# Herb Alpert - Why Was He Popular? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herb-alpert-why-was-he-popular/568801 "2011-01-24T16:48:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herb-alpert-why-was-he-popular/568801/61 "2011-01-26T05:20:42Z")
I actually have my Whipped Cream LP sitting right here by my printer, where it has been sitting for the last year. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herb-alpert-why-was-he-popular/568801/62 "2011-01-26T13:09:44Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > You’re correct. :smack: To be fair a lot of Herb’s stuff does have an elevator song quality to it though. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herb-alpert-why-was-he-popular/568801/63 "2011-01-26T13:37:08Z")
In instrumentation, you’re right, but Alpert’s music was too uptempo for elevator music. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herb-alpert-why-was-he-popular/568801/64 "2011-01-26T14:22:55Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > In instrumentation, you’re right, but Alpert’s music was too uptempo for elevator music. It was reserved for express elevators. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herb-alpert-why-was-he-popular/568801/65 "2011-01-26T14:35:57Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > It was reserved for express elevators. Or escalators. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herb-alpert-why-was-he-popular/568801/66 "2011-01-26T14:56:07Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > :smack: > > To be fair a lot of Herb’s stuff does have an elevator song quality to it though. To me, it sounds more like background music for wacky hijinks, blooper reels, or, in his more “dramatic” works, a 60s crime series set in a tropical locale. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herb-alpert-why-was-he-popular/568801/67 "2011-01-26T15:30:31Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Until right now, I had no idea they were two separate people. Kind of like Kurt Russell and Jeff Bridges. {Blush} I used to confuse Russell with Patrick Swayze, and I still get Brenda Lee and Teresa Brewer mixed up. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herb-alpert-why-was-he-popular/568801/68 "2011-01-26T16:51:16Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > [Alpert had no beard](http://www.ultragraphik.com/images/herb.jpg) in the 60s and 70s, though he has one now. He also wasn’t fat. You’re definitely confusing him with Hirt. Wasn’t there some announcer who said, “And now, we present the horny sounds of Al Hirt.” ? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herb-alpert-why-was-he-popular/568801/69 "2011-01-26T17:59:06Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Wasn’t there some announcer who said, “And now, we present the horny sounds of Al Hirt.” ? I once referred to the “Wonderland By Night” trumpeter as Bert Kemfart. I was twelve at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herb-alpert-why-was-he-popular/568801/70 "2011-01-26T18:26:20Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > Yep. That is the only song I can associate with him, but it’s still stuck in my head, 30+ years later so…not bad. > > One of these days I will get around to listening to something else by him. 😛 Get yourself [a taste of honey](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_KDPUTyDyQ) then! Alpert was popular because he was a damn fine jazz composer, arranger and trumpeter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/herb-alpert-why-was-he-popular/568801.md?page=3)