No, this isn’t a post about serious music theory, the stuff that Andrea and Nathan worked on at Shorter.
I just read a blogger’s reflection on the #1 hits from the last several years, and how she “fell off the popular music wagon” when she got married. Guess what? Apparently, I did too. Here’s her post: “Proving My Point” by Apples on a Stick (scroll down a bit, her formatting isn’t allowing the post to display at the top of the screen). And here’s my thoughts on the same subject.
1987:”I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” I was 7 at the time, but I still know this song. How did that happen?
1988:””Don’t Worry, Be Happy” Okay, I actually remember singing along with a local printing shop’s radio jingle that was a take-off of this song. (Shout out to Jason: “When you need your printing done…. Mackey’s gets the job well done…. So don’t worry…. Call Mackey…..”)
1989:”Like a Prayer” I’m sure I learned this song many years later. At the time, Madonna was a big no-no in our house.
1990:”Ice, Ice Baby”
1991:”Everything I do I do it for You” Probably one of the first pop culture anthems I swooned to.
1992:” Jump” Makes me feel old that I can only see this music video on VH1 these days. It still rocks.
1993:”I will Always Love You”
1994:”I Swear” Sure, now it’s cheesy, but at time it was “awesome!” This was my freshman year of HS.
1995:”Have You Really Ever Loved a Woman” I completely loved this song. I lip-synched this one more than I care to remember!
1996:”Macarena” Oh, the shame! But yes, I do remember the dance.
1997:”Candle In the Wind”
1998:”I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” Again. With the lip-synching and the love.
1999:” Livin’ La Vida Loca” Before we all realized how cheesy Ricky Martin is.
2000:”Say My Name” This is where Apples loses the music. I, however, was still a swingin‘ single, and I knew this one.
2001:”Bootylicious” Sad thing is, I still say this word on occasion. (Only in the privacy of my own home! But still….)
2002:”Lose Yourself” Now then. Married mere months when ’02 rolls around, and I have never heard of this song!? Or maybe I just don’t remember it. Anyone want to hum a few bars to jog my memory?
2003:”Crazy in Love” Oh wait, I know this one!
2004:”Yeah” Seriously, I agree with her: this is a song?
2005″We Belong Together” No really. Never heard of it.
2006:”Bad Day” I feel certain Chris will laugh at me and swear that I *should,* indeed, know this. But at the moment, I am totally blank.
2007:”Umbrella” What on earth? I could have sworn the #1 song this year is that ridiculously overplayed “Cherry Tree” thing or “How to Save a Life.” Those, I know. This one? Not at all.
3 thoughts on “Testing Music Theory”
“When you need your printing done” lol oh man, those were the days!
I’m sure you heard Lose Yourself. It was on every commercial for 8 Mile, the Eminem movie. “You better lose yourself in the music the moment you own you better never let it go”
If you have the Poodle Hat CD by Weird Al he parodied it and turned it into another song about TV.
“Yeah” was actually an alright song. An infectious Lil’ John beat, a chorus and verse by Usher, and a good verse from Ludacris. (The coolest version of this is a mashup called “Yeah in the Sun” combining Yeah with “Island in the Sun” by Weezer. It works suprisingly well.
“Bad Day” sucks. It was a minor pop hit, then they used it on American Idol showing people walking away after geting dismissed and its sales shot up on iTunes by a huge percentage and it climbed the charts.
If you really want to hear Umbrella just turn on a Top 40 or hip-hop/R&B station and you’ll hear it. I hate the song, but it gets stuck in your head. “You can stand under my umbrella -ella -ella -eh -eh -eh -eh -eh” Something about the way umbrella is stretched makes for a catchy song. I actually find the remix to be ultra honest pop music. Rhianna sings about how she’ll always be by the side of her man, that he can stand under her umbrella during all of life’s storms. Typical pop music of today by a woman, where she pledges to always stand by her man. The remix throws in Chris Brown who throws in a line that says something like “You can dip out any time, whenever.” Now in this section he’s singing about how it’s rainign and she’s welcome to stay, but she can leave and he’ll call a car for her so she’s not pressured. But to me his line about her being able to leave anytime is tell-tale. He gives her free license to leave because that is a right he retains for himself as well, no matter how much unending devotion she proclaims.
Oh, see!? I know the WIERD AL version, “My cable has C-SPAN, TVLAND, and HBO, the Travel Channel, and A&E, and Lifetime!”
🙂 But no, sadly, the Eminem version didn’t ring a bell until you said that.
I’m losing touch with the culture, man!
I still can’t bring “yeah” to mind, though I do know who Lil’ John is (and I have a mental image of him holding a chalice of some sort and saying “Yeah” into the camera close-up style. Is that from that song?)
Ooooh, your American Idol comment reminds me – is it that, “Cause you had a bad day, ….something something…. just to turn it around”…. something something…. song? 😉 Only you will be able to decipher that, by the way, Jason!
And, um!? The little diatribe about “Umbrella”!? Totally unneccessary because I STILL DON’T RECOGNIZE THAT SONG! :-p
HANG ON just a gosh darn minute!!!
Is “Yeah” the song that Kevin Whatshisname dances to in the movie “Hitch”!? When Will Smith is all, “Never do that. Ever.” And Kevin Smith is all, “Doin’ the Qtip! Going shopping! Making pizza!”
And I’m all, lying on the floor, peeing my pants and cracking up?
“YEAH” duh-duh, duh-duh… duh-duh-duh-duh “YEAH” and something about a club and some homies, and a V-I-P!? Because I do know that song.