History Music / MichaelBolton

Music/TheLonelyIsland recently [[http://youtu.be/GI6CfKcMhjY featured him in one of their videos]].

* PowerBallad

* SignatureStyle
* SillyLoveSongs

'''Michael Bolton''' is a phenomenon of TheNineties. There is no other singer quite like him.

* EightiesHair: Kept his mullet well into TheNineties, which earned him some scorn.

These days, he is best known on the internet for being found guilty of plagiarizing "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" by the Isley Brothers. (Note: if you are writing your own songs, ''never'' let your music stray too close to anything published by Creator/{{Motown}}.)

* CoverVersion: Recorded quite a few covers of old soul songs (for example, his first major hit as an artist was a cover of "[[OtisRedding (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay]]").

* StageName: A minor case -- his real surname is Bolotin.

* CarpetOfVirility: Shown off in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv5vMJKBAbo the video]] for "Said I Loved You But I Lied." [[TengenToppaGurrenLagann His shirt is the shirt that WILL NOT BE BUTTONED!]]

* LargeHam: His overly-emotional singing style was [[YourHeadAsplode notably parodied]] by JimCarrey on an episode of ''Series/InLivingColor''. He also shows up for that [=SNL=]/LonelyIsland video belting out a power chorus in hamtastic fashion.

He also made a cameo and is a minor plot point in the infamous Cuba Gooding Jr. film ''Snow Dogs''.

Michael Bolton is a phenomenon of TheNineties. There is no other singer quite like him.

!!'''Tropes''':

** "[[TheLonelyIsland Jack Sparrow]]" has him in his standard hamminess.
** He started doing tongue-in-cheek hammy ballads in Honda television ads in late 2013 as well as Starburst commercials

* [[{{Carpet Of Virility}} Carpet of Virility]]: Shown off in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv5vMJKBAbo the video]] for "Said I Loved You But I Lied." [[{{Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann}} His shirt is the shirt that WILL NOT BE BUTTONED!]]

* ExactWords: Well, he did write that big sexy hook for TheLonelyIsland...

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Although some people like it better, the AOR, pop-metal style of his earliest albums will no doubt surprise most listeners more familiar with his soft rock material. His ''really'' early installments (which came out in the 1970s when he was still going by his birth name, Michael Bolotin) were even weirder, sounding kind of like Joe Cocker.

* LargeHam: His overly-emotional singing style was [[YourHeadAsplode notably parodied]] by JimCarrey on an episode of ''InLivingColor''. He also shows up for that [=SNL=]/LonelyIsland video belting out a power chorus in hamtastic fashion.

-->''Now back to the good part''

No, not the ''OfficeSpace'' character.

Let's explain. There are many metal bands out there which, despite having what fans would consider decent metal, are known solely for their power ballads by the general public. Michael Bolton got his start as the singer and occasional guitarist in a mostly forgotten metal group called Blackjack, which explains the quality of his voice. However, for his entire solo career, which is most of his known career, Michael Bolton has done nothing ''but'' power ballads, with some mid-tempo songs thrown in. What is more, they are almost all SillyLoveSongs or {{Obsession Song}}s (those types overlap in the popular consciousness).

He did chart well during his peak, and he was more than a OneHitWonder. He had several top ten albums including two number ones, at least one live DVD concert and a Grammy award.

These days, he is best known on the internet for being found guilty plagiarizing "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" by the Isley Brothers. (Note: if you are writing your own songs, ''never'' let your music stray too close to anything published by Motown.)

He also made a cameo, and is a minor plot point, in the infamous Cuba Gooding Jr. film, ''Snow Dogs''.

Oh, and TheLonelyIsland recently [[http://youtu.be/GI6CfKcMhjY featured him in one of their videos]].

** He started doing tongue-in-cheek hammy ballads in Honda television ads in late 2013.

* StageName: A minor case - his real surname is Bolotin.
* TakeThatCritics: After receiving negative criticism for over-reliance on covers of old {{Music/soul}} songs, Bolton recorded the all-covers album ''Timeless: The Classics'' at the height of his fame, sending it number one in the American chart. How successful he was really depends very much on whether you think his covers are any good.

* AdamWesting: "Jack Sparrow" has him in his standard hamminess

--> Now back to the good part

He also made a cameo, and is a minor plot point, in the infamous Cuba Gooding Jr. film ''Snow Dogs''.

He also made a cameo, and is a minor plot point, in the infamous CubaGoodingJr film SnowDogs.

* CoverVersion: Recorded quite a few covers of old soul songs (for example, his first major hit as an artist was a cover of "[[OtisRedding (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay]]").
* DetractorNickname: "No Talent Ass Clown", which arose from the ''Office Space'' character of the same name.

* TakeThatCritics: After receiving negative criticism for over-reliance on covers of old {{Music/soul}} songs, Bolton recorded the all-covers album ''Timeless: The Classics'' at the height of his fame, sending it number one in the American chart. How successful he was really depends very much on [[YourMileageMayVary whether you think his covers are any good]].

* LargeHam: His overly-emotional singing style was [[YourHeadAsplode notably parodied]] by JimCarrey on an episode of ''InLivingColor''.
** And he shows up for that [=SNL=]/LonelyIsland video belting out a power chorus in hamtastic fashion.
*** Hamtastic doesn't even begin to cover it. Being a vegetarian, the amount of ham supplied by Mr. Bolton almost killed this troper.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Although some people like it better, the AOR, pop-metal style of his earliest albums will no doubt surprise most listeners more familiar with his soft rock material. The only song that really continued that style in his hit-making period was "How Can We Be Lovers?".