I heard a Herb Alpert song on the radio the other day. Hearing it led me to wonder why he was popular. Can anyone explain the Herb Alpert phenomenon?
Right place, right time, boobs on the album cover.
your parents or grandparents had bad musical taste and liked whipped cream.
Why was ANYONE popular at ANY time?
Because a lot of people heard his tunes and liked them. There’s no more profound or compelling explanation than that.
Seriously- could YOU explain the appeal of YOUR favorite musical act to someone to hates it?
Instrumentals seem different somehow.
Alpert is an excellent trumpeter, and the “A” in A&M Records. His early stuff was admittedly mass pop music, but it appealed to the listening audience of the time (me) because it was a then-unusual blend of Latin and pop music styles.
We saw him recently in a local concert with his wife Lani Hall (formerly of Sergio Mendes’ Brazil 66) doing jazz pieces from his recent album. She is still a spectacular voice at age 65 and Alpert can still do a decent job on the horn, although I think his wind is failing him to some extent. He should have been playing jazz all along, but I think making some money was his primary goal. The album with the two of them is very good and I recommend it.
With the sexy album covers, and the Latin feel, it was slightly naughty music, for middle America, at the beginning of the sexual revolution. People who listened to Herb at the time were probably a little too old for the Beatles or the British Invasion (and everything that happened after that). Your parents probably made out to Herb Alpert and the TJB. 
His songs were bright, sunny, catchy melodies.
It also might just be the song you heard. His most popular – “This Guy’s in Love with You” – was far from his best. Alpert was a so-so singer, and he only recorded it as a demo with no intention of releasing it. His best – “The Lonely Bull,” “Mexican Shuffle,” “Whipped Cream,” “Tijuana Taxi,” “Spanish Flea” – were just plain fun to listen to. He also played a lot of covers, and his arrangements managed to please both older audiences and teenagers (he covered the Beatles very early). It was bright, tuneful pop music, which is always in demand. The Mariachi overtones made it stand out, as did Alpert’s trumpet playing.
Check out his web page – he has all the songs available for listening
The cover of Whipped Cream and Other Delights had little to do with it. He already had two top ten albums at the time, as well as a couple of hit singles. Whipped Cream was his first number one, but it would have been in the top ten if it had a picture of a can of Reddi-Whip on the cover. (And none of his other albums had that sort of sexy image).
Ha! Which is EXACTLY why as a 10 year old I bought this knowing nothing about the man. How fortuitous though as I soon loved his music and remain a huge fane to this day.
I’ve had Herb’s music in my mind all morning. Yet another bizarre ‘think about it and it’ll come up on the dope’ all-too-regular coincidence.
Being born in 1960 I can authoritavely say that being used as the theme to “The Dating Game” had an effect.
I have his “Definitive Hits” CD and I listen to it all the time.
Wow, I had no idea he had vocal stuff. Can’t say I ever remember hearing that song. Also, it looks like he had another #1 hit in 1979 with “Rise,” which is another one I’ve never heard of before, but is an instrumental.
Herb Albert circa the Tijuana Brass Band was, like you say, bright, sunny, catchy, and melodic. The music was fun, carefree, completely not self-serious. Whipped Cream and Other Delights may have a bit of cheese in it, but it’s good cheese.
OK, now THAT was just wrong. You had to go there?
But, I think you were spot-on.
Not at the same level, but the cover of Going Places was a little sexy, too.
And Alpert was well aware of it. I remember one TV special where he described the Tiajuana Brass as “a sextet plus one, or an over-sextet.”
“Rise” was a great song (I remember hearing it on the radio quite often in '79). It was pretty different from the rest of what was on the Top 40 at that time, which was dominated by disco.
…which was so iconic that it was parodied.
Looking at Alpert’s covers, of his first thirteen (All his original “Tijuana Brass” albums), four had women on the covers, and only one of them was anything more than putting a pretty woman on the cover as was common in the 50s. The first album just had Alpert in a chair, the second a drawing of a town with the brass leading a parade. Both made the top 25.
BTW, there really wasn’t a “Tijuana Brass.” Alpert’s “The Lonely Bull” was made in his garage, with Alpert playing all the parts. He added “Tijuana Brass” to the name for his self-created A&M Records so people wouldn’t realize it was just him. Later, as he became a major hitmaker, he hired musicians to tour with him as the Brass.
I bet he wouldn’t still be so popular these days if it weren’t for crossword puzzles.
Good sax is sexy. So is the trumpet. I love brass.
Herb Alpert, and Branford Marsalis & Wynton are my favorites.
I wonder if they ever recorded together? Herb and Wynton both on trumpets.
Funny, as I was actually going to describe it as Herb Alpert going disco, but lost my train of thought mid-post.