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
5. You Dropped A Bomb On Me – Gap Band 7. I’m So Excited – Pointer Sisters
6. Open Arms – Journey
9. Ribbon In The Sky – Stevie Wonder
10. On The Wings Of Love – Jeffrey Osborne 13. Hard To Say I’m Sorry – Chicago
11. Eye Of The Tiger – Survivor
12. 867-5309 (Jenny Jenny) – Tommy Tutone
14. State of Independence – Donna Summer 16. Rock This Town – Stray Cats
15. Tainted Love – Softcell
17. We Got The Beat – GoGos
18. One Hundred Ways – Quincy Jones and James Ingram 20. Who Can It Be Now – Men at Work
19. Get Down On it – Kool & the Gang
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 39. Hot In The City – Billy Idol
36. Juke Box Hero – Foreignor
37. Gloria – Laura Branigan
38. I Want Candy – Bow Wow Wow
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
But that would give away how old I am…
Besides, it is an American chart. It has some music I was listening to, but by no means all of it, and in my year at least it misses some very significant songs.
I know. It misses a lot of stuff for me. And adds stuff that just wasn’t part of my musical landscape, like Journey.
I offer a few examples gleaned from John Peel’s Festive 50 for 1982:
Shipbuilding – Robert Wyatt
The Story of the Blues – Wah!
Town Called Malice – The Jam
Only You – Yazoo
Come On Eileen – Dexy’s Midnight Runners
Rock the Casbah – The Clash
Golden Brown – The Stranglers
And just to be silly…
Happy Talk – Captain Sensible
In my year (1968) there’s only 40 not 75-a lot of great stuff.
Chery: I prefer the Costello version of “Shipbuilding”. Don’t know Wah!. Loved The Jam track and the Dexy’s. The Stranglers track was a bit cheezy. Yazoo? Really?
Ellen: You’re right, some great songs, though there are one or two I don’t think I know.
Well, Costello did write the song, but Wyatt was apparently the first person to record it.
There’s supposed to be a download of “Story of the Blues” on Pete Wiley’s web site, but the link doesn’t work. On the other hand, the BBC has samplers of almost all of the Festive Fifty from 1982 here.
Yazoo? Well, you can’t talk about 80s music without some mention of Vince Clark, and I’m happy to listen to Alison Moyet sing any time. “Only You” is the classic Yazoo track, so I thought it ought to be listed.
Ellen: fabulous year for music.
Costello, with the late Chet Atkins, really does the job. I’ll check out the others.
Gosh — I loved “Genius of Love” — easily my favorite on the list.
Will have to check 1977 (when I turned 18) later.
That’s Chet Baker.
I do prefer Elvis’s version too, although I have warmed to Wyatt’s (I love Wyatt’s own stuff, and his cover of “At Last I Am Free”). The Chet Baker solo, complete with Costello’s delay on the end of it, is gorgeous, as is the arrangement, and EC’s vocal interpretation is just as moving.