When she was good, she was really good.
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llFZT6CTXz8[/youtube]
Indeed she was.
Audio quality varies from video to video, for some reason the audio on the one I posted was better but the overall video you posted was the better of the two.
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There have been some truly great performances of our National Anthem over the years but this particular rendition by Whitney Houston was considered by many to be among the very best. It came at a time when the nation was still healing from the Viet Nam era and the military was up until the Gulf War still looked upon with disdain by a large segment of the public which was wholly not deserved. Our troops did what they were sent to do and were winning in southeast Asia. They were left in the lurch by pandering politicians. At that time Kate Smith was probably regarded as being most associated with the National Anthem. Before her the previous generation had Marion Anderson but in her time she would never be given the credit she was due in the America of the 1930's. Anyone who heard her voice though in their parlor over the family radio before television existed would be moved and recognize that they were hearing a standout but likely not realize she was black.
http://youtu.be/mAONYTMf2pkWhitney Houston in her prime during the 1980's enjoyed a massive wave of popularity which transcended all of America, no matter who you were everyone liked Whitney with no labels attached to her, just appreciation of raw talent for what it was, beautiful. Everyone appreciated such a great talent despite the fact she was female and black, that never entered the equation. She was just Whitney and she was awesome.
Not often, perhaps once in a generation or so there comes along a true standout and usually out of nowhere despite the mainstream trends to rise above and captivate everyone. That was Whitney Houston. She not only earned her Emmys, she ran away with them and created such a gap being that pop music is so regimentally contrived and controlled from inside the industry to create sameness and control the market. She blew the lid off of it.
There have been but few other examples in modern music history which have had such a profound effect. Elvis Presley. What was there before Elvis? Jimi Hendrix. It has been said, and rightly so that there are but two eras in rock guitar, everything before Jimi and everything after.
Whitney Houston did that with vocals, to all genres. She didn't set the mark, she stepped up to the mic and turned it on its head.
