You = OLD! I was literally a baby when "The Happening" came out so obviously I didn't know it in real time!
It's so clear to me who in this thread was NOT a 13yo girl in this era of music! I love "Because You Loved Me," and I love Celine. She was the last concert I went to in 2020, after years and years of wanting to see her live! It did not disappoint either!
When You Oughta Know first hit, it took me a while to warm up to it. People at work (mostly the women) were saying how much they liked it and I didn't get it. Since it was all over radio for quite a while, I started liking it towards the end of its run and it actually finished at No. 75 on my own year-end top 100 for 1995. When Hand In My Pocket was released, I started liking that one almost immediately, and it was my No. 6 favorite song on my 1996 top 100. All of the album's remaining hits also made my top 30 for that year. I got the CD for Christmas 1996. Ironic's release must have driven singles collectors crazy. Neither of the first two songs were released on commercial singles, so neither was able to chart. For some reason, Ironic and the next one You Learn, were both on commercial singles and both charted. When it came time for the fifth release Head Over Feet, the label again held it back and gave it to radio only. I was able to acquire promo CD singles of You Oughta Know and Hand in My Pocket, both with "offending words" edited out. I quite like a lot of the songs on this CD. I guess we've all felt this anger at one time or another and could apply that to past broken relationships. This song is OK but the real winner for me is Champagne Supernova. I just love the lush opening of that song, and the lyrics - which could be interpreted several different ways. Wonderwall was released as a commercial single, which is why it was allowed to chart. Champagne Supernova was not, so there's no Hot 100 stats for it. It did quite well on the airplay list and I ended up buying the CD mostly for that song. The third hit, Don't Look Back in Anger, is OK too. Champagne Supernova was my No. 5 favorite song in my Top 100 of 1996.
Ah, the era of CD singles available in UK but not US! I had the UK "You Oughta Know" single. Why didn't I just buy the full album CD since both woulda cost me like $10? Stupidity. I didn't like owning an album for 1 song... but I was find spending the same amount for less music. And I'd not even heard the other "JLP" songs at that point. I eventually got the album and liked it - wish I'd done so from the start.
Re: Jagged Little Pill For me, this album followed the same trajectory as U2's "The Joshua Tree" did back in 1987. I got it quickly after its release, played the heck out of it and then everybody else got it and played the heck out of it. It became so inescapable and unavoidable that it became annoying to me to the point where I didn't play it for myself for decades. I just couldn't. I played "The Joshua Tree" from start to finish for the first time since the 80's in 2019. I have yet to play "Jagged Little Pill" from start to finish again since the 90's. However, now that we are in '96 on the timeline and I'm going through my various mixed tapes, I'm amazed at how much of JLP I put on them. It's almost due for a fresh listen and a re-ranking because I know I docked it a lot of points for the familiarity breeding contempt factor. I'm not through mentioning JLP in this thread. I will have a reason to in the very near future.
Some of them absolutely gobbled up mid-to-late '90s R&B singles. I don't know if she was "R&B adjacent", but I hear plenty of R&B affectations scattered throughout her vocals on some of her songs. Not as much as Whitney, but more than earlier massive white female pop singers like Melissa Manchester, ONJ, Laura Branigan, etc. Bolton - at least the hitmaking Bolton - leans even more into R&B.
That's why you have better taste, they were busy hating and flipping stations. They don't deserve Celine tbh.
The "R&B adjacent" tracks tended to be reserved for the up-tempo album tracks, in which they experimented a bit. At this point we had "Love Can Move Mountains" A 1992 Diane Warren penned single that even had some gospel undertones. 1993's album track "Everybody's Talkin' My Baby Down" with it's almost lite funk vibe. Then 1996's "Make You Happy" with its 'Reggae-esque' vibe. Then to come the following year a 1997 album track and Euro single would see Celine almost rapping! 'Possibly talk singing in this case' on a cover of a song by Jamaican reggae singer, Diana King.
Not around here they didn't. Well, Dion did record a duet with a certain convict we won't name here anymore unless we have to. Don't remind me.
There have been other songs in the rock & roll era anger about broken relationships, one being "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" by Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer, but, I have noticed that at least a couple of songs by men where they give the woman an option to stay with him or leave. One is "I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore" by The (Young) Rascals. Another is "Him Or Me" by Paul Revere & The Raiders", and "Him" by Rupert Holmes. There's one where the guy kicks her out: "The Rain" by Oran "Juice" Jones. (I feel like Casey Kasem right now.)
Glad to hear she is still really good live. Because since she lost her husband, she seems to have changed significantly. And no judgement there, I can’t imagine going through that. But, her albums since have been terrible imo, and she acts much different in public. I hope she’s happy though. It’s clear Rene was the driving force behind her incredible career.
The Joshua Tree is a much better listen for me now than it was when released. It’s aged very well imo, and I have a much better appreciation for it now.
Definitely, and she could definitely take it there if she wanted to. Her Divas live performance of Natural Woman (which has become iconic for the way she and Aretha battled it out) is proof of that. Aretha was actually one of her musical idols.
Celine's template when she started out was Sheena Easton meets Laura Branigan. Christopher Neil helmed all her three American singles from her English debut and had done the same for Sheena's first three albums. She even covered a track from each gal on Unison. The title track was on Branigan's 1990 self titled release and The Last To Know was from Sheena's everywhere but US 1987 release, No Sound Without A Heart. As she gained confidence once her English improved, Dion started to vary her musical palate. While she wasn't calling up ODB like Mariah, she did dabble in soul adjacent numbers like the mentioned Love Can Move Mountains and album cuts like Declaration Of Love. I'd say her soul influences though were more Motown oriented than worrying about what Karyn White was doing. Her version of I Wish is cringeworthy but she did sell Natural Woman well. That track featured on the Tapestry Revisted tribute album from 95 and made all the outside the states pressings of Falling Into You. She eventually had a Babyface production moment like Sheena but it was for a bland Olympic theme not The Lover In Me. The bigger issue was Sony locked Celine into the ballad diva lane so hard that outside of one upcoming top ten in the new millennium, the only way you'd hear any Celine song that was uptempo was to hear a remix at a dance club. It made her seem older even though she and Gwen Stefani are the same age. Anyways, Falling Into You and it's current single were the start of a huge domination period for Celine where I watched her pick up fans of all ages and races. This and the follow up seem to grab African American women at my workplace in particular. I think it was the quality of the material though not that it was particularly soulful. I'll save more for her next chart topper. I'll stick my neck out and declare Because You Love Me an awesome single and things get even better for Celine from here.
Now, we go to the next one on the list . . . #806 (2d of 1996): "Always Be My Baby" by Mariah Carey (#1 for 2 weeks - May 4-11, 1996) Over the last few months (going back to "Fantasy"), there's been a pattern I've noticed: every other #1 that hit this chart was by Ms. Carey. However, unlike the prior two, this one only made the top of this chart and Cash Box; at Radio & Records, it could go no higher than #2, blocked ironically by the record this replaced here. In the UK, its peak was #3; in the time this was #1 here, another George Michael tune hit the top there, which would ultimately peak here at #8.
"Always Be My Baby" by Mariah Carey I really like this song, from the keyboard type synth Harpsichord to the chugging beat, and the very cute Video. I think the sentiment is much more convincing here than her previous #1, everyone has that one "The one that got away" person they loved. I just disagree with the lyric "I know that you'll be back boy" ...Come on Mariah, they ever return lol. The CD Single for this has the non-album B-Side "Slipping Away", however it doesn't feature on the UK/Euro singles and we got 4 so, so remixes on the Maxi. Prior to this Single, a cover of Journey's 'Open Arms' was released in Europe/Australia. I agreed with 'Rolling Stone' who called it an "ill-advised" cover.
Always Be My Baby - Mariah Carey This has some energy so that's going to give it an extra star just for not putting me to sleep. However, watching the video, I'm reminded of why I never could really get into Mariah....she just won't shut up and let the other players and sounds of the song get featured. There's moans and groans in the background of this and all of the ad-libbing during the chorus. Why does she need to fill every moment with a vocal. She looks happy and fantastic in this video though. Still, for me, not good enough to take forward past 1996. 3/5
Yeah... that's not our style up here. We would be more likely to look down our noses at you and judge you silently, then make funny noises when you turned your back.