Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the twenty-ninth day of the month is "Song."
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In January, I posted about Billboard's songs of the year, a designation they've had since 1958. I created a Spotify playlist of all these songs and told you that I'd listen to the playlist once a month and update you on how I feel about these songs after repeated listens. This is that update.
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1958: "Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu)" by Domenico Modugno
January assessment: This song came to prominence because of Euorvision. I think I dig it?
October assessment: I do think this song is solid.
January assessment: This song came to prominence because of Euorvision. I think I dig it?
October assessment: I do think this song is solid.
1959: "The Battle of New Orleans" by Johnny Horton
January assessment: I love a story song.
October assessment: I do not love a story song if it is about war and killing people.
1960: "Theme from a Summer Place" by Percy Faith
January assessment: Zzzzz…the first instrumental song on the list and a real snoozefest.
October assessment: 100% agree with me from earlier this year.
1961: "Tossin’ and Turnin’" by Bobby Lewis
January assessment: Fun!
October assessment: It is fun. Whenever it would come on, I'd want to dance.
1962: "Stranger on the Shore" by Mr. Acker Bilk
January assessment: Another instrumental song. I love a pretty clarinet.
October assessment: I do love a pretty clarinet, but this song started to bore me a few months in and I started to skip it.
1963: "Sugar Shack" by Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs
January assessment: I think this is catchy.
October assessment: Yep. Catchy. Early rock and roll is fantastic.
1964: "I Want To Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles
January assessment: LOVE. Is this my favorite Beatles song? Maybe.
October assessment: I think this song just gets better with each listen.
1965: "Wooly Bully" by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs
January assessment: Oddly earworm-like and gets in my head and maybe that’s a good pop song?
October assessment: Excellent song for both walking the dog and cooking.
1966: "Ballad of the Green Berets" by Staff Sgt. Barry
January assessment: I love a story song, but this one is purposefully patriotic and dumb.
October assessment: I think this was deleted off the list in March. LOL.
1967: "To Sir, With Love" by Lulu
January assessment: Pretty, but kind of boring?
October assessment: Yes. It's pretty, but boring.
1968: "Hey Jude" by The Beatles
January assessment: Maybe this is my favorite Beatles song?
October assessment: The end of this song with its endless na na na na na nas made me love this song a lot less after a few months.
1969: "Sugar Sugar" by The Archies
January assessment: I’ll be humming this for the rest of the day.
October assessment: Early rock and roll is amazing.
1970: "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel
January assessment: Gorgeous song.
October assessment: So pretty.
1971: "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night
January assessment: Jeremiah was a bullfrog! Who can resist this song?
October assessment: I cannot resist this song.
1972: "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by Roberta Flack
January assessment: At the risk of acknowledging my lameness and terrible taste in music, this song is boring.
October assessment: zzzzzzz...I don't think I ever listened to this one the whole way through.
1973: "Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Ole Oak Tree" by Tony Orlando and Dawn
January assessment: Ugh. This is the worst.
October assessment: Yep. Taken off the playlist pretty early on.
1974: "The Way We Were" by Barbra Streisand
January assessment: Zzzzzz
October assessment: Surprise! I found myself more and more invested in this song as the months went by.
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| Five Meerkats by Tom Hillis (Bronze, 1996) |
1975: "Love Will Keep Us Together" by Captain and Tennille
January assessment: Disco sucks.
October assessment: Well, this song sucks, anyway.
1976: "Silly Love Songs" by Wings
January assessment: Wings sucks.
October assessment: Look, I don't know a lot of Wings songs, to be fair. But this song doesn't make me want to listen to more.
1977: "Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" by Rod Stewart
January assessment: Yay! Stewart makes all the sexual allusions overt here. I love it.
October assessment: I always looked forward to this song on the playlist.
1978: "Shadow Dancing" by Andy Gibb
January assessment: Disco sucks.
October assessment: I would always skip this song.
1979: "My Sharona" by The Knack
January assessment: This song sucks.
October assessment: Okay, it's not the worst. It's listenable, but I never grew to love it.
1980: "Call Me" by Blondie
January assessment: This was a terrible time for music.
October assessment: I do not care for this tune.
1981: "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes
January assessment: I like this song?
October assessment: No question any longer. I do like this song.
1982: "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John
January assessment: Annoying high pitch to Newton-John’s voice in this one.
October assessment: January Me was 100% wrong. This song is a real bop.
1983: "Every Breath You Take" by The Police
January assessment: Even though this song is about stalking, I love it.
October assessment: Yeah, I totally enjoyed this song when it would come on.
1984: "When Doves Cry" by Prince
January assessment: (whispers quietly) I think Prince is overrated and this song is boring. Don't get me started on "Purple Rain."
October assessment: (whispering still) I took this off the playlist very early days.
1985: "Careless Whisper" by Wham! ft. George Michael
January assessment: Hot. I love this song.
October assessment: Seriously. This is awesome.
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| Nothing to do with the theme word, but do you think I'll ever be able to stop taking photos of things with hats? |
1986: "That’s What Friends Are For" by Dionne and Friends
January assessment: Why does this song exist?
October assessment: It's not a great song, but I did listen every time it came on and would sometimes find myself humming along to it.
1987: "Walk Like An Egyptian" by The Bangles
January assessment: This song is terrible.
October assessment: Yeah. It is bad.
1988: "Faith" by George Michael
January assessment: This is my favorite song on this list. I love this song.
October assessment: 100%. I still love this song, although maybe "I Want To Hold Your Hand" is my favorite on the list.
1989: "Look Away" by Chicago
January assessment: I like this. I like men pining, though.
October assessment: I would always sing along to this.
1990: "Hold On" by Wilson Phillips
January assessment: I like this song. I had this album on cassette and listened to it all the time.
October assessment: This song holds up.
1991: "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)" by Bryan Adams
January assessment: I love this song.
October assessment: Okay, love is a stretch, but I do like it a lot.
1992: "End of the Road" by Boys II Men
January assessment: Amazing vocals. Great song.
October assessment: I do think this group's vocals are unmatched.
1993: "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston
January assessment: Dolly’s version is better. Fight me.
October assessment: Dolly's is better, but this is also lovely.
1994: "The Sign" by Ace of Base
January assessment: Hate.
October assessment: It's FINE. I mean, I only listened once a month. More than that and I might lose my mind, but it's fine.
1995: "Gangsta’s Paradise" by Coolio
January assessment: I don’t think I’ve ever heard this song all the way through.
October assessment: It's good. I like it and can see why it was played a lot.
1996: "Macarena (Bayside Boys Remix)" by Los Del Rio
January assessment: Hate.
October assessment: The only appropriate time to listen to this song is at a wedding or other dancing event. As a song to listen to while you're walking the dog, thumbs way down.
1997: "Candle In the Wind (1997)" by Elton John
January assessment: Zzzzzzz….
October assessment: I'd much rather listen to the original.
1998: "Too Close" by Next
January assessment: I was a teenager in the 1990s and I have never heard of this song.
October assessment: This is a bad, boring song. I get why teenage me never listened to it!
1999: "Believe" by Cher
January assessment: I like this song. I love Cher.
October assessment: I adore this song now. Have you heard the Robbie Fulks version? Amazing.
2000: "Breathe" by Faith Hill
January assessment: Hate. (At some point, I decided I need to pick between Shania and Faith and I picked Shania. I can't think of a Faith Hill song I actually like to listen to.)
October assessment: I really don't care for Faith Hill, but I actually do like that "Wild One" song she sang.
2001: "Hanging By A Moment" by Lifehouse
January assessment: Oddly enough, this song is fine in my books.
October assessment: It is fine. Absolutely forgettable, but always a good listen when it pops up.
2002: "How You Remind Me" by Nickelback
January assessment: I don’t mind it. I know I should hate Nickelback, but I don’t. I’m part of the problem.
October assessment: Look, fine. I do like this song. Maybe/probably I do have terrible taste in music.
2003: "In Da Club" by 50 Cent
January assessment: Catchy.
October assessment: Look, maybe it IS catchy, but I found it overbearing when I'd be taking Hannah for a long Sunday morning walk and it would come on. It was taken off the playlist before the snow melted.
2004: "Yeah!" by Usher ft. Lil Jon and Ludacris
January assessment: Catchy.
October assessment: So repetitive. I would love this to come on when I was dancing, but for my general music listening, this one isn't awesome.
2005: "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey
January assessment: Wait? This is Carey’s entry to this list? This song is not her best.
October assessment: It really isn't a great song.
2006: "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter
January assessment: I like this.
October assessment: I do like this. Who knew?
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| Again, not on theme, but imagine my surprise when Hannah acted like this was no big deal. Excuse me, DOG, don't you notice the skeleton? And creepy sign? |
2007: "Irreplaceable" by Beyonce
January assessment: I don’t think I’ve ever heard this song.
October assessment: It's sort of a forgettable song, isn't it?
2008: "Low" by Flo Rida (ft. T-Pain)
January assessment: Acceptable.
October assessment: My husband's uncle danced very inappropriately to this song at our wedding. We were getting photos taken, so we missed it all. That's all I'll say about this song.
2009: "Boom Boom Pow" by the Black Eyed Peas
January assessment: Terrible song. Terrible!
October assessment: Yeah, it is bad.
2010: "TiK ToK" by Ke$ha
January assessment: I don’t think I’ve ever heard this song.
October assessment: Pretty sure I'd never heard it because I do not care for this song.
2011: "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele
January assessment: Yes! I love this song!
October assessment: Thank goodness for Adele or you would have thought I wasn't alive in the 2010s.
2012: "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye ft. Kimbra
January assessment: I don’t think I’ve ever heard this song.
October assessment: I really like this song a lot!
2013: "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (ft. Wanz)
January assessment: I don’t think I’ve ever heard this song.
October assessment: It's catchy. I get why it's on this list.
2014: "Happy" by Pharrell Williams
January assessment: I don’t think I’ve ever heard this song.
October assessment: This song does not make me happy. It's super annoying and I'm glad I wasn't aware of it in 2014.
2015: "Uptown Funk!" by Mark Ronson (ft. Bruno Mars)
January assessment: I hate Bruno Mars with an unreasonableness. Ugh.
October assessment: Yeah, this song bugs me.
2016: "Love Yourself" by Justin Beiber
January assessment: I don’t think I’ve ever heard this song.
October assessment: I adore this song. I think it's hilarious.
2017: "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran
January assessment: Fine.
October assessment: Yep. Sheeran bland and fine.
2018: "God's Plan" by Drake
January assessment: I don’t think I’ve ever heard this song.
October assessment: What a snooze. So much droning.
2019: "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X (ft. Billy Ray Cyrus)
January assessment: The best. This song is catchy and clever.
October assessment: I would get very excited when this song would come up. Yay!
2020: "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd
January assessment: My husband had a The Weeknd phase and I developed a huge dislike of this song during that time.
October assessment: So much dislike for this song. It's still on the playlist, but I always skip it.
2021: "Levitating" by Dua Lipa
January assessment: I don’t think I’ve ever heard this song.
October assessment: Such a boring song. It just sounds like white noise to me.
2022: "Heat Waves" by Glass Animals
January assessment: I don’t think I’ve ever heard this song.
October assessment: Another exceptionally boring song from the 2020s.
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I did change my mind on a handful of these songs. Interesting experiment!
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What do you think the song of 2023 will be?
By the 80s, I don't know most of the songs. 🤪
ReplyDeleteFor me, it's the 2000s. It's like music stopped at the year 2000 for me.
DeleteWe agree on a lot of these! "I want to hold your hand"- best song ever. I also love Hey Jude. The Roberta Flack- so boring. A lot of these I've never heard of.
ReplyDeleteNow... I was in middle school in the late 1970s and I LOVED Andy Gibb. I agree Shadow Dancing wasn't his best song ever- my favorite song back then was "I Just Want to be your Everything." Now when I listen to Andy Gibb I realize how inane it really is.
Ha ha... Walk LIke an Egyptian is on my running playlist. What can I say- it's upbeat and catchy.
Hey, if you like Walk Like an Egyptian, more power to you. It's just not my jam! And, if it's on your running playlist, it must be motivating for you!
DeleteBad Day takes me back. I was living in Montreal with my brother the summer that was a hit and it was constantly being played on the subway. It gives me A LOT of nostalgic feels for that point in my life.
ReplyDeleteThis year, Flowers is probably the biggest earworm for me, but in terms of others I feel like it has to be a Taylor Swift song with the mania surrounding her popularity?
I LOVE Hey Jude. Fun fact: if I'd ever had another son, I would have gone with the name Judah (because I love the Biblical root of the name) but would only have called him Jude, mostly because I love this song so much. Probably my all-time fav Beatles song.
Oh, FLOWERS!! Even I know that song. That's a good choice. I just feel like Swift hasn't really released a song this year, so there's nothing that's been on the charts ubiquitously, you know? I do wonder when we'll find out!
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