Aces Full of Links

Can we meme in your comments? :D

My List: http://unbecominglevity.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2006/11/30/2540330.html

Pretty fun James. You and I turned 18 in the same year, so it was entertaining to compare my list to yours. Needless to say I'm shocked that you don't recall Madonna's mega hit Get Into The Groove, (boy, you've got to prove your love to me).

And you can dance,
For inspiration,
Come on! Come on!
Iiii'm waitiiing!

;-)

Wow! My comments are being held for approval! Did you turn comment moderation on, buddy? I guess you probably need to with the amount of traffic you get.

Wow, thanks for the nice plug!

It's interesting to see how many of the songs on your lists I don't know... I was pretty solidly into classical music in the early- and mid-'80s, deciding I was tired of what pop had to offer (the fact that Michael Jackson had the number 1 song of 1984 is exactly the sort of thing I mean; Culture Club is another perfect example).

Best song on both lists: "Money for Nothing". Mark Knopfler is a god, and that song is great.

I liked Phil Collins then, but note now that he doesn't stand up to time. On the other hand, I didn't like Prince, but he does... and I appreciate his music now as I didn't then.

Now, excuse me while I go move a refrigerator and install a microwave oven....

you saved me a LOT of time by using the year I would have used - thank you, I appreciate that! Although I have to disagree with some of your thumbs-up/thumbs-down designations. And how is it you don't recall "Get into the groove, Boy you've got to prove your love to me"???

Pippa - feel free to meme in my comments.

Chuck - My web software has a spam rating system and is sensitive to multiple links. 'Sokay, I promise to always approve your posts. It should weight the previously approved poster email more highly, but I don't know how to adjust that.

Anyhow, thanks for reminding me of "The Groove" -- now I remember. I actually like that song.

I am slightly embarrassed by some of the 80's music I still like. I like a lot of that early Madonna stuff, although I don't go out of my way to listen to it and don't own any of it.

I said I liked Thriller because I wanted to be honest. My family owned the album and we used to listen to it all the time. It was the 80's -- I make no excuses. We were still making fun of disco all the time.

I was already listening to R.E.M. and the Smiths and Jim Carrol and Jethro Tull and Violent Femmes by the end of 1985, but also, as you remember, a lot of classical stuff and soundtracks. I was never too into pop music, except for in the early 80s when Bull and I spent a summer in front of MTV playing "Traveller" and my family listened to "American Top 40" every Sunday.

Barry: Thanks for having this on your blog. It was a fun diversion. I agree, Dire Straits was the cream of the crop. I liked (and still like) the rest of that album much better than the one that hit the pop charts. But I still can't help but move around when I hear it.

That aiiiiiiiiiin't workin!

MJ - It's been a long time. My memory isn't what it used to be. I'm good at remembering music, but not always by the title of the song.

SOme of the things I voted up because I haven't heard them in a long time but I listened to them heavily in the 80's. Huey Lewis? I haven't heard "I Want A New Drug" since the last time I put "Sports" on a turntable, I think.

I'm with you James. I obviously didn't listen to much pop music when I was 17 and 18. I didn't recognize even more than you didn't (does that make sense). I disliked far more than you disliked. In 1985 the 1st song I really liked was 54 And She Was, Talking Heads and that's not even close to one of my favorite Heads songs. 1984 was a little better with Pride, U2 at 7 but it got so much over exposure that i really can't listen to it anymore.

Similarly, I used to love Money for Nothing when it was new but can't stand it anymore. I have to skip that track when I put the cd on (love the rest of the album).

At that time I was heavily into music that was no longed "pop" if it ever was. Police, Talking Heads, Rush, Yes, older Genesis, etc. The Police were probably the only ones who were ever truely pop and their last and most popular album was the one I like least. I was also into jazz and classical which clearly weren't represented in the pop lists.

I liked Thriller too.

I hated Money for Nothing, but never liked Dire Straits to begin with.

I don't think "proscribed" means what you think it means.

Hey, my least favorite song ever is on this list:

36. Centerfield - John Fogerty

Without fail, that gets played at McCoy Stadium. Hate it, hate it, hate it.

Anyhow...At 18, I was in gay clubs dancing my ass off with the queens, so you'll see dance tunes in my short list of the songs I put in bold:

2. Smooth Operator – Sade
6. Walking On Sunshine - Katrina and the Waves
7. Into the Groove - Madonna
9. Crazy For You - Madonna
10. The Bird - The Time
11. Relax - Frankie Goes To Hollywood
30. Take On Me - A-Ha
34. New Attitude - Patti LaBelle
39. Smalltown Boy - Bronski Beat
42. Dress You Up - Madonna
54. And She Was - Talking Heads
55. Running Up That Hill - Kate Bush
59. You Spin Me - Dead Or Alive
61. (Don't You) Forget About Me - Simple Minds
62. Some Like It Hot - Power Station
71. Voices Carry - 'til Tuesday

Much of what I was into then wasn't "popular," so it wouldn't show up on a list.

I loved Bronski Beat and this song in particular. Also loved The Communards, formed by Jimmy Somerville after he left Bronski Beat. Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

Time to go shopping at CDNow.com!

Oh, and the year was 1985.

You'll dance to anything...

You never worked at Hardee's right?

It's true. I did dance to anything by any bunch of stupid Europeans who came over here with their big hairdoos...

But...I am not an artfag.

You'll dance to anything...

Hey, my least favorite song ever is on this list

Wow Patti, I never would have pegged you as a Madonna fan. That's awesome.

Dress You Up was my favorite Madonna song from that year, closely followed by Get Into The Groove.

Most of my favorite 80's music comes from my early teenage years so by the time 1986 rolled around I had already started to lose interest in top 40. After years of faithful Sunday countdown listening I now had a lingering suspicion that Kasey Kasem was not the cool guy I had always assumed he was.

I had not completely lost faith, however. I recall becoming overly excited when the superior American remix of Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus" started playing during a high school dance. I'm sure everyone else was too busy dancing to notice or care.

Picture Crispin Glover dancing by himself (hey, an 80's song!) in "Back to the Future" and you'll get the general idea.

Barry, the song I quoted from is "Instant Club Hit" by The Dead Milkmen. Not sure who Axel F. is/was.

"Watching Scotty Grow" is awful. Here's another awful song: Minnie Riperton's "Loving You (Is Easy 'Cause You're Beautiful)." Is there a song that better captures the shallowness of the '70s?

Oh, the list is so long...Paul Anka's "Havin' My Baby" is another gem. Would that all copies of that were destroyed in a conflagration.

And while the following two songs are not awful or artful, they are worn out, so I ask: Does anyone really need to hear "Margaritaville" or "Stairway to Heaven" ever again?

Chuck: As I understood the directions, we were to select songs from the list we liked when we were 18. Perhaps I misunderstood what I read.

Although I wouldn't put on any Madonna now, I would definitely put on Bronski Beat or Communards. Some tastes change, but some stay the same (just like I always used to like potato chips and milk, but I'm not so sure that would be as tasty to me now).

No puking!

I totally stole your meme and blogged it. http://smokeringsandcoffeestains.com/?p=113 Too fun. :) Except for the song that's stuck in my head now - no fun.

Leslie, what's the song? You have to share!

Well, I hate Centerfield a whole big bunch, and it's been stuck in my head for a couple of hours now.

Ugh. Upon a closer examination of the list I'm now being being haunted by an REO Speedwagon medley. Now I'm trying to decide whether I hate that more or less than Centerfield. (Not to be confused with Centerfold, which I liked.)

UGH.

OH OH OH OHHOH

OH OH OHOH

OH OH OH OHHOH

The Rrrrright Stuff.

>bangshead

UGH! REO Speedwagon. What the hell did that mean, anyway?

Sadly, there's a commercial for some store that's running an REO Speedwagon song, and I cringe every time I hear it. Can't shut the TV off fast enough.

Many moons ago, my oldest sister--on the advice of a friend who worked at Strawberries--gave me an REO Speedwagon album for my birthday. I can not imagine how this suggestion was arrived at. What did I really want, you ask? Why, "Zenyatta Mondatta" by the Police (this is still my favorite Police album).

Years later, when cleaning out my crap from my parent's house, I tried to break that REO Meatwagon LP over my knee, but it would only bend.

Leslie, I love that Brian Ferry song.

I just learned that this song features Johnny Marr on guitar and was an adaptation of an instrumental by The Smiths ("Money Changes Everything").

Fabulous!

Maggie was looking at 1983, and it looks to me like I enjoyed earlier 80's stuff more than the mid-80's. Tons of stuff I love in 1983. That must have been one of those MTV summers.

It took me a while to remember "Centerfield."

Yeah - can't say I like that one.

Axel F. was the ubiquitous music from Beverly Hills Cop. Axel Foley. You'd probably recognize it if you heard it, and if you don't remember it, you probably didn't like it at the time. I liked electronic music.

So that's what Axel F. was. I didn't like it, but I didn't hate it, which is what I would say about most of the stuff on that list. But I think I preferred the music of 1982/1983 too. That seemed to be the high point, for me.

(Ghost in the Machine was my favorite Police album.)

Oh, I love electronica.

Kraftwerk!

Let's take a look at 1981, which featured two hits by Rick "I'm dead, bitch!" James:

1. Super Freak
8. Give It To Me Baby

Earlier and later 80's were both better for me. Just confirms what I seemed to recall. The music from my senior year of high school was a vast wasteland of crap with a few gems that not too many other people liked.

I won the Beverly Hill Cop soundtrack at the Swanswea Mall from a Radio Station trivia giveaway (James I think you were with me. I'm pretty sure Brian and maybe Bull were there too). I don't recall the question but the answer was Ghost in the Machine! How's that for a tie in.

I tossed the record after a few listens because I disliked basically everything on it. Ghost in the Machine on the other hand I wore out (Still have the album as well as the replacement tape and then cd. I' say Regatta de Blanc was my favorite Police cd but the three middle ones (the two above plus Zenyetta Mondatta) were all about equal in my book. Then Sting's ego took over and they put out Synchronicity. Popular but not terribly good and it hasn't held up at all.

I just bought Stewart Copeland's new dvd of his home movies of the Police's rise and fall. pretty interesting I highly recommend a viewing.

Ah Superfreak. Anybody who hasn't seen Little Miss Sunshine rent it immediately (OK once it's out). Super freakin hilarious. See what I did there. I obviously need to stop now.

This morning, WMBR (MIT radio, 88.1 FM) played "Riding on the Metro" by Berlin (c) 1983.

Can I please apologize for being 18 in 1997?

14. Let Me Clear My Throat - DJ Kool
47. Wrong Way - Sublime
74. Hell - Squirrel Nut Zippers

Well I don't feel so wet behind the ears for being 18 in 1992 then.

My list: http://www.woneffe.com/?p=354

Not much to like about 1992 unless you count "Bohemian Rhapsody." Yes, that was on the 1992 list.

Oh - because of Wayne's World and/or Freddie Mercury's death?

Wayne's World, I think.