“IS THAT GIRL SINGING AT THE MALL?”
Yes, she was. In 1987, Tiffany Darwish unleashed her self-titled debut album upon a world of dazed and confused teenagers swathed in stone-washed jeans, Day-Glo colors, and teased hair. Searching for unique publicity, she promoted her album by singing at shopping malls across America. Thousands of new fans fell in love with Tiffany at the food court.

Her first single, a peppy remake of Tommy James & the Shondells’ “I Think We’re Alone Now,” became a surprise number one hit. Tiffany was soon launched into stardom along with fellow teen titans like Debbie Gibson and Tracie Spencer.

A second single quickly followed: the earnest but cheese-tastic ballad “Could’ve Been.” Then another cover appeared, this time a gender-flipped take on the Beatles with “I Saw Him Standing There.” It was Tiffany’s perceived blasphemy toward the Fab Four that earned her blistering scorn from so-called “true” rock fans. She was never given proper credit for having a good voice or for working a denim jacket like nobody’s business.

THERE DOESN’T SEEM TO BE ANYONE AROUND
Just when it seemed that the hits would keep coming, Tiffany’s career took a wrong turn. Her second album, 1988’s Hold an Old Friend’s Hand, produced only one real hit, “All This Time.” During a subsequent concert tour her popularity quickly began to fade. She was informed that her opening act, New Kids on the Block, would be replacing her as the headliner and that she would be opening for them instead. Ouch! It seemed to be the beginning of the end of a brief career.

In 1990 Tiffany attempted to recover, and released the ill-advised “New Jill Swing” album New Inside. The general consensus of critics and even devoted fans was that it was contrived and robotic. New Inside bombed quickly and loudly. It was all but over for a singer who’d never truly been taken seriously; having her young fan base grow older and abandon her didn’t help. Tiffany’s radio romance had officially ended.

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When I was a kid, my heroes were, at the very least, deserving of adoration. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Cheap Trick, Dan Pastorini (the one non-musician of the bunch) — the one thing they had in common was that they were immensely talented at what they did. Some would say that they were among the very best, and thus, they seemed bigger than life to me and the millions who adored them. I was inspired by them and what I perceived to be their dedication to the craft. I also admired their shrewd understanding that a fair bit of marketing went a long way, too.

Of course, the music world is not just full of legendary artists such as those named above. For as long as there have been artistes, there have been those whose marketing overshadowed their artistic endeavors. I’m thinking along the lines of C.W. McCall, Taco, and — oh, what the heck — Sigue Sigue Sputnik.

Such one-hit wonders would invariably come out of nowhere, dominate the airwaves for every last second of their fifteen minutes of fame and then, thankfully, disappear into pop oblivion. The respectable artists who were temporarily swept aside to make way for this brief dalliance with the latest “here today, gone tomorrow” pop confection would then return to their rightful place on radio playlists and the ship would right itself.

I mean, acts like Tiffany, Sly Fox, After the Fire, and others had their success, but it was always understood that they’d go away. That’s what one- or two-hit wonders did. It was understood.

But then something weird happened.

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