This one came from Nick Mamatas via Andy.

Instructions: Go to www.popCulturemadness.com and select the year you became 18. Paste the list of the top 75 songs. Bold the ones you liked; strike the ones you disliked; and italicize the ones you know but don’t exactly like nor dislike. The ones you don’t know will stay common text.

The year is 1982, and the greatest era in the history of the 7″ single has come to an end. I’ve stopped working in a record store and got a real job, and this is what there was to listen to:

1. Mickey – Toni Basil
2. Apache – Sugarhill Gang
3. Through The Years – Kenny Rogers
4. I Love Rock and Roll – Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
5. You Dropped A Bomb On Me – Gap Band
6. Open Arms – Journey
7. I’m So Excited – Pointer Sisters
8. She’s Got a Way – Billy Joel
9. Ribbon In The Sky – Stevie Wonder
10. On The Wings Of Love – Jeffrey Osborne
11. Eye Of The Tiger – Survivor
12. 867-5309 (Jenny Jenny) – Tommy Tutone
13. Hard To Say I’m Sorry – Chicago
14. State of Independence – Donna Summer
15. Tainted Love – Softcell
16. Rock This Town – Stray Cats
17. We Got The Beat – GoGos
18. One Hundred Ways – Quincy Jones and James Ingram
19. Get Down On it – Kool & the Gang
20. Who Can It Be Now – Men at Work
21. Turn Your Love Around – George Benson
22. Let It Whip – Dazz Band
23. Genius Of Love – Tom Tom Club
24. Everybody Wants You – Billy Squire
25. Always On My Mind – Willie Nelson
26. Planet Rock – Afrika Bambaataa
27. I Wouldn’t Have Missed It For The World – Ronnie Milsap
28. Up Where We Belong – Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes
29. Under Pressure – Queen and David Bowie
30. Goobye To You – Scandal
31. Circles – Atlantic Starr
32. Memory – Barbra Streisand
33. Abacab – Genesis
34. Cool (Part 1) – The Time
35. Kids In America – Kim Wilde
36. Juke Box Hero – Foreignor
37. Gloria – Laura Branigan
38. I Want Candy – Bow Wow Wow
39. Hot In The City – Billy Idol
40. Shadows Of The Night – Pat Benatar
41. Murphy’s Law – Cheri
42. You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ – Judas Priest
43. Jack and Diane – John Cougar (Melloncamp)
44. Leader Of The Band – Dan Fogelberg
45. Maneater – Hall and Oates
46. Workin’ For A Livin’ – Huey Lewis and the News
47. Working For The Weekend – Loverboy
48. Situation – Yaz
49. Truly – Lionel Richie
50. Mama Used To Say – Junior
51. Paperlate – Genesis
52. Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny) – Elton John
53. Don’t You Want Me – Human League
54. I Will Always Love You – Dolly Parton
55. Vacation – GoGo’s
56. I Know What Boys Like – The Waitresses
57. I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) – Hall and Oates
58. Someday, Someway – Marshall Crenshaw
59. Going To A Go-Go – Rolling Stones
60. Love Plus One – Haircut One Hundred
61. Hurt So Good – John Cougar (Melloncamp)
62. Should I Stay Or Should I Go – The Clash
63. Waiting On A Friend – Rolling Stones
64. I Feel Like A Number – Bob Seger
65. I Ran (So Far Away) – A Flock Of Seagulls
66. The Message – Grandmaster Flash
67. Early In The Morning – Gap Band
68. Shakin’ – Eddie Money
69. Centerfold – J. Geils Band
70. Talk Talk – Talk talk
71. Leather and Lace – Stevie Nicks and Don Henley
72. I’ve Never Been To Me – Charlene
73. Steppin’ Out – Joe Jackson
74. Let Me Tickle Your Fancy – Jermaine Jackson (& Devo)
75. Abracadabra – Steve Miller Band

Well, Bruce delivered the foreword to Ascendancies: The Best of Bruce Sterling this morning, so I put together the final ms. of the book and emailed it off to Subterranean Press. We’re only waiting on the introduction (the delay being my fault, not the introducer’s). I think galleys should follow shortly, with the book coming out sometime in mid-2007. I’ve gotta say, in these busy days, that I was pretty happy to send that one off to the publisher. Terry Dowling and I also did the final corrections on The Jack Vance Treasury, so that one is headed off to the printer for a January 2007 publication (I think). Busy times!

What now? Well, I think, if I can keep focussed, getting Best Short Novels: 2007 up and running, seeing if mystery project X will fly (we’ll know over the next month), and working on some other stuff that’s bubbling away. I’m also trying to find time to watch the cricket, spend time with the family (it’s the kids dance show in a week or two), and all sorts of other craziness. Mad times too.

At the close of play on Saturday the UK’s Guardian referred to the Brisbane Cricket Ground at Woolloongabba as the ‘Gabbattoir’. A lacklustre England were on the ropes and being played with by a dominant Australia. What a difference a day makes. Spirited play by the English batsmen, especially Collingwood and Pietersen, has changed everything. While talk of an outside chance of them saving the game seems very unlikely, the fact that it exists at all is significant. No matter how the game ends now, England will have positives to take away. Yes, they fell apart. But they fought back. They showed that they (at least some of them) could handle the Australian bowlers (at least some of them). They showed that they weren’t a bunch of surrender monkeys. So now, rather than limping to Adelaide for Friday’s second test, they go there with some hope. And why? Well, from where I sit, it comes down to a bad decision by Ricky ‘Punter’ Ponting, Australia’s captain. By not enforcing the follow-on on Saturday, he lengthened the game (increasing the ACB’s revenues), made the competition look more viable (increasing the ACB’s revenues), and let England off the hook. Even if Australia win this game, it was a terrible decision.

Tomorrow morning, at about 7.30am Perth local time, it starts. The bloodbath in Brisbane is the opening round of the 2006/2007 Ashes, and it’s going to be something. There’s a lot of talk about how the series will progress, who will win how many Tests and so on. I might be wrong, but I think it’s going to be short and brutal for the POMS. I’m not sure five zip is possible, but I’d expect 4-nil as a possible outcome. I do wonder if any of the games will go to four days. I think by 5pm on Thursday we’ll have a pretty good idea of how the summer might unfold.

There’s a meme going around. Respond to the SF Book Club’s Top 50. I might. I might not. The only one I’ve not read is the Willmar Shiras, and yet my life feel’s complete. Best response to the meme, though, is from the irrespressible David Moles. Read his response instead.

NB: Edited to remove by stupid error, as wisely advised by Mike Walsh. The book I’ve not read is Wilmar Shiras’s novel Children of the Atom.