Monday, August 29, 2005

MUSICAL SUCKITUDE

I’m not sure whether to thank Roxanne or lob a brick at her for this little gem of a meme, but it’s Monday, and my brain is still full of Weekend Sludge. So let’s have some fun with it.

The idea is to examine, in glorious detail, the Depths of Suckitude of the music that was popular when you got out of High School. Philosophy being, I suppose, that the music that was popular during the time you made that high school-to-college transition is the music that shaped your Sonic Consciousness.

Whatever.

Anyway, here’s what you do. You go to the Music Outfitters website and type your high school graduation year into the search tool. Select the “list of the 100 most popular songs” and you will get the Raw Material for the next step in the process, which is to look through the list and decide which songs you hated, which ones you liked, and which one was your favorite.

Post the list on your Online Journal, striking through the songs you hated (or still hate) and boldfacing the ones you liked (or still like). Bold and underline your favorite song. No opinion? Leave it as-is.

After looking through the list for 1970, I realized that I was fortunate enough to get out of high school in a year when there was a reasonable amount of good music playing on the pop circuit. Yes, there are songs from that year that still make me retch, and there are others that were played so much that they just wore me out. “All Right Now” by Free is a good example. It’s not a terrible song per se, but it seems that when I was off at college, I’d hear that song every fucking time I ate in the dining hall. I therefore associate it with Dining Hall Food and early classes: not a felicitous combination.

And the Jackson Five? Gaaaahhhh.

The Carpenters? Gaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.

But we had some good stuff, too. The Beatles were still on the charts, fer cryin’ out loud.

All y’all who had to grow up listening to 1980’s music? I weep for you.

Anyway, here’s my list. What does yours look like?

  1. Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon and Garfunkel
  2. (They Long To Be) Close To You, Carpenters
  3. American Woman / No Sugar Tonight, The Guess Who
  4. Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head, B.J. Thomas
  5. War, Edwin Starr
  6. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Diana Ross
  7. I’ll Be There, Jackson 5
  8. Get Ready, Rare Earth
  9. Let It Be, The Beatles
  10. Band Of Gold, Freda Payne
  11. Mama Told Me (Not To Come), Three Dog Night [Randy Newman’s version is much better - and he wrote it]
  12. Everything Is Beautiful, Ray Stevens
  13. Make It With You, Bread
  14. Hitchin’ A Ride, Vanity Fair
  15. ABC, Jackson 5
  16. The Love You Save / I Found That Girl, Jackson 5
  17. Cracklin’ Rose, Neil Diamond
  18. Candida, Dawn
  19. Thank You (Fallettin Me Be Mice Elf Again) / Everybody Is A Star, Sly and The Family Stone
  20. Spill The Wine, Eric Burdon and War
  21. O-o-h Child / Dear Prudence, Five Stairsteps and Cubie
  22. Spirit In The Sky, Norman Greenbaum
  23. Lay Down (Candles In The Rain), Melanie and The Edwin Hawkins Singers
  24. Ball Of Confusion (That’s What The World Is Today), Temptations
  25. Love On A Two Way Street, Moments
  26. Which Way You Goin’ Billy?, Poppy Family
  27. All Right Now, Free
  28. Julie, Do Ya Love Me, Bobby Sherman
  29. Green-eyed Lady, Sugarloaf
  30. Signed Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours), Stevie Wonder
  31. Ride Captain Ride, Blues Image
  32. Venus, Shocking Blue
  33. Instant Karma (We All Shine On), John Ono Lennon
  34. Patches, Clarence Carter
  35. Lookin’ Out My Back Door / Long As I Can See The Light, Creedence Clearwater Revival
  36. Rainy Night In Georgia, Brook Benton
  37. Something’s Burning, Kenny Rogers and The First Edition
  38. Give Me Just A Little More Time, Chairmen Of The Board
  39. Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes), Edison Lighthouse
  40. The Long And Winding Road / For You Blue, The Beatles [L&WR had too many frickin’ strings for me. The version recently released on Let It Be - Naked is much better. FYB is just fine.]
  41. Snowbird, Anne Murray
  42. Reflections Of My Life, Marmalade
  43. Hey There Lonely Girl, Eddie Holman
  44. The Rapper, Jaggerz
  45. He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother, Hollies
  46. Tighter, Tighter, Alive and Kicking
  47. Come And Get It, Badfinger
  48. Cecelia, Simon and Garfunkel
  49. Love Land, Charles Wright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
  50. Turn Back The Hands Of Time, Tyrone Davis
  51. Lola, Kinks
  52. In The Summertime, Mungo Jerry
  53. Indiana Wants Me, R. Dean Taylor
  54. (I Know) I’m Losing You, Rare Earth
  55. Easy Come, Easy Go, Bobby Sherman
  56. Express Yourself, Charles Wright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
  57. Still Water (Love), Four Tops
  58. Make Me Smile, Chicago
  59. House Of The Rising Sun , Frijid Pink
  60. 25 Or 6 To 4, Chicago [OK song, if you like Chicago. Played to death.]
  61. My Baby Loves Lovin’, White Plains
  62. Love Or Let Me Be Lonely, Friends Of Distinction
  63. United We Stand, Brotherhood Of Man
  64. We’ve Only Just Begun, Carpenters
  65. Arizona, Mark Lindsay
  66. Fire And Rain, James Taylor
  67. Groovy Situation, Gene Chandler
  68. Evil Ways, Santana
  69. No Time, The Guess Who
  70. Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time), Delfonics
  71. The Wonder Of You / Mama Liked The Roses, Elvis Presley
  72. Up Around The Bend / Run Through The Jungle, Creedence Clearwater Revival
  73. (If You Let Me Make Love To You Then) Why Can’t I Touch You, Ronnie Dyson
  74. I Just Can’t Help Believing, B.J. Thomas
  75. It’s A Shame, Spinners
  76. For The Love Of Him, Bobbi Martin
  77. Mississippi Queen, Mountain
  78. I Want To Take You Higher, Ike and Tina Turner
  79. The Letter, Joe Cocker
  80. Ma Belle Amie, Tee Set [Or, as I called it, “Ralph Bellamy.”]
  81. The Bells, Originals
  82. Yellow River, Christie [Written by I. P. Daly?]
  83. Somebody’s Been Sleeping, 100 Proof and Aged In Soul
  84. Vehicle, Ides Of March
  85. Gimme Dat Ding, Pipkins
  86. Lay A Little Lovin’ On Me, Robin McNamara
  87. Up The Ladder To The Roof, Supremes
  88. Travelin’ Band / Who’ll Stop The Rain, Creedence Clearwater Revival
  89. Come Saturday Morning, Sandpipers
  90. Psychedelic Shack, Temptations
  91. Without Love (There Is Nothing), Tom Jones
  92. Are You Ready?, Pacific Gas and Electric
  93. Woodstock, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
  94. I’ll Never Fall In Love Again, Dionne Warwick
  95. Look What They’ve Done To My Song Ma, New Seekers
  96. Walk A Mile In My Shoes, Joe South
  97. The Thrill Is Gone, B.B. King
  98. It’s Only Make Believe, Glen Campbell
  99. Call Me, Aretha Franklin
Note: If you’re wondering about the relatively small number of songs in boldface, keep in mind that this was what was playing on the Top 40 stations all year. I was not then, nor am I now, a big fan of the kind of Pop Music that got played on the radio. Back then, I was listening to a lot of Procol Harum, Jethro Tull (the good, early stuff), Frank Zappa, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, and Miles Davis.

And if you’re wondering, “Why only 99 songs?” it’s because the list I got from the Music Outfitters site was missing Number 26. My list has been renumbered, but it’s in the correct order.

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