History offers a perspective...

On this day in 1999, Brit was livin the dream. Her song "Baby One More Time" was turning her into the hottest teenager to ever sell her sex appeal in a legal manner. All eyes were on her. And here we are a scant 8 years later and all I can say is Wow. With a capital W.
I got to thinkin about this when I noticed another teen pop sensation had a number 1 hit 11 years earlier in 1988, Tiffany with "Cold have Been". Now I was in the midst of high school hey day then. All skater wannabe punked out and what not, but Tiffany was something everyone made fun of. Of course things were different back then. There was Madonna as the sex symbol, but that was alright cause she was like 20 something. Teenagers who happened to be stars didn't sell the image Brit did. I guess that is why the only place you see Debbie Gibson and Tiffany is VH1's Where Are They Now. But when Gibson and Tiff were climbing up the charts, they were runnin that stuff as hard as they could. They were it if you were in to pop music. If you were stuck with a radio, it really sucked cause you heard each or at least one of them every hour. I guess they were trying to balance NKOTB. I don't know nor do I care cause that era in radio really opened my eyes to the value of having your own music collection. Debbie Bibson and Tiffany were part of the reason hip hop and metal was so appealing to Gen X. But that is a whole other discussion.

My wife and I were watching Will and Grace one night and one of the lines was "Who has more staying power, Brit or Christine?" We thought it was funny, but little did we know we would bust that out at dinner parties and really twist some people over the whole thing. Why because it make you talk about the train wreck that is Brit. Part of the problem is building your confidence around an image. What happens when you can't be a teenager anymore? I guess it all slips away and you go crazy. Hell look at those album covers. That tells it all. Tiff- conservative but edgy jean jacket. Long red hair. A cute look. Deb- very conservative jacket and shirt with a hat that can be considered edgy. Brit- kinda on the floor looking up suggestively with a kinda revealing skirt. Same standard grin with cocked head. Whats up with that anyway? Must be a standard pose or something. Makes you wonder what is next.

But back to the question of staying power. The real answer depends. Brit is more popular than ever, its just not the way she wants. Christine Aguilera is a way better singer and will have a more celebrated career in the vocal arts. And that is the way I see that panning out.

Alright amigos. Have a good day.