Debbie Gibson

Artist: Debbie Gibson

LP: 7" single
Song: "Only In My Dreams"
[ listen ]

Today is Debbie Gibson's 39th birthday, and I've been waiting for this day for a long, long time. You see, at the same time I found all those Taylor Dayne singles (posted on Dayne's birthday back in March) I also found someone's entire collection of Debbie Gibson 45s. But to be honest, I actually had "Only In My Dreams" in my collection when it first came out in 1987, but then got rid of it about ten years ago when my record bins got full and I had to weed things out. I've since made lots more room and could even accommodate a bunch of singles by Tiffany and Stacey Q if I came across them. You have to admit though, "Only In My Dreams"—which reached #4 on the Billboard singles charts back in September of 1987—makes a good first impression. It's bouncy, danceable and full of youthful electricity. Judging by the photo on her debut single's picture sleeve, Debbie Gibson was a fresh and vibrant new presence on the pop music scene who somehow successfully managed to combine a distinctly '80s hairstyle with a touch of the glamorous elegance of the 1940s. Nobody knew then that people were already hard at work behind the scenes, frantically planning her transformation into a pouty, gooey-eyed twit with a Boy George hat and clothing made from upholstery (see "Lost In Your Eyes" below).

Artist: Debbie Gibson

LP: 7" single
Song: "Shake Your Love"
[ listen ]

In December of 1987, Gibson's second single also made it to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. This is one of my favorite Debbie Gibson songs, mostly just for the disco/police whistle used during the bridge.

Artist: Debbie Gibson

LP: 7" single
Song: "Out of the Blue"
[ listen ]

The title track from Debbie's debut LP peaked at #3 on the charts in March of 1988. There are two things worth noting about the picture on the cover of this single.
one:
two:You can no longer pretend you didn't know.

Artist: Debbie Gibson

LP: 7" single
Song: "Foolish Beat"
[ listen ]

The title of this song never made sense to me, but when I listened very carefully to the lyrics last night, I realized she was talking about the "foolish beat" of her heart, whereas I always thought she was talking about the beat of her song. Anyway, this fourth single went all the way to #1 in June of 1988—making Gibson, at age 17, the youngest female to write, produce and perform a Billboard Hot 100 #1 hit.

Artist: Debbie Gibson

LP: 7" single
Song: "Staying Together"
[ listen ]

It's not common to hit the #1 spot with an album's fourth single, and Gibson had not prepared a follow-up, since the album's other songs were nothing but mediocre filler. Still, she couldn't really let a golden opportunity go to waste, so she picked one of the album's faster numbers and lobbed it at the charts to see what it would do. (Unfortunately, her label couldn't scrape together funds for yet another picture sleeve, so Debbie had to piece something together herself at the last minute using photos her mother had taken at one of her Vegas shows.) As feared, the song failed to follow its predecessors into the top ten, peaking at #22 in September of 1988.

Artist: Debbie Gibson

LP: 7" single
Song: "Lost In Your Eyes"
[ listen ]

Putting the relative failure of "Staying Together" behind her, Debbie focused her attention on a new album, "Electric Youth." Having learned from past mistakes, the album's best ballad was released as the first single rather than the fourth, and "Lost In Your Eyes" sailed to #1 in the spring of 1989...exactly as planned.

Artist: Debbie Gibson

LP: 7" single
Song: "Electric Youth"
[ listen ]

The album's title track was the second single, which stalled at #11 in May of 1989. I like this one for all the laser sounds and orchestra blasts. The "Electric Youth" album produced two more singles, "No More Rhyme" (#17) and "We Could Be Together" (#71), but the person whose records I found evidently stopped collecting Gibson's work after May of '89, or maybe those last two singles were just too good to give up.

[ Happy Birthday, Debbie Gibson! ]