Why was Whitney Houston really booed at the 1989 Soul Train awards?

Some say because she sounded "white" meaning she wasn't singing soul but more pop but thats bs.Plenty of black artists in the 1980's Janet,Michael,Prince were singing straight pop but never got booed but then again this was 1989 not 1985,1989 is when new jack swing was popular so I think maybe the booing had to do with the backlash of Whitneys second album.She met Bobby that same night and in 1990 released "I'm your baby tonight" but I think that booing is what destroyed her and is keeping her on drugs and I think that event has hurt her more than anything in her life.I went on a prince forum and the people hate Whitney they probably the same type of people that booed her because she sang ballads no funk or soul in it.Thats why I think the 1980's was a bad decade.Did people in the 80's ever say she sounded "white" or something I heard disc jockeys say or random people.

I don't think Whitney is a victim of bashing and booing any more than many other artists. The Supremes got booed at an oldies concert in the 70's.

If there is any reason that Whitney is attacked, it is because she was so so successful in every world, black, white, everything.

When you are hugely successful like that, you get attacked; read Diana Ross, Madonna, Beyonce. And I also think part of it is that they are female.

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Originally Posted by homebody

Some say because she sounded "white" meaning she wasn't singing soul but more pop but thats bs.Plenty of black artists in the 1980's Janet,Michael,Prince were singing straight pop but never got booed but then again this was 1989 not 1985,1989 is when new jack swing was popular so I think maybe the booing had to do with the backlash of Whitneys second album.She met Bobby that same night and in 1990 released "I'm your baby tonight" but I think that booing is what destroyed her and is keeping her on drugs and I think that event has hurt her more than anything in her life.I went on a prince forum and the people hate Whitney they probably the same type of people that booed her because she sang ballads no funk or soul in it.Thats why I think the 1980's was a bad decade.Did people in the 80's ever say she sounded "white" or something I heard disc jockeys say or random people.

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Sorry, but I totally see why this woman was booed. If you listen to her music, one album at a time, you can literally hear the soul quotient shrink from one track to the next, culminating in the absolutely abyssmal "One Moment In Time". What were they going to have this woman sing next? Battle hymn of the Republic? Janet, Prince and Michael, at least at that time, were still making music with a soul and/or Funk bent that kept the black audience in their corner. And let's remember that even her record label was forced to bring in L.A. Reid and Babyface to produce "I'm Your Baby Tonight" in an open attempt to regain her black audience, which it did very successfully.

Um the 70's Supremes didn't have Diana Ross but Whitney Houston had soul in her first album did this mean that black people didn't like her in 1985."you give good love" sounds like an R&B song same as Saving all my love for you which she originally was more soulful not a ballad.Some say she was booed becuase the music on record was different from how she sang on concerts.Did people always think she sounded "white" even before her album Whitney or was it just her second album because she was the only one booed for nomination and if they thought she killed soul music when Bobby Brown and Karyn White also killed it because they weren't makig traditional soul music.Janet was compared to Madonna but never got booed and Aretha did a song with George Michael Knew you were waiting for me but never got booed for making a song with a white man.

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Originally Posted by homebody

Um the 70's Supremes didn't have Diana Ross but Whitney Houston had soul in her first album did this mean that black people didn't like her in 1985."you give good love" sounds like an R&B song same as Saving all my love for you which she originally was more soulful not a ballad.Some say she was booed becuase the music on record was different from how she sang on concerts.Did people always think she sounded "white" even before her album Whitney or was it just her second album because she was the only one booed for nomination and if they thought she killed soul music when Bobby Brown and Karyn White also killed it because they weren't makig traditional soul music.Janet was compared to Madonna but never got booed and Aretha did a song with George Michael Knew you were waiting for me but never got booed for making a song with a white man.

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Call it CBMS. Corporate Black Music Syndrome. A phenomenon that started more or less in the 1980's, when black music started sounding more and more like it was conceived in a corporate boardroom. Whitney's first album had a decent amount of soul, but the second album was about as bland as rice cakes. All of the other names you mentioned had more than enough street credibility to hold on to the black audience. Historically, it always been the case that a black artist that foresakes their African-American base usually cannot get it back once the mainstream audience has had enough of you, and that happened more or less to Whitney.

So in the 1980's people wasn't complaining about "the current state of R&B" like we are today because people like Bobby Brown bad boy image led to R Kelly which led to todays oversexualized R&B.Why didn't any of the other nominations get booed I mean today people think 90's R&B ruined soul music especially the baby boomer generation who grew up with Motown and listened to soul in the 1970's so I am shocked that they only booed Whitney when Bobby was more hip hop influence.Maybe it was the younger generation that booed her though because older blacks born in the 40's to 60's didn't even like the modern R&B so I think it was the ones born in the early 70's that booed her meaning teenagers but Snoop Dogg had grammys and never got booed or even Mariah carey who looked white in 1990 but sang like a black woman and blacks embraced her and she did ballads not strickly R&B.didn't older people hate the R&B at the time in 1989 like they do today.

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Originally Posted by homebody

So in the 1980's people wasn't complaining about "the current state of R&B" like we are today because people like Bobby Brown bad boy image led to R Kelly which led to todays oversexualized R&B.Why didn't any of the other nominations get booed I mean today people think 90's R&B ruined soul music especially the baby boomer generation who grew up with Motown and listened to soul in the 1970's so I am shocked that they only booed Whitney when Bobby was more hip hop influence.Maybe it was the younger generation that booed her though because older blacks born in the 40's to 60's didn't even like the modern R&B so I think it was the ones born in the early 70's that booed her meaning teenagers but Snoop Dogg had grammys and never got booed or even Mariah carey who looked white in 1990 but sang like a black woman and blacks embraced her and she did ballads not strickly R&B.didn't older people hate the R&B at the time in 1989 like they do today.

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They were complaining about the growing blandness and soulessness of the music. Hell, if anything the 90's restored a lot of quality to black pop. I'd take the nineties over the eighties any day of the week.

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Originally Posted by homebody

Some say because she sounded "white" meaning she wasn't singing soul but more pop but thats bs.Plenty of black artists in the 1980's Janet,Michael,Prince were singing straight pop but never got booed but then again this was 1989 not 1985,1989 is when new jack swing was popular so I think maybe the booing had to do with the backlash of Whitneys second album.She met Bobby that same night and in 1990 released "I'm your baby tonight" but I think that booing is what destroyed her and is keeping her on drugs and I think that event has hurt her more than anything in her life.I went on a prince forum and the people hate Whitney they probably the same type of people that booed her because she sang ballads no funk or soul in it.Thats why I think the 1980's was a bad decade.Did people in the 80's ever say she sounded "white" or something I heard disc jockeys say or random people.

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I have to disagree. I bet she doesn't even remember it.

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Originally Posted by homebody

Um the 70's Supremes didn't have Diana Ross but Whitney Houston had soul in her first album did this mean that black people didn't like her in 1985."you give good love" sounds like an R&B song same as Saving all my love for you which she originally was more soulful not a ballad.Some say she was booed becuase the music on record was different from how she sang on concerts.Did people always think she sounded "white" even before her album Whitney or was it just her second album because she was the only one booed for nomination and if they thought she killed soul music when Bobby Brown and Karyn White also killed it because they weren't makig traditional soul music.Janet was compared to Madonna but never got booed and Aretha did a song with George Michael Knew you were waiting for me but never got booed for making a song with a white man.

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I don't understand this especially since I was very much around at that time and was paying more attention to current music, much more so than I do now. Whitney Houston was always extremely popular with a variety of demographics including the African American audience. This is something that cannot be said sincerely about Diana Ross' career [[in response to Jobeterob's comment and your response that the 70's Supremes did not have Ross which is why they were booed once by half the audience at an Oldies Show at MSG in March 1977 there is a story behind that).

Whitney had become quite popular with the "power ballads" she had been doing from the very start of her career. I also cannot believe she was booed by African Americans soley because they felt she didn't sound "soulful" enough in 1989! I want to put emphasis on 1989 because by that time we had already had great artists such as Dionne Warwick, Nancy Wilson and many others that could and did produce some very successful Pop records and R&B/Soul records with the same amount of ease.

I watched a lot of those awards programs during that era and I cannot say I remember Whitney being booed and certainly not for her music by anyone. I think you are off base with this one.

Marv

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Originally Posted by homebody

So in the 1980's people wasn't complaining about "the current state of R&B" like we are today because people like Bobby Brown bad boy image led to R Kelly which led to todays oversexualized R&B.Why didn't any of the other nominations get booed I mean today people think 90's R&B ruined soul music especially the baby boomer generation who grew up with Motown and listened to soul in the 1970's so I am shocked that they only booed Whitney when Bobby was more hip hop influence.Maybe it was the younger generation that booed her though because older blacks born in the 40's to 60's didn't even like the modern R&B so I think it was the ones born in the early 70's that booed her meaning teenagers but Snoop Dogg had grammys and never got booed or even Mariah carey who looked white in 1990 but sang like a black woman and blacks embraced her and she did ballads not strickly R&B.didn't older people hate the R&B at the time in 1989 like they do today.

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In the 80's no we were not complaining and were still buying lots of music, albums etc. Today There is no state of R&B to complain about. It's as if people are going along but still waiting for good, solid music to return.

I don't think any prior music from previous decades ruined the quality of music that is out there today. I believe it goes deeper than that. The cutting of music education programs in many public school districts around the country can be blamed for this situation I believe. Kids are not taught to play instruments like they were in the past. I have said for several years now that there are no longer any great songs, because there are not many great songwriters around anymore. You have a generation that matured musically by not playing and creating their own original sounds......but from sampling and coming up with "hooks" rather than writing complete meaningful songs.

I remember IN Living Color also did a sketch around 1990 making fun of Whitney's lack of rhythm when she moved and her bland dance pop recordings like I Wanna Dance with Somebody. I think for her second album and then One Moment in Time Clive Davis pushed her too hard into a pop direction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naSAQ-xuTvo

Sure, she could belt out some great soul [["Saving All My Love For You" comes to mind), but Clive Davis guided her musical direction, and he, frankly, didn't understand R&B music. I mean, this is a guy who thought Earth Wind & Fire wasn't really soul music when he signed them. But, the good thing with Davis is that he left it alone.

I think the reason Houston did hit with the R&B audience first is because her first album was first marketed to R&B, then to the pop audiences, and utilized several R&B producers like Kashif. The styles went in both directions. Clive Davis wanted to see which way the wind would blow. Once "How Will I Know" became a smash hit across the board, it was pretty much settled which direction she would go, and that was pop music. The clincher was to hire jazz-fusion-turned-R&B artist/writer/producer Narada Michael Walden, whose last hit project was Sister Sledge's "All American Girls" at that point.

If people booed her because of such a stupid reason, that is their problem. It's a kind of racism, and the kind many Black pop artists have had to deal with at one time or another. I'm pretty sure The Pointer Sisters, for instance, suffered the same ignoramuses.

http://youtu.be/8CzQkRJxoXo this is the night that when Whitney name was called they booed cause she wasn't black enough.I wasn't alive in the 80's but I wonder if there were actually black people saying or felt she wasn't black enough because she was too succesful or won too many grammys but I really feel that this caused her to pursue Bobby and do drugs.That night I feel still hurts her and drugs and bobby she proving a point to black people.

Whitney most certainly remembers this. That night is part of her "legend". Its talked about all the time when discussing her career. I just think it was a case of over exposure. She was winning almost every award out there and to some, she didn't deserve all of them. With that said, there were many in what ever category she was in, who many of the "soul train" community thought were more deserving of the award than her, so they booed her. Very rude. She kept on keepin on and her career soared to even greater heights. They came back around.

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Originally Posted by timmyfunk

Sorry, but I totally see why this woman was booed. If you listen to her music, one album at a time, you can literally hear the soul quotient shrink from one track to the next, culminating in the absolutely abyssmal "One Moment In Time". What were they going to have this woman sing next? Battle hymn of the Republic? Janet, Prince and Michael, at least at that time, were still making music with a soul and/or Funk bent that kept the black audience in their corner. And let's remember that even her record label was forced to bring in L.A. Reid and Babyface to produce "I'm Your Baby Tonight" in an open attempt to regain her black audience, which it did very successfully.

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and "One Moment In Time" is the best thing she ever recorded. She was booed by a bunch of shitheads who have some kind of litmus test for what a black woman must sound like to pass muster, or what kind of music she can sing. They probably would have booed Kathleen Battle if she had been up there. After that is when Whitney moved away from Michael Masser and the quality of her record went down the toilet faster than you can flush. Too bad people couldn't have looked upon her with pride and admiration. Did it make them feel she was "black enough" when she was a crack head?

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Originally Posted by homebody

http://youtu.be/8CzQkRJxoXo this is the night that when Whitney name was called they booed cause she wasn't black enough.I wasn't alive in the 80's but I wonder if there were actually black people saying or felt she wasn't black enough because she was too succesful or won too many grammys but I really feel that this caused her to pursue Bobby and do drugs.That night I feel still hurts her and drugs and bobby she proving a point to black people.

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I was 25 in 1989 gotta tell you that I never heard anyone---anyone---say Whitney Houston isn't "Black enough", whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. What is "too Black"? Is it like being "too White"? It's racism no matter how you try to slice it. And, FYI, Houston was a drug addict before she ever met Bobby Brown. It is a myth that she was this sweet, innocent girl before the evil Bobby got a hold of her.

Well an interview from Whitney in 1990 when she was on Arsenio and he asked the same thing "what is singing white"? but I am saying this was the younger generation booeing her.The generation that was more into hip hop sounding R&B where I think Whitney maybe wasn't liked by black youth.Its racism and I dont blame hip hop because black folks decided to become "real" and real just means life and anything soft is well no comment.Mary J Blige sang "Real" but even some hardcore rap fans dont even see her as real they think rap is the realest thing and that any other genre is soft even R&B which was the closest thing to hip hop.I'm not gonna say I wish hip hop never existed I just wish it wouldn't have become about gangsta and thug imagery.I wish rap could just be like Gil Scott Heron a little just with more rapping meaning spoken word.Whitney getting booed is an example of racism but then again if Whitney was already a drug addict then she was "fake" not real putting on this sweet image.People saying R&B sucks or is lame or jazz is hurtful I mean its the younger males who think rap is life.

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Originally Posted by homebody

http://youtu.be/8CzQkRJxoXo this is the night that when Whitney name was called they booed cause she wasn't black enough.I wasn't alive in the 80's but I wonder if there were actually black people saying or felt she wasn't black enough because she was too succesful or won too many grammys but I really feel that this caused her to pursue Bobby and do drugs.That night I feel still hurts her and drugs and bobby she proving a point to black people.

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I was an adult in the 80's and it sounds like you are getting the mentality of the 60's confused with the 80's! No one, anywhere I knew thought like that by the 80's and I referring to the Black community. I will go one step further to say that some people looked at Whitney Houston with pride when she would be the artist chosen to open many major award shows during that era. When she sang the National Anthem like it was written for her, people of all colors were proud.

Whitney's "fear" of not being "black enough" [[coming out of Newark, NJ and the Baptist Church?)is what caused her to develop a relationship with Bobby Brown and do drugs to prove that she was "black enough" is bordering on racism itself! That doesn't even make sense! In reality, some that knew her may have criticized her for being "too ghetto" but look at where she grew up. This was long before she ever met Bobby Brown of Boston!

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Originally Posted by soulster

I was 25 in 1989 gotta tell you that I never heard anyone---anyone---say Whitney Houston isn't "Black enough", whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. What is "too Black"? Is it like being "too White"? It's racism no matter how you try to slice it. And, FYI, Houston was a drug addict before she ever met Bobby Brown. It is a myth that she was this sweet, innocent girl before the evil Bobby got a hold of her.

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Exactly! Hell in 1989 you had groups and artists that were popular across the board such as Paula Abdul, Fine Young Cannibals, George Michaels and yep even Milli Vanilli! I had never heard anyone black, white brown or whatever discuss liking these artists music based on their skin color or ethnicity.

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Originally Posted by soulster

I was 25 in 1989 gotta tell you that I never heard anyone---anyone---say Whitney Houston isn't "Black enough", whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. What is "too Black"? Is it like being "too White"? It's racism no matter how you try to slice it. And, FYI, Houston was a drug addict before she ever met Bobby Brown. It is a myth that she was this sweet, innocent girl before the evil Bobby got a hold of her.

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I didn't know anything about Whitney Houston and drugs back then. I did however know a few people that grew up with her and went to school with her in New Jersey. Two things I remember hearing was that she chain smoked Newports and when aggitated could curse like a sailor. Whitney was an "Around the Way Girl" way before LL Cool J made that record! LOL! But that is not different from many of artists that came out of the Rock and Soul era including many of the Motown Artists. Why do you think Artist Development was so important?

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Originally Posted by jillfoster

and "One Moment In Time" is the best thing she ever recorded. She was booed by a bunch of shitheads who have some kind of litmus test for what a black woman must sound like to pass muster, or what kind of music she can sing. They probably would have booed Kathleen Battle if she had been up there. After that is when Whitney moved away from Michael Masser and the quality of her record went down the toilet faster than you can flush. Too bad people couldn't have looked upon her with pride and admiration. Did it make them feel she was "black enough" when she was a crack head?

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Jill, I was around back then. I am African American and this the first time I have ever heard the subject of some people not liking or booing Whitney Houston because he did not sound "black enough". I have hung around all types of people and I have never heard this before.

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Originally Posted by homebody

Well an interview from Whitney in 1990 when she was on Arsenio and he asked the same thing "what is singing white"? but I am saying this was the younger generation booeing her.The generation that was more into hip hop sounding R&B where I think Whitney maybe wasn't liked by black youth.Its racism and I dont blame hip hop because black folks decided to become "real" and real just means life and anything soft is well no comment.Mary J Blige sang "Real" but even some hardcore rap fans dont even see her as real they think rap is the realest thing and that any other genre is soft even R&B which was the closest thing to hip hop.I'm not gonna say I wish hip hop never existed I just wish it wouldn't have become about gangsta and thug imagery.I wish rap could just be like Gil Scott Heron a little just with more rapping meaning spoken word.Whitney getting booed is an example of racism but then again if Whitney was already a drug addict then she was "fake" not real putting on this sweet image.People saying R&B sucks or is lame or jazz is hurtful I mean its the younger males who think rap is life.

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I was a part of the younger generation.......then, during the timeframe you are discussing and Whitney was VERY popular with just about everyone. Hip-Hop, Rap fans ,whatever was just one more musical outlet. If someone believes that only Hip Hop and Rap is the "realest thing" , then I can tell you right now they already have a problem.

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Originally Posted by marv2

Jill, I was around back then. I am African American and this the first time I have ever heard the subject of some people not liking or booing Whitney Houston because he did not sound "black enough". I have hung around all types of people and I have never heard this before.

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I was around then, too, 21 at the time.... I think perhaps i'm getting this from media coverage in various places that were saying this at the time. And since Mary stated in her book that the same type of stuff happened to her, you see where i'm going here? If you don't think that's why she was booed... why DO you think she was booed? what's your theory?

One Moment in Time sucked; just like Celine Dion sucked after a certain point...........some God awful duet with Mariah Carey? Or was that Whitney too?

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Originally Posted by marv2

I didn't know anything about Whitney Houston and drugs back then. I did however know a few people that grew up with her and went to school with her in New Jersey. Two things I remember hearing was that she chain smoked Newports and when aggitated could curse like a sailor. Whitney was an "Around the Way Girl" way before LL Cool J made that record! LOL! But that is not different from many of artists that came out of the Rock and Soul era including many of the Motown Artists. Why do you think Artist Development was so important?

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That's right! If Whitney had been at Motown in the 60s, i'm sure Maxine Powell would have had her work cut out for her!

Whitney is a relative of Dionne Warwick, and Dionne was also known to curse like a sailor and have a hell-to-pay temper.

AS bad a Bobby Brown was, I think he deserves an apology from all who have been blaming him for how Whitney screwed herself up. In fact, Bobby today is in much better shape than Whitney.

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Originally Posted by marv2

Jill, I was around back then. I am African American and this the first time I have ever heard the subject of some people not liking or booing Whitney Houston because he did not sound "black enough". I have hung around all types of people and I have never heard this before.

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Same here! I am also Black, and have been around some of the most ignorant of ignorant Black folk, and none of them ever said Whitney sang, or was too "White". The hip-hop crowd respected her but just listened to what they listened to.

Like Dionne Warwick, she was a Black singer who sang pop music. No one ever, ever said anything about that even in the 60s, during her heyday. We played Warwick albums right alongside of Aretha Franklin in our house.

Whitney Houston there will only ever be one as The DIANA ARETHA,DIONNE GLADYS,MILLIE,ETC will never be duplicated,Exellence, i was going to start a thread a few weeks ago about Whitney recording a comeback with THE BOSS,I Think that song would be so good for her to redo, no offence to Diana's version LOVE IT,But it would be so good a song for her comeback to all her put downs,please don't start making this into a DR V WH Thread so many are ruined by the mentality, cheers.

Who is Mary and what book and what exactly was the media coverage at the time about? was it about people saying whos not black enough or whos too white.I wonder if the people who booed her KNEW her personally and the way she acted maybe thats why they booed her perhaps.Only a couple of folks booed her everybody did not boo Whitney but could it be people who have met her and maybe they saw who she really was.

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Originally Posted by jillfoster

and "One Moment In Time" is the best thing she ever recorded. She was booed by a bunch of shitheads who have some kind of litmus test for what a black woman must sound like to pass muster, or what kind of music she can sing. They probably would have booed Kathleen Battle if she had been up there. After that is when Whitney moved away from Michael Masser and the quality of her record went down the toilet faster than you can flush. Too bad people couldn't have looked upon her with pride and admiration. Did it make them feel she was "black enough" when she was a crack head?

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Best thing she ever recorded? Not by a loooonnnngggg shot. She was booed by people who simply weren't feeling her contrived pop direction. While I am no Whitney fan by any stretch of the imagination, "I'm Your Baby Tonight" is clearly a far better album and production than that horrid second album. In fact, that second album [[which I put in the same class with Lionel Richie's "Dancing On The Ceiling") had no business being promoted to African-Americans.

Yeah, that's right. I said it.

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Originally Posted by marv2

Jill, I was around back then. I am African American and this the first time I have ever heard the subject of some people not liking or booing Whitney Houston because he did not sound "black enough". I have hung around all types of people and I have never heard this before.

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I'm somewhat surprised about that marv2. Any analysis of Whitney's career mentions the Soul Train Awards incident faithfully. That BBC documentary Soul Deep made special mention of it.

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Originally Posted by jillfoster

I was around then, too, 21 at the time.... I think perhaps i'm getting this from media coverage in various places that were saying this at the time. And since Mary stated in her book that the same type of stuff happened to her, you see where i'm going here? If you don't think that's why she was booed... why DO you think she was booed? what's your theory?

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Why was she [[Whitney Houston) booed? I really don't know. However, I am more inclined to believe it may have had more to do with her being lavished with so many awards and praised over and above some other deserving artists at the time. Why is it in this country that there can only be ONE "superstar" at any given time [[READ: Beyonce, now Lady Gaga..etc). I think it was just some people [[industry people) that were throwing out a little protest over just automatically giving every award possible to a handful of artists. It was becoming that way with people like Michael Jackson at one time.

Now, what Mary Wilson was explaining in her book involved a whole other time and the issues were entirely different! People had started complaining that Motown had gone far too mainstream and the Supremes in particular had gone completely to the extreme! Case in point, check out the video clip of their 1967 appearance on the "Hollywood Palace" where they performed "Reflections" followed by a few standard cabaret type tunes and the duet they did with Sammy Davis Jr. Not only was the sound and type of the music they were performing began being criticized, but their glamorous appearance had gone to the extreme where they didn't even look human, they looked more like animated Barbie dolls!

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Originally Posted by jobeterob

One Moment in Time sucked; just like Celine Dion sucked after a certain point...........some God awful duet with Mariah Carey? Or was that Whitney too?

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Being that you are Canadian, have you ever heard of French Canadians criticizing Celine Dion for singing mostly in English forsaking her Francophone roots?

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Originally Posted by soulster

That's right! If Whitney had been at Motown in the 60s, i'm sure Maxine Powell would have had her work cut out for her!

Whitney is a relative of Dionne Warwick, and Dionne was also known to curse like a sailor and have a hell-to-pay temper.

AS bad a Bobby Brown was, I think he deserves an apology from all who have been blaming him for how Whitney screwed herself up. In fact, Bobby today is in much better shape than Whitney.

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I agree with you especially when the blame game involves Bobby Brown! Some try to make him out to be another Ike Turner which is so very far from the truth. Some forget that not only was Whitney Houston older than he was, she also possesed the bigger bank account which leads me to believe that she called a lot of her own shots! Just because she sang pretty doesn't mean that she was "pretty" around the clock. It was her job. People too many times confuse what they see in a person on stage with how they are when they are not in the spotlight. I think that is why I can appreciate some Rock and Hip Hop artists because some just don't give a _______!

For the record Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown were far more talented and created much better music individually than Beyonce and Jay-Z! Ugh!

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Originally Posted by soulster

Same here! I am also Black, and have been around some of the most ignorant of ignorant Black folk, and none of them ever said Whitney sang, or was too "White". The hip-hop crowd respected her but just listened to what they listened to.

Like Dionne Warwick, she was a Black singer who sang pop music. No one ever, ever said anything about that even in the 60s, during her heyday. We played Warwick albums right alongside of Aretha Franklin in our house.

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Another interesting point. Aretha and Dionne are very good friends. They even recorded some of the same songs. Aretha is Whitney's Godmother so I highly doubt they, themselves ever made a distinction or issue over who sounded "black".

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Originally Posted by honest man

Whitney Houston there will only ever be one as The DIANA ARETHA,DIONNE GLADYS,MILLIE,ETC will never be duplicated,Exellence, i was going to start a thread a few weeks ago about Whitney recording a comeback with THE BOSS,I Think that song would be so good for her to redo, no offence to Diana's version LOVE IT,But it would be so good a song for her comeback to all her put downs,please don't start making this into a DR V WH Thread so many are ruined by the mentality, cheers.

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I liked Whitney's comeback single "Million Dollar Bill". She does not need to record old Diana Ross songs.

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Originally Posted by homebody

Who is Mary and what book and what exactly was the media coverage at the time about? was it about people saying whos not black enough or whos too white.I wonder if the people who booed her KNEW her personally and the way she acted maybe thats why they booed her perhaps.Only a couple of folks booed her everybody did not boo Whitney but could it be people who have met her and maybe they saw who she really was.

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Mary Wilson and her first book was "Dreamgirl, My Life As A Supreme" 1986 New York Times Bestseller and the all time best selling music related autobiography. Google it.

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Originally Posted by timmyfunk

Best thing she ever recorded? Not by a loooonnnngggg shot. She was booed by people who simply weren't feeling her contrived pop direction. While I am no Whitney fan by any stretch of the imagination, "I'm Your Baby Tonight" is clearly a far better album and production than that horrid second album. In fact, that second album [[which I put in the same class with Lionel Richie's "Dancing On The Ceiling") had no business being promoted to African-Americans.

Yeah, that's right. I said it.

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Nothing was worse than "Dancing On the Ceiling" Timmy. Stop it! LOL!!!!!

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Originally Posted by timmyfunk

I'm somewhat surprised about that marv2. Any analysis of Whitney's career mentions the Soul Train Awards incident faithfully. That BBC documentary Soul Deep made special mention of it.

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Timmy, I am serious. You know I wouldn't mess you around. I had never heard of it or at least remembered it and I tried to catch all of the music award shows back in roughly the early 80's through to the mid 90's. I have quite a few on video. I just don't remember the booing incident, but I definitely know that people were not criticizing Whitney for not sounding black enough in the late 80's. We had moved beyond those types of sensibilites of the 60's.......well at least until Wayne Brady came upon the scene! LOL!!!!

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Originally Posted by marv2

Another interesting point. Aretha and Dionne are very good friends. They even recorded some of the same songs. Aretha is Whitney's Godmother so I highly doubt they, themselves ever made a distinction or issue over who sounded "black".

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Aretha did a lot of pop songs too. "Chain Of Fools", "See Saw", "Daydreaming", and many others. Dionne, the same. So, why pick on Whitney?

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Originally Posted by timmyfunk

Best thing she ever recorded? Not by a loooonnnngggg shot. She was booed by people who simply weren't feeling her contrived pop direction. While I am no Whitney fan by any stretch of the imagination, "I'm Your Baby Tonight" is clearly a far better album and production than that horrid second album. In fact, that second album [[which I put in the same class with Lionel Richie's "Dancing On The Ceiling") had no business being promoted to African-Americans.

Yeah, that's right. I said it.

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Thin voice Madonna was turning in more soulful performances with Like a Prayer and Express Yourself than what Whitney was allowed to do in her late 80's hits. The booing was heard though, because after that, though she still did some of those faux inspirational big ballads, she did have some more pop/r and b on her albums.