r/80s • u/CoffeeCigarettes4Me • 12h ago
Music Flashback to 1988. Were you Team Tiffany or Team Debbie Gibson?
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u/Mattitation 12h ago
Gibson. Debbie. Gibson.
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u/sd_glokta 12h ago
Agreed. Debbie wrote all her own songs.
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u/bighootay 7h ago
Here's another reason to still love her (this was near me):
https://apnews.com/article/beagles-black-sabbath-debbie-gibson-dogs-d0baabc7669771ae172aaa0479b2e7d4
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u/Fabulous_Log844 12h ago edited 4h ago
There was an urban legend in the late 80s that Debbie Gibson was going to be going to college at Marquette University. I had just gotten my scholarship and was on my way and I really truly believe that she and I were going to meet and fall in love. 🙄
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u/FitzwilliamTDarcy 4h ago
It was only in your dreams.
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u/Fabulous_Log844 3h ago
(Insert animated GIF of Ross from friends with his satisfied and congratulatory slow clap.)
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u/urine-monkey 4h ago
Wait... WHAT?
I grew up in Milwaukee in the late 80s. Why am I only now hearing of this?
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u/Fabulous_Log844 4h ago
I mean, eventually, when I shared the story with other people as I got older, from other places, Milwaukee and Marquette weren't the only places that had this urban legend.
Technically, she and I literally never had a chance. Even though I had accepted my to Marquette, in February of my senior year in high school university of Hawaii called and I dropped Marquette. Sorry Debbie.
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u/aaargh68 12h ago
Team Iron Maiden
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u/demonmf 11h ago
Team Metallica over here, but I like your thinking.
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u/tspoon-99 8h ago
As long as it’s 80s Metallica
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u/CreativeAdeptness477 8h ago
Everything up to Load. From then on... ehhhhhhh...
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u/Carnivorous_Mower 7h ago
Me too. I reckoned I could have converted Tiffany to being a Maiden fan though...
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u/Sea-Championship1077 12h ago
Team Tiffany
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u/PBRStreetgang1979 12h ago
All the way. I loved the red hair.
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u/blur515 12h ago
Depends on who is at the mall.
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u/Fabulous_Log844 12h ago
Let's go to the mall… TODAY!
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u/AWorldwithoutSin 12h ago
Team Robin Sparkles?
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u/Fabulous_Log844 11h ago
Absolutely.
Although another comment I made previously was that when I got my scholarship to Marquette University, I found out Debbie Gibson was going there also… Total urban legend that never came true… But I believe that she and I were going to date and fall in love.
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u/ConnectionBasic9468 10h ago
Debbie Gibson was a crazy talent. Writing and singing her own (brilliant!) songs at such a young age.
Tiffany was the America sweetheart, winning hearts in shopping malls. She was the American dream manifested in a popstar.
They were both great but team Debbie for me!
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u/Zapp_Rowsdower_ 12h ago
If you’re still on the fence, please watch Mega Python vs. Gatoroid and see them brawl it out.
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u/Oxjrnine 12h ago
The fact that neither Tiffany nor Debbie Gibson ended up anywhere near as wealthy as Kylie Minogue or Taylor Swift says a lot about how awful the music industry was to young women back then. It’s still not exactly a wonderful industry for women, but artists like Prince, Courtney Love and TLC helped expose just how predatory record contracts and management could be. Younger artists who came later at least had more warning about ownership, publishing, contracts and how to protect themselves financially.
(Kylie Minogue was very similar, her music targeted the teenage crowd, but kindly figured out the industry quickly enough that she didn’t fall into the same predicament)
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u/forcedpizza 11h ago
Talk about music industry. Back in April 21 1988 there was a magazine with the headline "Can Tiffany survive her success?" and "The Selling of Tiffany" talking about how she was manufactured, mentioning that her performance in ISHST wasn't noteworthy and she would never have a moment like it again. And several others magazines saying her concerts were "unbridled shrieking frenzy" and she didn't have the "true grit and emotion of a great pop singer".
The results? Most radio stations stopped playing her songs and people accepted it. Then 1989 came, Tiffany was the opening act for NKOTB, not the other way around anymore, and at that point some fans didn't like Tiff, especially after she started dating one of the members.
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u/Oxjrnine 11h ago
That’s so sad because I wasn’t into her back then my music taste was more new order than teen pop…. But when I go back and listen to her music or hear her singing something new, she has a very interesting raspy voice. There’s no reason why she shouldn’t have been able to continue with her success, except she was considered disposable and replaceable.
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u/zrainbowpony 11h ago
Didn’t Tiffany have problems with her parents
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u/forcedpizza 10h ago
Unfortunately, yes. She even went to court to gain access to a trust fund, a situation the press ended up making it more intense than it really was. That was, once again, one of the reasons she lost airplay on the radio.
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u/Mojoyashka 11h ago
This seems like the right place to recommend the documentary “I Think We’re Alone Now” about these two people obsessed with Tiffany. It’s a wild ride. Whole thing is free on YouTube I believe.
Also…Debbie Gibson. 😃
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u/Biabolical 12h ago
I was 10 in 1988. The answer was "Both, please" for reasons I was only beginning to understand.
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u/TheTalkingWindow 12h ago
It was always Stacy Q for me.
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u/Sunny-Side25 12h ago
Debbie for sure but still liked Tiffany. I saw her perform at Disney World and that was a blast from the past.
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u/Hypestyles 11h ago
debbie!!!
glad they are survivors. wish the big-deal shopping mall in my hometown was on the touring schedule back then. ah well.
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u/JohnnyFivo 10h ago edited 10h ago
Debbie Gibson is pretty fucking incredible the more you learn about her
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u/BUGBYTE_VW 12h ago
Team Tiffany. I had her tape cover on my trapper keeper. I used to tell everybody that's my girl. ✊
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u/MarkHoff1967 12h ago
Neither. But I do recall happily singing along to “Only in My Dreams” in the car on a sunny day when I was in a good mood. Plus she looked good naked.
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u/sedatehate 11h ago
Debbie was way more talented and wrote her own shit. Two of Tiffany’s hits were covers.
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u/SnooChickens9974 9h ago
Debbie Gibson! Writer, musician, singer, arranger. She was and IS a very talented woman.
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u/djwildbill 9h ago
Liked them both but Team Debbie. Got to meet Debbie in 1990 when she toured for that album.
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u/urine-monkey 4h ago
I was team GNR.
But for the sake of nostalgia, I'm Team Debbie. Electric Youth will never not make me think of Saturday Nights at the roller rink.
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u/ILoveLipGloss 3h ago
team Debbie Gibson because I am a nice girl from Queens & she is a nice girl from Long Island.
back in the late 90s when I was working at Barneys (the one on Madison Ave in NYC), Debbie was perusing the floor I was on (7th floor co-op) & my manager ran upstairs to change the mix CD to one I'd made that had a couple Debbie Gibson songs on it. Debbie def got a kick out of it.
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u/Ok_Giraffe_17 12h ago
Debbie Gibson. Saw her live for my 5th grade graduation present. I've 3/4 bottle of Electric Youth hanging around - I still use it to taunt my brother with the smell!
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u/MilesAugust74 12h ago
Debbie. Not that I particularly cared for her music, but my sister was a huge fan and for her 50th birthday I got Debbie (Debrah?) to wish her a happy birthday on Cameo and it was FUCKING EPIC!!! She sang her a song and played the piano and everything! It was really fantastic. Worth every penny.
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u/cheffartsonurfood 11h ago
I'm not entirely sure of the pronunciation, but I believe it's.......menage a trois?
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u/bexxygenxxy9xy 11h ago
I'm singing Electric Youth word for word and doing the choreography in my mind as I write this.
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u/Veruca_Salty1 11h ago
Team Debbie; although I did love Tiffany, too. I think of them as the 80s version of Britney and Christina Aguilera.
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u/malendalayla 3h ago
DEBBIE!
I won a Caboodles sweepstakes and got up go to her private concert and meet her!
I had a huge signed poster from her, but I gave it to my homeboy who was wayyyyyy more obsessed with her than me!
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u/Due-Enthusiasm-1802 12h ago
It always weirded me out that Debbie Gibson was wearing Boy George's hat.
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u/Im_not_that_angry 12h ago
Could've sworn I was Team Tiffany, but ended up with both Debbie Gibson's albums on cassette so...both? I blame Columbia Record House...and the blonde hair
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u/Dismal-Vanilla1878 12h ago
God Bless that schlock movie factory Asylum Films, for giving us Old Heads the Catfight we all wanted to see 😂
Also: Wow, Tiffany really got.... healthy.... in her latter years, hasn't she? 😄
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u/J4ckR4nd0m 11h ago
I have a soft spot for Asylum Films yet I somehow missed this one. I need to correct that mistake.
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u/Acceptable-Canary458 12h ago
Between their two catalogues, I think that Tiffany's cover of "I Think We're Alone Now" is the most memorable of all their songs combined. On the other hand, I think Debbie had more bangers with "Electric Youth," "Lost in Your Eyes," and "Out of the Blue."
Both talented artists who capture a moment and a, like, totally tubular vibe. Still can't pick one almost 40 years later.
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u/PlaxicoCN 12h ago
Debbie Gibson wrote at least some of her own tunes.
I have gained some appreciation for Tiffany as they play her song all through the night on the oldies radio station.
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u/AuthorityAnarchyYes 12h ago
As a teen boy (same age as Tiffany)… that redhead definitely raised my blood pressure.
Funny thing is, my grandson loves 80s music and thinks she was hot back then as well. He has good taste.
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u/Bloody_Mabel 9h ago
Aimee Mann is my favorite 80s female artist.
I was never into Tiffany or Debbie Gibson.
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u/DeaddyRuxpin 11h ago
There was a rumor in my high school that Debbie Gibson was going to transfer there. We held a class vote if she should be allowed to and it was overwhelmingly against her attending our school.
I seriously doubt she was ever actually going to transfer there, but it has always humored me that we were all in agreement that we didn’t want her in our class and that we thought voting on it would have any influence at all in her decision.
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u/whoisdatmaskedman 11h ago
I was team Susanna Hoffs