Whitney Houston: My First Cassingle

In a time before MP3s and even CDs, those of us who were alive listened to cassettes. We laughingly looked down upon the “old tech” such as records, then known as LPs, and 8-tracks are the joke still shared today. Lovers of music went to stores and just hovered there hoping to find the latest and greatest. Often one ran out of cash before getting the best in music.

On one fateful day in 1987, all I had in my pocket was $3. Wanting something new to listen to, I began digging through the bargain bins at a Cat’s Records or Tower Records or some such place. I made a lot of discoveries this way. Most of them were bad discoveries, but by digging through the musical wasteland I discovered some real gems that later got a resurgence, bands such as Kraftwerk, The Runaways, The Plasmatics and Transvision Vamp. I also discovered this LA heavy metal band called “Bitch” with a female lead singer that was kinda hot and kinda sleazy, and then subjected it to all my friends to their disdain.

So, this 3 bucks was burning a hole in my pocket and all the bargain bin stuff was $5.99 or more. What to do? What to do? I went to the checkout counter empty-handed, to pick up the free rag they handed out with purchases to make you want to buy even more music. And there they were! The first cassingles. They were roughly 3 bucks apiece after tax. I had my choice of Bryan Adams or Whitney Houston. Who doesn’t want to dance with somebody who loves them? I had no real recollection of the summer of ’69, after all. AND… Whitney looked way better on the cover. I promised myself no one had to know I bought an album intended for girls. Besides, the newness of this media warranted experimentation.

I took Whitney home with me and stared at the cardboard cover while listening to her wail on my Walkman. So jubilant.

In time I would come to find that a lot of guys admired Whitney Houston for her voice and talent. I mean, we didn’t go on and on about her in the locker room. But, we did choose her song over the likes of AC/DC for our football team’s championship highlight reel. A song by Whitney Houston added significance and more readily spoke to achievements of a greater magnitude. Her voice was not only pitch-perfect, it was certain. Mighty.

This meager purchase would reap greater rewards than the initial gift of music. When I had girls over, and they looked at my collection of nearly 500 cassettes, they’d always find Whitney Houston and relate to her, and therefore me, for having it.

Much later, I got to meet Whitney. It was but one moment in time, and no introductions were made, but I looked at her and said hello as she was ducking out from a crowd that had gathered on the patio of my favorite Nashville restaurant after they realized who she was. As CeCe Winans led her by the hand, she said “Hello” to me before being sat for pancakes across the street.

Like Tina Turner, she really seemed unstoppable. But, while Tina ditched Ike and became even more famous, Whitney found Bobby Brown. I can’t speak to her choices after this union, but fortunately I still have that cassingle, and the memories she brought with it that will not melt away.