Jem and the Holograms, Barbie and the Rockers, and The Bangles’ Different Light all hit my childhood consciousness at the same time.
And I’ve only realized this week what a wildly formative trip that must have been for my 8-year-old rebel self.
Different Light and Whitney Houston’s eponymous debut were the two vinyl records I rotated most often in this era1, and as much as Whitney is an icon, there’s no question about which one stuck with me on a more personal level.
Whitney is creme brulee, and I am Jello. And creme brulee can never be Jello.
Though I’ve never fully realized my ‘80s rockstar dreams, they’ve never really left me, either.2 Consider this my homage to my young but feisty Jello self, even though I’ll never be as effortlessly LA cool as Vicki, Susanna, Debbi, and Michael.
You should also consider yourselves lucky that I didn’t choose “Twilight in Paris” or “Truly Outrageous” for this project, because I definitely still know those songs by heart too.
Listen to the original version of “If She Knew What She Wants”:
Or watch the performance I saw at Rye Playland in 2002! It was also a trip to see my childhood rock heroines in concert as an adult (with the bonus, of course, being that Rye Playland was the filming location for the Zoltar carnival and final scenes on the boardwalk in Big).
Read more about The Ukulele Alphabet project:
Introducing The Ukulele Alphabet
There are 52 weeks in the year and 26 letters in the alphabet. 26 times 2 equals 52.
I’m still a little salty that all of my original vinyl — including my amazing Disney picture discs — got ditched when we moved in the divorce. (Don’t worry, I found them both in vintage shops in the past few years. Order restored.)
Even as far as my senior year in college, I was suggesting “Walk Like an Egyptian” as a totally excellent choice for a sorority lip sync competition. Readers, it was not. It was an embarrassment.
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