Month: August 2008

Is it Friday again already?

By the time you read this, I’ll be on my way to California. Unless, of course, something goes wrong with the timestamping and I don’t have internet access while I’m away. In which case, you’ll be reading this next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Anyway, for a refresher, here are last week’s answers. And here are this week’s lyrics:

  1. “Button Up Your Overcoat” by The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, guessed by Occupant
    You’ll get a pain and ruin your bank vault
  2. “All I Really Want to Do” by Bob Dylan, guessed by Occupant
    I ain’t lookin’ to compete with you
  3. “I Grieve” by Peter Gabriel
    It was only one hour ago
  4. “Shanty for Arethusa” by the Decemberists
    Tell your daughters do not walk the streets alone tonight
  5. “Baby What You Want Me to Do” by Van Morrison
    You got me up, down, down, up, anyway you want and I’ll roll
  6. “Kick Him When He’s Down” by the Offspring
    Little men try but don’t get a lot done
  7. “Everest” by Ani DiFranco
    And still the world is smoother than a shiny ball-bearing
  8. “Hold Me Down” by Gin Blossoms
    Then I think the music is too loud
  9. “Me and Little Andy” by Dolly Parton
    My daddy’s drunk again in town
  10. “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” by Roy Acuff (also Willie Nelson), guessed by Occupant
    Love is like a dying ember
  11. “Float on” by Modest Mouse
    A fake Jamaican took every last dime with a scam

If I’m unable to post while I’m gone, see you all when I get back from LA. Have a good weekend, and good luck!

Counting Veeps

You know, at this point, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if John McCain went with Dick Cheney as his running mate. Update: Okay, I didn’t see this coming — I don’t know that anybody did — but in retrospect, it seems like the obvious — if most pathetically calculated, cynical and desperate — move that McCain could make at this juncture.

Setting memes to music

I haven’t done an honest-to-goodness meme in a long time. (Unless you count the weekly random guess ten.) We may be about to rediscover why. Stolen from Caitlin R. Kiernan, the rules are pretty simple:

Go here and see what was on the top of the charts on the day you were born and every birthday thereafter. Learn just how astrologically-musically lame your life has been. If you want, add in your own favorite Hot 100 hit single of that year, wishing that your birthday had been cool enough to have that song be #1.

I don’t know if this will be remotely interesting to anyone but me, but here are the songs:

1977: “Rich Girl” by Hall & Oates
Favorite: “Sir Duke” by Stevie Wonder

1978: “Night Fever” by the Bee Gees
Favorite: Sigh. “You’re the One That I Want” from Grease, I guess

1979: “Tragedy” by the Bee Gees
Favorite: I think “Heartache Tonight” by the Eagles, although “My Sharona” by the Knack and “Heart of Glass” by Blondie are also good picks.

1980: “Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)” by Pink Floyd
Favorite: “Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)” by Pink Floyd

1981: “Rapture” by Blondie
Favorite: “(Just Like) Starting Over” by John Lennon

1982: “I Love Rock ‘N Roll” by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
Favorite: “I Love Rock ‘N Roll” by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts

1983: “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson
Favorite: “Come On Eileen” by Dexys Midnight Runners

1984: “Jump” by Van Halen
Favorite: “Hello” by Lionel Richie (Yes, I like Lionel Richie more than Van Halen. Deal with it.)

1985: “Can’t Fight This Feeling” by REO Speedwagon
Favorite: “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears

1986: “Rock Me Amadeus” by Falco
Favorite: Either “Addicted to Love” by Robert Palmer or “Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel (although even the Bangles’ “Walk Like an Egyptian” is a contender)

1987: “Lean on Me” by Club Nouveau
Favorite: “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” by U2

1988: “Man in the Mirror” by Michael Jackson
Favorite: “Got My Mind Set on You” by George Harrison (And “Kokomo” was only a #1 hit for a single week? It seemed a lot longer at the time. Although, at the time, I seem to remember liking the song, so obviously things change.)

1989: “The Living Years” by Mike + The Mechanics (I haven’t heard that song in an age)
Favorite: It may very well by “Good Thing” by Fine Young Cannibals or Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” 1989 was not a very good year for pop music, it would seem.

1990: “Black Velvet” by Alannah Myles (I like the song, but I never knew who sang it)
Favorite: “Nothing Compares 2 U” by Sinead O’Connor (It’s partly that famous video and it’s partly that her competition includes Michael Bolton and New Kids on the Block. It’s a good song, though.)

1991: “One More Try” by Tommy T (Another one I don’t think I’ve heard in over a decade)
Favorite: Heaven help me, I think it’s actually “Good Vibrations” by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.

1992: “Save the Best for Last” by Vanessa Williams
Favorite: “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-a-lot

1993: “Informer” by Snow
Favorite: “I’d Do Anything for Love (but I Won’t Do That)” by Meat Loaf (Lean times, 1993. Lean times…)

1994: “The Sign” by Ace of Base (I used to hate this, but John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats showed me the error of my ways)
Favorite: I guess “Stay (I Missed You)” by Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories

1995: “Take a Bow” by Madonna
Favorite: Wow, I don’t think I like any of these. This is the year I graduated from high school, and Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” is the best it had to offer?

1996: “Because You Loved Me” by Ciline Dion
Favorite: “California Love” by 2Pac (Seriously, how are these two songs in the same universe, much less same list?)

1997: “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down” by Puff Daddy featuring Mase
Favorite: None of ’em

1998: “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” by Will Smith
Favorite: “One Week” by Barenaked Ladies (although it’s probably my least favorite song on that album)

1999: “Believe” by Cher
Favorite: Meh.

2000: “Say My Name” by Destiny’s Child
Favorite: “Bent” by Matchbox Twenty (no, really.)

2001: “Butterfly” by Crazy Town
Favorite: I don’t hate Shaggy’s “It Wasn’t Me,” but that’s pushing it.

2002: “Ain’t it Funny” by Jennifer Lopez featuring Ja Rule
Favorite: “Lose Yourself” by Eminem

2003: “In Da Club” by 50 Cent
Favorite: “Lose Yourself” by Eminem (Although I don’t love it that much. It’s just a process of elimination. Outkast’s “Hey Ya!” is okay, too.)

2004: “Yeah!” by Usher featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris
Favorite: “Hey Ya!” by Outkast (I just don’t know any of the others well enough to have an opinion.)

2005: “Candy Shop” 50 Cent featuring Olivia
Favorite: The only two contenders, Kanye West’s “Gold Digger” and Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl,” just became too annoying out of sheer radio repetition.

2006: “So Sick” by Ne-Yo
Favorite: No. Just no.

2007: “Glamorous” by Fergie featuring Ludacris
Favorite: Okay, I don’t completely hate Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend.” I only a little hate it.

2008: “Love in this Club” by Usher featuring Young Jeezy
Favorite: Am I just getting old, or are the #1 hits getting worse and worse every year?

It’s interesting to see the progression, as I find less and less to like in the charts, and I think this is only partly a product of me becoming a crotchety old man who doesn’t like them kids with their loud music. It has a lot more to do with the list long having been a reflection of cultural mediocrity, and of fewer artists spending considerably more weeks dominating the top position as the years go on. I was also interested to see how infrequently my musical tastes matched up with what passed for popular opinion. There are a handful of songs that made the charts in my 30+ years that I like, but precious few that I genuinely love. I barely even recognize some of the more recent ones.

Burying the lede?

In his profile of the “successful female writing team” of Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, John Anderson throws in this odd little bit:

Ms. Smith is curly-haired and petite and wore a festive black-and-white print dress to lunch; Ms. McCullah Lutz, in a form-fitting turquoise dress, suggested a blonde Valkyrie.

Ah, the New York Times, always letting us know what’s really important in a story…