SONG OF THE WEEK: Whitney Houston Million Dollar Bill

Today I’d like to take a moment to look back to my one of my childhood idols, Whitney Houston.

I was not a hip kid but I did have a radio, so I knew about Whitney from songs like How Will I Know? and I Wanna Dance With Somebody, both of which had amazing upbeat videos with colorful appearances from happy-go-lucky 80s props like confetti and mimes. Looking back on Whitney’s schtick, the best parts were her wigs, cloyingly pretty makeup on her huge mouth, and her backup dancers. Whitney had an continuous entourage of boys- dorky white ballerina guys doing some fosse thing or gay black men voguing in the background. Totally awesome.

Million Dollar Bill is part of the lead up to Whitney’s forthcoming album I Look To You (hear more tracks on her myspace), due out on the 31st. When this track was first leaked at the beginning of the month, music nerds across the interweb pointed out its similarity to Loletta Holloway’s underground disco classic We’re Getting Stronger. Rather than dwell on the track’s similarity, or other suspicious moments in Whitney’s career, I’ll take this moment to share my favorite Whitney memory: when she sang the Star Spangled Banner for the 1991 Superbowl, right before the “close” of the Persian Gulf “conflict”. This still gives me chills, presumably for different reasons than those of the nationalistic sports fans you’ll see waving flags in the background.

—Fucci