By Ashley Morris
For Weekly Surge
Flashback to this day in pop culture 10 years ago, Oct. 23, 1998. Pop princess Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time" debuted on radio to a pep rally of support from Top 40 program directors and mobs of manic teen fans nationwide.
For better and for much worse, the 17-year-old former Mouseketeer's life would never be the same.
Flash-forward to Dec. 2, and we ponder whether history repeats itself as Spears finds herself in full-on comeback mode with the release of her new album "Circus," which has already spawned a No. 1 hit, "Womanizer." The album name is only-too-analogous of Spears' decade-long rise and fall and attempt to rise again in the same industry and media frenzy that nearly destroyed her.
Flashback a bit further to the 1980s and early '90s in my own manic teen fan days when I used to pine and whine to my mom over the pages of Bop and 16 teen magazines about why I couldn't be famous, rich, popular and pretty like the stars in the full-page pinups. "Yeah, Tiffany can sing, Mom, but she's got a big nose. Why can't I be lucky enough to tour malls across the country like she does?"
Flash-forward again to today's paparazzi celebrity insanity that goes beyond cute photo posters for the bedroom wall and possibly leads to celeb psychotic breakdowns and regular rehab getaways and I thank my mom for knowing full well her fragile pre-pubescent daughter would have gotten eaten alive in such a star-studded world.
Here's where it gets tough in the great debate of Miss Britney Spears. Love her or hate her, she may not have necessarily had the proper parental guidance, but can the judgment of a nearly 27-year-old really be that clouded in Hollywood? It's time to grow up, smell the Starbucks iced coffee, take responsibility for her mistakes (what she reportedly called her toddler sons) and move on.
But... take a deep breath...are we somehow responsible for both her iconic success as well as taking a guilty pleasure in her dethroning demise?
"... Baby One More Time"
A fresh-faced Britney Spears accepting her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in November, 2003. -MCT
Cute and perky pre-teen Britney Spears had everything going for her in Kentwood, La. She was a talented gymnast, dancer and singer for her Baptist church.
After being told at an audition that she was too young for the Disney Channel's "The New Mickey Mouse Club" at age 8, she took her talents off-Broadway and onto TV's "Star Search" in 1992 (but lost after the first round). At 11, she finally joined the cast of "The New Mickey Mouse Club" with future boyfriend Justin Timberlake and ridiculous rival Christina Augliera for two years through 1994, but the show then came to an end.
1997 was a pivotal point in Spears' career: she was signed by Jive Records, which released "... Baby One More Time" in 1998 - 10 years ago to the day. The bubblegum pop hit topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in Jan. 1999 for two weeks; the album of the same name was later certified 14 times platinum. Her naughty schoolgirl MTV video and complementary "not that innocent" April Rolling Stone cover, however, would soon make Spears the popular girl we (and parents at the time) all loved to hate.
And it was in the summer of 1999 that Spears would embark on her first solo tour across the U.S. and Canada, including a stop on July 2, 1999 in North Myrtle Beach at a fairly new House of Blues. It was a curious venue choice, amidst large coliseums and arenas, so it was practically a given that the concert was sold out.
According to local radio personalities and House of Blues staffers who were there at the time of her performance, the build-up and actual show opened by Michael Fredo showcased a more innocent, more awkward 17-year-old Spears than the sexpot we've come to know.
Britney Spears onstage in August, 2000. -MCT
"I once interviewed her by phone when she was 16, then the second opportunity I had to interview her was when she did the [House Of Blues]," says on-air personality DJ Kosmo of local pop station Mix 97.7. "I sent my aspiring personal assistant/intern, Mark `Doc' Miller, to do it, since I was a jaded industry type. Miller claimed he had interviewed Desmond Tutu during his time as a [Coastal Carolina University] student and, in turn, could 'handle Britney Spears,' so I figured, 'Why not?' ...The big deal in the tabloids, cable entertainment shows, and other credible sources was whether or not Britney had gotten fake boobs, so I pressured Doc to ask her about it - because I'm all class. In the end, it was a forgettable experience for everyone. Doc never asked the tough, argumentative questions, the interview aired without incident, and most easily overlooked is that Britney was actually quite nice to work with during both interviews."
Oh well.
On the front page of the July 2, 1999 edition of Myrtle Beach's daily paper, The Sun News, there was nary a mention of Spears' show that night at the House of Blues, instead overshadowed by news of legislators passing video gambling bills, Republicans and tax cuts, The Conway Bypass and anticipated 4th of July hotel occupancy.
Can you imagine if Spears were to play the North Myrtle Beach venue - or anywhere on the Grand Strand for that matter - today?
Pete Ackerman, a stagehand who worked the 1999 Spears show at House of Blues and now travels with a stage crew to set up shows at the Charlotte Convention Center remembers a few details. "Her crew allowed us backstage, which was weird, because they usually ban everybody... The show was right after her first song exploded and she was with this huge, black bodyguard backstage," he recalls. "She just smiled and said hello, but the bodyguard shushed her and guided her away. She hadn't been tainted yet."
A bored Britney Spears sits through a press conference in September, 2003. -MCT.
"She wasn't the huge media circus that she is now," agrees Tyler Watkins, IT director with Quantum Radio Group (he was on the air at Mix 97.7 at the time of Spears' North Myrtle Beach concert.) "It seemed that she was still trying to figure out how to be a pop star. On-stage, her dance moves were very stiff and unnatural. As for her appearance here, she was simply another singer, another night at the House of Blues. We did give away tickets to the show, and did meet and greet backstage with her. But there wasn't a massive build-up to the concert like you would see if she were to return."
For stagehand Ackerman, memories include a three tiered-stage with an elevator that rose on top of the third riser. Despite 20 House of Blues stage hands and 10 Spears road crew members, he says construction of the set took "forever as far as bringing things out ...but it must've been easy working with Britney's crew because I can't remember anything bad about it." The only concern he remembers everyone having at a more intimate venue compared to arenas and coliseums was that Spears hardly had any room to dance on-stage - maybe five or six feet in width.
"Toxic"
Alas, Spears' dizzying descent was the next seemingly inevitable course.
Her quick catapult into stardom was accompanied by publicity (headlines, news highlights, and tabloids) that probed into the good (award-winning albums Oops! ... and Britney), the bad (controversial MTV Video Music Awards appearances - sexy nude costume, snake shoulder ornament and Madonna lip-lock - plus the "Crossroads" movie) and the ugly (breakup of four-year relationship with Timberlake) life of Britney Spears.
Britney Spears being chased by paparazzi. -Shutterstock.
Regardless, the stars still appeared to be aligned for the pop princess: despite horrible reviews, "Crossroads" grossed more than $60 million worldwide, Forbes magazine in 2002 ranked her the world's most powerful celebrity, and "In the Zone" produced the Grammy-winning "Toxic."
The bubblegum pop was morphing into stronger sexual overtones.
The hit single, "Toxic," was an almost ominous foreboding as to what lurked around the corner for Spears - starting with her Las Vegas fling, er, marriage to childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander in January 2004, and annulment 55 hours later. What a New Year's buzzkill that must have been.
"Britney is a woman with too much money too quick," says Watkins. "With her rise to fame, she became someone that everyone simply said, 'Yes' to. I don't think she ever realized what the real world was like, and I suppose she never will. Britney lacks the responsibility gene. It's not something her parents passed on to her and she wouldn't have learned it growing up with parents that didn't take responsibility for Britney's life. She's still not taking responsibility for driving without a license after several arrests." (The trial for her hit-and-run of a parked car is underway this month.)
While her second marriage to backup dancer Kevin Federline lasted a bit longer, it wasn't exactly a model matrimony. They got engaged three months after they met, with Federline leaving his very pregnant girlfriend, Shar Jackson, and married in September 2004. The public began to contemplate whether or not Spears realized this may be an "oops" wedding, too; if she actually planned to take this relationship with this apparent nobody seriously; if she was trying to make a statement and throw everybody off; or all of these things.
When Spears announced on her Web site post-nuptials that she was going to take time off to start a family, she wasted no time. Sean Preston Federline was born on Sept. 14, 2005. Jayden James Federline was born on Sept. 12, 2006.
"Gimme More"
In a downhill spiral spanning several years, Spears would quickly change from that pretty girl we all loved to hate to the troubled celebrity we just rolled our eyes at in disgust, felt sorry for. Now her choices - such as driving with her son unrestrained on her lap - were not only affecting her life, but the lives of her two boys.
A pregnant Britney Spears walks the red carpet with then-husband Kevin Federline . -MCT.
"She was acting like a crazy person. It was as if she woke up one day and decided she wanted to live in the past. She forgot about her family and children and started partying like a 21-year-old," said Samantha Levinson, a senior Coastal Carolina University communication major.
Spears' divorce from Federline in Nov. 2006 was disturbingly preceded by erratic behavior (head shaving and car attacking) and stays in rehab. Custody of the children would not be an easy accomplishment - especially after her "something"-induced live performance of "Gimme More" at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards. "I think our culture's just fascinated with famous folks going through life's struggles because we at least know we aren't the only ones going through divorce, or substance abuse concerns, or child custody woes, family strife, having kids hanging with the wrong crowd," says Mix 97.7 Program Director Ron Roberts. "I truly believe we as a society feel better about ourselves when we know we aren't the only people who go through one or more of those sagas in our lives."
"I think her parents thrust her into the limelight and then forgot about her," says Ackerman. "It was too much power too quickly with too many things in play. I was just hoping she wouldn't die. ... That would've been the most awful thing after the media builds you up and then tears you apart. ... I hope Miley Cyrus will be different. She at least has a better base with her dad who's been through the wringer already and knows the ins and outs of the business."
"Womanizer"
After her involuntary psychiatric hospitalization earlier this year, let's hope Spears' father, Jamie Spears, who has complete control of her assets, can continue fostering a healthier Britney Spears.
Despite her sunshine-smiley return to the September MTV Video Music Awards, which resulted in three awards for "Piece of Me" (much improved from the previous year), a healthy comeback is questionable to some. "Her chance of making a comeback to the level she once had seems low," says Watkins. "She may produce some songs here and there that become hits, but she'll never sell the massive amount of CDs she once did for a couple of reasons: First, the world of music has changed with the ability to purchase individual songs for iPods and such and two, she originally targeted a younger audience that has now grown up and moved on. The new generation now thinks, in the words of my 10-year-old daughter, Bailey, 'She's an idiot.'"
A brand new Britney Spears emerges in 2008. -Courtesy photo.
To others, the popularity of her latest No. 1 "Womanizer," which is even being featured on CW's "Gossip Girl," sustains her comeback. "As for the healthy comeback, only Britney can speak to that. But radio wants her to have one," says Sean Ross author of the national industry tracking column "Ross on Radio." "They tried to keep playing 'Gimme More' after the MTV fallout ... They tried to play 'Piece of Me' even when it was clear that most of the media detractors she was making fun of in the song were right. Even when she was a hazard to herself, it seemed to keep her celebrity alive in a way that you don't see with a lot of acts who first came on the scene a decade ago.
"Her issue is never getting airplay," he continues. "She always does pretty well for an artist who is nearly five years from her last questionable hit, 'Toxic.' She has more typically had a problem with not performing well a little further down the road when stations start polling their listeners about her songs. We won't know the answer on that for a few weeks, but some of the songs from the last album actually got bigger as time went by, so that bodes well."
And so, as has been the case in the life of Britney Spears, her future depends on the acceptance and reaction from the media, music moguls and the heartbeat of her success, her fans.
"Everyone is ready to forget her mistakes. She is in a different place now and we cannot keep looking at her as a 16-year-old-girl. She is a different person now,'' said Daniel McGhee a senior and communication major at CCU.
-Mallory Bay, For Weekly Surge, contributed to this article.
Several online reports indicate that Spears plans to release a series of workout DVDs in the spirit of Jane Fonda and Spears' newly fit body. A Jive Records rep could not be reached to confirm. Two days before her "Circus" release, MTV will air the documentary "For the Record" at 10 p.m. Nov. 30 in which Spears discusses her hardships.