I was at the height of my pop/rock 'me against the world' angst when I was thirteen. Hard to believe, I know. While I would quite like Nirvana in 1992 (though not enough to purchase a copy of Nevermind until several years later, long after I bought the posthumously released MTV Unplugged), had Kurt Cobain emerged roughly a year earlier, his music might have ended up striking a far greater chord with me. Instead, I relied mainly on the Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode and the still new to me Madchester scene of indie dance. Yet, my tastes were catholic enough to include Enigma, INXS, Madonna and even AC/DC — though not for long.
Then there was the stuff I couldn't stomach. Despite having a brief interest in the Aussie hard rockers, I had little use for metal and couldn't take hip hop that was in any way serious. (Unless you were the terrific Canadian duo The Dream Warriors, I wasn't going to go out of my way to listen to much rap) But my real bête noire at the time were the phony balladeers. Michael Bolton, Stevie B, Babyface (who, let's be fair, was a very talented songwriter and producer even if his own recordings were pitiful). Take a guy in who could sing reasonably well, instruct him to turn up the bluster to the max, put him in a suit and have him belt out a load of schmaltz with his eyes close and his hands cocked and watch the money roll in. God those people were the worst.
For a short stint at the start of the spring in 1991, I was particularly appalled by a Californian singer who very few remember anymore. Most had likely forgotten all about him by the start of the summer but his empty passion, gift for melodrama and overall piece of shit single ensured that I would retain the memory of one Timmy T. He looked like an actor in one of those horrible Highlander TV shows that were always on just prior to something that I actually wanted to watch. He sang like he was auditioning for an orange juice commercial. I remember hearing that T made "One More Try" in a recording booth at an amusement park — and even if that wasn't the case, it sure as shit sounded like it. He sucked something awful.
Having only reached number seven in Canada, "One More Try" will mercifully not be coming up in this blog. Yet, here I am discussing it and T's fifteen seconds of fame because (a) it reminds me of "Teen Angel" by Mark Dinning and (b) I've been struggling to come up with anything better and/or relevant for this entry. But there is an obvious parallel: both Dinning and T go way overboard with their singing. In some ways, it is the former who is even guiltier of this than latter, since I get the feeling that the twenty-six year old Dinning must have known better. Deliberately laying it on thick was certainly the style of the time though, as I have already noted above, it was also a popular artistic choice back in the early nineties. The difference is, Dinning could have chosen to sing it in a less gloopy manner; T did not have that option.
Bringing up "One More Try" is also a useful way of acknowledging that "Teen Angel" isn't so bad. With a more constrained vocalist, I might have given it a 6 or 7. True, there isn't much to the song itself but there have been simplistic entries on here before (and I daresay there will be a few more to come) and they managed to connect with me. The Fleetwoods' "Come Softly to Me" is no more complex a song but there's a sweetness and poignancy to it which Dinning isn't up to replicating. Still, I've gotten used to it. Plus, I'm no longer thirteen or fourteen: I'm no longer as enthused by my favourites as I once was and my dislikes no longer make my blood boil.
Finally, it's worth noting that Tom Breihan has far more charitable feelings towards both "Teen Angel" (he gave it a 9) and "One More Try" (an extremely generous 8; I would have given it a 2). He does not discuss the similarities between the two but I imagine that he was touched by the overabundance of sentimentality in both just as I was turned off by it. They say there's not accounting for taste but what if there is?
Score: 5
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