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Monday, March 15, 2021

"I Saw Him Standing There" by Tiffany

Top 10 Alert!
Song#:  3433
Date:  02/27/1988
Debut:  56
Peak:  7
Weeks:  14
Genre:  Pop


Pop Bits:  This teenager's self-titled debut album started off slow, but finally took off after its second single, "I Think We're Alone Now," hit #1. With its third single, "Could've Been," also topping the chart, the album then made it to #1 for a couple of weeks in late January of '88. To keep things rolling, this next single was issued out. While it would not top the Pop chart, it did well by cracking the Top 10. The hit helped the album sell more copies and by April of '88, it would reach its last certification level of 4x platinum.

ReduxReview:  No. Just no. In fact, hell no. Pop music is full of atrocious covers, but this one has to rank among the most heinous. Not only is it just plain awful, but it is a desecration of a classic Beatles song. It is musical sacrilege. Of course Tiffany participated, but I don't know if I can really place the blame on her for this. Chances are good that the young teen didn't even know the song and perhaps knew little about the Beatles. Her career and choices at at the time were masterminded by producer George Tobin and I place the blame for this squarely on him. His idea to cover this song along with the ridiculous arrangement and obnoxious, hyperactive production was the equivalent of musical murder. He should have been arrested, tried, and convicted for this crime against music and the Beatles. I didn't like Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now," but I didn't think things could get worse especially after the bright spot of "Could've Been," but I was way wrong. At this point in the blog, only two songs have been so bad that I rated them a zero. I can now up that total to three with this travesty.

ReduxRating:  0/10

Trivia:  This is a cover of a song originally recorded by the Beatles. Written mainly by Paul McCartney along with John Lennon, the tune was first released as the opening track on the band's 1963 UK debut album Please Please Me. In the US, the song would first appear as the b-side to "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," which was released in December of '63 and would be the Beatles' first #1 spending seven weeks at the top of the Pop chart. Due to the major success of that single, "I Saw Him Standing There" picked up airplay as well and it would chart separately getting to #14. Both songs would be included on the band's second US album Meet the Beatles! Many artists would cover the song, but thus far Tiffany's role-reversed version is the only other one to reach the Pop chart.

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3 comments:

  1. I could not agree more. There's horrible, then there's this. Your other two 0 songs, could be described as novelties, so this truly takes the cake as one of the worst 'hits' of the 80s. I'll take great satisfaction in rating this a 0.....Oh no I won't!!! How dare you deny me the same satisfaction that you got! LOL!!!

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    Replies
    1. True - the other two zero songs were more-or-less oddities. This one is from an actual hit-making artist, so in a way that makes it even worse. I know - I didn't put a zero in the Rate It area. Didn't think that would happen!

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  2. Much worse song than Michael Bolton's version of "Sittin On The Dock Of The Bay" (I give that song a 4/10), I can't remember one song where you gave a 0/10 but I do like Jim Kirk's "Voice Of Freedom" (I give that song a 7/10)

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