I recently saw them performing on The View and I was wondering for anyone who was around in the 80's/early 90's, how big of a deal were these two? Were they comparable to Britney & Christina?

I was born in the 80's, but I don't remember hearing their songs or seeing their video's as a kid. I did know of "I Think We're Alone Now", but that's about it.

Seeing them on "The View" though made me take a look at their discography and video's. I know they're regarded as cheesy teen pop acts, but I like some of their songs. I can't help it, I like cheesy Pop music, what can I say lol.

But Tiffany is actually a really talented vocalist. Her voice was mature beyond her years. I also found it impressive that Debbie wrote,produced and played instruments on all her albums especially at her age. "Out of the Blue" is actually a very good pop album.

[Edited 8/14/11 16:19pm]

Great thread cuz I always wondered how Madonna and Cyndi Lauper was any different from those 2. They all seem to make cheesy 80's pop.

Madonna = Britney

Cyndi = Gaga

Taylor Dayne = Christina Aguilera

Pat Benatar = P!nk

Tiffany = Jessica Simpson

Debbie Gibson = Mandy Moore

Heart = Kelly Clarkson

I went to a Tiffany gig once, it was a disaster, there didn't seem to be anyone around.

Their music is ok but what I really enjoyed was their (separate) playboy spreads. Problem was I thought I was alone but there was anyone else around.

Typical men! lol

I remember the rivalry between Tiffany and Deborah Gibson in the 80s, I was more of a Debbie Gibson fan than Tiffany's. Tifffany had a better voice but I thought Deborah was a better musician. She pretty much wrote her own songs and played the piano. Tiffany never appealed that much to me.

Both women did a layout for Playboy my question is who had the better spread?

I didn't know of them, but I did know Electric Youth from afar in about 89', had no opinion about it

Don't see anyone singing Shake Your Love today, great songwriter huh?

I didn't know of Tiffany until a Full House episode where they are listening to her.

All I know is that these days, Tiffany is THE definite winner in the Playboy shoot-out catagory!

[img:$uid]http://cdn102.iofferphoto.com/img3/item/193/410/570/tiffany-playboy-magazine-april-2002-ce871.jpg[/img:$uid]

[Edited 8/14/11 18:36pm]

I'm surprised this isn't a 'versus' thread.

I have to admit Gibson probably has the better songs, but I was always more of a Tiffany fan because I found Gibson too corny.

Here's the link to a Tiffany vs Debbie Gibson thread I created last year. Lots of fun responses.

http://prince.org/msg/8/347888

My 2nd real concert was seeing Debbie Gibson at Seton Hall University, the first was the Monkees!

I like both of them!

They weren't comparable to Britney and Christina. It was amazing how quickly they dissapeared again. They were popular for 2-3 years, that was it. whoops...gone

alphastreet said:

I didn't know of them, but I did know Electric Youth from afar in about 89', had no opinion about it

Don't see anyone singing Shake Your Love today, great songwriter huh?

I didn't know of Tiffany until a Full House episode where they are listening to her.

Thats abit harsh LOL. You dont hear loads of songs that were once top 10 hits. But I agree you dont seem to hear any in the UK, where to be fair Tiffany was bigger for a little while. They still play "think we're alone now" quite alot though on radio and vh1.

Shame Gibson never advanced as a songwriter, though her limited voice was perfect for theatre. Tiffany actually has a decent voice that occasionally reminds me of Stevie Nicks. She can do country quite well too, aswell as rnb when given the material (ie hardly ever).

Tiffany is also that rare pop artist that has a handful of b-sides. Some of them are actually very good. "Mr mambo" is great fun (complete with humerous valley girl breakdown which should transport you back in time LOL) and "heart dont break tonight" is decent teenibopper AOR aswell. Both songs would of felt out of place on her first 2 albums, though they are alot more enjoyable then some of those songs.

All bubblegum/teenibopper pop albums have filler, but because Debbie wrote her first 2 albums alone, theres just waaay too much filler. Casual admirers should always go for greatist hits comps, but Iam too hardcore for that LOL and Tiffany's albums actually have not too much filler and maybe thats thanks to producer George Tobin and his songwriting team. The albums arn't brilliant, but to me, as a late 80's pop fan, they are surprisenly quite good.

Debbie seemed to of taken herself too seriously, though when she finially got some co-writers in on her early 90's albums, the results were often for the better.

Classic teenibopper lyrics. Good song, particually for an album track. Love the guitar on the chorus. Reminds me abit of "true blue" Madonna, but I think thats tenuous.

[Edited 8/17/11 22:01pm]

Yes, they were a pretty big deal. Especially Debbie (excuse me, Deborah) Gibson, though Tifanny always had a better voice and you knew she could kick Deb's ass in a fight.

On a sidenote: Deb Gibson should NEVER NEVER EVER sing "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves".

Live...ever.

[Edited 8/17/11 23:06pm]

I liked both, they each had their songs but I never saw any difference between them. Guess I wasn't too observant.

I like Debbie's first album esp. "Foolish Beat". Love love that song! I wasn't all that impressed with "Electric Youth", but I liked what i've heard so far from her "Anything Is Possible" album that i'm currently listening to. Lamont Dozier co-produced it I believe. The reviews for it were quite bad overall and it didn't do as well as her previous albums, but I like what i've heard from it so far.

I have to wonder though, what has happened to Debbie's voice? She always had a pleasant voice that suited her songs just fine but she sounds awful these days. Hearing her sing on stage with Tiffany recently whose voice has never sounded better, is just painful to listen too.

Cinnamon234 said:

I like Debbie's first album esp. "Foolish Beat". Love love that song! I wasn't all that impressed with "Electric Youth", but I liked what i've heard so far from her "Anything Is Possible" album that i'm currently listening to. Lamont Dozier co-produced it I believe. The reviews for it were quite bad overall and it didn't do as well as her previous albums, but I like what i've heard from it so far.

I have to wonder though, what has happened to Debbie's voice? She always had a pleasant voice that suited her songs just fine but she sounds awful these days. Hearing her sing on stage with Tiffany recently whose voice has never sounded better, is just painful to listen too.

This thread made me dig up her "anything is possible" album. Problem with that album is that its very long and even worse then that, is that the uptempo/midtempo's are all on the first half of the disc and the ballads the second half. This is something rnb albums use to do but why a pop artist like Debbie is anyone's guess? It makes alot of the songs sound the same which is why the album is hard to get into for me.

It stands up better then I thought though. The title track with the weird phaser thing on the lead vocal is still a decent enough song whilst "reverse psychology" has some nice lyrics and a good middle 8, and the ballad "mood swings" is a decent poppy quiet stormer that gets completely lost in a sea of samey sounding ballads. So there are some good tracks here and there.

Surprisenly, I cant find the video to "anything is possible"? I dug the look of the video. Very late 80's LOL.

The Pack

#1 Britney Spears (The Pop Princess)

#2 Christina Aguilera (The Archrival)

#3 Jessica Simpson (The Blonde Bronze)

#4 Mandy Moore (The Runt)