One of the typical features of growing up is the adolescent crush, usually aimed at a distant figure - a pin up from the world of music or acting, who the crushee (is that a word?) will likely never meet but will fantasise about for hours whilst actually being, in their everyday life, unbelievably shy and awkward in dealings with the opposite sex. Their bedroom wall will often be plastered with posters of their crush, and they will obsessively listen to, watch or read everything they produce, every utterance that springs forth from their mouths. I was no different: a skinny, shy youngster whose lack of confidence meant that my spare time was spent locked in my room immersed in listening to and reading about music. And at the dawn of 1988, pop music gave me my first crush. Watching Top Of The Pops on Thursday 14th January (no, my memory isn't THAT good: i googled it), that weeks highest new entry was a red-haired 16 year old girl from California, performing live from the U.S version of the show. As i watched her sing "I Think We're Alone Now" - a cover of an old rock'n'roll hit - i became transfixed by this fresh faced teenage beauty, and before long i was in love. Or whatever that means to an 11 year old anyway! She could actually sing too - when the song hit No.1 over here two weeks later, she would perform live on our TOTP . She spent three weeks at the top, during which time i would tape the song from the radio - my requests for my parents to buy me the single were probably met with a reply of "no, you've just had Christmas" - so until i had Now 12 for my 12th birthday in August i had to make do.
I recall having a HUGE poster - one of those big fold-outs that you regularly got with Smash Hits magazine - on my bedroom wall, and i would obsessively read any interviews or articles on her, and tape any tv appearances. Her two follow up singles - the ballad "Could've Been" and a cover of The Beatles "I Saw Her Standing There" (with the gender changed to Him) were both Top 10 hits, and her self-titled debut did well. But young pop fans are fickle, and by the end of the year her star had already begun to fade. A fourth single from the album flopped, and after one more Top 20 hit - "Radio Romance" from her follow up album Hold An Old Friends Hand - Tiffany Darwish disappeared from the charts, and the hearts and minds of pop fans. Until she got her kit off for Playboy years later, and the nostalgia market turned its attention to the late 80's, that is. The image of her in my mind is fixed as it was then: the flowing red hair, the down to earth look of denim jackets and sweaters, that look at the camera that was half coy, half mischievous. I don't want to sound like a perv, but at that age i imagined that she could teach me a few things. Even if wasn't sure what those things were. However naff her music may seem now, it was important to me at that age, and "I Think We're Alone Now" always transports me back in time whenever i hear it.
P.S.: I recently found the 7" single in one of my favourite used record shops - 33 Records in Nottinghams West End Arcade -, which cheered me up considerably!
