Originally Posted by
Ngroove
Yes, "the nineties". I still remember back to Hammer's parachute pants, Janet's military-esque uniform, and seeing Michael as white before learning he was black. Then, my opinion, tons of bad music dumped from there after that. However, Johnny Gill ain't one of them.
My opinion, Johnny Gill, is / should be, just as much as a smooth soul man, as Marvin Gaye, Barry White, Teddy Pendergrass, Peabo Bryson, Luther Vandross, and Freddie Jackson. With his multi-chorded voice, versatile in doing it all, from blasting those beats, or his balladeering for soothing women into the boudoir. What makes him even better than many contemporaries of his period even then, including his New Edition teammates, he's got class.
However, also, when it comes to "Motown in the Nineties", the only seeming representative Motown remembers every now-and-then, would be Boyz II Men. Yes, they were the biggest selling of the time, they had their "CooleyHighHarmony" remastered and reissued by Hip-O once. Public who stigmatizes nineties as "It's the nineties", even I admit I stigmatize 91% of nineties music as "It's the nineties", give Johnny Gill a listen.
Once again, my opinion, Johnny Gill, top ten album, three R&B number ones, two of them crossover top ten pop, should be just as much a Classic Motown album, as Motown reissued in Classic Album / Deluxe Edition formats, Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On", "Let's Get It On", "I Want You", Diana Ross' "Diana", Rick James' "Street Songs", Teena Marie's "It Must Be Magic", and Lionel Richie's "Can't Slow Down".
And, it's soon turning thirty. I still remember Four Tops, back when I was listening to oldies radio back in late nineties, as "oldies" when their top hits were little over thirty years old. And on 2012, I was stoked, realizing that the Mary Jane Girls had turned thirty, yet still sounded fresh and modern. And now Johnny Gill will be. And in ten more years, will be forty. Will it still not be officially considered a "classic" album, even still when it becomes forty?
Bookmarks