Time for something lighter:
As various people I know have done, I'll reveal the year I turned 18 (Nov. 1, 1991), list the 75 most popular songs of that year (as grabbed from the year lists on Pop Culture Madness Dot Com), and BOLD the songs I like and
I have comments, so I'll make 'em. And I spotted spelling errors in the list, so I'll correct those. (A copy editor am I...)
1. Unforgettable - Nat and Natalie Cole -- hey, Natalie was hot.
2. Summertime - DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince -- I was past my first period of Will Smith appreciation. (The first period was in junior high. The second's stiell happening now.)
3. (Everything I Do) I Do It For You - Bryan Adams -- I love how skeptical Michael Kamen was about this song; he didn't know Bryan Adams from, well, Adam when Adams started writing the song around Kamen's theme, plus he was too busy marshalling the rest of the Robin Hood score into shape to worry about a pop song (he had three-and-a-half weeks to deliver two hours and 11 minutes of music; he was a little preoccupied), so he figured, "OK, bub, go for it, whatever..." (Trivia vaguely remembered from Pop-Up Video) Later result? They became huge friends.
4. ?Gonna Make You Sweat - C + C Music Factory?
5. More Than Words - Extreme -- Like most of the world, I only ever heard that one Extreme song.
6. God Bless The USA - Lee Greenwood
7. ?Strike It Up - Black Box?
8. ?Power of Love/Love Power - Luthor Vandross?
9. ?O.P.P. - Naughty By Nature?
10. True Companion - Marc Cohn -- He'd better have sung this to his wife Elizabeth Vargas at some point!
11. When A Man Loves A Woman - Michael Bolton -- I think of this, I immediately think of Jim Carrey's In Living Color parody "When a man needs a big hit, all he gotta do, is steal a song from a long-dead soul brother..."
12. It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday - Boys II Men
13. Enter Sandman - Metallica -- I'm finally warming to Metallica. I wasn't at the time
14. ?Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless) - Crystal Waters?
15. Lets Talk About Sex - Salt N Pepa -- Hey, it's catchy.
16. Crazy - Seal -- Another later discovery (mainly because my girlfriend in 1996 really likes him)
17. Unbelievable - EMF -- Catchy in the Waiting For Guffman "it's almost annoying" way, so my conflicting feelings cancel each other out!
18. Black Or White - Michael Jackson -- yep, I saw the longer video with the crowbar mayhem. What. Were. They. Thinking? (And then In Living Color changed the song to "Look me in my face and tell me if you think I'm black or white...") The last Michael Jackson song to really work for me was "Man in the Mirror."
19. Rico Suave - Gerardo
20. It Ain't Over Till It's Over - Lenny Kravitz
21. ?Good Vibrations - Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch?
22. ?Here We Go - C+C Music Factory?
23. ?P.A.S.S.I.O.N. - Rhythm Syndicate?
24. ?Coming Out Of The Dark - Gloria Estefan?
25. Wind Of Change - Scorpions -- oh, the "down to Gorky Park" song. Whatever.
26. Things That Make You Go Hmmmm... - C+C Music Factory
27. Coming Out Of The Dark - Gloria Estefan -- Wait, this list claims it was also Number 24. Sloppy!
28. Emotions - Mariah Carey -- I hang my head, I hang my head... Not my favorite Mariah song, but this'll stand in for the others.
29. I've Been Thinking About You - Londonbeat
30. She Talks To Angels - Black Crowes
31. Baby Baby - Amy Grant -- Must...not...quote...Beavis and Butthead..."What's this? Is this a Clearasil commercial?" BAD Chris, bad Chris!
32. ?Can't Stop This Thing We Started - Bryan Adams?
33. ?Someday - Mariah Carey?
34. ?I'll Be There - Escape Club?
35. ?Joyride - Roxette?
36. ?Deeper Shade of Soul - Urban Dance Squad?
37. ?Silent Lucidity - Queensryche?
38. Something To Talk About - Bonnie Raitt
39. Set The Night To Music - Roberta Flack and Maxi Preist -- Flack was still around then?
40. ?Gett Off - Prince & The New Power Generation? -- I was huge on Prince in the '80s. I've barely heard what he's done since.
41. ?Motownphilly - Boys II Men?
42. Star Spangled Banner - Whitney Houston -- OK, first off, this list misspelled our National Anthem's name. I'm not impressed. Still, powerful rendition from a powerful moment (even though Houston was helped by an earlier recording to be sure she'd be heard).
43. Right Here, Right Now - Jesus Jones
44. ?Around The Way Girl - LL Cool J?
45. Love Will Never Do (Without You) - Janet Jackson -- Oh, her busty-busty video. Meow. Nice. I remember that better than the song!
46. Walking In Memphis - Marc Cohn -- From relatively early in my Elvis-appreciation phase (helped as I was by Elvis fans Don & Mike).
47. Love Is A Wonderful Thing - Michael Bolton
48. ?High Enough - Damn Yankees?
49. ?I Don't Wanna Cry - Mariah Carey?
50. ?Blowing Kisses In The Wind - Paula Abdul?
51. Justify My Love - Madonna -- Weirdly, I liked this song more before I realized it was a Madonna song.
52. ?Every Heartbeat - Amy Grant?
53. Sadeness, Part 1 - Enigma -- Messed. With. My. Head. And that was a damn sexy video.
54. Everybody Plays The Fool - Aaron Neville
55. I Wanna Sex You Up - Color Me Badd
56. Miracle - Whitney Houston
57. Losing My Religion - R.E.M. -- A response in song to Sting and The Police's "Every Breath You Take," only a little extra unsettled and nuts and more obviously about stalking...
58. I Touch Myself - Divinyls
59. ?Now That We Found Love - Heavy D and The Boys?
60. ?Round and Round - Tevin Campbell?
61. Where Does My Heart Beat Now - Celine Dion -- But my all-time favorite Dion song is her Jim Steinman song "It's All Coming Back To Me Now," with its Gone With the Wind-meets-guitars epic-osity...
62. How To Dance - Bingoboys with Princessa -- Is this the "We're going to dance/ And-have-some-fun" song?
63. ?Kiss Them For Me - Siouxsie & The Banshees? -- I completely missed Siouxsie Sioux. Proof I was never a goth.
64. Learning To Fly - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
65. ?Touch Me (All Night Long) - Cathy Dennis? -- At first I forgot my chronology and thought maybe this was the song Samantha Fox sang ("Touch me, touch me, I wanna feel your body...").
66. You Could Be Mine - Guns N' Roses
67. ?Don't Treat Me So Bad - Firehouse?
68. ?(If There Was) Any Other Way - Celine Dion?
69. ?Love... Thy Will Be Done - Martika?
70. ?Let The Beat Hit 'Em - Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam?
71. Wicked Game - Chris Isaak -- I remember seeing the barely-shown video for this that used Wild At Heart footage.
72. Into The Great Wide Open - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers -- "A Rebel Without A Clue..."
73. The Motown Song - Rod Stewart
74. Do The Bartman - The Simpsons -- I preferred the other Bart song "Deep, Deep Trouble" (co-written by Will Smith, if I remember right...).
75. Shiny Happy People - R.E.M. -- and that B-52s singer! Don't forget her!
2. Summertime - DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince -- I was past my first period of Will Smith appreciation. (The first period was in junior high. The second's stiell happening now.)
3. (Everything I Do) I Do It For You - Bryan Adams -- I love how skeptical Michael Kamen was about this song; he didn't know Bryan Adams from, well, Adam when Adams started writing the song around Kamen's theme, plus he was too busy marshalling the rest of the Robin Hood score into shape to worry about a pop song (he had three-and-a-half weeks to deliver two hours and 11 minutes of music; he was a little preoccupied), so he figured, "OK, bub, go for it, whatever..." (Trivia vaguely remembered from Pop-Up Video) Later result? They became huge friends.
4. ?Gonna Make You Sweat - C + C Music Factory?
5. More Than Words - Extreme -- Like most of the world, I only ever heard that one Extreme song.
6. God Bless The USA - Lee Greenwood
7. ?Strike It Up - Black Box?
8. ?Power of Love/Love Power - Luthor Vandross?
9. ?O.P.P. - Naughty By Nature?
10. True Companion - Marc Cohn -- He'd better have sung this to his wife Elizabeth Vargas at some point!
12. It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday - Boys II Men
13. Enter Sandman - Metallica -- I'm finally warming to Metallica. I wasn't at the time
14. ?Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless) - Crystal Waters?
15. Lets Talk About Sex - Salt N Pepa -- Hey, it's catchy.
16. Crazy - Seal -- Another later discovery (mainly because my girlfriend in 1996 really likes him)
17. Unbelievable - EMF -- Catchy in the Waiting For Guffman "it's almost annoying" way, so my conflicting feelings cancel each other out!
20. It Ain't Over Till It's Over - Lenny Kravitz
22. ?Here We Go - C+C Music Factory?
23. ?P.A.S.S.I.O.N. - Rhythm Syndicate?
24. ?Coming Out Of The Dark - Gloria Estefan?
25. Wind Of Change - Scorpions -- oh, the "down to Gorky Park" song. Whatever.
26. Things That Make You Go Hmmmm... - C+C Music Factory
27. Coming Out Of The Dark - Gloria Estefan -- Wait, this list claims it was also Number 24. Sloppy!
28. Emotions - Mariah Carey -- I hang my head, I hang my head... Not my favorite Mariah song, but this'll stand in for the others.
29. I've Been Thinking About You - Londonbeat
30. She Talks To Angels - Black Crowes
32. ?Can't Stop This Thing We Started - Bryan Adams?
33. ?Someday - Mariah Carey?
34. ?I'll Be There - Escape Club?
35. ?Joyride - Roxette?
36. ?Deeper Shade of Soul - Urban Dance Squad?
37. ?Silent Lucidity - Queensryche?
38. Something To Talk About - Bonnie Raitt
39. Set The Night To Music - Roberta Flack and Maxi Preist -- Flack was still around then?
40. ?Gett Off - Prince & The New Power Generation? -- I was huge on Prince in the '80s. I've barely heard what he's done since.
41. ?Motownphilly - Boys II Men?
42. Star Spangled Banner - Whitney Houston -- OK, first off, this list misspelled our National Anthem's name. I'm not impressed. Still, powerful rendition from a powerful moment (even though Houston was helped by an earlier recording to be sure she'd be heard).
43. Right Here, Right Now - Jesus Jones
44. ?Around The Way Girl - LL Cool J?
45. Love Will Never Do (Without You) - Janet Jackson -- Oh, her busty-busty video. Meow. Nice. I remember that better than the song!
46. Walking In Memphis - Marc Cohn -- From relatively early in my Elvis-appreciation phase (helped as I was by Elvis fans Don & Mike).
49. ?I Don't Wanna Cry - Mariah Carey?
50. ?Blowing Kisses In The Wind - Paula Abdul?
51. Justify My Love - Madonna -- Weirdly, I liked this song more before I realized it was a Madonna song.
52. ?Every Heartbeat - Amy Grant?
53. Sadeness, Part 1 - Enigma -- Messed. With. My. Head. And that was a damn sexy video.
54. Everybody Plays The Fool - Aaron Neville
55. I Wanna Sex You Up - Color Me Badd
57. Losing My Religion - R.E.M. -- A response in song to Sting and The Police's "Every Breath You Take," only a little extra unsettled and nuts and more obviously about stalking...
58. I Touch Myself - Divinyls
59. ?Now That We Found Love - Heavy D and The Boys?
60. ?Round and Round - Tevin Campbell?
61. Where Does My Heart Beat Now - Celine Dion -- But my all-time favorite Dion song is her Jim Steinman song "It's All Coming Back To Me Now," with its Gone With the Wind-meets-guitars epic-osity...
62. How To Dance - Bingoboys with Princessa -- Is this the "We're going to dance/ And-have-some-fun" song?
63. ?Kiss Them For Me - Siouxsie & The Banshees? -- I completely missed Siouxsie Sioux. Proof I was never a goth.
64. Learning To Fly - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
65. ?Touch Me (All Night Long) - Cathy Dennis? -- At first I forgot my chronology and thought maybe this was the song Samantha Fox sang ("Touch me, touch me, I wanna feel your body...").
66. You Could Be Mine - Guns N' Roses
67. ?Don't Treat Me So Bad - Firehouse?
68. ?(If There Was) Any Other Way - Celine Dion?
69. ?Love... Thy Will Be Done - Martika?
70. ?Let The Beat Hit 'Em - Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam?
71. Wicked Game - Chris Isaak -- I remember seeing the barely-shown video for this that used Wild At Heart footage.
72. Into The Great Wide Open - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers -- "A Rebel Without A Clue..."
75. Shiny Happy People - R.E.M. -- and that B-52s singer! Don't forget her!