More music memeage
Blame ladyperegrine for infecting me with it: 'go to musicoutfitters.com, enter the year of your high school graduation into their search engine to find the top 100 songs for that year', and I'm going to go with her version: 'list the songs you wouldn't mind hearing again.' So...


Poor, poor 1986: I remember you being a fine year, but there are all these terrible, terrible ballads clogging the top of the list. I could stand songs like "How Will I Know", I guess, but stuff I actually kind of want to hear?

9. "Kyrie", Mr. Mister -- even this is pushing it. It's a fist-pumper of a song, I know, but I still find it a little catchy. I'd listen to it if it played. :-)

15. "West End Girls", Pet Shop Boys -- yeah, this one stands the test of time well enough. *Perfectly* parodied by Flight of the Conchords, admittedly, but it's just that iconic.

17. "Alive And Kicking", Simple Minds -- it's no "(Don't You) Forget About Me", but it's hardly terrible.

19. "Kiss", Prince -- I'd rather listen to Raspberry Beret, but I can live with this. The Art Of Noise/Tom Jones version was a blast, of course, and then there's this nifty little take from Z-Trip and Murs... (warning, NSFW language)

20. "Higher Love", Steve Winwood -- I love the drum breakdown in this one. Pure '80s pop, eminently listenable.

23. "Sledgehammer", Peter Gabriel -- Probably the first 'duh' track on this list...

25. "Human", Human League -- We're only human, after all. Well, most of us...

28. "Rock Me Amadeus", Falco -- I'll bet this would wear on me pretty quickly, but it's at least listenable. I'd rather hear the music than the lyrics, mind you. Can I have Momus's "Folk Me Amadeus" instead?

29. "Papa Don't Preach", Madonna -- remember the furor over this song?

33 "These Dreams", Heart -- don't tell anyone. :-) It's not a great song, but it's listenable, and they're Northwest icons!

35. "Live To Tell", Madonna -- even more than "Papa Don't Preach", honestly. Not necessarily one of her best, but it's been unfairly forgotten.

37. "Something About You", Level 42 -- Europop pure and simple.

38. "Venus", Bananarama -- cheesy, sure, but again, eminently listenable.

40. "Conga", Miami Sound Machine -- more in the 'just catchy enough' camp. I suspect this would lend itself really well to a mash-up, actually, if some enterprising DJ tried it.

43. "What Have You Done For Me Lately", Janet Jackson -- really, this was a great album top to bottom. Janet's overall 80s output probably tops her brother's, honestly.

44. "No One Is To Blame", Howard Johnson -- a guilty pleasure of mine; I couldn't even tell you why, but I just really really like this song...

48. "Manic Monday", The Bangles -- Blame it on the train, but the bus is already there...

49. "Walk Of Life", Dire Straits -- actually, I have been listening to this lately, nearly non-stop. A near-perfect pop song, and well worth listening to again if you haven't heard it in a while. I love the way the intro builds, simple as it is. And under the circumstances, I don't even mind that they basically scavenged the keyboard riff from "Industrial Disease"...

54. "Invisible Touch", Genesis -- Genesis more or less at their (pop) best. Not my favorite song of theirs, but it holds up pretty well.

55. "The Sweetest Taboo", Sade -- I don't like a lot of this sort of syrupy soul, but when it works it really works, and this is a good example.

56. "What You Need", INXS -- Good song, with a really good (and well-matched) video. I think this took home one of the big awards, and it was done in the days when all the photocopies had to be run off by hand...

58. "Nasty", Janet Jackson -- "My first name ain't 'baby'..."

62. "Your Love", The Outfield -- the first band I saw live, they played a free show at Clarkson when I was going there. Not a great song, but one of the great openings in pop history. "Josie's on a vacation far away..."

64. "Perfect Way", Scritti Politti -- did you know they released an album in 2006? That they worked with Mos Def? I actually have to say that this holds up pretty well; as clearly '80s as this is, they were still a bit ahead of their time...

68. "Word Up", Cameo -- and shamelessly, at that. Funky enough to hold up, although I suspect I'd rather hear it mixed than straight-up.

70. "Silent Running", Mike + The Mechanics -- a pure guilty pleasure; I love the video for this way more than I shuold. "Pledge allegiance to the flag, whatever flag they offer..."

78. "Life In A Northern Town", The Dream Academy -- so much that I actually shelled out for the album just for this song. It's that big kettle-drum.

83. "A Love Bizarre", Sheila E -- sure, it's just a Prince song in disguise, but that's not a bad thing...

87. "Nikita", Elton John -- okay, it's not quite as dated as, say, Sting's "Russians", but... yeah. *giggle* Still bouncy enough to listen to, though.

88. "Take Me Home", Phil Collins -- I'd rather have, say, "Sussudio", but this also holds up pretty well. Nice drumline, too, go figure.

89. "Walk This Way", Run-D.M.C. -- I still contend that this is the single most important song of the '80s, and it's not even close. The song that brought rap to the mainstream.

91. "Your Wildest Dreams", The Moody Blues -- The song's gorgeous; late as it came, it's still one of the best of their career. And the video is gorgeous and heartbreaking...

96. "King For A Day", Thompson Twins -- more of the finest in big-hair europop. :-)

And as a bonus, the songs I could say the same about from the 1986 Pazz & Jop list:

1. "Walk This Way", Run-D.M.C. -- I admire their taste. :-)
2. "Word Up", Cameo
3. "Kiss", Prince
4. "Sledgehammer", Peter Gabriel
5 (tie). "Fall On Me", R.E.M. -- "Buy the sky and sell the sky and lift your arms up to the sky and ask the sky and ask the sky..."
5 (tie). "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades", Timbuk 3 -- Goofy as it is, it's still a fine song.
8. "Higher Love", Steve Winwood
9 (tie). "Wild Wild Life", Talking Heads -- Another great song with a brilliant video. David Byrne's absolutely beautiful in this one.
11. "Nasty", Janet Jackson
12 (tie). "Fight For Your Right (To Party)", Beastie Boys -- Kick it! (For some reason, this is on the '87 list on musicoutfitters...)
16 (tie). "Walk Like An Egyptian", The Bangles -- Another one that shows up on the '87 list on musicoutfitters. Does this even need any explanation?
16 (tie). "West End Girls", Pet Shop Boys
20 (tie). "Papa Don't Preach", Madonna
23 (tie). "Manic Monday", The Bangles
23 (tie). "The Way It Is", Bruce Hornsby -- another song that holds up amazingly well. He's definitely a "Whatever happened to?"; clearly a fine musician, probably the most brilliant piano player in '80s pop. I'd certainly take his piano over Elton John's (in that time frame), and his cover of "Madman Across The Water" is one of my favorites...

I have to admit, overall the P&J list holds up a lot better than the top-100 for me...