Baby One More Time turns 25

It's hard to believe that music was invented a whole 25 years ago!

Music, at least current music, doesn't mean anything to me today the way it used to. I can't even think of the last actual album that mattered to me (hell, it was probably Glory). 

But new music used to be a big deal to me. New albums used to be major events, almost on par with the latest movie. 

But only a precious few were literally sea changing.

One of those was Baby One More Time, the debut from the legendary Miss Britney Spears.

I cannot believe it's been a quarter century since Britney came out and obliterated all previous fandoms I had for singers, or any celebrity period really (well, except Miss Portman).

But it started quietly, back sometime late in 1998. BOMT the single was released during the fall, but I have no memory of the first time I heard it. It wasn't like I didn't listen to.top 40 or watch MTV. 1998 was peak era music fandom time for me. So I definitely heard BOMT, but it didn't sort of click in with me until very late in the year. 

And sometime in there I saw the video, and knew what I was dealing with. And yeah, you know that hooked me. Here is this ultra cute girl in this cool video and I'm in. It's one of the most famous videos ever. 

This wasn't even necessarily the music I was most into at the time. Straight up pop music was kind of coming back by that point. I was an unabashed Spice Girls fan, and I did like one or two of the songs I had heard from Backstreet Boys. But I was still more of a rap/R&B/light rock guy then. And had spent most of the 90s most obsessed with rap. 

But then came Britney and blew open a whole new era of pop music that really has never ended. I mean, what area of music today is still doing as well as pop? 

So anyway, once BOMT clicked with me I was in. Obviously the song was a huge hit, and then 25 years ago this month came the album. And since this was right there in the middle of the time when I was always buying new releases right away I'm pretty sure I got this one immediately.

So let's get into that album, and kind of that whole first big era. 

BOMT leads it off. Enough said. Probably one of the greatest debut singles of all time. It's a perfect song.

It took a while for Britney to release her 2nd single. It was always going to be Sometimes, but she had a knee injury while preparing to shoot the video, and so it got delayed. Now, that sucks about the injury, but it was fortuitous that it got pushed back to a late spring release. Because it got to be THE song of the great summer of 1999. Sometimes is my favorite Britney song, and by extension one of my favorite songs of all time period. Nothing gets me squishier or puts me in a better mood. It's the sweetest song ever. And she looked  beautiful in the video. It was everything. And this was the one that clinched that she was going to be around a long time. 

So that song owned the summer, and then as fall got closer came the next single, You Drive Me Crazy. I liked the album version, but they revamped it for the single, and attached it to the upcoming movie Drive Me Crazy (they changed the movie title.for the song). Not a particularly memorable movie (it was actually one of the few teen movie duds of '99) but the song was awesome. The new  version was more propulsive. And it has the "STOP" moment that I have frozen during many a time over the years. Hey when Britney gives orders, you listen. And of course the video was great, and Britney looked awesome in it.

And then it was time to get all squishy again for another Britney ballad. From The Bottom Of My Broken Heart. I'm not sure Britney ever looked prettier than she did in this video. And it's a great song with some of her all time best vocals.

There was also another single, which at the time I didn't even know about. Born To Make You Happy was released overseas, cause back in the day different singles were sometimes released in different markets. I adore this song, another of Britney's absolute best. And she looked great in the video, with some of my favorite dancing she did. But it was actually a couple years before I ever got to see the video.

Those 5 songs are all iconic. And they really picked the right songs, because none of the songs that weren't picked are all that great. E-Mail My Heart is kind of famously cheesy. Thinkin About You is probably my favorite of the album cuts. The best non-single was probably Autumn Goodbye, which was only released in certain countries.

And then there was the hidden track at the end, where Britney offers a sneak peek at the new Backstreet Boys album. Gotta love that synergy.

This was one of the biggest albums of all time. And it is impossible for me to picture what that era would have been like without its existence.