Mixtape

With the talk about pop music a couple posts ago, I got to thinking about pop music in my lifetime. If I were to create a mix tape of my life, songs I was listening to each year growing up, would it look anything like the charts. The answer is a resounding no. I went through the billboards for the past 25 years and checked out which song was number one on my birthday, each year. This is what I found:

1: “Eye of the Tiger” - Survivor
2: “Every Breath You Take” - The Police
3: “Ghostbusters” - Ray Parker Jr.
4: “The Power of Love” - Huey Lewis and the News
5: “Papa Don’t Preach” – Madonna
6: “Whose that Girl” – Madonna
7: “Roll with it” – Steve Winwood
8: “Right Here Waiting” – Richard Marx
9: “Vision of Love” – Mariah Carey
10: “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” – Bryan Adams
11: “End of the Road” – Boyz II Men
12: “Can’t Help Falling in Love with You” – UB40
13: “Stay” – Lisa Loeb
14: “Waterfalls – TLC
15: “Macarena” – Los Del Rio
16: “I’ll Be Missing You” – PDiddy
17: “The Boy is Mine” - Brandy and Monica
18: “Genie in a Bottle” – Christina Aguilera
19: “Incomplete” – Sisqo
20: “Fallin’” – Alicia Keys
21: “Dilemma” – Nelly
22: “Crazy in Love” – Beyonce and Jay-Z
23: “Lean Back” – The Terror Squad
24: “We Belong Together” – Mariah Carey
25: “London Brigde” – Fergie

Ok. So just go ahead and cross off everything from 14 on. I mean, sure… I have heard these songs… but I have never voluntarily said to my self, “Someone better throw in Sisqo NOW or I’m going to lose my Freakin mind”. Is there really a mix worthy song on the list? If you were laying on your death bed years from now and your grandson asked you what songs were important to you growing up, would any of these be the songs? I mean, I love Ghostbusters as much as the next guy… but the song just does not define who I was, am, or ever will be. I think that people like music on different levels. There are those who like beat and bass, those use music to fill the blank void of silence, those who like what they are told to like, and then there are those of us who enjoy every aspect of music. There are those of us who genuinely relate what is going on in our lives to music they listen too. There is a relationship between a good musician and their fans, because the band is giving them something to think about within the content of a song. It doesn’t have to be sewn into the lyrics either, it’s in the melody and rhythm of a song. With the exception of one or two, I can’t believe that any of the songs on that list really connect with people on that level. It’s not that they are bad songs, they have their spot in the lineup… but to me, these types of songs don’t resonate beyond just being noise.