The Jason 540 Part VIIII of XI (#401-450)
54 Years of Music Since My Birth--November 16, 1970
For Part 1 of what I intend to be an 11 segment series, look here.
This is the preamble from the original post:
“Birthday week for me as you can see. There is nothing milestoney about age 54 but I’ve had some time on my hands (ahem) and have been kind of fooling around with this for a few weeks. My original intent was to rank the best songs since I was born. You find out pretty quick that is next to impossible. Song #391 and song #43 are practically interchangeable. You could make a list today and then again a year from now getting wildly disparate results. So other than the first 30 or so, I would advise not paying much attention at all to the number assigned to each song.
I don’t know if I’ll finish this or not. If I do, it will consist of 11 volumes. The problem is I keep thinking of stuff I’ve left out. Then you realize something is too high or too low and it creates anxiety. I finally settled in my mind that the rank doesn’t matter as alluded to above. I had initially titled this “Greatest Songs Since My Birth” but realized that is pretentious. Who is to say what is “great”? I wouldn’t even say these are necessarily my favorite 540 songs. If I did that it would consist of 15-20 bands entire catalogs. I would say almost all I greatly enjoyed at least for a spell, are memorable for one reason or another, or were enormously impactful culturally. It’s fair to call it the Soundtrack of my life and the lives of many Gen Xers.
The vast, vast majority is lifted from the 80’s understandably. The 70’s and 90’s are probably represented about equally. There is next to nothing here from the ‘00’s and ‘10’s and I think only one from the ‘20’s that is a pretty obscure country song I stumbled into.
What you won’t see: Queen. Not my deal. Don’t like anything about them. I do include the one song with David Bowie somewhere in here. Also Rolling Stones. Most of their best stuff is before my time and I’m not wild about them anyway. Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd are contained to their best known work (since 1970 keep in mind). I have avoided most deep track gems for not just them but my favorite bands too. Finally if an artist has morphed into over the top political crap (Springsteen and the Dixie Twats come to mind) they won’t be found much here at all without a very compelling case.
I have no idea what I think I’m accomplishing here. As stated, there will be a lot of stuff I’ve omitted. Feel free to let me know about it. But if nothing else, I bet I’ll remind you of music you’ve long forgotten and maybe give you reason to refresh your playlists. Off we go!”
401) Slow an’ Easy—Whitesnake, from Slide It In 1984
402) Dance the Night Away—Van Halen, from Van Halen II 1979
403) Run Riot—Def Leppard, from Hysteria 1987
404) Born to Be My Baby—Bon Jovi, from New Jersey 1988
405) Turbo Lover—Judas Priest, from Turbo 1986
406) Smooth Up in Ya—BulletBoys, from BulletBoys 1988
407) Cold Blood—Kix, from Blow My Fuse 1988
408) Dreams—Van Halen, from 5150 1986
409) Love Song—Tesla, from The Great Radio Controversy 1989
410) Ride the Wind—Poison, from Flesh & Blood 1990
411) My Way—KISS, from Crazy Nights 1987
412) Road to Nowhere—Ozzy Osbourne, from No More Tears 1991
413) Feel It Again—Honeymoon Suite, from The Big Prize 1986
414) Heaven—Warrant, from Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich 1989
415) Now You’re Gone—Whitesnake, from Slip of the Tongue 1989
416) Iris—Goo Goo Dolls, from Dizzy Up the Girl 1998
417) Who Will You Run To—Heart, from Bad Animals 1987
418) Won’t Get Fooled Again—The Who, from Who’s Next 1971
419) I’ll Fall in Love Again—Sammy Hagar, from Standing Hampton 1982 and Vision Quest Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 1985
420) I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)—Whitney Houston, from Whitney 1987
421) Black Cat—Janet Jackson, from Rhythm Nation 1814 1989
422) Seventeen—Winger, from Winger 1988
423) Rocket—Def Leppard, from Hysteria 1987
424) Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight—The Oak Ridge Boys, from The Oak Ridge Boys Have Arrived 1979
425) Sunset Grill—Don Henley, from Building the Perfect Beast 1984
426) Dress You Up—Madonna, from Like a Virgin 1984
427) Will You Be There—Michael Jackson, from Dangerous 1991 and Free Willy Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 1993
428) You Get What You Give—New Radicals, from Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too 1998
429) Fortress Around Your Heart—Sting, from The Dream of the Blue Turtles 1985
430) Pop Life—Prince and the Revolution, from Around the World in a Day 1985
431) Tell It to My Heart—Taylor Dayne, from Tell It to My Heart 1988
432) Take a Chance on Me—ABBA, from The Album 1977
433) I Just Want to Be Your Everything—Andy Gibb, from Flowing Rivers 1977
434) Key Largo—Bertie Higgins, from Just Another Day in Paradise 1981
435) I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing—Aerosmith, from Armageddon Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 1998
436) Just Like Heaven—The Cure, from Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me 1987
437) Rhythm is a Dancer—Snap!, from The Madman’s Return 1992
438) Come On Eileen—Dexys Midnight Runners, from Too-Rye-Ay 1982
439) Rolling in the Deep—Adele, from 21 2011
440) The Spirit of Radio—Rush, from Permanent Waves 1980
441) Wind of Change—Scorpions, from Crazy World 1990
442) Cherish—Kool & the Gang, from Emergency 1984
443) The Loco-Motion—Kylie Minogue, from Kylie 1988
444) After the Rain—Nelson, from After the Rain 1990
445) Show Me the Way—Peter Frampton, from Frampton Comes Alive! 1976
446) I’ll Never Let You Go—Steelheart, from Steelheart 1990
447) The Sign—Ace of Base, from The Sign 1993
448) Hard to Handle—The Black Crowes, from Shake Your Money Maker 1990
449) Kiss You All Over—Exile, from Mixed Emotions 1978
450) What a Fool Believes—The Doobie Brothers, from Minute by Minute 1978