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August 28, 2005
What was your earworm back in the day??
A music meme, via Michele:
A.) Go to musicoutfitters.com
B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year
C.) Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you hate and
underline your favorite. Do nothing to the ones you don't remember (or
don't care about).
Top 100 from 1982
1. Physical, Olivia Newton-John
2. Eye Of The Tiger, Survivor
3. I Love Rock N' Roll, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
4. Ebony And Ivory, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder
5. Centerfold, J. Geils Band
6. Don't You Want Me, Human League
7. Jack And Diane, John Cougar (don�t ask � it was a summer song)
8. Hurts So Good, John Cougar
9. Abracadabra, Steve Miller Band
10. Hard To Say I'm Sorry, Chicago
11. Tainted Love, Soft Cell
12. Chariots Of Fire, Vangelis
13. Harden My Heart, Quarterflash
14. Rosanna, Toto
15. I Can't Go For That, Daryl Hall and John Oates
16. 867-5309 (Jenny), Tommy Tutone
17. Key Largo, Bertie Higgins
18. You Should Hear How She Talks About You, Melissa Manchester
19. Waiting For A Girl Like You, Foreigner
20. Don't Talk To Strangers, Rick Springfield
21. The Sweetest Thing, Juice Newton
22. Always On My Mind, Willie Nelson
23. Shake It Up, Cars
24. Let It Whip, Dazz Band
25. We Got The Beat, Go-Go's
26. The Other Woman, Ray Parker Jr.
27. Turn Your Love Around, George Benson
28. Sweet Dreams, Air Supply
29. Only The Lonely, Motels
30. Who Can It Be Now?, Men At Work
31. Hold Me, Fleetwood Mac
32. Eye In The Sky, Alan Parsons Project
33. Let's Groove, Earth, Wind and Fire
34. Open Arms, Journey
35. Leader Of The Band, Dan Fogelberg
36. Leather And Lace, Stevie Nicks and Don Henley
37. Even The Nights Are Better, Air Supply
38. I've Never Been To Me, Charlene
39. '65 Love Affair, Paul Davis
40. Heat Of The Moment, Asia
41. Take It Easy On Me, Little River Band
42. Pac-man Fever, Buckner and Garcia
43. That Girl, Stevie Wonder
44. Private Eyes, Daryl Hall and John Oates
45. Trouble, Lindsey Buckingham
46. Making Love, Roberta Flack
47. Love's Been A Little Bit Hard On Me, Juice Newton
48. Young Turks, Rod Stewart
49. Freeze-frame, J. Geils Band
50. Keep The Fire Burnin', REO Speedwagon
51. Do You Believe In Love, Huey Lewis and The News
52. Cool Night, Paul Davis
53. Caught Up In You, 38 Special
54. Why Do Fools Fall In Love?, Diana Ross
55. Love In The First Degree, Alabama
56. Hooked On Classics, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
57. Wasted On The Way, Crosby, Stills and Nash
58. Think I'm In Love, Eddie Money
59. Love Is In Control, Donna Summer
60. Personally, Karla Bonoff
61. One Hundred Ways, Quincy Jones
62. Blue Eyes, Elton John
63. Our Lips Are Sealed, Go-Go's
64. You Could Have Been Wih Me, Sheena Easton
65. You Can Do Magic, America
66. Did It In A Minute, Daryl Hall and John Oates
67. I Ran, A Flock Of Seagulls (it started the great hair rebellion of 1983 ... don't ask)
68. Somebody's Baby, Jackson Browne
69. Oh No, Commodores
70. Take It Away, Paul McCartney
71. It's Gonna Take A Miracle, Deneice Williams
72. Love Will Turn You Around, Kenny Rogers
73. Don't Stop Bellevin', Journey
74. Comin' In And Out Of Your Life, Barbra Streisand
75. Gloria, Laura Branigan
76. Empty Garden, Elton John
77. Yesterday's Songs, Neil Diamond
78. Crimson And Clover, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
79. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Police
80. Here I Am, Air Supply
81. I Keep Forgettin', Michael Mcdonald
82. Get Down On It, Kool and The Gang
83. Any Day Now, Ronnie Milsap
84. Make A Move On Me, Olivia Newton-John
85. Take My Heart, Kool and The Gang
86. Mirror Mirror, Diana Ross
87. Vacation, Go-Go's (this was THE graduation song)
88. (Oh) Pretty Woman, Van Halen
89. Should I Do It, Pointer Sisters
90. Hot In The City, Billy Idol
91. Kids In America, Kim Wilde
92. Man On Your Mind, Little River Band
93. What's Forever For, Michael Murphy
94. Waiting On A Friend, Rolling Stones
95. Do I Do, Stevie Wonder
96. Working For The Weekend, Loverboy
97. Goin' Down, Greg Guidry
98. Arthur's Theme, Christopher Cross
99. Through The Years, Kenny Rogers
100. Edge Of Seventeen, Stevie Nicks
What I listened to:
(update: after looking over this list and being laughed at more than once, let me just preface this by saying I was really 2 people in 1982. Early 1982, I was desperate for new music. Bubblegum and CrapPop was everywhere. I was a 'theater fag' who loved to dance so the AltPop was like crack to me. MTV had launched that year and I got a glimpse of some new and different bands ... but it was MTV, the shallow end of the proverbial music pool. Right after graduation (2 weeks to be exact), I moved to Salem, MA in preparation to go to Salem State College in the fall. I didn't have a TV but I did have a radio ... and I found WMWM, the SSC radio station. Yes, you had to live in Salem at that time to pick it up. I was hooked. I walked into their offices on my first day on campus and demanded a job. I was given the Jazz slot on Sunday afternoon, right after the punk show but I would show up 4 hours early to hang out and listen and absorb as much as I could. Within a year, and with lots of patient coaching by our future music director, Steve Lochiatto, I was doing the punk show and the following year, I was primetime. By then, our coverage had expanded all the way to Boston and our nemesis was WFNX, a supposed alternative station that lived and died by the playlist rotation. SO ... that being said ... my singles are a mix of what was on MTV and what was coming out on WMWM. The albums were my musical teething ring (thanks, Loche, for taking the time to educate me).
Singles (alphabetically, not by preference)
Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come on Eileen (my Celtic roots are showing)
Haircut One Hundred - Love Plus One
INXS - Don�t Change
The Jam - A Town Called Malice
Madness - Our House
Nena - 99 luftballoons
New Order - Temptation
Men without Hats - the Safety Dance
Romeo Void - Never Say Never
Soft Cell - Tainted Love (I couldn�t help it)
XTC - Senses Working Overtime
Albums (alphabetically, not by preference):
Black Flag - I�m one of the Henry Rollins faithful � Damaged kicked ass
The Cure - absolutely fell in love with the Boys Don�t Cry LP. The fact that rumors of Smith being suicidal just increased their appeal.
Kate Bush - The Dreaming � another LP worn through
Dead Kennedys - Plastic Surgery Disasters � genius
Husker Du - Everything Falls Apart
PiL - I got a copy of Flowers of Romance from the radio station
(it was one of several they released for review and I reviewed it � and
somehow it ended up staying in my personal collection). I played it 'til
it was worn through
Sex Pistols - mostly reissues, discovering things I had missed
growing up in white bread Peabody. I was a kid in a candy store in the
radio station library. It also foreshadowed the future librarian in me. I
spent quite a lot of time reorganizing that library, making it easier
for DJs to find and pull an album on the fly.
Talking Heads - Remain in Light.
