I'm Your Whitney Tonight Edition

Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia

Slate Podcasts

Music History,, Music

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 February 2020

⏱️ 92 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Eight years after her passing—and 35 years after the release of her debut album—Whitney Houston is about to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Predictably, some rock fans have carped that Houston doesn’t belong in the Hall. But they are not the only ones who, historically, have complained about Houston’s bona fides. In the ’80s, at the apex of her success, black fans complained that Houston was courting white pop fans too eagerly, and forgetting her roots in gospel and R&B. On the charts, by contrast, Whitney Houston’s achievements are indisputable. But they also might be underrated. Houston’s chart records offer a window into exactly how she crossed over…and whether she deserved the backlash. In this episode, Chris Molanphy walks step by step through Whitney’s storied chart records—including a couple that have gone unheralded—that help explain why she was a seminal, singular figure among black female crossover stars, from Aretha and Diana to Beyoncé. Podcast production by Justin D. Wright. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey Tom Sharpling here, the host of the Best Show. And if you've never heard of the Best
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0:57.8	Black Man Can't Jump in Hollywood it's a comedic podcast that reviews films with
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	...

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