Will ‘Bobby’ Put Brown in Michael’s League?

Some events make a lasting impression: the Beatles’ debut on the Ed Sullivan TV show, Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon, Kirk Gibson’s World Series homer off Dennis Eckersley and . . . Michael Jackson being declared the King of Pop.

Will the Aug. 25 release of “Bobby” equal any of those?

Yes, according to MCA Records President Richard Palmese.

At a recent company gathering to play the first album in four years from Bobby Brown, Palmese declared it’s going to be a landmark in pop:

“In the year 2,000 you will remember where you were when you first heard this record. It will certainly be one of the most important records of the ‘90s.”

Is he right?

No question that anticipation has been building for “Bobby.” The album--Brown’s first since his 6-million-selling debut, “Don’t Be Cruel”--was originally supposed to be ready early last year, but the singer, who has sometimes been called the next Michael Jackson, certainly seems to be the same kind of pop perfectionist.

Radio programmers and retailers who have heard the album are encouraged. They say it is loaded with fresh sounds and, possibly, more hit singles than “Don’t Be Cruel,” which contained four Top 5 hits.

“Humpin’ Around,” the first single from the new album, was released last week and the early reaction supports that optimistic view.

“This album has the potential to make (Brown) a household name like Madonna,” offers Brian Burns, vice president and editor of the radio and retail trade magazine Network Forty. “He’s already a star in his own right, but this will put him at the top.”

“I think Brown will be the first superstar act in a long time to put out an album that will live up to the hype,” says Mike Stradford, program director for Los Angeles urban-oriented station KKBT-FM. “Michael (Jackson) and Hammer both fell short in some ways. They sold respectably, but neither one lived up to the hype, creatively and in terms of what the record companies and the public expected.”

One reason there is so much attention on Brown is that his last album was a breakthrough in pop music, helping launch the new-beat, heavy urban funk style known as new jack swing. But that sound is a bit dated in the fast-changing pop world.

So the question is can Brown, 23, come up with another trend-setting style?