Whitney Houston R.I.P.

that said if tony wants to campaign for legalizing pot i'm for it

Damn, didn't know she sang backup on (Chaka's) "I'm Every Woman" until just now.

This is really sad. RIP

when people vanish behind a veil of something, you sort of lose sight of them in the moment, but keep waiting for them to emerge as something else. and you hope it won't be like this. RIP, whitney.

Loved the voice, hated 90% of the material. I also think I projected too much of her negative influence on so much 90s pop (as someone noted above) onto Whitney herself at the time.

That said, I'd been sorta hoping for a quote-unquote respectable career resuscitation over the last cople years. Give her a nice stripped down production and some songs tailor made for her by, say, Cee Lo or Raphael Saadiq along with some choice covers---not saying it would have been amazing, but certainly interesting.

her voice was gone, though.

reminds me of charlie louvin. he had a brief career resurrection before he died but unfortunately the chief selling point of the louvin bros and his earlier solo work was his high, pure voice, which had been almost completely devastated by old age. so listening to those records was as much sad as inspiring for me.

houston's voice hadn't degenerated that bad, but it lost about everything that had given it its unique character, and she had taken to speak-singing and using autotune to obscure the flaws.

Million dollar bill was a really great track.

This is so fucked up. Was at a bar when I heard and people were cracking really cruel jokes, but that's New Hampshire I guess. Fuck this state.

no that's "bars"

oh shit :( horrible horrible news to wake up to.

my favourite whitney songs were her late 90s comeback ones, but "i will always love you" was my first memory of being completely awestruck by the power of a voice.

mark sinker's essay on it last year was pretty incredible - http://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/11/i-am-the-0-00000001-percent/

youtube autocorrect already suggests "whitney houston dead" :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GFTeoqAx5I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUE6Zu0FaOc

RIP Whitney

RIP

really sad news to wake up to. RIP :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYTFJvgxx5Q

"How Will I Know" is probably my ultimate favourite, but I love all of the big songs from The Bodyguard, esp. "I Have Nothing". I don't care how schlocky it is. It's like a tidal wave.

RIP Whitney.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14Sgnlz719Q

;_; RIP

'tidal wave', 'massively massive' indeed...

:-(

That 98/99 Whitney comeback was really great - certainly better than the Bodyguard balladosaurus era. 80s dancepop Whitney forever though. RIP.

Works shockingly well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7DHjUH2UbM

Wait, this is the better one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKjZAsbLCxQ

I really like the Whitney mash-ups, because they underscore something in her voice that the boilerplate '80s pop backing didn't always convey. And again, that's the real tragedy, that she was rarely matched with music that truly suited her vocal talent. And she truly didn't give a shit, either.

2nd one is great

I really like the Whitney mash-ups, because they underscore something in her voice that the boilerplate '80s pop backing didn't always convey. And again, that's the real tragedy, that she was rarely matched with music that truly suited her vocal talent. And she truly didn't give a shit, either.

It's pretty much the classical definition of a tragedy, isn't it?

I dunno, I think the original music for "How Will I Know" is fabulous.

The Material collaboration is an anomaly; her voice was still embryonic. Houston was custom designed for big productions.

It's a crying shame we never got Whitney Houston Tortoise dubs.

xpost "How Will I Know" would have been fabulous for anyone.

damn -- I didn't know Jermaine Jackson had three productions on the debut album (only knew the duet).

The only cluster of songs which leaves me cold: the blockbuster trilogy from Whitney ("So Emotional," "Didn't We Almost Have It All," and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go").

It's pretty much the classical definition of a tragedy, isn't it?

Well, it is a waste of epic proportions. No one would fault her voice, an incredible thing. The tragedy is that despite that voice, and beauty, and fame and money and success, fate had other plans for her. Hooking up with Bobby Brown, of all people, only enhanced the classical Greek aspect of her fall.

Like, most people confuse tragedy with anything bad that happens. But in the classic sense, it's really inevitable self-destruction. See: I believe we are in the catharsis stage of the narrative.

(Creepy true story: in I want to say elementary school music class, all those years ago, the day the teacher taught us what a "figure" was he used Whitney Houston as an example. Like, a creepy punny example, as in, "check out Whitney's figure!" Left an impression, I guess.)

...because they underscore something in her voice that the boilerplate '80s pop backing didn't always convey. And again, that's the real tragedy, that she was rarely matched with music that truly suited her vocal talent...

which is why when her vocals were isolated as in the first few minutes of this, it is utterly wondrous

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enbfmqmBBqI

It would have been nice if she made a full album with Kashif and Paul Laurence around '82-'84, or Jam and Lewis around '85/'86, or Foster and McElroy around '90/'91. She still MOVED/affected millions of people! I see no "waste of epic proportions" in that.

OTM andy k

the "boilerplate backings" weren't the point.

Man...the musician deaths in the last 2 years have been brutal. :(

RIP Whitney

would not want to be in a karaoke bar tonight.

― pplains, Saturday, February 11, 2012 8:29 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

I was. only one person did an attempt at a 'tribute' song tho thankfully....

I dunno, I think the original music for "How Will I Know" is fabulous.

― Tim F, Sunday, February 12, 2012 8:28 AM (1 hour ago)

yeah i never knew people preferred the acappella version before! song is perfect as is!

i don't think anyone does prefer the acappella, it's just a pretty astonishing demonstration of her voice

this sucks

watching videos of her when she first became a star and then thinking of what she became when she got into drugs is just ridiculously tough to reconcile

anyway RIP, life is mad short

from Newark, so RIP

i don't think anyone does prefer the acappella, it's just a pretty astonishing demonstration of her voice

― first period don't give a fuck, second period gon get cut (lex pretend), Sunday, February 12, 2012 9:42 AM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalin

right--i love the music to that song but i think the acappella is what we need today; that shit just haunted me last night.

She still MOVED/affected millions of people!

Dunno how old you are, but I imagine there are at least as many people who know her best as a drug-damaged wreck than as a pop force. MJ's global ubiquity transcended his infamy. But Whitney's reality show descent I think proved far more damaging to her career. Lots of folks have moved and affected millions. Far fewer so perfectly eroded such good will. That, I'd argue, is her legacy, not some ace pop tunes released nearly 30 years ago.

You sound as if her hits aren't played on the radio. I hear them all the time!

her global ubiquity DID transcend her infamy

uh....no, I think most people remember her as both. Like do you really think her songs haven't survived the test of time and the damage she did to her rep, because you're definitely wrong if so. xxpost