Genii Weblog

Top 100 hits from my graduation year

Tue 23 Aug 2005, 09:06 PM



by Ben Langhinrichs
I don't usually go in for this sort of thing, but Libby and Rich started this idea.
The instructions are: Go to musicoutfitters.com, and do a search on the most popular 100 songs from the year you graduated high school. (You can do this by searching on the year you graduated). Bold the ones you actually like. (Understand that the word "like" in this case means, at the very least, "wouldn't immediately change the radio station from.") Pick a favorite. Underline that favorite. And Strikethru the ones you loathe. Italicize the ones you consider to be guilty pleasures. 


You have to bear in mind that I was listening to the Sex Pistols, Ramones and Talking Heads at this point, so the fact that I could find four that I actually liked surprises me.  Supertramp was a big favorite though.

1. My Sharona, The Knack
2. Bad Girls, Donna Summer 

3. Le Freak, Chic 
4. Da Ya Think I'm Sexy, Rod Stewart
5. Reunited, Peaches and Herb
6. I Will Survive, Gloria Gaynor
7. Hot Stuff, Donna Summer 

8. Y.M.C.A., Village People 
9. Ring My Bell, Anita Ward
10. Sad Eyes, Robert John
11. Too Much Heaven, Bee Gees
12. MacArthur Park, Donna Summer
13. When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman, Dr. Hook
14. Makin' It, David Naughton
15. Fire, Pointer Sisters
16. Tragedy, Bee Gees
17. A Little More Love, Olivia Newton-John
18. Heart Of Glass, Blondie
19. What A Fool Believes, Doobie Brothers
20. Good Times, Chic
21. You Don't Bring Me Flowers, Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond
22. Knock On Wood, Amii Stewart
23. Stumblin' In, Suzi Quatro and Chris Norman
24. Lead Me On, Maxine Nightingale
25. Shake Your Body, Jacksons
26. Don't Cry Out Loud, Melissa Manchester 

27. The Logical Song, Supertramp 
28. My Life, Billy Joel 
29. Just When I Needed You Most, Randy Vanwarmer
30. You Can't Change That, Raydio
31. Shake Your Groove Thing, Peaches and Herb
32. I'll Never Love This Way Again, Dionne Warwick
33. Love You Inside Out, Bee Gees 

34. I Want You To Want Me, Cheap Trick 
35. The Main Event (Fight), Barbra Streisand
36. Mama Can't Buy You Love, Elton John
37. I Was Made For Dancin', Leif Garrett
38. After The Love Has Gone, Earth, Wind and Fire
39. Heaven Knows, Donna Summer and Brooklyn Dreams 

40. The Gambler, Kenny Rogers
41. Lotta Love, Nicolette Larson
42. Lady, Little River Band
43. Heaven Must Have Sent You, Bonnie Pointer
44. Hold The Line, Toto
45. He's The Greatest Dancer, Sister Sledge
46. Sharing The Night Together, Dr. Hook
47. She Believes In Me, Kenny Rogers
48. In The Navy, Village People
49. Music Box Dancer, Frank Mills 

50. The Devil Went Down To Georgia, Charlie Daniels Band 
51. Gold, John Stewart
52. Goodnight Tonight, Wings 

53. We Are Family, Sister Sledge 
54. Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy, Bad Company
55. Every 1's A Winner, Hot Chocolate
56. Take Me Home, Cher
57. Boogie Wonderland, Earth, Wind and Fire
58. (Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away, Andy Gibb
59. What You Won't Do For Love, Bobby Caldwell
60. New York Groove, Ace Frehley
61. Sultans Of Swing, Dire Straits
62. I Want Your Love, Chic
63. Chuck E's In Love, Rickie Lee Jones
64. I Love The Night Life, Alicia Bridges
65. Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now, McFadden and Whitehead
66. Lonesome Loser, Little River Band
67. Renegade, Styx
68. Love Is The Answer, England Dan and John Ford Coley
69. Got To Be Real, Cheryl Lynn
70. Born To Be Alive, Patrick Hernandez
71. Shine A Little Love, Electric Light Orchestra
72. I Just Fall In Love Again, Anne Murray
73. Shake It, Ian Matthews
74. I Was Made For Lovin' You, Kiss
75. I Just Wanna Stop, Gino Vannelli
76. Disco Nights, G.Q.
77. Ooh Baby Baby, Linda Ronstadt
78. September, Earth, Wind and Fire
79. Time Passages, Al Stewart
80. Rise, Herb Alpert

81. Don't Bring Me Down, Electric Light Orchestra
82. Promises, Eric Clapton
83. Get Used To It, Roger Voudouris
84. How Much I Feel, Ambrosia
85. Suspicions, Eddie Rabbitt
86. You Take My Breath Away, Rex Smith
87. How You Gonna See Me Now, Alice Cooper
88. Double Vision, Foreigner
89. Every Time I Think Of You, Babys
90. I Got My Mind Made Up, Instant Funk
91. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, Michael Jackson
92. Bad Case Of Lovin' You, Robert Palmer
93. Somewhere In The Night, Barry Manilow
94. We've Got Tonite, Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band
95. Dance The Night Away, Van Halen
96. Dancing Shoes, Nigel Olsson
97. The Boss, Diana Ross
98. Sail On, Commodores
99. I Do Love You, G.Q.
100. Strange Way, Firefall
 

Copyright © 2005 Genii Software Ltd.

What has been said:


356.1. Gregg Eldred
(08/24/2005 08:01 AM)

Ahh, 1979. :-) My year, as well. And while I remember a lot of these, I would have to agree with your markups. Might have to add this to the blog, too.


356.2. Richard Schwartz
(08/25/2005 10:28 AM)

If "Heart of Glass" was too disco for you (as you indicated in Gregg's blog), what about Talking Heads' "Life During Wartime"?


356.3. Stan Rogers
(08/25/2005 11:14 AM)

C'mon, Rich -- the song speaks for itself:

"This ain't no party. This ain't no disco."

And you can't really compare Tina Weymouth's bass to a sequencer, can you? She's organically funky.


356.4. Ben Langhinrichs
(08/25/2005 11:22 AM)

The Talking Heads are one of my favorite bands, and there is just no comparison between Heart of Glass and Life During Wartime. None. See Stan's comment. Right on!


356.5. Rock
(08/25/2005 12:14 PM)

I had to join the party as well - my list is here:

http://www.lotusgeek.com/sapphireoak/lotusgeekblog.nsf/d6plinks/ROLR-6FLPD2

It was overplayed to death, but I did like My Sharona when it came out. And I was a HUGE fan of Cheap Trick (Live at Buddhakan of course). And being from Georgia, of course I like Devil Went Down to Georgia, and can sing it word for word to this day. :)

--Rock


356.6. Richard Schwartz
(08/25/2005 12:25 PM)

Well, I was (and am) a big Talking Heads fan, too, right from the first time I heard them back in '77. But really, I think it's unfair to fault Heart of Glass for using a sequencer instead of a real bass. First of all, I'm not sure that's true at all. As I recall, Blondie had a brand new bass player for that album. Secondly, most real disco did, in fact, use a real bass. The use of synths and sequencers was just breaking out into mainstream groups at that time. I look at Heart of Glass in much the same way I look at Life During Wartime. Both had the disco beat, but the melody was very different from most disco, and in both cases the lyrics just don't fit with the disco beat. "Once I had a love and it was a gas, Soon turned out to be a pain in the ass" was fairly risque for that time, certainly pretty risque by the standards any typical mass-market disco radio station.

It wasn't as blatant a denial of disco as "This ain't no disco"... but then again, Stan, what were the lyrics right after that? "This ain't no Mud Club, or CBGBs". Those were two NYC-based punk/new wave clubs. Seems to me that the lyrics weren't really denying that the song itself was disco any more than they were denying that the song was punk or new wave.

And besides, Ben, Le Freak as a guilty pleasure? Can't get much more disco than that! :-)


356.7. Ben Langhinrichs
(08/25/2005 12:53 PM)

Rich - A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.


356.8. Richard Schwartz
(08/25/2005 04:55 PM)

LOL. I don't know that one. Can you hum a few bars :-)


356.9. Gregg Eldred
(08/25/2005 08:24 PM)

@Rich:

Here you go: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/t/talkingheadslyrics/lifeduringwartimelyrics.html

"I changed my hairstyle so many times now, I don't know what I look like"


356.10. Richard Schwartz
(08/25/2005 08:33 PM)

@Gregg: Actually, I was referring to "A Foolish Consistency..." :-)


356.11. Stan Rogers
(08/25/2005 09:19 PM)

Wasn't that on the Henry Rollins/Gary Numan/Yoko Ono colaboration project (featuring Toots Thielmans)? Or was that just the iffy corned beef?


356.12. Stan Rogers
(08/25/2005 09:24 PM)

When will this site implement COEX Speller?


356.13. Ethann Castell
(30/08/2005 06:38 AM)

Talking Heads rules ! Well at least they used to. I had all of there albums at one point but they sadly got lost over the years.

One thing that's always bugged me though. "And she was... " What ? What was she ? I've made up a few answers over the years but still searching for something definitve. Any ideas ?


356.14. Richard Schwartz
(08/30/2005 07:45 PM)

OK... You may or may not believe this, but from

the very first time I heard it I decided that "And She Was" was inspired by a character named Fenchurch in Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide books. She's the girl whose feet don't touch the ground, and she and Arthur Dent go flying around together -- not always with the benefit of space ship -- in So Long And Thanks For All The Fish. I think I'd rather that the lyrics were metaphor, and I have no evidence for the Douglas Adams connection other than that the lyrics kind of fit the character, but it's a feeling that I got right away and have never shaken. And at least one other person came to the same conclusion.


356.15. Ethann Castell
(06/09/2005 05:24 PM)

Very interesting !

I often used to think that she had taken drugs and that maybe "She was... stoned" (or something similar) and hadn't thought about what she was doing.

"No time to think about what she'd done, and she was" ???

Of course, Talking heads were supposedly anti-drugs but I was never quite sure about this.

Here's some trivia for you. Did you know that Talking Heads tried to get Debbie Harry to be their lead singer, before she joined Blondie ?

Sorry to hijack your posting Ben :-)