When I Became an Old Man

Based on a post over at Armagideon Time, I thought I would go through the number one songs of my lifetime to determine the precise year when I became Old Man McKeon and hated what the kids were listening to.  Just to pick a date, I used my birthday, so here we go, courtesy of Josh Hosler:

1968 … “Grazing in the Grass” by Hugh Masekela

Of course last.fm won’t play this song when I punch in Hugh Masekela so I have no idea what this song is.  From what I’ve heard of his stuff I would have to guess song kind of jazzy instrumental.

1969 … “In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)” by Zager & Evans

This was a surprise.  I imagine this as more of an underground song, something that only gets played on the radio during that show “Flashback” (which I found out a few weeks ago is still on the air).  No way would I have figured this to be an actual hit.

1970 … “(They Long to Be) Close to You” by The Carpenters

It’s interesting that this came up.  This is the first non-kiddie song that I can remember hearing, mainly because my mother would sing it to me.

1971 … “You’ve Got a Friend” by James Taylor

A song I never heard growing up.  I imagine James Taylor doesn’t have a huge following in El Paso.  I would guess that I didn’t hear this until the mid 90s or so.

1972 … “Alone Again (Naturally)” by Gilbert O’Sullivan

This is one of those songs that comes up on one-hit wonder shows on the radio or the occasional show about bad songs.

1973 … “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” by Jim Croce

God help me, I still love this song and as a kid I loved it even more.

1974 … “Annie’s Song” by John Denver

I’m sure I’ve heard this especially since one of the guys at the acoustic jam I go to loves John Denver, but based on the title alone I don’t know what song this is

1975 … “The Hustle” by Van McCoy & the Soul City Symphony

I’m sure there’s someone out there who doesn’t like “The Hustle”, but I tell you brother I don’t know any of them.

1976 … “Kiss and Say Goodbye” by The Manhattans

Never heard this.  This is the title song of the greatest hits, so it must have been big.  Of course, last.fm didn’t pick this song of theirs to play.

1977 … “I Just Want to Be Your Everything” by Andy Gibb

I guess this is when I started paying attention to popular music.  I was never a fan, but when I think about Andy Gibb I always imagine him performing on Solid Gold.

1978 … “Shadow Dancing” by Andy Gibb

That’s pretty impressive.  I don’t remember him being that popular.

1979 … “Bad Girls” by Donna Summer

Not one of her strongest tunes, but I remember hearing this for the first time.  Looks like the end of the disco era.

1980 … “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” by Billy Joel

I know he’s got some decent songs, but as a whole I really hate Billy Joel.

1981 … “The One That You Love” by Air Supply

I think we’ve got Air Supply’s greatest hits sitting around somewhere but I don’t think I’ve ever listened to it.  It’s just comforting to know it’s there in case I need it.

1982 … “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor

I haven’t been to a karate tournament in years, but any tournament that allowed music during katas had this played at least once.  It made me cringe every time because along with “Kung Fu Fighting” it seemed like one of the most obvious choices.  On top of that people always picked aggressive music.  I always thought classical music would be more appropriate, but what the hell do I know.

1983 … “Every Breath You Take” by The Police

When Synchronicity came out I absolutely loved it and pretty much listened to it non-stop for days.  I picked up the CD the other day for four bucks and ended up listening to about 30 seconds of each song and then skipping to the next one, except for “Miss Gradenko” and “Murder by Numbers”.

1984 … “When Doves Cry” by Prince

This was the summer when I turned sixteen and the first time I was allowed to drive somewhere without an adult was to go see “Purple Rain”.  This was another album I listened to continuously until I burned out on it.  Today I’ll only listen to “The Beautiful Ones”, “Computer Blue”, and “Darling Nikki”.  I’m especially tired of this song.  Apparently Youtube doesn’t have the video of Milhouse quoting “When Doves Cry” from the Simpson’s episode where they go into Shelbyville.  That sucks.

1985 … “Everytime You Go Away” by Paul Young

Oof.  This song blows.  I’ve probably heard more Paul Young in my life than I care to admit to.

1986 … “Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel

During my first job as a mail runner I spent a lot of time listening to the radio.  This song came on at least once very couple of hours, and then the same thing when “Big Time” came out.  I’m so burned out on those songs I can’t stand to hear either of them over twenty years later.  Same goes for “Addicted to Love”.

1987 … “Alone” by Heart

I’m too lazy to look it up, but there’s a quote from Watchmen where Sally Jupiter’s mother states that as she gets older the past keeps looking brighter, even the dirty parts.  That’s how I feel about this song.  I thought it was absolutely horrible when it first came out but I’ve started to mellow on it.  It’s not bad for what it is.

1988 … “Roll with It” by Steve Winwood

The only decent song off a terrible album.  I saw his on the tour promoting this and he was so much better live.  One of the few songs that I’ve heard a bazillion times that I’m not tired of.

1989 … “Toy Soldiers” by Martika

I’ve heard this a lot but had no idea it was this popular.  I wonder if this gets played on the radio any more.

1990 … “She Ain’t Worth It” by Glenn Medeiros with Bobby Brown

This was the summer that I worked at the summer camp at Fort Bliss, and the kids there loved Bobby Brown, but I’ll be damned if I have ever heard this song.

1991 … “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” by Bryan Adams

I’m sure he’s a nice enough guy but I can’t think of a single Bryan Adams song I like and this is one of his worst.  Of course now that I typed it I remember that duet he did with Tina Turner, “It’s Only Love” or something like that.  That was good, but I’ll give most of the credit for that to Tina.

1992 … “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-a-Lot

This is an absolute classic.  One of my favorite rap songs along with “The Humpty Dance”.

1993 … “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by UB40

I would have guessed late 80s for this.  This song is kind of a non entity for me.  I don’t care one way or the other.

1994 … “I Swear” by All-4-One

Bad song and the version by that country band is even worse.  When my buddy Bob got married this was “their song”.  How would you like that around your neck the rest of your life?

1995 … “Waterfalls” by TLC

Good song, and the whole album is great although I haven’t listened to it in years.  Probably because I have to hide my TLC CDs and my Spice Girls collection from my wife.

1996 … “You’re Makin’ Me High/ Let It Flow” by Toni Braxton

Never heard it, and not really interested.

1997 … “I’ll Be Missing You” by Puff Daddy & Faith Evans featuring 112

The first job I had after moving to Kansas City had me working with a guy who got broken up whenever he heard this song.  He would go on and on about about what a great tribute it was.  It sucks.  Your friend dies and the best you can do is rewrite the words of an existing song?  That’s something you do in high school.

1998 … “The Boy Is Mine” by Brandy & Monica

Another non entity.  I have no feelings on it.

1999 … “Genie in a Bottle” by Christina Aguilera

Before she got really popular, the same co-worker tried to get me to go see Christina Aguilera at the Beaumont Club, a really crappy bar in Kansas City.  No point to that, just the first thing I think of.  Of all her songs this is one of the least interesting so it’s odd that she got so popular from it.

2000 … “It’s Gonna Be Me” by ‘N Sync

So here it is - from here on out I’ve only heard of a few of these songs so I’m declaring that the year 2000 is when I became an old man.  With the exception of the Plain White Ts song, these are all what I would call dance music so it’s not really a suprise that I haven’t heard most of them.

Anyway, I think my wife might have an N Sync album but I’ve never heard this song.

2001 … “U Remind Me” by Usher

Never heard this.

2002 … “Hot in Herre” by Nelly

I’ve never heard this, but apparently it was a pretty big song because I’ve heard numerous people sing it out in public to the point where I could do a pretty fair rendition myself.  As someone once told me, this is a song about it being hot in here, so let’s take off all our clothes.

2003 … “Crazy in Love” by Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z

This I’ve only heard at the gym, but what a great song.  Why can’t more top 40 radio be like this?

2004 … “Confessions Part II” by Usher
2005 … “We Belong Together” by Mariah Carey
2006 … “Promiscuous” by Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland

Never heard any of these but I did see Nelly Furtado perform - I would guess around 2003.

2007 … “Hey There Delilah” by Plain White T’s

When you get older it’s a lot easier to pick out one hit wonders as they’re hitting it big.  This song must have been huge because I’ve heard it a ton and 2007 is right around when I stopped listening to music on the radio and filled my commute with a mixture of NPR and CDs.

2008 … “I Kissed a Girl” by Katy Perry

Now I’ve heard of Katy Perry, so I guess that’s something, but the question is why have I heard of her?