We love you to death

We woke up Sunday morning to hear the news that Whitney Houston had passed away in a hotel room in Los Angeles. I’m sure we all thought it was a drugs overdose; and once the toxicology reports come in, we may be right. But, there is no doubt this was a sad end for a woman only 48 years old, and Mother to a teenage daughter.

Of course, every news broadcast lead with the story, and shots of teary fans were shown saying how much they loved her and how she was going to be missed. Now, I don’t wish anyone dead, but upon reflection, her death isn’t going to change my life much, and most importantly, will not change my long held views about her.

I did actually see her in concert in round about 1988; at a large shed in north west London. That’s Wembley Arena if you didn’t get the reference. Back in the 80s, after missing out not getting tickets for Live Aid, I got myself a credit card so I could buy concert tickets over the phone, and over the years I saw many of the era’s stars: Jacko, Whitney, Stevie, Madonna (twice) and Prince. Without a doubt, Prince was the best show; he was a wonderful performer, backed by a top and, and was a consummate showman, Madonna was never a good singer, and a space like Wembley Stadium was too big for her to be ‘intimate’ in. Jacko was just laughable; already a parody of himself, and trying to be an sexual asexual. Stevie was also great, could imitate anyone he wanted, had a voice and back catalogue to die for. And I Just Called to Sat I Love You too!

And then there was Whitney: She had the voice; the looks, but not the songs. Oh yes, the songs. I Wanna Dance With Someone was the soundtrack to my last family holiday with my parents, but other than that, she was a good pop singer; but was she the voice of a generation as Sky TV claimed this morning? Probably not.
Since her heydays in the 80s, she made a reasonable comeback at the end of the 90s with Its Alright but Its Not OK, she may have done stuff since, but it really did not cross my path. I read she tried a live comeback a couple of years ago but was booed off stage as her voice has gone; decades of crack does that.

Anyway, I saw her on stage, and she was boring; That’s really what I thought; even as the yuppies in front of us swayed and clapped to the music; I put that down to coke. But in two hours she did 9 songs, none shorter than ten minutes long; each with a costume change at the end which required a long instrumental version by her backing band to cover up her absence. When she came back on stage, she thanked her Mom and the rest of her family, thanked God. And did this pretty much between every song.

To commemorate her passing, Sony put the price of two of her records up by £3; this was a mistake of course when I was pointed out. But clearly, lots of people are gonna be buying stuff by her this week despite not remembering more than a couple of songs before Saturday night. As ever, death is the best lift you can give your career.