you don't have to put on the red light i don't know how, where or when zuska finds these things, but i got sucked in out of curiosity: just what, exactly, were the top hits the year i turned 18?

These are the rules, if you care to join in; otherwise, this is a legend:

1. go to http://popculturemadness.com/Music/index.html, and find the greatest hits for the year you turned 18 (you'll have to guess the year)

2. select the first 50 (like my zuska, i used the whole list. you'll see why)

3. bold the ones you liked back then

4. strike out the ones you hated

5. italicize the ones you are familiar with but neither like nor hate

6. leave the ones you don't know as is

1. Y.M.C.A. - Village People
2. I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
3. Don't Stop Til You Get Enough - Michael Jackson
4. We Are Family - Sister Sledge
5. Old Time Rock and Roll - Bob Seger
6. Hot Stuff/Bad Girls - Donna Summer
7. Good Times - Chic
8. Escape - Rupert Holmes
9. Aint No Stoppin Us Now - McFadden & Whitehead
10. September - Earth, Wind and Fire
11. Born To Be Alive - Patrick Hernadez
12. My Sharona - the Knack
13. Heart Of Glass - Blondie
14. Knock On Wood - Amii Stewart
15. After The Love Has Gone - Earth, Wind and Fire
16. Shake Your Body Down To The Ground - Jacksons
17. Ooh Baby Baby - Linda Ronstadt
18. Do Ya Think I'm Sexy? - Rod Stewart
19. The Rainbow Connection - Kermit (the Frog)
20. Boogie Wonderland - Earth, Wind and Fire
21. Love Ballad - George Benson
22. Rise - Herb Alpert
23. In The Navy - Village People
24. Ring My Bell - Anita Ward
25. Got To Be Real - Cheyl Lynn
26. Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' - Journey
27. Shake Your Goove Thing - Peaches and Herb
28. Take The Long Way Home - Supertramp
29. We've Got Tonight - Bob Seger
30. One Way or Another - Blondie
31. The Devil Went Down To Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band
32. Babe - Styx
33. Fins - Jimmy Buffett
34. You Decorated My Life - Kenny Rogers
35. Sultans Of Swing - Dire Straites
36. Disco Nights (Rock Freak) - G.Q.
37. Heatache Tonight - Eagles
38. She Believes In Me - Kenny Rogers
39. Video Killed The Radio Star - the Buggles
40. Pop Muzic - M
41. Hold The Line - Toto
42. H.A.P.P.Y. Radio - Edwin Starr
43. Crazy Love - Allma Brothers Band
44. Highway To Hell - AC/DC
45. Street Life - Crusaders
46. Don't Bring Me Down - ELO
47. My Life - Billy Joel
48. Honesty - Billy Joel
49. Take Me To The River - Talking Heads
50. At Midnight - T-Connection
51. You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth - Meatloaf
52. Good Times Roll - The Cars
53. I Go To Rio - Pablo Cruise
54. Boom Boom (Out Go The Lights) - Pat Travers Band
55. Livin It Up (Friday Night) - Bell & James
56. Roxanne - Police
57. Contact - Edwin Starr
58. Rubber Biscuit - Blues Brothers
59. Message In A Bottle - The Police
60. Good Girls Don't - the Knack
61. There But For The Grace Of God Go I - Machine
62. Heaven Must Have Sent You - Bonnie Pointer
63. Life During Wartime - Talking Heads
64. Soul Man - Blues Brothers
65. Voulez-Vous - Abba
66. Rust Never Sleeps (Into The Black) - Neil Young
67. Lay It On The Line - Triumph
68. Cruel To Be Kind - Nick Lowe
69. Don't Stop Me Now - Queen
70. I Want You To Want Me - Cheap Trick
71. I Do The Rock - Tim Curry
72. Hey, St. Peter - Flash and The Pan
73. The Logical Song - Supertramp
74. What A Fool Believes - Doobie Brothers
75. Makin It - David Naughton


first thing you may notice is that i hated a LOT of the top songs that year. and i had to use the entire list to get above 5 dongs i liked (and for the most part still do).

second things of note: i know every. damn. song. on. the. list. my friends, if you were alive and conscious back in the day, you know them as well as i do.

special note on number 71: tim curry was seriously dabbling in becoming a rock star. this was not a success, and if you know the song you kow why. he did okay without rock stardom.

it was a tough time, musically. punk was aching to break, disco was merging into new wave, stadium rock was struggling, led zep was about to collapse, jocks were beating up "punkers" who listened to elvis costello (strangely absent from this list)... it was hell.

i personally would have preferred a year like 1983, or even 1984. i can at least get a couple dozen songs from each of those years i liked. but them was college days.

let me know how your musical flashback panned out.  ¶ Friday, December 15, 2006