24 Feb 2012

Two weeks until my birthday. Which means I’m behind on my posting to finish all 40 songs in this playlist. I will pick up the pace. I promise. If you need to, read My Life: Autobiographical Vol.1  & Vol.2 to get caught up. Remember that this is a blog series I did based on Rob Gordon in High Fidelity sorting his records Autobiographically. I think we’re picking up the story of my life somewhere between 1987 and 1989.

Family Fun Times

It’s funny how times change. As a kid my Grandparents had a great party house. Swimming pool with a slide, a screened in room for playing cards, lawn-darts (yeah lawn darts!). In the evening the whole family, aunts, uncles, cousins, we’re talking about a dozen people, would gather around the player piano and have a sing-a-long. This is where I learned about The Great American Songbook. Later in life I got into Sinatra, Martin and Cole, but only because I already knew the songs from these times with family. Here is where the funny comes in. Last Family Day I spent in Bradford with my, well, family and we all gathered around the TV, singing along to Glee Karaoke. The times our family spend together haven’t changed that much, just the way enjoy music together.

Enter The Danger

In 1987 I heard something for the first time. Rap, Hip-Hop, whatever you want to call it, had taken the pop charts by storm and it was the most dangerous thing I’d ever heard. Beastie Boys, Run DMC & Public Enemy. This was something new for my generation and it kicked ass. Whether you like or not, the evolution the genre will make a great documentary series one day. VH1 can call me for the rights!

Other Peoples Kids

This song made the list for one reason only. The kid next door. He was a year older than me and dressed just like Billy Idol. Being religious, my parents didn’t appreciate Billy Idol, or Madonna for that matter, wearing crosses when they obviously weren’t singing anything about their faith and in fact were singing about quite the opposite of the morals they should be conveying most of the time. My neighbour dressed just like Idol. Vest, bracelets, ear pierced even! I wasn’t allowed to hangout with him too often. I think it was because I lied to my parents a lot and they blamed him.

Corky Knows Best
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LedUjMuTR7Q
Given that this playlist I made was for Name That Tune three years ago, I really can’t remember why this song was played at this particular time. The only thing I can think of is the TV show Life Goes On used it for their intro music. It was on Sunday nights, right after church, or America’s Funniest Home Videos (the Bob Saget years). I don’t even remember being a huge fan of the show but it’s the only reason I can think of for playing this song. I didn’t get into The White Album until much later in life and it wasn’t news worthy.

Read the next My Life: more DANGER, more DRIVING and more ROXETTE?