I do love a good end of the year top 100 list

Has anyone else been watching VH1’s Top 100 Songs of the 1990’s? That shit is an addictive trip down memory lane. It’s also weird because I tend to get the late 80’s and early 90’s jumbled together in my head, musically speaking. So for a number of these songs, I’m like “dude, that came out in the 90’s?” Like I’m Too Sexy. And Ice Ice Baby? And Gonna Make You Sweat? They just have such an 80’s feel about them. Ditto Jump Jump. That is wiggity wiggity wiggit wack. (Although I prefer Warm it Up.) {an aside, what on earth did we do before youtube?}

Also, we’ve made it all the way to the top 20 and…no Nirvana songs? However you feel about them, that was the band of the 90’s. I’m assuming Smells Like Teen Spirit will be #1 (the episode counting down numbers 20-1 airs tonight), but nothing else? Also, no Brittney yet. 1998 brought us Baby One More Time. You know that is in there somewhere…top 5 for sure. Alas, 100 songs is not very many when you’re talking about 10 years.

Anyway, it’s a fun countdown, and entertaining to have all the above mixed in with Dr. Dre and Christina Aguilera and Eminem and *nsync. Quite a random assortment we had in the 90’s.

sing it, ladies

So I was only in the bagel place this morning long enough to order up and pay for a bagel and fill my cup with beverage, but it was long enough to hear 2 songs playing on the restaurant sound system. Those 2 songs? 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton and Queen of Hearts by Juice Newton. I don’t know if I happened in while they were playing their Hits of the ’80’s, the Ladies Edition or what, but it was odd.

Also, I haven’t heard either of those songs in years (although I have seen the movie 9 to 5 somewhat recently. I tend to watch at least a bit of it every time I stumble across it on cable, which is fairly often since it is always on. I love that movie. Plus, I never get tired of everyone calling Dabney Coleman a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot.) But, I still knew all the words to both of these songs. Every. Single. Word.

Just more stuff taking up the space in my brain where things like algebra used to be.

Get ready to rock

So, I was listening to Fresh Air on the way home tonight and they seem to be doing some sort of Rock Week with archive interviews. Anyway, the episode I heard was Rob Halford from Judas Priest and James Hetfield from Metallica. I have always found Halford’s role as “out gay metal dude” fascinating, and Hetfield is my favorite member of Metallica (if there is such a thing). Although Metallica is sort of dead to me after the whole Napster thing …Lars Ulrich is such a tool. Anyway, I encourage you to check out the rockers on Fresh Air if only for the introduction, which is absolutely hilarious.

Musical Deja Vu

So what’s up with the music the kids are listening to these days? I’ve noticed three extremely popular songs on the radio right now that really don’t seem like they belong. It’s like they come from a different era or genre and don’t blend in with what you normally hear on the radio today. They are as follows:

1. Rehab—Amy Winehouse. This sounds like what the Supremes would sing if they were still performing and if Diana Ross hadn’t gone all bat-shit crazy. Actually, it might have been better suited to the Shangri-Las, they were more the bad girls of girl groups. Their song Remember (Walking in the Sand) is one of my very favorites [although, I must now digress into an lengthy and ranting aside—why do bands insist on putting parenthesis into song titles? It really bugs me. A lot. Like a lot. To an unnaturally disturbing degree, in fact. Like, (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction. I mean, what is that? Either call it “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” or just “Satisfaction” Make up your damn mind already. Or The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy). Or I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch). People don’t need to have the entire chorus of the song included in the title. Or Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin). Again, just pick a name and go with it. I always kind of liked New Order song titles because they didn’t actually seem to have anything to do with the song. OK, end digression]

{wait, secondary digression. I highly recommend clicking on the “Buy U a Drank” link above. So stupid, yet so funny. I also like the debate at the bottom of the page over whether this is racist or not by the always well informed YouTube community. It’s an old gag, people, the uptight white dudes talking like black dudes, and vice versa. I mostly just like that the guy’s delivery comes off like Chevy Chase doing Weekend Update.}

2. Beautiful Girls – Sean Kingston The description of this song says that it “samples heavily from Stand by Me by Ben E. King” Actually, it sounds exactly like Stand by Me, just with different lyrics. I mean, sampling usually indicates that the music or beats from an old song is played with like rapping or something over it. The old and new stuff is mixed together in an interesting way so that you recognize the old tune, but still identify the work as a new song. But this just seems so similar to the sound and style of the original song. It’s like this could actually have been on the radio in 1961. There is also a remake of the song by someone named JoJo, which really sounds like a straight up 60’s girl group number. Is this the influence of Dreamgirls? Damn, that Beyoncé is powerful.

3. Thanks for the Memories—Fall Out Boy. This one, especially the first part, really sounds like a Broadway show tune. The verse anyway, more so than the chorus. It’s like what you would get if the guy who wrote Rent was still alive and started a rock band. [Oh another aside, one of my guilty secrets is that I love Fall Out Boy. I know, just…shut up.]

So what’s the deal? I’m not complaining, mind you. Any digression from the normal radio fare of crappy slow jams and boastful raps about shortys, rims, Cristal, and bling (or some combination thereof) is OK by me. And actually, I really kind of like all three of these songs. I don’t change the station when they come on. And catchy is catchy, you can’t fight that.