Retro Video of the Week: "Only In My Dreams" by Debbie Gibson

This Friday is the 30th anniversary of the release of Debbie Gibson's debut album, Out of the Blue.  If you were alive in the late '80s and listening to the radio, Debbie Gibson was ubiquitous.  Her catchy, dance-friendly "mall pop" songs were hugely popular, as all but one of the first ten songs she released in the U.S. hit the Top 40, including five Top 10 and two Number Ones ("Foolish Beat" and "Lost In Your Eyes").

Released when Gibson was two weeks shy of her 17th birthday, Out of the Blue was pretty much a success right out of the bat, getting up to #7 on the Billboard album charts and spawning five Top 40 hits in the U.S.:  "Only In My Dreams" (#4), "Shake Your Love" (#4), "Out of the Blue" (#3), "Foolish Beat" (#1), and "Staying Together" (#22).  The album eventually went triple platinum in the U.S., and is still Gibson's best-selling album.  Most impressive is that, unlike a lot of teen pop stars (both in the '80s and continuing through to today), Gibson wrote all of her songs.  In fact, when "Foolish Beat" hit #1 in June 1988 (when she was still 17), Gibson became the youngest female artist to write, produce, and perform a #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. 

Whenever I hear a Debbie Gibson song, it immediately takes me back to fourth to sixth grade, when her songs were in heavy rotation on Top 40 radio.  Say what you will about "mall pop" or the superficiality of '80s pop music, these were some damn catchy songs.  I'm going with her debut single, "Only In My Dreams," because that's what I feel like going with.  Of course, we are still waiting for that Gibson vs. Tiffany celebrity boxing match.  Well, I am anyway.