In the wake of Madonna's success, many dance-pop divas filled the charts, but out of them all, Paula Abdul was the only one who sustained a career. The former L.A. Lakers cheerleader and choreographer began to make inroads in pop music when she was hired as an assistant dance director on the Jacksons' Victory tour, which led to a job choreographing Janet Jackson's videos for Control. Abdul's work on Jackson's videos helped make the album a hit, making her a sought-after choreographer. After working on The Tracy Ullman Show and videos for ZZ Top, Duran Duran, and the Pointer Sisters, Abdul began a recording career, releasing her debut album, Forever Your Girl, in 1988. The first two singles drawn from the record were moderate hits, but the release of "Straight Up" at the end of the year made her a superstar. Staying at the top of the charts for three weeks, "Straight Up" began a string of six number one singles (with "The Way That You Love Me" recharting at number three in 1989) that ran through the summer of 1991.
Abdul's singles were hits not because her singing was exceptional -- her voice is thin and transparent -- but because she worked with savvy producers who had a knack for picking songs with solid pop and dance hooks. Abdul's spectacular big-budget videos helped push the sales of Forever Your Girl past seven million in the U.S. alone. While her second album, 1991's Spellbound, wasn't as successful, it still sold over three million copies and spent two weeks at number one.
After Spellbound, Abdul took a few years off. During that time, she successfully fought a lawsuit filed by a former backup singer who alleged it was she, not Abdul, who had sung on Forever Your Girl. Abdul released her third studio effort, Head Over Heels, in the summer of 1995, but the album failed to match the success of its two predecessors. The singer withdrew from the spotlight for several years before resurfacing in 2000 to co-write "Spinning Around" for Kylie Minogue. Debuting at the top of the charts in Australia and the U.K., the single effectively relaunched Minogue's career, and Abdul experienced a similar surge in popularity when she joined the judging panel of American Idol in 2002. Her positive comments and erratic behavior made her a household name to millions of young T.V. viewers who hadn't grown up with Abdul's music. Rumors began to circulate in 2007 about Abdul's return to the studio, and a statement on her website in January 2008 confirmed them, promising a new Abdul album by that summer.
Decision: With 6 #1 hits and 8 top 10's, Paula Abdul is a Pop Music HOFer......believe it or not..
New Kids On The Block
In 1985, Maurice Starr launched a citywide talent search in Boston, where he hoped to assemble an adolescent vocal group. Donnie Wahlberg, Jordan Knight, Jon Knight, Danny Wood, and Joe McIntyre were soon recruited to join, withStarr presiding over the young teenagers as manager, choreographer, songwriter, and producer. A contract with Columbia Records followed, and New Kids on the Block made an awkward, enthusiastic debut with their self-titled album in 1986. At the time, the group's oldest members were barely 16 years old, while McIntyre was only 12.
For their next album, 1988's Hangin' Tough, New Kids on the Block bolstered their neo-bubblegum beginnings with slick, radio-ready pop songs. From the saccharine ballad "I'll Be Loving You Forever" to the title track's stab at funk, the album spun off a seemingly endless streak of hits in 1988 and 1989. Five songs entered the Top Ten, and even the group's Christmas album (released during the height of New Kids mania in late 1989) went double platinum, effectively riding the coattails of Hangin' Tough up the Billboard charts. In another savvy marketing move, Columbia Records released a single from the group's previous album, which became a Top Ten hit in 1989 despite being three years old. It helped jump-start sales for the middling debut record, and both Hangin' Tough and New Kids on the Block climbed to multi-platinum status before the decade's end.
New Kids mania continued in 1990 with Step by Step, whose title track became the group's biggest single to date. The album sold three million copies in America -- a far cry from Hangin' Tough's eight million copies, perhaps, but a remarkable feat nevertheless -- and also fared well internationally, moving an additional 16 million units in other parts of the world. The boys supported their release with a Coke-sponsored tour, including 100 dates in the U.S. and additional performances overseas. Meanwhile, they also unveiled an extensive line of licensed merchandise -- including dolls, lunch boxes, attire, and bed sheets -- that earned the group an additional $400 million in 1991. Coupled with the sheer size of their official fan club, the modest popularity of 1991's No More Games: The Remix Album, and the amount of calls placed to "the Official NKOTB Hotline" at 1-900-909-5KID, the group's merchandising efforts made them the highest-paid entertainers of the year, beating out the likes of Michael Jackson and Madonna.Even so, Step by Step proved to be the group's last album to enjoy such global success. The New Kids were the subject of an endless number of jokes, including allegations that they hadn't sung a note during the Hangin' Tough recording sessions. Furthermore, their teenaged audience was growing up, as signified by the failure of Step by Step's final single, "Let's Try It Again," to break the Top 40. In 1994, they rechristened themselves NKOTB (a move that was intended to distance the then twenty-something singers from their kid-oriented past) and returned with Face the Music, which showed a remarkable degree of musical maturity. The group had grown into a credible urban R&B outfit, eschewing the help of Maurice Starr and writing many of the songs themselves. Face the Music failed to replicate any shred of their previous success, however, and New Kids on the Block acrimoniously parted ways in June 1994.
Various members of the New Kids launched solo careers later in the decade, with Knight scoring a gold-selling record in 1999 and Donnie Wahlberg landing several movie roles. Attempts to reunite the group in the early 2000s proved fruitless; however, the bandmembers surprisingly reconvened in early 2008, announcing their decision to tour in support of a new album. The Block arrived later that year, followed by tour dates in Canada and America. Although critically panned, The Block nevertheless debuted at number two on the Billboard charts and sold 100,000 copies in its first week.
Despite those brisk first-week sales,The Block generated a major hit only in Canada, where "Summertime" peaked at nine on the charts. Even if further smashes were not forthcoming, The Block did re-establish NKOTB as a viable commercial concern, something they took advantage of with a succession of tours, including concert cruises and a co-headlining jaunt with the Backstreet Boys in 2011. More tours followed in 2012 and in 2013, the band returned with a new album called 10.
Decision: With 9 top 10 singles, and 3 #1s, another surprise, but the New Kids are Pop Music HOFers...
Bobby Brown
Brown was born February 5, 1969, in Boston, and began singing with Roxbury schoolmates Michael Bivins and Ricky Bell in 1978. The group developed intoNew Edition and, after a few talent show wins, was discovered by producerMaurice Starr. Starr signed the group to his label and co-authored its debut hit, "Candy Girl," which helped get New Edition a deal with MCA. After a few years of teen stardom, Brown longed to move on to an adult solo career, and left New Edition in 1986. He released his debut solo album, King of Stage, in 1987, and while it didn't make a name for Brown as a pop star, it did spawn a major R&B hit in the ballad "Girlfriend." Overall, though King of Stage gave little indication that Brown was about to become a breakout star on the cutting edge of modern R&B.
For his follow-up, Brown sought a more distinctive musical identity in the budding new jack swing movement. He enlisted the emerging production/songwriting team of L.A. Reid and Babyface to handle the majority of the record, with new jack pioneer Teddy Riley coming onboard in a limited capacity as well. The result, Don't Be Cruel, was a state-of-the-art, star-making affair. Released in the summer of 1988, the record produced Brown's first pop Top Ten hit in the title track, but really started to take off when the driving statement of purpose "My Prerogative" went all the way to number one toward the end of the year (and managed to work the word "prerogative" into a catchy hook). From there, Don't Be Cruel just kept spinning off hits: the ballad "Roni," the dance tune "Every Little Step" (which showed off Brown's rapping skills), and another ballad, "Rock Wit'cha," all hit the Top Ten in 1989, with the former two both making it all the way to number three. Don't Be Cruel topped the album charts and sold a whopping seven million copies, making Brown a superstar. In 1990, he was tapped to provide the theme song for Ghostbusters II and responded with the number two smash "On Our Own," another rap/R&B mixture; he also contributed a rap to friend Glenn Medeiros' number one pop hit "She Ain't Worth It." Brown was so popular at this point that even his 1990 remix album Dance!...Ya Know It! went platinum.
And then, somehow, the momentum began to slow. Countless other artists expanded on the new jack swing blueprint, with many of Brown's former New Edition colleagues at the forefront: Bell Biv Devoe, Johnny Gill, Ralph Tresvant. Moreover, Don't Be Cruel made L.A. Reid and Babyface into hot commodities, and their sound was all over the airwaves. Just before his new album, Bobby, was released in the summer of 1992, Brown married superstar diva Whitney Houston, who sang the duet "Something in Common" on the new record. Bobby's lead single, "Humpin' Around," was a smash on both the pop and R&B charts, reaching the Top Five on the former. However, Bobbydidn't sustain the momentum of Don't Be Cruel; perhaps it didn't stand out from the pack the way Don't Be Cruel had in 1988. Whatever the reason, sales of Bobby topped out at around two million copies, despite several more R&B hits in "Good Enough," "Get Away," and "That's the Way Love Is." In 1993, Georgia police arrested Brown for an overly suggestive stage performance, an incident that would prove to be the first of many legal difficulties for Brown -- which were compounded by substance abuse issues -- over the next several years.
After a number of incidents that included a club brawl, a battery charge that led to probation, a drunk-driving accident, and a stint at the Betty Ford Clinic,Brown found time to record with the fully reunited New Edition, whose comeback album, Home Again, entered the charts at number one in September 1996. Brown toured with the group, but departed when the tour was over. The tabloids, meanwhile, had a field day over Brown and Houston's rumored marital problems. Brown released his fourth solo album, Forever, in 1997, but it was a commercial disappointment that failed to break the Top 50.
In 2005, he rejoined New Editiononce more, broke off with fellow members Johnny Gill and Ralph Tresvant as the touring act Heads of State, and starred in the BET reality program Being Bobby Brown. Shortly after the show's brief run, he andHouston divorced. A few months after Houston's February 2012 death, Brownreleased his fifth solo album, The Masterpiece.
Decision: With 9 top 10s, and 2 #1 singles, Bobby Brown is a Pop Music Hall Of Famer...
Guns N Roses
Guns N' Roses released their first EP in 1986, which led to a contract with Geffen; the following year, the band released its debut album, Appetite for Destruction. They started to build a following with their numerous live shows, but the album didn't start selling until almost a year later, when MTV started playing "Sweet Child O' Mine." Soon, both the album and single shot to number one, and Guns N' Roses became one of the biggest bands in the world. Their debut single, "Welcome to the Jungle," was re-released and shot into the Top Ten, and "Paradise City" followed in its footsteps. By the end of 1988, they released G N' R Lies, which paired four new, acoustic-based songs (including the Top Five hit "Patience") with their first EP. G N' R Lies' inflammatory closer, "One in a Million," sparked intense controversy, as Roseslipped into misogyny, bigotry, and pure violence; essentially, he somehow managed to distill every form of prejudice and hatred into one five-minute tune.
Guns N' Roses began work on the long-awaited follow-up to Appetite for Destruction at the end of 1990. In October of that year, the band fired Adler, claiming that his drug dependency caused him to play poorly; he was replaced by Matt Sorum from the Cult. During recording, the band added Dizzy Reed on keyboards. By the time the sessions were finished, the new album had become two new albums. After being delayed for nearly a year, the albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II were released in September 1991. Messy but fascinating, the albums showcased a more ambitious band; while there were still a fair number of full-throttle guitar rockers, there were stabs atElton John-style balladry, acoustic blues, horn sections, female backup singers, ten-minute art rock epics with several different sections, and a good number of introspective, soul-searching lyrics. In short, they were now making art; amazingly, they were successful at it. The albums sold very well initially, but while they had seemed destined to set the pace for the decade to come, that turned out not to be the case at all.
Nirvana's Nevermind hit number one in early 1992, suddenly making Guns N' Roses -- with all of their pretensions, impressionistic videos, models, and rock star excesses -- seem very uncool. Rose handled the change by becoming a dictator, or at least a petty tyrant; his in-concert temper tantrums became legendary, even going so far as to incite a riot in Montreal. Stradlin left by the end of 1991, and with his departure the band lost its best songwriter; he was replaced by ex-Kills for Thrills guitarist Gilby Clarke. GNR didn't fully grasp the shift in hard rock until 1993, when they released an album of punk covers,The Spaghetti Incident?; it received some good reviews, but the band failed to capture the reckless spirit of not only the original versions, but its own Appetite for Destruction. By the middle of 1994, there were rumors flying that GNR were about to break up, since Rose wanted to pursue a new, more industrial direction and Slash wanted to stick with their blues-inflected hard rock. The band remained in limbo for several more years, and Slash resurfaced in 1995 with the side project Slash's Snakepit and an LP, It's Five O'Clock Somewhere.
Rose remained out of the spotlight, becoming a virtual recluse and doing nothing but tinkering in the studio; he also recruited various musicians -- including Dave Navarro, Tommy Stinson, and ex-Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck -- for informal jam sessions. Remaining members were infuriated by Rose's inclusion of childhood friend Paul Huge in the new sessions when both Stradlin and Clarke were excluded from rejoining the band. And a remake of the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" was essentially the straw that broke the camel's back, as Rose cut out some of the other members' contributions and pasted Huge over the song without consulting anyone else. By 1996, Slash was officially out of Guns N' Roses, leaving Rose the lone remaining survivor from the group's heyday; rumors continued to swirl, and still no new material was forthcoming, though Rose did re-record Appetite for Destruction with a new lineup for rehearsal purposes. The first new original GNR song in eight years, the industrial metal sludge of "Oh My God" finally appeared on the soundtrack to the 1999 Arnold Schwarzenegger film End of Days. Soon after, Geffen issued the two-disc Live Era: '87-'93.The year 2000 brought the addition of guitarists Robin Finck (of Nine Inch Nails) and Buckethead, and 2001 was greeted with Guns N' Roses' first live dates in nearly seven years, as the band (which consisted of Rose plus guitaristsFinck and Buckethead, bassist Stinson, former Primus drummer Brian "Brain" Mantia, childhood friend and guitarist Paul Huge, and longtime GNR keyboardist Dizzy Reed) played a show on New Year's Eve 2000 in Las Vegas, playing as well at the mammoth Rock in Rio festival the following month. On New Year's Eve 2001, the band played almost the exact same set as the year before.
An appearance at MTV's 2002 Video Music Awards helped garner interest in the new lineup, but a rusty performance fromRose and an interview where he said his new album wasn't coming out anytime soon didn't do much to further their cause. That summer, GNR started on their first tour in almost eight years, and they managed to fulfill all of their commitments in Europe and Asia. Sadly, they caused a violent and destructive riot in Vancouver when Rose failed to show up for the first date of their North American tour. While he was up to his old shenanigans with the retooled lineup, former Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland, Slash, Sorum, and McKagan formed the successful Velvet Revolver in spring 2002.
And so years passed and still no new GNR album, to the point where it became one joke too many. The album was long billed as Chinese Democracy, and occasionally session recordings would leak and make their way onto Internet file-sharing networks. A fascinating article written by Jeff Leeds for The New York Times, published in March 2005, revealed how tangled and costly the making of the album had become. According to the article, titled "The Most Expensive Album Never Released," Rose began work on the album in 1994 and racked up production costs of at least $13 million dollars. Producers involved with the album at one time or another included Mike Clink, Youth,Sean Beavan, and even Roy Thomas Baker. (Curiously, Moby claimed to have been offered the job as well.) Marco Beltrami and Paul Buckmaster were allegedly brought in for orchestral arrangements, and there was a revolving door of guitarists. In 2006, the album seemed closer to release, as Rose began surfacing in public and even took his band on the road for some shows. The music industry's biggest boondoggle finally bore fruit in 2008 when Axl unveiled a record that was well over a decade in the making. While Chinese Democracy received many rave reviews, and the critical response was positive overall, the record underperformed (its almost impossible) expectations, debuting at number three on the Billboard 200 when it came out in November. A worldwide tour followed.
Decision: No one can deny that Guns N Roses were an influential, and highly successful band, when they were together. With 6 top 10 singles, and 1 #1 hit, but with no albums released between 1994 and 2008, they blew their opportunity to be a HOF-caliber band...
Next: 1989 Nominees: Garth Brooks, Roxette, Babyface & MC Hammer
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