Atlantic 81932
Producers: Deborah Gibson and Fred Zarr
Track listing: Who Loves Ya Baby? / Lost in Your Eyes / Love in Disguise / Helplessly in Love / Silence Speaks (a Thousand Words) / Should’ve Been the One / Electric Youth / No More Rhyme / Over the Wall / We Could Be Together / Shades of the Past
March 11, 1989
5 weeks
In the fall of 1987, Tiffany and Debbie Gibson emerged from the suburbs of Norwalk, California, and Long Island, respectively, to become the two reigning en queens of pop. Tiffany hit it big first, scoring Number One hits with a cover of “I Think We’re Alone Now” and “Could’ve Been,” which pushed her self-titled debut album to the top of the album chart. Although Gibson’s first Number One single came months later and Out of the Blue, her 1987 debut album, peaked at number seven, she proved to be the more substantial talent.
“A lot of people grouped us together, but we’re very different artists,” said Gibson at the time. For one thing, Gibson wrote her own material, while Tiffany relied on songs provided to her by producer/manager George Tobin. Gibson even produced “Foolish Beat,” her first Number One single, which topped the Hot 100 on June 25, 1988. A week later, she graduated from high school.
Success gave Gibson added confidence. In the middle of making Electric Youth, Gibson vowed, “We did the first album in eight weeks. Wait until people see what I can really do.”
Like portions of Out of the Blue, Electric Youth was recorded at Fred Zarr’s Z Studio in Brooklyn. Yet this time Gibson took even more control, producing six of the album’s 11 tracks herself.
Since the album was recorded in summer of 1988 on breaks from Gibson’s extensive touring schedule, the singer frequently tested out new material in her live set. In May 1988, Gibson was invited to participate in an all-star concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of Atlantic Records. Others on the bill included a temporarily reunited Led Zeppelin, the Bee Gees, Genesis, Crosby, Stills & Nash, and Roberta Flack. Gibson’s own performance was sandwiched between sets by veteran progressive rockers Yes and former Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant. Rather than playing one of her bubbly dance hits, she opted for a ballad, “Lost in Your Eyes,” which she performed solo at the piano.
“It was the most nerve-wracking and exciting thing I have ever done,” Gibson said of the concert. “That show really helped me a great deal. People took me a lot more seriously after that. There was a rock audience there, and I kept them entertained. I consider that a compliment. I showed a lot of people I was for real.”
“Lost in Your Eyes” was the first single released from Electric Youth. On March 4, 1989, it became Gibson’s second Number One single. A week later, Electric Youth hit the top spot on the album chart, while “Lost in Your Eyes” held at the pole position of the Hot 100 for a second consecutive week, making Gibson the first teen artist to have a simultaneous Number One single and album since Little Stevie Wonder, and the first female teen ever to achieve the feat.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of March 11, 1989
1. Electric Youth, Debbie Gibson
2. Don’t Be Cruel, Bobby Brown
3. Appetite for Destruction, Guns N’ Roses
4. Traveling Wilburys, Traveling Wilburys
5. Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars, Edie Brickell & New Bohemians