Celine's titanic success a mystery

Published: Monday, February 1, 1999

Monday, February 1, 1999

COLUMN: Despite having little depth, artists enjoy Go-Go-esque popularity

During winter break, I went on a trip to Asia. On the long flight across the Pacific, I brought along magazines to kill some time. Spin, Rolling Stone and US magazines kept me occupied for most of the 16-hour trip.

Flipping through these periodicals, I came upon an interesting statistic in Rolling Stone. It seems Celine Dion was the best selling artist for 1998, with the Titanic soundtrack and her own "Let's Talk About Love" taking the No. 1 and 2 spots due to that annoyingly melodramatic "My Heart Will Go On" single pushing sales.

This new bit of information sort of scared me. Besides my roommate, I know no one who actually likes Celine Dion. Most of the people I run into hate her stuff; you can only sing about love so many times before it gets wrought with redundancy.

I, myself, can not stand that woman. Granted, she has a beautiful voice but she uses it for such evil purposes.

So if no one buys her records, why she is so damn popular? Unless people really like giving her discs as gag gifts, I am stumped.

I mean, if Mariah Carey were the No. 1 selling artist of the year I would understand. Mariah looks really hot, even now when she is dressing up all ho. But Celine is really tripping me up.

The only reason I can come up with is that Celine, like many other artists, is riding The Go-Gos phenomenon.

Back in the day of crimp hair and stone-washed jeans, critics and most of America despised The Go-Gos - but they defied the odds and sold millions and millions of records. Belinda Carlisle even had a successful solo career finding her heaven on earth.

No one back then knew why The Go-Gos made it big and no one knows why Celine is big now. I guess Celine is like the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz. She is simply an aberration going against the laws of nature.

But for all the Celine fans out there, she is not the only artist that benefits from The Go-Gos factor. The Spice Girls, Hanson, Master P and the No Limit family all succeed with some Go-Gos power. So rest assured, you guys are not alone.

But The Go-Gos factor affects the overseas market as well - buyers really think Celine is really gifted.

On my trip to Asia, I met a guy from Japan. Apparently the Japanese really, really dig Celine and anything relating to Titanic and Leo DiCaprio. By the sound of it, Celine and Leo are basically gods over there, with the selling power of The Beatles.

And in Europe, Germany in particular, they go crazy for David Hasselhoff; yes, they love Knight Rider.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is how North America is represented to our foreign friends.

So I guess The Go-Gos effect is a global thing. I guess Celine and her success will remain a mystery to me and millions of people around the world.

Maybe when I am older or if I have a major lapse of poor judgement I'll fall for Celine and her high-pitched stylings, and just maybe, I'll discover the secret to why Celine is so popular.

But until then, I'll stick with Mariah and her short, short skirts.

Bui is the A&E editor and writes columns to fill space. Contact him at tricky@ucla.edu.Trinh Bui

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Celine's titanic success a mystery

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