Today’s classic ’80s teen dance pop song of the day is Debbie Gibson’s “Shake Your Love.” It was released in September of 1987 and rose all the way to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #6 on the Dance Club Songs chart. It was Ms. Gibson’s second single; her debut track, “Only In My Dreams,” also hit #4 on the charts.
Back in the day, there were two teen idols battling it out for the hearts and minds of teen and pre-teen girls everywhere, Debbie Gibson and Tiffany. While the two of them put on competing pop-up concerts in malls across America, Debbie got my vote because she wrote all her own songs (yes, she wrote “Shake Your Love”), while Tiffany did a bunch of fairly mediocre covers of other people’s stuff. And, let’s face it, Debbie’s songs were pretty good, full of catchy melodies that stood out amongst all the same-same dance beats of the era. And she was just 17 at the time.
Ms. Gibson’s teen idol career continued for several more years. In the early 2000’s she transitioned away from teen dance pop into a more contemporary sound. She changed her name from Debbie to Deborah, pulled down quite a few acting roles, and posed nude for Playboy. In terms of the acting thing, she played Eponine in Les Miserables on Broadway, Sandy in a London production of Grease, Fanny Brice in a touring version of Funny Girl, Belle in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway, and Sally Bowles in a Broadway revival of Cabaret, all of which is fairly impressive. (She also co-starred with ex-teen rival Tiffany in the SyFy original movie Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, the less said of which the better.)
Deborah Gibson has never really stopped recording and performing and, at age 54, has many good years still ahead of her. The lady has some real talent, and it was apparent 37 years ago when she was bopping around on MTV and singing along to pre-recorded tracks at the local mall. Hey, “Shake Your Love” isn’t a world-changing song but it’s got a good beat and it’s easy to dance to, so I’ll give it a 92.
And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, Debbie Gibson’s music video for “Shake Your Love.” It got a ton of airplay on MTV.
