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Cocaine is a hell of a drug...
no offense to the dead and you can flame me away but imho she sucked, just awful-even before the abuse. Amazing too me that someone of her background had literally no soul. Just generic, super flat, pop, with some slight talent above your average top forty dreck. Im still after all these years flabbergasted at why this singer is so popular. I mean could she just listen to an aretha record once and apply this to something, anythingWhat a complete waste. Imagine channelling that talent into a quality band, performance or song selection. Sorry but to me shes a singing kardashian.
I can't say I was a fan of Whitney Houston's best-known music and am surprised to find myself coming to the defense of her legacy but...a) You can say ( as I have ) that you don't like her choice of songs to record but to call her talent "slight" is just not true. The woman had an AWESOME voice. We can agree that we may not appreciate what she chose to sing but there is no disputing ( at least before she ravaged her voice with booze, smokes and drugs ) that the woman could sing. She , if you care about such things, also shifted over 55 million units in the US alone and became a huge star without slutting it up to get attention. No talent? No way....b) As to her background and lack of "soul", it must be noted in all fairness that her dominance of the charts included the R & B charts as well as the pop charts. It should also be noted that her mother was Cissy Houston, one of the all-time great gospel singers. And as Aretha Franklin was Houston's godmother, I'm pretty sure she had the opportunity to hear an Aretha tune or two, maybe even in person. The music that Whitney Houston chose to record was really a reflection of what was current at the time and I think that if Aretha Franklin's 60's hits had been released around the time where Houston had her monster singles, Aretha would have been considered a talented but anachronistic throw-back like Sharon Jones is today. How do you think Freeway Of Love compares when held up to Respect or Chain Of Fools? I'd love to hear what you have to say about Tina Turner and her 60's material vs. Private Dancer. Let's not live in what Stevie Wonder so aptly described as "a pasttime paradise".As to her personal life, well as entertainers and artists go, she wasn't breaking any new ground there, was she? In recent memory, we've also lost Amy Winehouse and Etta James, both of whom had well-known long-term struggles with substance abuse. Well, that certainly felt weird...think I'll go listen to some Rage Against The Machine now... D.D.
Agreed. The music was enjoyable for what it was and the voice was amazing. ... a bit less condemnation and a bit more sympathy might be in order.
I agree. She completely ruined soul music.
