Not a music meme, exactly
Jan. 18th, 2009 01:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
omorkaAn experiment of sorts?
The following are the 25 songs that iTunes lists with a date between 1987 and 1997 inclusive that have the highest play counts in my iTunes library. I am choosing play count rather than rating on the grounds that there are a number of things that are important to me that I don't think have a lot of artistic merit, and thus have ratings of 3 stars or less even though I like them.
1) "Voices of Babylon," the Outfield, 62 counts (it'll be 63 in a minute). Not one of their big hits in the US, but a beautifully layered song.
2) "Closer to Free," the BoDeans, 54 plays. Lovely lyrics, memorable hook.
3) "Buildings and Bridges," Ani DiFranco, 50 plays. This is the only Ani song I own, but I find this topic in female voice fascinating (one of the few Kate Bush songs I like and have ripped is "Rubberband Girl" - very similar cases).
4) "Follow You Down," the Gin Blossoms, 49 plays. Jangly guitars, depressing but hopeful lyrics. This is one of the first ones that I listened to a lot during the time period in question.
5) "Crazy, Seal, 46 plays. Another one I listened to at the time, and pretty accurately describes my feelings about politics for much of that period in my life. His voice is still astounding.
5) "Lay Your Hands On Me," the Thompson Twins, 46 plays. A restrained but sensual song from an era of rather sexless pop.
7a) "Heaven Is A Place On Earth," Belinda Carlisle, 45 plays. She's beautiful, her voice is full and sparkling, and the theology was mind-expanding for me at the time. Shut up, it's great.
7b) "I'm Fine," Patty Larkin, 45 plays. This is not the version I was listening to at the time - that would be the Four Bitchin' Babes version - but this song is part of what got me through the breakup with the Jerk.
9a) "Crash Into Me," Dave Matthews Band, 44 plays. Someone please explain to me how a blatant BDSM song got onto the radio? I mean, I'm glad it did, but how did this get past ClearChannel's self-censors?
9b) "Life is a Highway," Tom Cochrane, 44 plays. Gods, this is embarrassing. It's a terrible song, but it encapsulates my trip to the Mu Alpha Theta Nationals at the end of the summer of 1992 - it was basically the soundtrack for that trip, which was right after the Alaska Trip from Hell.
11) "Loving a Hurricane," John Hiatt, 40 plays. The Spouse turned me on to Hiatt shortly after he started taking me to Beans shows.
12) "Hysteria," Def Leppard, 39 plays. Smoothest pop-metal ever.
13) "The Best of What's Around," Dave Matthews Band, 38 plays. DMB scores the first band repeat. "Under the Table and Dreaming" is one of my favorite albums as a whole from that era. "Ants Marching" will barely miss this list.
14a) "Whirl-Y-Reel 1," Afro Celt Sound System, 37 plays. This probably shouldn't count - ACSS is a post-2000 discovery for me - but it represents a lot of things that were happening in world music at the time that I liked.
14b) "In the House of Stone and Light," Martin Page, 37 plays. Another song with imagery that is fairly pedestrian to me now, but was world-expanding at the time. Rescued by nostalgia and a nice harmonic hook.
14c) "Break It Down Again," Tears for Fears, 37 plays. This is the only TFF that will appear in the list, but really, they're one of the bands I would identify as being the mid-'80s-to-pre-grunge-'90s sound for me. Orzabal's voice is fabulous, as always.
14d) "Love Will Find A Way," Yes, 37 plays. And here's a bit of a relic from the '70s themselves, the kings of vaguely Newagy-Christian prog rock. It is not technically correct to say that I only like the songs from the two 1980s albums, 90215 and Big Generator, but I confess that they're the only songs of theirs I listen to very often.
18a) "Church of the Poison Mind," Culture Club, 36 plays. A cute bit of '80s memorabilia. I'm not sure why this has as many plays as it does, to be honest.
18b) "I Love You Always Forever," Donna Lewis, 36 plays. Ooo, another embarrassment. '90s bubblegum; my only excuse is that it's poppy and the Spouse likes it.
18c) "Allison Road," the Gin Blossoms, 36 plays. The Gin Blossoms score the second band repeat. Different album, for what it's worth. Mmm, jangly guitars. Rough-edges without falling full into grunge.
18d) "Like a Prayer," Madonna, 36 plays. What can I say; I like songs that conflate religion and sex.
22a) "Ferris Wheel," the Curtain Society, 34 plays. This is a track from the Radio Hepcats CD; I know nothing about the band. Interesting production, though.
22b) "Glass Vase Cello Case," Tattle Tale, 34 plays. This is the song from the sex scene in But I'm a Cheerleader. If you've seen the movie, it requires no further explanation.
24a) "Pour Some Sugar On Me," Def Leppard, 33 plays. How does this have more plays than "Photograph"? Ah, well. A simpleminded but fun song about sex and candy.
24b) "Jamie G.," Joe Jackson, 33 plays. It's a fast-paced, upbeat song about uncertain sexuality. What's not to like?
24c) "Never Ending Story," Limahl, 33 plays. Very '80s. Somewhat embarrassing. Let's move on, shall we?
24d) "Promise of a New Day," Paula Abdul, 33 plays.Oh, lord. Moving on again. No, actually that deserves an explanation. I watched a lot of Pop-Up Video for the two weeks immediately after the housefire, because I found it vaguely comforting, and this song was on several times. I needed some simpleminded optimism, and Abdul is pretty good at that. I have kept the song around for similar emotional situations ever since. I make no pretense as to the quality of the song; it's pre-fab through and through.
24e) "Monsters and Angels," Voice of the Beehive, 33 plays. Other than keeping this list from ending with the Most Embarrassing Song Evar, this is a lovely pice of vocal harmony in two female voices with some interesting guitar work behind them.
Total number of songs that fall into these dates: 745
Conspicuously absent from the list:
Enya (just misses the list, literally; she's right after that five-way tie)
Pearl Jam (I listened to them a lot at the time, just not as much recently)
They Might Be Giants (I listened to them a lot, and still do, but not any one song enough to make the list)
Barenaked Ladies (ditto)
Nirvana (just wasn't into them enough at the time to want to re-listen that often)
Michael Penn (didn't rip until relatively recently, thus playcounts are artificially low)
Metallica (ditto)
If you want to play: Create a playlist for all the songs in your collection between the year you turned 13 and the year you turned 23. List the top 25 by play count, and (optionally) comment on why each one appears on the list.
The following are the 25 songs that iTunes lists with a date between 1987 and 1997 inclusive that have the highest play counts in my iTunes library. I am choosing play count rather than rating on the grounds that there are a number of things that are important to me that I don't think have a lot of artistic merit, and thus have ratings of 3 stars or less even though I like them.
1) "Voices of Babylon," the Outfield, 62 counts (it'll be 63 in a minute). Not one of their big hits in the US, but a beautifully layered song.
2) "Closer to Free," the BoDeans, 54 plays. Lovely lyrics, memorable hook.
3) "Buildings and Bridges," Ani DiFranco, 50 plays. This is the only Ani song I own, but I find this topic in female voice fascinating (one of the few Kate Bush songs I like and have ripped is "Rubberband Girl" - very similar cases).
4) "Follow You Down," the Gin Blossoms, 49 plays. Jangly guitars, depressing but hopeful lyrics. This is one of the first ones that I listened to a lot during the time period in question.
5) "Crazy, Seal, 46 plays. Another one I listened to at the time, and pretty accurately describes my feelings about politics for much of that period in my life. His voice is still astounding.
5) "Lay Your Hands On Me," the Thompson Twins, 46 plays. A restrained but sensual song from an era of rather sexless pop.
7a) "Heaven Is A Place On Earth," Belinda Carlisle, 45 plays. She's beautiful, her voice is full and sparkling, and the theology was mind-expanding for me at the time. Shut up, it's great.
7b) "I'm Fine," Patty Larkin, 45 plays. This is not the version I was listening to at the time - that would be the Four Bitchin' Babes version - but this song is part of what got me through the breakup with the Jerk.
9a) "Crash Into Me," Dave Matthews Band, 44 plays. Someone please explain to me how a blatant BDSM song got onto the radio? I mean, I'm glad it did, but how did this get past ClearChannel's self-censors?
9b) "Life is a Highway," Tom Cochrane, 44 plays. Gods, this is embarrassing. It's a terrible song, but it encapsulates my trip to the Mu Alpha Theta Nationals at the end of the summer of 1992 - it was basically the soundtrack for that trip, which was right after the Alaska Trip from Hell.
11) "Loving a Hurricane," John Hiatt, 40 plays. The Spouse turned me on to Hiatt shortly after he started taking me to Beans shows.
12) "Hysteria," Def Leppard, 39 plays. Smoothest pop-metal ever.
13) "The Best of What's Around," Dave Matthews Band, 38 plays. DMB scores the first band repeat. "Under the Table and Dreaming" is one of my favorite albums as a whole from that era. "Ants Marching" will barely miss this list.
14a) "Whirl-Y-Reel 1," Afro Celt Sound System, 37 plays. This probably shouldn't count - ACSS is a post-2000 discovery for me - but it represents a lot of things that were happening in world music at the time that I liked.
14b) "In the House of Stone and Light," Martin Page, 37 plays. Another song with imagery that is fairly pedestrian to me now, but was world-expanding at the time. Rescued by nostalgia and a nice harmonic hook.
14c) "Break It Down Again," Tears for Fears, 37 plays. This is the only TFF that will appear in the list, but really, they're one of the bands I would identify as being the mid-'80s-to-pre-grunge-'90s sound for me. Orzabal's voice is fabulous, as always.
14d) "Love Will Find A Way," Yes, 37 plays. And here's a bit of a relic from the '70s themselves, the kings of vaguely Newagy-Christian prog rock. It is not technically correct to say that I only like the songs from the two 1980s albums, 90215 and Big Generator, but I confess that they're the only songs of theirs I listen to very often.
18a) "Church of the Poison Mind," Culture Club, 36 plays. A cute bit of '80s memorabilia. I'm not sure why this has as many plays as it does, to be honest.
18b) "I Love You Always Forever," Donna Lewis, 36 plays. Ooo, another embarrassment. '90s bubblegum; my only excuse is that it's poppy and the Spouse likes it.
18c) "Allison Road," the Gin Blossoms, 36 plays. The Gin Blossoms score the second band repeat. Different album, for what it's worth. Mmm, jangly guitars. Rough-edges without falling full into grunge.
18d) "Like a Prayer," Madonna, 36 plays. What can I say; I like songs that conflate religion and sex.
22a) "Ferris Wheel," the Curtain Society, 34 plays. This is a track from the Radio Hepcats CD; I know nothing about the band. Interesting production, though.
22b) "Glass Vase Cello Case," Tattle Tale, 34 plays. This is the song from the sex scene in But I'm a Cheerleader. If you've seen the movie, it requires no further explanation.
24a) "Pour Some Sugar On Me," Def Leppard, 33 plays. How does this have more plays than "Photograph"? Ah, well. A simpleminded but fun song about sex and candy.
24b) "Jamie G.," Joe Jackson, 33 plays. It's a fast-paced, upbeat song about uncertain sexuality. What's not to like?
24c) "Never Ending Story," Limahl, 33 plays. Very '80s. Somewhat embarrassing. Let's move on, shall we?
24d) "Promise of a New Day," Paula Abdul, 33 plays.
24e) "Monsters and Angels," Voice of the Beehive, 33 plays. Other than keeping this list from ending with the Most Embarrassing Song Evar, this is a lovely pice of vocal harmony in two female voices with some interesting guitar work behind them.
Total number of songs that fall into these dates: 745
Conspicuously absent from the list:
Enya (just misses the list, literally; she's right after that five-way tie)
Pearl Jam (I listened to them a lot at the time, just not as much recently)
They Might Be Giants (I listened to them a lot, and still do, but not any one song enough to make the list)
Barenaked Ladies (ditto)
Nirvana (just wasn't into them enough at the time to want to re-listen that often)
Michael Penn (didn't rip until relatively recently, thus playcounts are artificially low)
Metallica (ditto)
If you want to play: Create a playlist for all the songs in your collection between the year you turned 13 and the year you turned 23. List the top 25 by play count, and (optionally) comment on why each one appears on the list.
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-18 08:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-18 10:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-19 05:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-18 06:54 pm (UTC)It didn't on the second pass, after 9/11. I guess someone was asleep at the switch on the first pass, or some intern decided he liked it and would cheat...
"Never Ending Story," Limahl, 33 plays. Very '80s. Somewhat embarrassing. Let's move on, shall we?
Huh? Neverending Story is one of the best fantasy movies of the 80's -- though the first time I saw it, as the end-of-year movie of second grade, I was terribly afraid that we would be trapped forever watching it. After all, it was a never-ending story! :P And the theme track is one of the best power-ballads to come out of the 80's. However, I had never seen the music video before now... if you have to be embarrassed about something, his hair would be a good target. Aphrodite's mirror would crack in despair...
I do wish they hadn't chopped the story in half for the two movies -- it significantly distorted the plotline, and removed one of the book's best features, its symmetrical nature. Die unendlische Geschichte is a brilliant young-adult introduction to many important principles of magic and storytelling, including the meaning of "strange loop" and the importance of thinking through the implications of spells before casting them.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-19 06:00 pm (UTC)I enjoyed the movie, although it has several moments of special-effect-itis. I thought its sequel did a pretty terrible job of dramatizing the second half of the book, though.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-02 11:14 pm (UTC)As to the keyboard, well, I'm a keyboardist. I'm not complaining. ;-)