Debbie Gibson... an observation from 1995

[Woops]

Debbie Gibson (1995)


It's an interesting observation of Deb's music from her 'electric youth'. Keep in mind,  this predates a certain pop singer...

Though she still releases albums despite the ever changing trends and have been successful in theatre.

[Out of the Blue]

"In my opinion, Debbie's songs are well written.  They are more than just correctly written songs."

I think he's got most of it right.  Maybe the only thing that he assumes wrong is that she was raised upper middle class.  Her family wasn't poor by any means but at the same time I don't think they were rolling in money.

[Erica]

Yeah most of us saw the house she grew up in.  It wasn't what I would call upper middle class just average middle class. 

Erica

[A Million Pieces]

Her mother milked out all the money she could from her?  If anything, Diane stopped Deborah from working and making money to take care of herself and be healthy.  That article was the biggest load of horse shit I have ever read.  The person who wrote based it on nothing but fact, only opinion, and should be pointed at and laughed at for trying to write an interesting article believing an opinion (a weak one at that) is a fact.  SAD!

[Erica]

I agree with you your totally right about that.  If what he said were the case Deb would of been another teen star trying too put her life together in her 20s and 30s.

Erica

[Woops]

The article stated that Deb's music isn't bad, though since  he/she read a bio on Kurt Cobain, I assume the person is/was more into alternative rock. Agree more research would've been done. What I found interesting is that the author stated that Deb isn't much different than The Beatles. Took that as a compliment since I've mostly read negative comments about Deb on other sites/boards. As for the ignorant comments about her, most people (unfortunately) look at Deb as another '80's teen idol.

 Though personally it would've been better if it was about how different pop music & teen idols were  in the 1980's and now (or later 1990's, though nothing have really changed). Then again, I've actually written a few myself and turned into rants on today's pop music...

BTW, I'm not trying to pick a fight or anything. Just wanted to express my opinion about the article

[A Million Pieces]

No, the positive comments are obviously there.  The negativity of the article shone too brightly. 

[Out of the Blue]

I don't know Diane but I also find it hard to belive that she would milk Deborah for money.  The ones that have done that have caused their kid to end up bankrupt.  One other thing, the manager's job is to keep the itinerary and schedule.  It's the publicist's job to market someone.

[Woops]

From the Deb.org archives, AIP Digest

Compare/contrast on Deb & Janet Jackson

From: Khurrum Sair
Subject: Deb vs Janet Jackson
Date: Mon, 1 Nov 1993 15:07:05 +0000 (GMT)

Dear all,

Following Steve's comment about why Deb isn't successful in the
UK, let alone anywhere in the world at the mo, I started to think
about the career of Janet Jackson...

JJ started off in a similar manner to Deb, releasing a successful
album when she was young.  The thing is she had to prove to
everyone that she wasn't just another extension of the Jackson 5
and/or Michael Jackson.  She did this by releasing Control, getting
married to an unknown (a marrriage that has recently being annulled
cos it was not consumated) and appearing in Fame etc...

However, when all the fuss died down, she released a fabulous
1814 Rhythm Nation album.  Again, this proved to be very popular,
and won many awards.  And recently, she's just released Janet,
which has had 2 successive #1's in the US.  "Again" is one of my
fav songs of the year.

The whole point to this.... is that I see very little difference
in JJ's and Deb's music.  They are both excellent in what they
do.  So why is one successful in selling albums, while the other
isn't.  Is this something to do with JJ's more sexy image, is her
music indeed better, or could it be something as basic as JJ being
black and Deb being white - a case of inverse racism?  The case
of Deb being afflicted with a teenage image can also be said of
JJ, but somehow she managed to break away from it.

A small point on the UK scene, the highest chart position Deb has
ever achieved is #9 with Foolish Beat, whereas JJ seems to be able
to get into the top 5 regularly, without really hitting the #1 spot.

Comments most welcome.

Khurrum


From: Jeffrey C. Liew
Date: Tue, 2 Nov 1993 08:52:16 -0800
Subject: Reverse discrimination?

Hi!

Kurim brought up an interesting point about the success of Janet Jackson
versus that of Debbie.  Deb doesn't only carry with her the baggage from
her OOTB squeaky clean teen-queen image, but to some people, she is also
seen as a white, rich, and spoiled person (which she has mentioned in
various interviews).  Deb's change in music style to more R&B and urban
sounds really clashes with the public's image of Debbie Gibson.  I think
the incongruity between the two is a major factor in the decline in Deb's
popularity.  Either the public needs to change its biased views of Deb
or Deb needs to change her image/sound.  By giving in to the public, Deb
would be sacrificing her musical and artistic integrity, if indeed, her
current image and style is what she really wants to do.  Do you think that
Deb should give in to the pressures of the public, in hopes for charting
success?

-Jeff

Disagree, though Deb's 1993 B Side  "Love Or Lust" does sound a bit like something from Janet.

Not to mention Janet's from a famous family and was 20 when she released her breakthrough album "Control" and her dance pop style is much edgier than Deb's early albums.

Though never heard Janet's earlier albums, though if she had been famous as a teenager she might've ended up pigeonhold/not taken seriously or like somebody who's only famous because of MJ  like the talentless Latoya (yes, she have released an album once or twice).


She made a name with herself, distant herself from MJ,  though her career went downhill after the infamous 'wardrobe malfunction' several years ago. Ironically, Justin Timberlake is still popular.

Recently, Janet released "Feedback", which appears to be doing OK (though released a few weeks ago), but the song is horrible and her voice sounds overly computerized throughout the song.

Though I prefer her music from 1986's "Control" to 1993's "Janet", which featured hits like "Anytime, Any Place", and "If".


 Madonna, though her music/image was always 'over the top', was also still popular in the 1990's, though not sure about the UK.

Also racism has nothing to do with it since many pop artists  from the 1980's of any gender, religion, race, etc. also have declined in popularity by 1993.

Rich... aren't all entertainers rich or making a lot of money

Spoiled... ironically that would best discribe most of  today's young pop acts

[Out of the Blue]

People seem to automatically think that anyone in the entertainment business that's white grew up rich.  If anything is racist and a sterotype that is.  While Deborah's family wasn't poor by any stretch they weren't what most would consider to be wealthy either.  It wasn't until after she had sold a few million albums that she moved into an upscale neighborhood.