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Riffed by Dr. Geek |
| a guilty pleasure |
I tend to think that we all have a few skeletons in the closets of our musical tastes. You know the ones. Those artists and songs that seemed dreamy and to-die-for when we were thirteen or sixteen, but who now seem... well, tired, dated, and a flash in the pan. Europe. Rick Astley. El De Barge. White Lion. Debbie Gibson. Winger. Poison. Admit it. You know who you are and who you loved. It's ok. We all felt that way about someone. For me, it was (gulp) Samantha Fox. In the mid-to-late 80's, she was what a lot of thirteen to sixteen year old boys yearned for. Blonde. Buxom. Very fit. Willing to pose for topless posters. Not the greatest of singers, but always singing (perhaps naively) about sex. She knew what her strengths were and who here audience was. Even if we didn't like the dance pop music so much, she could more directly appeal to adolescent male horomones. I was no exception. I have cassette copies of her first two albums somewhere. There are also likely a couple of those aforementioned topless posters still squirrelled away too. They're probably in some drawer or closet at my parents' house in my old bedroom. I was reminded of this today when I heard her first US single "Touch Me" at the gym this morning. The track has not aged well, and it has aged magnificently. I don't think it's aged well because it sounds horribly dated. On the other hand, add a few R&B vocal stylings and you have the same sort of thing that Britney or Jessica or Christina use to dominate the charts today. The way so many female artists are presented to the public is even the same. I mean, look at the pose in the picture. Substitute the torn jeans with something more modern and a thong and you have an image that could be Britney or Christina or Beyonce or even Janet. It's nothing new. Ultimately, my disenchantment with the lovely Ms. Fox came from two sources. One, my musical tastes really began to develop during my junior year of high school. Two, her second album included a dance pop version of The Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" that I still consider to be one of the worst covers I've ever heard. There's a sample on Amazon. Go listen to it. It's atrocious. OK. As harri3tspy observes, it isn't THAT bad... but Lord, it isn't good. said drgeek on 2004-11-23 at 10:13 a.m. |
those first two estates - 2009-02-04 12:58 p.m. |