did you ever think they would be famous?

madonna, mary j blige, culture club, cyndi lauper, whitney houston..i remember the first time i heard their songs...gawd i'm old

I heard the end of "Vision of Love" by Mariah while switching radio stations in the car. I thought, "Hmmm, I have to hear that one all the way through..."
A few days later, while walking through a record store (looking for the latest Prince singles, I'm sure), they put on "VOL" and -- by the time it was over -- I needed to sit down and a cold glass of water. "That girl can SANG!!!", I thought.

Then I saw her picture. "Oh, yeah... She'll be a star." A coworker of mine, years later, reminded me of my prediction, about how right I'd been.

My other three predictions (non-singers):

Brad Pitt (back when he put out Johnny Suede)
George Clooney (during his Facts of Life period)
Scarlett Johannsen (once I saw Ghost World)

one i never thought would be huge:

Tracy Chapman


I had that album months before she blew up.

mariah carey vision of love

I thought Britney Spears was a flash in the pan. I never thought she would be as famous (or as crazy) as she became. I was also shocked by Jennifer Lopez' success in the musical arena. I always thought she was marginally talented and not even original.

Saw Norah Jones during the 2002 Xenophobia Celebration at Paisley Park and wasn´t really impressed...nice set but I never would have expected her to become THAT big later on.

Too bad those Paisley guests never ever even mention their celebration participation in interviews...the smallest shows get mentioned in magazines but nobody ever mentions the Paisley Park shows some people did ( Norah Jones, Erykah Badu etc.)

I also saw lots of famous rappers before they became the latest hype and started demanding big money for their ridiculous "shows"....some are good though.
[Edited 10/2/07 8:24am]

Well first would be Mariah Carey, i got her advance Promo cassette back in 1990 about a month before the single was out, the promo had one track (vision of love) and then snippets of a few other songs, No picture of her, just a clear tape that said Mariah Carey "advance sampler". Next would be Norah Jones easily, mainly because Norah really was a "word of mouth" artist like Elton John back in 1969-70 when he played the troubador. Norah was gigging here in NYC for close to two years before "america" had heard her, i had seen her live about a dozen times before the record was even released. One of the last times i saw her before the "FLUKE" happend as she says, Norah was opening for Joan Rivers in NYC at a club that held about 75 people if even. It was so tight in there i was leaning on Norahs piano.

Nirvana, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (their de facto "debut" song)

Terence Trent D'Arby, "Wishing Well" (does he qualify?)

Eazy-E, "Boyz In Da Hood"

missmad said:

yes, me too

Also (though superstar may be questionable for some of these)

Alanis Morissette
Limp Bizkit
Dave Matthews
Alicia Keys
D'Angelo

Okay, he may not be a "superstar" but when John Mayer first came out I had no idea he was going to become so famous.

I thought he was going to just be the cute, sensitive, coffehouse crooner that had a small but devoted fanbase and I loved that (along with his first ablum)

but now he's big pimpin across the tabloids, and he might as well be the messiah for drunk college girls across the United States

Rage Against The Machine, opening for Fishbone at a small club in 1992. First thought: these guys are gonna be huge. I chatted up the bass player after the gig, thinking maybe I could help them get gigs or something since I was in a band that was semi-known on the local scene. Little did I know...they were already signed to Epic and had no use for lightweights like myself. Pretty nice guys though.

I'd say Supersonic - oasis.

Also I thought 'hanson' were going to be huge. they were billed as the 'new jackson 5'.

Lovesexy82 said:

Yeah, when "Hit Me Baby One More Time" came out, I remember seeing the video and predicting her to be a one hit wonder. Most pop stars of the late 90's were so disposable that I was expecting her time to be up in no time.

First time I heard and heard of Lenny Kravitz was when he appeared on the Arcenio Hall show.



I thought he was fantastic. Went out and bought the tape the next day.

Lovesexy82 said:

I came in here to say both of those things.

NDRU said:

they r all good!

NDRU said:

You mean "Too Hot" from 1991?

lastdecember said:

Braggart!!!!

missmad said:

I guess I was only thinking of Limp Bizkit when I questioned the superstar status. But I admit I though Nookie was kind of cool when I first heard it.

Cinnie said:

haha, okay I cheated a little and skipped the Debbie Gibson years.

Musiq Soulchild - Sunny (Just Friends)
Erykah Badu - On and On
De La Soul - Potholes In My Lawn
India Arie - Video
Jill Scott - You're Gettin' In The Way
Tony Toni Tone' - Born Not To Know
Al B. Sure! - Nite And Day
TLC - I Ain't Too Proud To Beg
En Vogue - Hold On
D'Angelo - Brown Sugar
Guy - Groove Me

Oh, and I'm calling it right now:

Chrisette Michelle - If I Had My Way

There were a few but the two I remember most were Joni Mitchell at a little coffeeshop friends and I had called The Cellar ~ waaaayyyyy back in Port Huron, Michigan, and Janis Joplin at The Grande Ballroom in Detroit probably in 1968~69. All of us were like, wow, listen to that crazy voice. We loved it but had no idea ~~~~~

MuthaFunka said:

I remember these like they were (debuting) yesterday.



ANDY!!!

Cinnie said:

Cinnie said:

what up bwah

badujunkie said:

I know you feel me on that, bro

i remember watching Mariah on Aresnio

MoonSongs said:

Wow. lucky.