Maybe it was hearing the song on the “oldies” station this morning... Anyway, I once posted on TLB that Belinda Carlisle had to be my “first celebrity crush.”
Her hit “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” was #1 on the Billboard "Hot 100" way back in December 1987. To put in perspective, this was a year before Hayley Williams was born. And two years before Taylor Swift.
But listening to “I Think We’re Alone Now” made me realize there was someone just slightly ahead of Belinda. I’m pretty certain there were no others because if you go back any farther I most likely wouldn’t have a memory of it… Or wouldn’t have been around yet…
Tiffany
was only 15 when this song, a remake of a classic 60’s hit, reached #1 just a couple of months earlier. I had to look it up. According to my source, this made her the youngest artist to ever have a #1 song. The same source said she was doing dishes at her parent’s home when her manager called to tell her the news.
For the first time I realized the song is about sex. Thirty years later...
Everything is about sex.
Debbie Gibson was also an early “crush.”
I of course had “Electric Youth” and pictures of her in my bedroom. Moderators: She was born in 1970 so 18 or 19 at the time. I used to imagine Debbie as “my girlfriend” so yeah, it was
serious.
Since Tiffany was only 15, I will use this more recent pic of her and Debbie Gibson together. I imagine their conversation going something like this:
“He lives in Zionsville!”
“But Tiff he’s more than ten years younger than us.”
“Yeah Deb, but he drives a really cool car.”
“I know. Sorry, but there’s only one seat and it’s
mine…”
(At least we're all "Born Before 1985." Fuck that ad. Just wondering: I could have sworn Michael Jackson had a "number one" hit before he was 15. Maybe it counts as the "Jackson 5" and not as a solo artist? Research is required. 
)