JANUARY 22nd - Girl, It Wasn't True



This night in 1990 was the 17th American Music Awards. Winners included such legendary acts as Bobby Brown, New Kids on the Block, Paula Abdul, Guns N’ Roses, and MC Hammer. Now that is a cornucopia of talent. Who would have thought that NKOTB would be the one group still “Hangin’ Tough.” Ahahahahah. Of course the real reason this particular show was of note, beside the incredible musical talent and fashion choices each of those artists displayed, was the artist that won favorite pop/rock new artist. A little group named Milli Vanilli. A German duo that blazed through the airwaves with amazing dreadlocked hair, spandexed tights, dance moves, and vocal ability. Except that vocal ability wasn’t actually theirs. That ability belonged to Brad Howell, John Davis, Jodie Rocco, Linda Rocco, and Charles Shaw. But for whatever reason Rob and Fab were held up as the singers of the group, even though they weren’t the ones singing, and they barely spoke English. And people ate it up. Because “Girl You Know It’s True” and “Blame it on the Rain” were damn catchy songs. So catchy, in fact, that the Grammys gave Milli Vanilli the Best New Artist award. They took it back when they found out Milli and Vanilli were just moving their lips. The AMA’s let them keep it, because the awards are seen as consumer driven. Truth it is doesn’t really matter. I’ve always felt award shows, especially The Grammy’s, should wait at least five years before handing out awards. Some things need to marinate. Chicken. Songs. Movies. Writing. They can all be improved with a little marination. Some of my favorite songs ever, were songs that upon first listening I didn’t like or didn’t get. Some artists take some patience to appreciate. Jeff Buckley comes to mind. Took me a while, but once that voice crept in, he’s kept a permanent rotation in my playlists. Or Eva Cassidy who wasn’t discovered till after she died. And while I’m not taking anything away from the likes of Paula Abdul, MC Hammer, or even Milli Vanilli, they didn’t exactly change the music industry. More flash in the pans (though I guess you could argue MC Hammer brought rap into the mainstream). Unless you count the soul-crushing blow people felt when they discovered that two dreadlocked, handsome, spandex-wearing, dancing, Germans could not sing like songbirds. Sorry, Girl. It wasn’t true.

This day has been Marked.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

AUGUST 22nd - Don't Drink the Kool-Aid

On this day in 1911, somebody working at the Louvre discovered that the Mona Lisa was missing. The previous day, a Monday--meaning the museum was closed to the public, Vincenzo Peruggia, a maintenance worker, brazenly walked out of the Louvre with what would eventually become the most famous painting in the world. Vincenzo basically sat on the painting for two years until he was caught trying to “return” it to his homeland of Italy in a misguided demonstration of Italian patriotism. The theft itself is quite interesting, mostly because of the lack of planning and preparation that went into it, but equally intriguing is the part it played in making the Mona Lisa so famous. Many historians feel that the painting reached new heights because it was stolen. It kind of makes sense in that whole “you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone" kind of way. Not that I would suggest staging a kidnapping to allow your significant other to realize how much he/she loves you, because that’s jus
Read more

AUGUST 23rd - History of the One-Way

Image
On this day in 1617, the idea of the one-way street was supposedly introduced in London in the alleys near the River Thames. I’m not sure why London was on the cutting edge of traffic direction, though Albemarle Street, which is acknowledged as the first one-way street, was designated as such because the scientific lectures given there in the early 1800s were so popular. Why wouldn't they be? I can’t really imagine why a one-way street in 1617 would be necessary, but then I can’t really imagine what London in 1617 was like at all. I’m fresh out of people to interview too. Unless the Highlander is real. Just as well. Interviews take a long time. And the person inevitably goes off on tangents. Look, I’m sure the story of how you “accidentally” ingested psychedelic mushrooms while trekking across the Pacific Northwest in your hippie days and met your first wife, Wind Lover, is an incredible story, but I merely asked if you were currently married. It’s a yes or no question. Without the
Read more

OCTOBER 23rd - A Blink of the Cosmic Eye

On this day in 1977, American paleontologist, Elso S. Barghoorn, announced the discovery of some algae microfossils, complete with some super-scientific name and some super-scientific qualifiers, that were 3.4 billion years old. In layman’s terms--really freaking old. Interestingly enough October 23 was also thought, for a long time, to be the day on which the Earth was created. In 1650, church leaders interpreted that the bible documents Earth’s creation on October 23, 4004 BC. Also a long time ago. Not quite the 3.4 billion years of the first life-forms, or the 4.5 billion years most scientist believe the Earth has been around for. So old Barghoorn may have been giving a little nod there, as in “I’ll take your 5700 years and raise you a few billion.” In any case, it shows that we are here but for a blink of the cosmic eye. Stuff has been around so long that if you really start to think about it, you start feeling like you are watching first 30 minutes of The Tree of Life and wonderi
Read more