card shop in a mall that I had to stand outside to get away from it.

As things turned out, I was successful. I managed to avoid the song becoming an earworm. In fact, I don't think I've heard the thing more than a handful of times in my life. I still head for the exits whenever I hear those opening a capella notes, but at least the record remained relatively unplayed on outlets that I tend to be around.

Now, I fear, that's about to change. I just read that iTunes is reporting that song as #1 again since Ms. Houston's passing. And every newscast must be avoided for awhile. But I think I can do it. I've dealt with it before - I can do it again. This time around will surely be shorter, and being retired, I don't have radios on nearly as much.

Meanwhile, the bulk of the earlier Whitney Houston catalog doesn't bother me at all. I even loved her rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" enough to have bought the CD that they released. But I think it was the influence of both her and Mariah Carey that all but, IMHO, ruined vocal pop singing, with their "melisma" technique of moving pitch around a sustained note. I never cared for that - still don't - and I wish it would go out of style. I seem to be fairly alone on that point, as it seems to be THIS VERY THING that draws big positive reactions from audiences.

Actually, I was beginning to sense a trend lately that the constant melisma in pop music was beginning to subside. Hits I've heard lately tend to be back to purer melodies, sung in a more traditional style - still gooped up with modern recording techniques - but better to my ears in terms of listenability. And this is all purely my personal opinion. I'm not putting anyone else down nor do I wish to deprive anyone of their own preferences. That technique is just not for me.

So, bottom line, if you happen to be around me in a restaurant and I quickly excuse myself, take a listen to the piped-in music, it just might be a case of me still trying to avoid "that song."

Harry
 
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That's the trouble: The song was written by Dolly Parton, recorded by Dolly Parton and it IS 'her song'...! (I happened to have heard it first covered by Whitney, but have actually owned a Linda Ronstadt album, on which she had also covered it & the song was given proper credit to Dolly Parton...)

To expand a little more, Whitney deserved better material and perhaps better backing throughout her career... Perhaps she undeniably did have idolatry of her aunt Dionne Warwick & even wanted to follow the footsteps of her mother Cissy... Of course, given the mechanistic Roberta Flack-chicanery her music got, it was clear that she was not going to be "another Aretha Franklin"...

Someone more loyal to her craft might have recorded at album of Standards... Or a lady singer with some good camaraderie among her fellow-contemporaries could have recorded at "duets" album... Maybe there was a need for a woman such as her to do an Oldies album (Stuff on Motown or from Philly, for example!)... While a more pious figure would at least turn to Gospel & Inspirational recordings, or have recorded at least one album of such... If only...

I remember when she first came out, when my sister bought her first album (on cassette) and somehow sang good & it seemed like she had a good future & a promising career... Little did we know the drugs & alcohol would follow & of course "the Bobby Brown thing" was really how she drew the shortest straw...

But musically, we'll just never get to know Ms. Houston's true potential, other than forever being tied to "____" ...

-- Dave
 
So, bottom line, if you happen to be around me in a restaurant and I quickly excuse myself, take a listen to the piped-in music, it just might be a case of me still trying to avoid "that song."

Had a good chuckle on that one!

I also detested "that song". Hated it from the get-go. I remember when Whitney sang it on the GRAMMYS and I know my eyes kept spinning and my mind kept thinking "when is this thing ever gonna end???" It had that nails-on-the-chalkboard effect on me. She was a great talent, but that song......:bangwall:


Capt. Bacardi
 
Harry, this is one of those times when you and I are on the exact same page. I hate 'that song' with a passion. Always have. I can't stand the way it goes off the cliff and into the stratosphere in the last minute or two. It loses all shred of emotion and just becomes a vocal showoff piece.

Dolly's version is about a thousand times as good. Hers has all the emotion that Whitney's bellicose version saps out of it.

This might make me sound like a Whitney hater. Nothing could be further from the truth. I liked most of her dancable pop tunes. But her ballads all sound the same to me -- like Barry Manilow's, (another Clive Davis protege), they all get too over-done by the time they end..

musically, we'll just never get to know Ms. Houston's true potential
Yes we did. Her era was the '80s. She's no different from Michael Jackson or any other celebrity from the past. Her star was in decline. Her best work was undoubtedly behind her. I can see where she might have pulled a Rod Stewart and gone into making covers albums, but that's about it. Her hitmaking days were over.
 
I'm more with Dave on this one. I like the song but it is not my favorite. Actually, I always thought "I Have Nothing" from the Bodyguard album was a more enjoyable listen. Have most all of Whitney's albums as there was always a few tracks on each I liked. Couldn't deny this song/"that song" would be her trademark, though. First listen, and I knew.
 
I agree with Mike. I admit I did like the song the first two or three times I heard it and then I heard Doll''s version. Over time I came to prefer Dolly's. But now I cringe when I hear Whitney's...
 
The funny thing about your comments is that, in terms of melisma and licks, that record is kind of like Astrud Gilberto singing "One Note Samba" compared to 95% of the pop records released in the last fifteen years......
 
The funny thing about your comments is that, in terms of melisma and licks, that record is kind of like Astrud Gilberto singing "One Note Samba" compared to 95% of the pop records released in the last fifteen years......

You're right. It's a trend that she was at the forefront of that's reached ridiculous levels. I don't watch it, but every time I pass by AMERICAN IDOL, I hear that unfortunate technique being used. I suspect it's very prevalent on those latter-day TALENT SCOUT-type shows.

Harry
 
American Idol? Heck, these days you don't need to go farther than a wedding to hear that kind of singing. I hate it. It's like when a person makes a poster on a computer and uses 10 different fonts, just because he can.
 
It's the reflection of the demise of our music--actually ENTERTAINMENT industry! The Mariah Carey posturings...! The Celine Dion clones...! The artifice of (Name your own "manufactured" bare-midriff person, here!)...! Not to mention the "Justin Bieber-ites"--just how much 'Donny Osmond "Puppy Love" phase' can we stand????

Hopefully those on "America's Idol" aren't THAT serious about a career--I mean, singing stuff not different--or better--than what's already been done--well, I hope they are just doing "for fun"...!

Sadly, with exception of a few good songs with a few almost-decent arrangements, I think Whitney's singing career just seemed to have given way to just that...


-- Dave
 
American Idol? Heck, these days you don't need to go farther than a wedding to hear that kind of singing. I hate it. It's like when a person makes a poster on a computer and uses 10 different fonts, just because he can.

:biglaugh: (And you know why. :D )

Melisma sounds like a disease; it has however been around forever in gospel singing. Stevie Wonder (being one of my all-time favorites) uses it, as others have done over the years but...it is not overused. It is used for effect. It started being overused at some point in the 80s, and only snowballed from there. That is why I pretty much turned away from most pop and R&B (urban) music by the end of the 80s. Heck, I had a lot more fun with alternative rock/grunge/etc. since it was the anti-pop music at the time...and still like a lot of it to this day.

Around here, "urban" music has been a major musical force, and I think "Saving All My Love For You" is probably, even to this day, played more often than That Song™ (which is pure pop radio fodder).

The funny thing about your comments is that, in terms of melisma and licks, that record is kind of like Astrud Gilberto singing "One Note Samba" compared to 95% of the pop records released in the last fifteen years......

Ain't that the truth, brother.... :shake:
 
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