Children behave - that's what they say when we're together

Continuing my trip back through the 1988 album charts.

21/02/88 : Tiffany - Tiffany


OK, OK - I admit it. I've got a bit of a soft spot for "I Think We're Alone Now". Happy now? However, I'm expecting the rest of this to be pretty dreadful though.

Well, it's not great, but I'm not sure it quite counts as dreadful either - it's just all very peculiar really. The whole album feels like a group of middle-aged dads (who used to rock back in the day) decided to get together and jam, roping in one of their daughters to try and make it "cool" - and rather than Tiffany throwing a teenage strop, she REALLY got into it. Having listened to it all the way through, I'm intrigued as to how many of the tracks are covers. I obviously recognised "I Think We're Alone Now" (they really hit paydirt with this one) and "I Saw Him Standing There" (which is just weird) but the rest of them could equally have been obscure US tracks from the 70s or new music (written to sound like obscure US tracks from the 70s). I didn't hate this album but I was more fascinated by it than actively enjoying it (although I found myself surprisingly enjoying "Promises Made") but I'm amazed it took off in the way it did.

We're at #5 in the charts with a new entry on the start of a lengthier than expect 21 week run, with this being as high as it got. The rest of the top five were Terence Trent D'Arby, T'Pau, Wet Wet Wet and The Christians with the next highest new entry being All About Eve (#7) - an album I quite like but I've got no idea how it was quite so popular.

Wikipedia tells us this is her debut album and she recorded it around the time of her fifteenth birthday, but she'd been in the business for quite some time by then, having started performing around the age of nine - initially doing country numbers but moving into pop when she discovered Stevie Nicks. Looking at the track listing, I learn that, apart from the two obvious covers, all the other tracks are original compositions - at which point, I got diverted down a ITWAL rabbit hole...

Firstly, you get twenty points if you know who originally recorded it - I can assure you I would never have got this. Tiffany's is the best known cover (and I'm not saying she knows what pushes people's buttons but she's re-recorded it twice) with it getting to #1 in the UK and the US, making her the youngest female artist to get to the top over there. Lene Lovich also released it as a single in '78 (and it's quite the thing) - it did absolutely nothing but people liked the B side, and so they released that as a single with "Lucky Number" getting to #3 in the UK. Girls Aloud also released ITWAN in '06 with it getting to #5 in the UK and Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day) released a version in '20 which was recorded in his bedroom during Covid lockdown, which seems very appropriate.

Back to the album, once it had been recorded, the label didn't quite know what to do with either it or her so the release didn't go anywhere until she embarked on her shopping mall tour, which just blew up for her. The critics were generally pretty down on the album (with everyone quite correctly hating "I Saw Him Standing There") except, somewhat surprisingly, for our old mate Robert Christgau who didn't mind it at all - it normally doesn't take much for him to get sniffy about things! Commercially, it did particularly well in the US, getting to #1 and selling four million copies - which just seems bizarre.

Somewhat surprisingly, discogs.com tells us you're going to have to pay four quid to get a decent version of this and if you want a Japanese copy then you're going to have to pay £37.39 - madness! Whilst I can't say I loved this album (because I didn't) it's been a fascinating and educational exercise which has completely mystified me as to the thought processes of everyone involved including Tiffany, the record's writers, producer and label and the millions of people that bought it.

And you've definitely earned your twenty points if you knew the original version of "I Think We're Alone Now" was released by Tommy James And The Shondells in '67, getting to #4 in the US chart.

14/02/88 - Fine, despite SAW's efforts
28/02/88 - A well crafted not-my-sort-of-thing

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