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31 August 2005 — High School Hot 100 (11)

There's a recent blogmeme in which you post the top 100 songs from the year of your high school graduation, and then indicate the songs you loved and hated. Yesterday, Betsy posted her results. Today I'm posting mine, though I'm breaking the rules a little.

I pulled up the list for 1987, the year I graduated, but I couldn't bring myself to complete it. Music sucked that year, and I really wasn't paying attention: I was having fun, graduating, and entering college. I don't know many of the songs on the list. I pulled up the list for 1986, but didn't like it, either. Instead, I've comleted the list for 1983, the year I graduated from junior high and entered high school, and my favorite year for music when I was young.

As required, I've struck out the songs I loathed, bolded the songs I loved, and italicized the songs I don't remember.


1. Every Breath You Take, Police (The best song of the eighties)
2. Billie Jean, Michael Jackson (I found this song alternately annoying and fun)
3. Flashdance... What A Feelin, Irene Cara
4. Down Under, Men At Work
5. Beat It, Michael Jackson (This song rocked the school bus)
6. Total Eclipse Of The Heart, Bonnie Tyler
7. Maneater, Daryl Hall and John Oates (I hated it then, but loved it later)
8. Baby Come To Me, Patti Austin and James Ingram
9. Maniac, Michael Sembello
10. Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This), Eurythmics (The third-best song of the eighties)
11. Do You Really Want To Hurt Me, Culture Club
12. You And I, Eddie Rabbitt and Crystal Gayle
13. Come On Eileen, Dexy's Midnight Runners
14. Shame On The Moon, Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band
15. She Works Hard For The Money, Donna Summer (Fun to beller with)
16. Never Gonna Let You Go, Sergio Mendes
17. Hungry Like The Wolf, Duran Duran (I loved Duran Duran from the start)
18. Let's Dance, David Bowie (Again: hated it then, loved it later)
19. Twilight Zone, Golden Earring
20. I Know There's Something Going On, Frida (I'll always love anything ABBA related)
21. Jeopardy, Greg Kihn Band
22. Electric Avenue, Eddy Grant
23. She Blinded Me With Science, Thomas Dolby
24. Africa, Toto (I love the plaintive edge to this song)
25. Little Red Corvette, Prince
26. Back On The Chain Gang, Pretenders (Another hated it then, loved it later)
27. Up Where We Belong, Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes (Pure dreck)
28. Mr. Roboto, Styx (Though in retrospect, this is a lousy Styx song)
29. You Are, Lionel Richie
30. Der Kommissar, After The Fire
31. Puttin' On The Ritz, Taco
32. Sexual Healing, Marvin Gaye
33. (Keep Feeling) Fascination, Human League
34. Time (Clock Of The Heart), Culture Club
35. The Safety Dance, Men Without Hats (I hate this song now — it's overplayed)
36. Mickey, Toni Basil
37. You Can't Hurry Love, Phil Collins
38. Separate Ways, Journey
39. One On One, Daryl Hall and John Oates
40. We've Got Tonight, Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton
41. 1999, Prince
42. Stray Cat Strut, Stray Cats (Oh, how we'd beller to this one)
43. Allentown, Billy Joel
44. Stand Back, Stevie Nicks (I loved this album)
45. Tell Her About It, Billy Joel
46. Always Somethmg There To Remind Me, Naked Eyes
47. Truly, Lionel Richie (I really loathed Lionel Richie. Still do.)
48. Dirty Laundry, Don Henley
49. The Girl Is Mine, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney
50. Too Shy, Kajagoogoo
51. Goody Two Shoes, Adam Ant
52. Rock The Casbah, Clash
53. Our House, Madness (Here's a loved it then, liked it less later)
54. Overkill, Men At Work
55. Is There Something I Should Know, Duran Duran
56. Gloria, Laura Branigan (Dad liked this song)
57. Affair Of The Heart, Rick Springfield (First song I thought was sexy)
58. She's A Beauty, Tubes
59. Solitaire, Laura Branigan
60. Don't Let It End, Styx
61. How Am I Supposed To Live Without You, Laura Branigan
62. China Girl, David Bowie
63. Come Dancing, Kinks
64. Promises, Promises, Naked Eyes
65. The Other Guy, Little River Band
66. Making Love Out Of Nothing At All, Air Supply
67. Family Man, Daryl Hall and John Oates (I thought this song was fun)
68. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', Michael Jackson
69. I Won't Hold You Back, Toto (Slow dance song? Seems like it, but isn't...)
70. All Right, Christopher Cross
71. Straight From The Heart, Bryan Adams
72. Heart To Heart, Kenny Loggins
73. My Love, Lionel Richie
74. I'm Still Standing, Elton John
75. Hot Girls In Love, Loverboy
76. It's A Mistake, Men At Work
77. I'll Tumble 4 Ya, Culture Club
78. All This Love, Debarge
79. Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy, Sammy Hagar
80. Heartbreaker, Dionne Warwick
81. Faithfully, Journey
82. Steppin' Out, Joe Jackson
83. Take Me To Heart, Quarterflash
84. (She's) Sexy + 17, Stray Cats
85. Try Again, Champaign
86. Dead Giveaway, Shalamar (Oddly enough, I loved this song)
87. Lawyers In Love, Jackson Browne
88. What About Me, Moving Pictures
89. Human Nature, Michael Jackson
90. Photograph, Def Leppard
91. Pass The Dutchie, Musical Youth
92. True, Spandau Ballet (This song always reminds me of soccer practice)
93. Far From Over, Frank Stallone
94. I've Got A Rock 'N' Roll Heart, Eric Clapton
95. It Might Be You, Stephen Bishop
96. Tonight I Celebrate My Love, Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack (More dreck)
97. You Got Lucky, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
98. Don't Cry, Asia
99. Breaking Us In Two, Joe Jackson
100. Fall In Love With Me, Earth, Wind and Fire
Find yearly top-100 lists at Music Outifitters. They're fun to look through. A quick perusal tells me what I already suspected: music was awful during the late eighties and early nineties. The years 1987-1989 were particularly bleak. There was a brief respite in 1990, but then things entered sucksville for another few years. There were some great songs in 1995 and 97-98, but by then I'd pretty much lost touch with popular music. Now I'm an old fogey, buying my Natalie Merchant, Indigo Girls, U2, and the like. But, oh how I long for some good ol' synthpop, like that of 1983.

On this day at foldedspace.org

2004 — For Geeks Only   In which I rave about the films Alien and Logan's Run. Also in which I rave about Alan Moore and bitch about Neil Gaiman.

2002 — pinched nerve redux   we woke at about 10 a.m. the next morning and, for some reason, i was naked. kris got up to help the sherrards fix breakfast while is streaked across the park back to our campsite for clothes. little kids laughed at me as i trotted along covering my naughty bits.

Comments
On 31 August 2005 (10:11 AM), tammy said:

I 've only ever heard 1,15,& 27. Yeh, you've got that right. Never even heard of the rest.. I wonde how i even recognize those three.


On 31 August 2005 (10:29 AM), J.D. said:

Notice all the bold "I loved this song" going on in the above list? I've noted 40 songs I loved and only 8 songs I loathed. There are 9 songs I don't remember. (I suspect 1982 would be a strong year, too. Let's check: 43 songs I loved, only 2 songs I hated, and a whopping 22 songs I don't know. (This was about the time I started to listen to music.) One of the songs — "That Girl" by Stevie Wonder — I didn't know until a couple months ago, but it's been climbing my Audioscrobbler charts slowly but surely.)

When I did the list for 1986, there were 21 songs I loved and 15 songs I loathed. I couldn't remember 16 songs. When I did the list for 1987, there were 14 songs I loved and 6 songs I loathed. I didn't know 23 songs.


On 31 August 2005 (12:33 PM), jenefer said:

Amazingly, I can call most of these songs up in my mental jukebox. I agree with you on your top choices, especially 10,1,5,25,28,34,37,60,62,71,97 and 98. I find it interesting that a pregnant 33 year old and a junior high/high school guy would like many of the same tunes.

Liz loved Michael Jackson at the time. We watched MTV practically non-stop when we were home.


On 31 August 2005 (12:40 PM), Paul said:

How could not enjoy music of 1986 and 1987 when ou were listening to New Order (see Brotherhood 1986 and Substance 1987) back in high school. What about Alison Moyet's Raindancing (1987)? You couldn't have forgotten skipping class to pick up the Joshua Tree with me at Tower Records in the Spring of 1987? Your enjoyment of synthpop was founded on This Mortal Coil, Colourbox and Cocteau Twins having releases in '86 and '87.

The list you pulled and ranked has virtually nothing to do with your musical appreciation in my opinion. You may not have enjoyed dancing downtown at the clubs in 1987, but you were sure to have the 12" single in your hand of your favorite songs from the night out soon after the experience.

Podcasting question: Can you podcast a conversation with the Roth brothers speaking to each other in "that" voice that use to represent the little dog your family had? If you get your mother involved I will pay for the podcast. If the conversation includes a reference to Tino's frozen pizzas and Cool Ranch Dorittos, then I will provide a gallon of gas to you also! I should not be the only outsider to have ever heard and experienced the Roth family in this manner.

p.s.: If I see Husky Rescue's Summer Time Cowboy on a best of list of yours, I want payment!


On 31 August 2005 (02:21 PM), Kristin said:

No, Paul, NO! No Fuzzy or Hairy voices!


On 31 August 2005 (02:25 PM), Jeff said:

Barney and Murphy also speak in a similar voice... :-)


On 31 August 2005 (02:36 PM), J.D. said:

Paul: How could not enjoy music of 1986 and 1987?

In general, I just didn't, especially the popular music (which is mostly what I'm talking about here). I loved the straight-ahead power rock and the New Wave synthpop of 1982-1984. Radio was fantastic. Not so later in the decade.

You're right that there was some good stuff in 1986-87 — including OMD, The Cure, New Order, and U2 — but this stuff was relatively sparse. And I didn't enjoy Alison Moyet's solo stuff that much. I really didn't like Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, and Colourbox. The list above may not have much to do with my lasting musical appreciation, but it certainly reflects what I loved at the time. I've always had a broad musical taste.

Re: Dogspeak — have no fear, Kristin, Jeff (the master of Dogspeak) is reluctant to share his talent with the world. I have hopes that I can goad him into it, but I'm not sure. On the other hand, all three of our cats have very distinctive voices. Perhaps they'll make an appearance some time...


On 31 August 2005 (03:09 PM), Paul said:

JD:
You are fickle. You "loved" Alison Moyet in the moment. The artist I listed were groups you sought out and prized in your collection at that time. To say you are no longer smitten is just darn fickle. Where's the love, JD, where's the love?

Kris:
Thanks for reminding me of the names of the dogs, that rounded out my memory. My question to you is how you came to know of the voices when the poor pups left for doggie heaven, or where ever they went, before your arrival to the family?

The funniest moment was having your whole family talking like Harry to each other and probably talking about which Tino's pizzas to heat while eating Dorritos.


On 31 August 2005 (03:50 PM), J.D. said:

Poor Paul!

I never loved Alison Moyet, nor the other groups you mentioned. You loved them. I tolerated them. It is true that I loved Yazzoo, but I wasn't keen on Alison Moyet solo.

Also, that's Kristin (Kauffman), not Kris. And Totino's pizzas are serous business. As are Doritoes. (But never cool ranch — yuck — only nach cheese.)


On 31 August 2005 (04:23 PM), Paul said:

LIAR JD! You are not just fickle you are denying your roots as a new wave, synthpop geek!

Kristin Kauffman would know the Harry voice from your family quite well. I don't know why she would be afraid of the act now, she giggled and rolled her eyes at you and Jeff all the time whey you would "talk like that" back in the day. Maybe she didn't love the voice of Harry, but she sure did tolerate them.

Are there people outside of the MYF and my experience with you that are aware of the Harry and Fuzzy vocies?


On 31 August 2005 (06:04 PM), alan said:

I want the truth now!!!!!!! Did JD love Alf solo or not? I can't believe I'm about to go complete this meme. I'm a joiner.


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