The 500 - #254 - (Complete & Unbelievable) The Dictionary Of Soul - Otis Redding

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #254
Album Title: (Complete & Unbelievable) The Dictionary of Soul
Artist: Otis Redding
Genre: Memphis Soul
Recorded: May to September, 1966
Released: October, 1966
My age at release: 1
How familiar was I with it before this week: A couple songs

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, dropping 194 to #448 spots since 2012
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Try A Little Tenderness

In the wee hours of December 10, 1967, Ben Cauley, trumpet player for the funk band Bar Kays, shut his eyes for a little sleep. The plane he was on, a Beechcraft H18, was flying from Cleveland International Airport to Dane County Regional Airport (formerly Truax Field) in Madison, Wisconsin.

Typical flight path - Cleveland to Madison Wisconsin

Cauley awoke suddenly upon hearing his bandmate, Phalon Jones, screaming, "Oh no!" as he looked out of the plane's window. Seconds later, Cauley found himself waist deep in ice-cold water inside the fuselage of the aircraft. He unbuckled his safety belt quickly and grabbed a seat cushion as a floatation device. There was a breach in the side of the downed Beechcraft, allowing the frigid water of Lake Monona to rush through. Kicking his legs furiously, Cauley exited the breach and somehow made it to the surface, a short distance from shore. A non-swimmer, he was unable to return to help his bandmates (Jones, Ronnie Caldwell, Carl Cunningham and Jimmy King) or the other passengers, valet Matthew Kelly, pilot Richard Fraser and singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Otis Ray Redding Junior.

At the time, 26-year-old Redding was enjoying music industry acclaim. He had just released his fifth studio record, The Dictionary Of Soul, and he was on a promotional tour of the United States. In April, 1966, performed for three consecutive nights at the famed Whiskey A Go Go in Los Angeles. California, to a predominantly white audience. A live recording, featuring a selection of the songs he performed at the time, was posthumously released in October, 1968.

Otis Redding In Person At The Whiskey A Go Go (1968).

The show received critical acclaim from  the press and the many musicians in attendance, including Bob Dylan. Dylan was so dazzled, he offered Redding the opportunity to record his song Just Like A Woman. Redding politely declined. However, English band Manfred Mann did not, and had a hit with it later that year.

Redding’s electrifying performances galvanized his appeal with white audiences, notably at the Monterey International Pop Festival, June 16-18, 1967. The festival was also the American debut of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Who, and Ravi Shankar. Further, it marked the first large-scale performance by Janis Joplin. With such star-studded talent, that festival is remembered as perhaps the starting point for "The Summer of Love", the, now-infamous, hippie, flower-power, social movement that would end the tumultuous decade.

Promotional poster for the 1967
Monterey Pop Festival.

Redding's performance electrified the audience. According to music historian Ian Inglis:

"Redding had not been considered a commercially viable player in the mainstream white American market...(but)... his performance at Monterey Pop was a natural progression from local to national acclaim and the decisive turning-point in his career."

This performance was also captured on video and posthumously released as a record in 2019. It is an astonishing, 18-minute video that has to be seen to be believed. 

One hundred and sixty six days after that fateful plane crash, on the afternoon of December 10, 1967, the wreckage of the Beechcraft H18 was retrieved from the depths of Lake Monono. Redding's body was recovered along with the other six passengers.

Survivor Ben Cauley would, understandably, be haunted by the memories of the crash for decades after. He continued to perform music with the Bar Kays and several other funk and soul acts until suffering a stroke in 1989. He died in 2015 at the age of 67.

Crews retrieve the Beechcraft H18 from the waters of Lake Monono.

In January, 1968, (Sitting On) The Dock Of The Bay was released. Redding had finished recording it three days prior to the tragedy that claimed everyone aboard the plane. The record immediately rocketed to the top of the charts, becoming the first #1 hit ever released posthumously and Redding’s biggest hit. The song was in sharp contrast to the high-energy sound that led to his many nicknames – The Big O, The Mad Man From Macon, Rockhouse Redding and, of course, The King Of Soul. In The Dock of the Bay, Redding reflected on a simpler life, 'sitting alone, watching ships roll in and out of the harbour from sunrise to sunset as the tides come and go.'

At 26, Redding was on the verge of massive commercial success when that fateful night intervened. Undoubtedly, he was one of the greatest singers and front-men of his generation. How fitting then that Dock Of The Bay was his final song. Its contemplative simplicity provided a beautiful pause in his hurly-burly life. Perhaps, it also invites the listener to pause, and stop and wonder..."What might have come next for this massive talent had his life not been cut so tragically short?"

It can also serve as a reminder to us that life is short and, sometimes, we have to stop, take stock of our own lives, count our blessings and enjoy the moment.

Shakespeare was right, ‘Life is but a brief candle’.

I hope you can find a moment to do that soon. Thanks for reading.

The 500 - #255 - "The Black Album" - Metallica

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #255
Album Title: "The Black Album"
Artist: Metallica
Genre: Heavy Metal
Recorded: One on One Studios, Los Angeles, California U.S.A.
Released: August, 1991
My age at release: 26
How familiar was I with it before this week: Quite

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #235, moving up 20 spots since 2012
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Enter Sandman

Heavy metal music seemed custom built for parody, but not initially. The genre evolved out of the blues and psychedelic rock scene of the late sixties, with U.K. bands Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple being considered the pioneers -- a time when it was indelibly cool to be a rock star.

(l-r) Richie Blackmore (Deep Purple) Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath)
and Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin).

Through the seventies, shock rock bands, such as KISS and Alice Cooper, brought in an element of theatre, while Van Halen and Aerosmith introduced flashy guitar solos alongside lyrics celebrating beautiful girls and a non-stop party lifestyle. A new wave of British metal arrived late in that decade, with Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Saxon. Through them the "headbanger" fan was born. The genre became associated with toughness, power, aggression, and sometimes misogynistic machismo. Concurrently, the typical metalhead began to dress in studded leather and battered denim, replete with chain accessories -- a look popularized in the gay-biker and bondage subculture.

Rob Halford, frontman for Judas Priest, helped usher in
the leather aesthetic in heavy metal.

The eighties marked the arrival of glam metal (Mötley Crüe, RATT, Cinderella, Twisted Sister and Poison). The music was characterized by pop-influenced guitar riffs, upbeat rock anthems and the overly-sentimental and lyrically cheesy "power ballad". The musicians' stage attire borrowed heavily from the glam rock era of the seventies (David Bowie, T-Rex, Mott The Hoople). Some of the leather remained, but it transitioned from tough-guy black to bold neon yellow, red and blue, accented by skin-tight spandex. Long hair was back-combed and teased into high, voluminous manes, held in place by powerful, ozone-destroying quantities of aerosol sprays and gels. And then there was the make-up. Some bands used more stage cosmetics than the current cast of RuPaul's Drag Race. In a strange irony, the more you looked like a girl, the more girls you seemed to attract. It was a weird time indeed.

80s glam metal act, Poison.

Unsurprisingly, heavy metal was easy to ridicule. The American sketch comedy trio of Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer created the fictional English heavy metal band Spın̈al Tap in 1979, releasing the brilliant mockumentary This Is Spın̈al Tap five years later.

Shearer, McKean & Guest in a promotional poster for the 1984
This Is Spinal Tap film.

In a strange twist of life imitating art, the group went on to release three records, several videos and even tour dates, including their "reunion" Back From The Dead nine-city tour in 2001 and a "One Night Only" World Tour at Wembley Arena, London, on June 30, 2009. The opening act featured The Folksmen -- a parody folk trio comprising McKean, Shearer and Guest, characters who had been featured in the 2003 mockumentary A Mighty Wind.

McKean, Shearer and Guest as The Folksmen.

Meanwhile, across the pond in the U.K., four members of the television series The Comic Strip Presents... developed their own parody of the genre by creating the fictional heavy metal band Bad News. Two short films, Bad News and More Bad News, were released as satirical "fly-on-the-wall" style mockumentaries which purported to document the group's trials and tribulations as they tried to succeed in the British metal music scene of the mid-eighties. Actors Ade Edmondson, Nigel Planner, Rik Mayall and Peter Richardson brilliantly satirized the genre, playing hapless rockers, Vim Fuego, Den Dennis, Colin Grigson and Spider "Eight Legs" Webb.

Bad News were(l-r) Spider Webb, Den Dennis, Vim Fuego
and Colin Grigson

Somewhere in the greater Los Angeles area, in the midst of this weird period of gender-blending, headbanging rock and roll, a new band was being cast. As though instinctively, Metallica took their sound in a different direction. Their story began when 17-year-old Danish drummer Lars Ulrich moved with his family to Newport Beach, California, and placed an ad in a local trade magazine, reading. "Drummer looking for other metal musicians to jam..." Guitarists James Hetfield and Dave Mustaine answered the call and, in early 1982, the trio released their first original song, Hit The Lights.

Bassist Cliff Burton was added in 1983 and Mustaine was fired because of drugs and alcohol use. He was replaced by Kirk Hammett. Metallica's evolving sound was dubbed "thrash metal" – a term coined by music journalist Malcolm Dome in 1984. Metallica’s sound was characterized by fast, percussive beats, accented by aggressive, low-register guitar riffs. In many ways, it was a hybrid of late 70s heavy metal (before the glam make-up) and the punk and garage rock sounds of the mid-seventies.

The 1983 Metallica line-up, (l-r) Hammett, Hetfield, Ulrich & Burton.

The band released their first full-length record, Kill 'Em All, in 1983 and received critical acclaim, particularly from the writers in the British music magazine Kerrang. I was an avid reader, making the trip to a specialty magazine shop in downtown London, Ontario, every other week to pick up (or at least flip through) the latest edition. I discovered the title because I had become a fan of a lesser-known British progressive rock (prog-rock) band called Marillion, which American and Canadian media outlets ignored.

Marillion lead-singer Fish on the cover of
a 1982 Kerrang magazine I owned.

It was in Kerrang that I first saw an article on Metallica. It included a picture of the group gathered around a table strewn with booze bottles and food, mainly noodles, which they vulgarly displayed in their hands, mouth and nose (see below). 

One of the first pictures of Metallica I saw
in Kerrang Magazine (1983-ish).

As a fan of heavy metal, particularly the work of the pioneers (Sabbath, Zeppelin) and the 70s British wave (Maiden, Priest), one would think that Metallica would be right up my alley. However, upon seeing the article, I decided, without even hearing a track, that I didn't like the band. In fact, I had several conflicting thoughts:

• I recognized "Metallica" was arguably the best name a heavy metal band could have. It was perfectly brand specific and I immediately knew exactly what to expect -- a band that was unapologetically loud, raw and aggressive.
• I didn't like that picture -- I wasn't a prude, it just seemed unnecessarily vulgar and that they were trying too hard to shock.
• And finally, I realized, “those guys are just a little older than me."

It was this third thought that struck me the hardest. I was 18 in the summer of 1983. All of the bands I loved featured members 5-15 years older than I was -- which is a lifetime when you are a teenager. The members of Metallica could have been in high-school with me a couple years earlier.

Metallica in 1983, Burton, Ulrich, Hetfield & Hammett (l-r)
Looking a lot like my high school chums at the time.

Obviously, I've had 40 additional years to adjust to this reality, but it is jarring when you realize people your age (and younger) are creating music, like it or not, and you are goofing off and getting Cs in high-school chemistry.

Eventually, I became a casual Metallica fan when, in 1987, I worked with James Fast (still a good friend) at a pizza joint where he played heavy doses of Metallica in the kitchen while slinging late night pies from the 400℃ oven. I'll share more of that story when we get to Metallica's third album on The 500, Master of Puppets, at #167.

Me, making pizza in the Fluffy's restaurant where James & I worked.

This week's record, the self-titled "Metallica" from 1991, is often dubbed The Black Album. It highlighted the band's flexibility and creativity with their sound, much like they had a decade earlier. In 1981, they eschewed the pop-sensibilities of glam rock and leaned toward a heavier, “thrashier” sound. During 1991, they refined their style, slowing it down to create some of their most memorable songs, including Enter Sandman, Nothing Else Matters and Sad But True. This coincided with the arrival of grunge rock which quickly made the over-produced glam and pop rock of the eighties seem terribly out of date and completely out of touch with youth sensibilities.

Marvel Metallica Comic Cover

Metallica were, like me, approaching thirty in 1991 and, perhaps, recognized that creative stasis is often unsustainable in the music business. It was a wise choice, the record sold more than 17 million copies in the United States alone and is the fourth, longest charting record on the Billboard 200. It has also earned its spot here on The 500 at position #255.

Comic Jim Bruer performing his Metallica parody routine

All that said, Metallica were not immune to ridicule. In 2003, comedian Jim Bruer worked a terrific parody of Metallica’s sound into a stand-up routine that he bravely performed in front of the band’s members. His take-off included Bruer affecting a spot-on impersonation of Hetfield, imagining him singing nursery rhymes to his children, Metallica style. It can be viewed here.

The 500 - #256 - Trans-Europe Express - Kraftwerk

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #256
Album Title: Trans-Europe Express
Artist: Kraftwerk
Genre: Electronic, Synth-Pop, Avant-Garde, Experimental
Recorded: Kling Klang Studios, Dusseldorf, West Germany
Released: March, 1977
My age at release: 11
How familiar was I with it before this week: Not At All

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #238, moving up 18 spots since 2012
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Europa Endlos

Perhaps, you're fortunate to have reached that stage in life where you've become accustomed to purchasing most things when you need them. You may, if you're lucky like I've been, be able to purchase many things simply because you want them. It is a nice, comfortable feeling. However, there is something magical about having to save your money for a much desired purchase -- particularly when you are young.

When I was 15, I landed my first regular job. Sure, I'd had gigs before - delivering newspapers, babysitting and running the snack-bar at  high school events. This time it was consistent work -- a job, custodian for10-12 hours a week at the local community centre.

Byron Optimist Centre in London, Ontario (recent photo).

At the time, the minimum wage in Ontario was $3.30/hour. However, my new employer, the City of London, paid the princely sum of $5.82/hr. Not surprisingly, my friends were flabbergasted...and jealous. I was over-the-moon, delighted with my good fortune and, shortly after, set my sights on my first big purchase -- the Technics SL-D4, Direct-Drive, Linear Tracking Turntable.

Technics Sl-D4 Linear Tracking Turntable.

The store where I spotted my first big purchase was Great West Audio, located in downtown London. It was (for a Canadian high-school student in the ‘80s) a high-end boutique stereo outlet, carrying products far superior to those found in typical department store catalogues, such as Eaton's, Simpson-Sears or Consumer Distributing. Those options had been fine when I was a kid -- but now I was “grown up and ready for some hi-fidelity.

The interior of a typical stereo store.

I put a $40 down-payment on the $270 turntable. It was my first experience with "lay-away purchasing" and it made me feel tremendously mature. I diligently visited Great West Audio by bus every second Saturday, just after payday. If all went well, the turntable would be mine in about 14 weeks.

Needless to say, I got to know the weekend store clerks well and, since I was an active consumer, we would have friendly chats.They were likely only six or seven years older than I, but from my high-school vantage they were among the coolest adults I knew. I was actually a little envious of their career -- dressed in hip, business attire, making "big money", while playing awesome tunes on amazing stereo equipment all day. Plus, it was their job to talk to pretty girls who walked in to look around. (Truth be told, the male:female ratio was about 9:1, and that included girlfriends dragged inside by their high-school beaus).

Each time I dutifully deposited an installment, I wandered around the  store to ogle dream purchases  -- amplifiers, receivers, cassette decks and, of course, speakers. I had my eye on a pair of Mission 707 which were displayed prominently in "The Speaker Lounge" -- a sound-proofed studio at the back of the store.

Mission 707 Speakers - similar to the pair I would eventually purchase.

"Want to hear something cool through them, Marc?", the twenty-something sales clerk asked one Saturday afternoon.

"Sure", I responded, anticipating him to produce something familiar from the world of ‘70s rock--hopefully, something rich and complex, like Pink Floyd.

"Have you heard the latest from Kraftwerk?" he asked, producing a predominantly yellow album. He removed the record and handed me the jacket.

I shook my head plaintively: "No".

"They are German, electronic, incredible through those speakers you like". Salesmanship guile. He cued up the record and cranked up a nearby amplifier while motioning me to a nearby chair -- ostensibly situated for quality audio reception. For the next 5- 10 minutes, I sat in comfort, reading over the album jacket and experiencing Kraftwerk for the first time.

Computer World album cover by Kraftwerk (1981)

Kraftwerk, (Power Station in German) is an avant-garde, experimental, electronic band, formed in Dusseldorf in 1970. Initially, they were part of West Germany's "krautrock" scene -- a catch-all term for a broad genre of experimental rock sounds, including "kosmische" (cosmic) music which contained hypnotic rhythms, improvisations and the earliest use of synthesizers. The emergent style was a reaction to the cliches of Schlager Music, the conventional German pop music of the time, full of formulaic themes of love and homeland. It was simple, happy-go-lucky and sickly sentimental "Volksmusic" (folk music).

Heinz Georg Kramm - "Heino" - a well-known Schlager Music singer

During their classic period (1974-1986), Kraftwerk comprised founding members Florian Schneider and Ralf Hütter, as well as Wolfgang Flür and Karl Bartos. Since the quartet’s inception 50 years ago there have been 21 members.

Kraftwerk performing in  Zürich, 1978

The members played a variety of conventional musical instruments (guitar, violin, saxophone, drums) plus their electronic gadgetry. Today, it is easy to purchase an inexpensive synthesizer, I have a $300 electronic piano that can replicate dozens of instruments. However, in the 1970s, these ingenious musicians were literally purchasing motherboards, wires, processors and small memory chips that are primitive by today's standards. The components were wired together with a variety of interfaces and, through trial and error,  synthetic music never heard before was created.

Kraftwerk members behind an early synthesizer creation.

Schneider died in April, 2020, after a brief battle with cancer at the age of 73. Hütter continues to perform with three new members, two of whom have been with the band since the late 90s. In October, 2021, the group were finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a recognition long overdue. The group primarily influenced many genres of modern music, including synth-pop, hip-hop, and post-punk, as well as the techno, house, ambient and club music that dominated the dance scene in the 90s. They have also been cited as a seminal influence by dozens of modern artists, including many with records on The 500 list and other more current album lists -- Depeche Mode, The Cure, Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem and Daft Punk. Kraftwerk were the bedrock for the success of Hip Hop. Darryl McDaniels of Run DMC (#242 on The 500) told the English trade magazine New Musical Express in December, 2020, that:

“Kraftwerk were a foundation of hip-hop not just because of their music, but they built their own machines and computers. They were doing the same thing as young boys and girls in the Bronx were doing at the beginning of hip-hop."

German experimental electronica and New York City hip-hop seemss an odd connection, but McDaniels' thesis holds water. Young, hip-hop pioneers, including Grandmaster Flash, would salvage amplifiers, turntables, wires, tubes and a plethora of other parts from behind electronics and stereo stores to assemble the earliest equipment used to DJ. Additionally, Hip-hop artist Africa Bambaataa (born Lance Taylor) released his genre defining electro-beat album Planet Rock in 1986, containing samples from Trans-Europe Express.

When I left Great West Audio that hot Saturday afternoon, in the summer of 1982. I sincerely considered buying a Kraftwerk record to add to my collection -- something I could eventually play on my Technics SL-D4, Direct-Drive, Linear Tracking Turntable through my Mission 707 speakers. The science fiction movie Tron had recently been released and Kraftwerk reminded me of the soundtrack. I thought perhaps I should try to get ahead of this new sound that seemed to be the future of music. Little did I know it was already old enough to be influencing the contemporary music I was hearing.

I didn't, but I did invest in other artists who were similarly experimental, including Jean Michelle Jarre, Nash the Slash, FM, Wendy Carlos, Gary Numan and Duran Duran. For this blog, I took a deep dive into Kraftwerk, listening to Trans-Europe Express and many of the other offerings from their catalogue. Beyond a rich appreciation for their groundbreaking creativity, I really like the music and it will get many more plays.

What was the first big purchase you saved up for?

When did you first hear Kraftwerk?

The only picture I have of my eventual set-up - Mission 707
speakers & linear tracking turntable in 1992

The 500 - #257 - Whitney Houston (Self-Titled Debut) - Whitney Houston

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #257
Album Title: Self-Titled Debut
Artist: Whitney Houston
Genre: Pop, Pop-Soul, R&B
Recorded: Arista Records Studio, New York City, U.S
Released: February, 1985
My age at release: I was 19, my guest blogger was 21
How familiar was I with it before this week: 

    Guest Blogger: Very

    Me: The Hits, 7 out of the 10 songs on the record
Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #412, dropping 139 spots since 2012
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: How Will I Know?

I am delighted to introduce a new guest blogger this week. Sue Bruyns was, until her retirement a week ago, the principal at our school, Sir Arthur Currie in London, Ontario. Sue has been an extraordinary leader with our school board (Thames Valley) for over three decades. Not only was she my principal for the past three years, she also hired me as an Instructional Coach in 2017 – an opportunity that turbo-charged my practice.

Sue Bruyns (front and centre) surrounded by the Sir Arthur Currie Coyote
staffon her last day (June 29, 2023) - I’m up top in sunglasses,
wisely putting the good-looking people in front of me.

Sue was a supportive administrator who brought intelligence, patience, passion and kindness to her role as principal. She was also a terrific conversationalist. Many of my office photo-copying sessions were pleasantly interrupted by a spontaneous chat with Sue about music, education, politics or life. At one such impromptu exchange, we realized that we had both attended Saunders Secondary School in London at the same time and were in band together. Furthermore, much to our surprise, we had gone on a band trip to Boston together in 1982. As is often typical of high school social dynamics, we occupied the same space but never interacted. Two years age difference is a lifetime when you are a teen and we played in different sections -- I played saxophone and Sue played clarinet That was rectified this year, Sue and I had the opportunity to join our school’s band – practising with the students two mornings a week and performing together at the Spring Concert.

Sue and me, following the school’s Spring Concert
on May 4th, 2023- Yes, we performed the
Star Wars’ Theme on "May The 4th Be With You".

Sue also maintains a blog, which can be found at http://www.susanbruyns.com/. Remarkably, she takes on the annual challenge of crafting a “Post-A-Day for the Month of May”. Give her a follow at @sbruyns on Twitter. But first, enjoy her guest post on Whitney Houston’s self-titled debut record.

 By Sue Bruyns

1985 was a monumental year for me. I had graduated Western with my Bachelor of Arts degree in April, started Teachers College at Althouse in September ~ and got married in August. Life was changing at an incredible speed (little did I know how much faster the sands through the hourglass were going to continue to fall). I found that my taste in music was also going through a change. The soundtracks to Grease and Saturday Night Fever were being played less on the stereo system with the large BOSE speakers, as my LP collection was expanding to include the more provocative sounding Purple Rain, Private Dancer and No Jacket Required. It was around that time that I also started my lifelong love of Country Music ~ most notably the band Alabama.

Mid-80s records from Phil Collins, Tina Turner, Prince & Alabama

In the spring of 1985, when it was time for us to select a first dance for our wedding, I recall hours upon hours of spinning records trying to find something perfect. When nothing captured our “promise” to each other, it was off to the nearest music store to look for something new.

I have no doubt it was the beautiful tangerine cover of Whitney Houston’s self-titled first album, Whitney Houston, that caught my eye and led to my purchase that day. I immediately fell in love with all the tracks.

One of the best parts of the 80s was MTV. Not only did Whitney have a powerful voice, but the camera also loved her which helped elevate her popularity, especially with the fun, light-hearted, How Will I Know? video, which is still on my Spotify playlist and a fan favourite at weddings, almost 40 years later.

Screen capture from Houston's How Will I Know? video

However, it was her rendition of  The Greatest Love of All which has been a beautiful tapestry of lyrics woven throughout various parts of my journey as an educator. As a student teacher, I was asked to create a poetry lesson for a Grade 7 class. I was determined not to repeat the poetry lessons of my own youth, which included The Cremation of Sam McGee, so I decided to use contemporary song lyrics, with the following verse from Houston's song,

“I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be.”

Throughout my career, whenever I have been asked to articulate my core belief about the importance of education, I have referred to those lyrics time and time again. Even as recently as one week ago, as I gave my final farewell after 35 years in education, I called upon those lyrics one last time as my parting words of advice to my wonderful school family. I will always believe that “our children are our future” and that it is our job to “teach them well and show them all the beauty they possess inside.”

In preparing this post, I rewatched The Greatest Love of All video and was overcome with a sense of sadness in knowing not only Whitney’s fate of an untimely death, but what the future held for her daughter. In the video, a young Whitney is supported by her real-life mom, Cissy Houston, as she makes her first stage appearance as a child, and it ends with an adult superstar Whitney embracing her mom ~ a gift that neither Whitney nor her daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, were ever able to experience. Houston died in 2012 at the age of 48 when her daughter was 17.

Whitney with her daughter, Bobbi Kristina

I also found it interesting that this song was originally recorded by George Benson as the opening number for the 1977 film The Greatest, a biopic of Muhammad Ali. Until now, I assumed that Whitney was the first singer to cover the song.

Although this album certainly started Whitney’s career – and my love for her music – it was not until the release of the 1992 soundtrack of The Bodyguard, which she also starred in with Kevin Costner, that she reached superstardom. That album also included her all-time number one hit, I Will Always Love You, which was a remake of a song originally recorded by superstar country artist Dolly Parton. That song was also the number one wedding song of 1992.

Movie poster for The Bodyguard (interestingly, the woman
in this photo was Houston's body double, as it was taken 
after Houston had finished her filming and left for home.)

Which leads me back to the beginning. Although my purchase of Whitney Houston on that fateful day led to many wonderful memories and inspirational moments in my career as well as love and respect for Whitney as a singer, an actor and an artist, it did not quite make the cut as our wedding song.

We eventually agreed on You’re The Inspiration from the band Chicago and their 1984 album, Chicago 17.