Jay-Z the pimp

From Nov. 20, voice recording #108:
Black Eyed Peas, "Pump It", 2000. I think that was the year, and not the score. I don't really know this song, but I doubt I would have given it a score that high. I'll have to hear it again to assign a number.
Matt Nathanson, "Come on Get Higher", '08. 4,750. That seems to be a score I often give to songs that aren't very good.
Jay-Z/UGK (pretty much initials), "Big Pimpin" from 2000. I really rating this one low, and that's partly hindsight. To look at Jay-Z now, he's about the farthest thing from a pimp or a gangsta, and he probably wasn't much closer at the time he was doing this music. It comes across as really disingenuous, hollow and exploitative of African Americans, glorifying the pimp/ho lifestyle. It seems insincere. Jay-Z probably has a career as a politician ahead of him. 4,999. There might be something worse.
Cobra Starship/Leighton Meester, "Good Girls Go Bad". I believe it's from '09. I need to know more about Cobra Starship to know what this is about. It might be one of those where they're both trying to cross over; Cobra Starship to get some white hip-hop fans -- if they are a hip hop group -- and Leighton Meester to get some African American fans by crossing over from white girl land. I checked this and found that the Starship has been flying under my radar for 7 years. It's a dance-pop band with Anglo and Latino members, and on the fringes of a number of music genres, including music for "Snakes on a Plane," covers and parodies. 4,700.
Franz Ferdinand, something from '04. I quickly lost interest in it. 4,725.
Avril Lavigne, "I'm with You", '03. 4,550, not one of her best.
Somebody I forget, Ludacris and Lil Jon, I forget the name even. It just got so repetitive at the end. I think I rated it the other night, and I'm guessing it was somewhere around 4,500, maybe a little higher. It is better than the rest of the crap I've been listening to tonight.
Christina Aguilera, "I Turn to You", I think 2000. 4,600, pretty standard ballad
Jennifer Lopez/ Ja Rule, not sure of the name -- something about real? -- and the year wasn't included on the display. 4,475. I think "real" might be in the title because I recorded this comment: "At least one of them is real and spectacular." Or should I have said at least two of them?
All-American Rejects, "Dirty Little Secret", '05. 4,400. A lot of these are within the same range. I reserve the right to go back and move one ahead of another as I finalize my list.
Justin Timberlake, "Senorita", '03, I believe. This is a case where maybe he's trying to expand his market to Latinos. One clever, but simple, thing he did was to have the boys sing, and then the girls sing. You don't see that much. That probably raises it up to 4,600.
Ashlee Simpson, "Pieces of Me". It's sung like "Pie-ces, pie-ces, pie-ces of me." '04. I don't believe she's lip-synching in this one. I do believe that Ashlee was more talented than her sister Jessica, but Ashlee's career came crashing down because of lip-synching. 4,350. It seemed in this that she was trying to channel someone like Sheryl Crow or Liz Phair, which isn't a bad thing.
Nelly, "Hot in Here", '02. It seems that his seduction technique is turning up the thermostat. 4,600.
Bon Jovi, "It's My Life, I think '01. 3,850.
Britney Spears, "Circus", '08, 4,150. It was definitely better than that Ashlee Simpson song.
Dr. Dre/Snoop Dogg, "Next Episode" from 2000. Nothing great about it, but I do believe Snoop is a showman and entertainer. He gets some extra points for that, so 4,400. This is probably the kind of music those in Ray Rice's generation listened to. I'm not saying that Dr. Dre is responsible for anything Rice might have done, but things we see in movies and hear on the radio do influence us. When I was a kid, you would see in movies that every time a guy made a pass at a woman, she would slap him, and on occasion he'd slap her back. We saw smoking in those old movies. Hey, we saw smoking from our parents. So it's not that the movies caused everything, but they are influences. My understanding of how to be with a girl came from movies and TV. You'd see some kissing, holding hands and cuddling, and that was about it. So I never thought to go any farther than that until finally I came to a time and a place for everything, and it's called college. (credit to Chef/the late Isaac Hayes)
Our Lady Peace, "Somewhere Out There", '02. 4,550.
Dido, "Thank You", I think it was '01. She sings well; there was a beat in the song. So I'll go 4,500.
Linkin Park, "What I've Done", '07. 4,350.
Natasha Bedingfield, "Pocket Full of Sunshine", '08. She has a strong voice and she sang a lot of notes in this one. 4,000.

Seeing Cher

From Nov. 19, voice recording #105:
Bananarama, "Venus", maybe '88 or '89. It's one of the better remakes, better than the original because it has much more energy. 1,700.
The Cure, "Just Like Heaven", 1988. Not a lot to it. 4,550.
Bryan Adams, "This Time", 1983. 4,275.
Till Tuesday, "Voices Carry", 1985. I've done this before. I'm guessing it was within 100 of 4,500 -- 4,400 to 4,600.
Cameo, "Word Up", '86. I didn't realize the expression was that old. 4,725.
Van Halen, "Jump", I think '89. 2,950.
Crowded House, "Don't Dream It's Over". I would have thought it was called, "Hey, now! Hey, now!" It's from 1987, and it's 4,300.
Johnny Hates Jazz, "Shattered Dreams" from '88. Pretty sure I reviewed this a couple of nights ago. I'm guessing my score would have been close to 4,000, between 3,900 and 4,200. It's kind of upbeat. That's probably because Johnny hates jazz. It has a little variety.
David Bowie, "Let's Dance", I forget the year. 3,400.
Stevie Wonder, "Skeletons", '87. A generous 4,650, maybe just because he's Stevie.
Somehow I got on a '70s channel instead of '80s. The Fortunes, "Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again". I think it's around '75. 3,200.
Cher, "We All Sleep Alone", 1988. 4,550. M-Tex and I went to see Cher in Philadelphia, where a couple of funny things happened. I think it was at the Spectrum. There was a woman sitting next to me who said, "I thought all the men here would either be middle-aged or homosexual." I said, "I'm middle-aged. Not that there's anything wrong with it. Coming back from the Spectrum, we rode a train. M-Tex said quite graciously that she would fight off for me any of the homosexual men on the train. Turned out there was no competition.
Midnight Oil, "Beds Are Burning", '88. 4,700.
Kenny Loggins, "Footloose", '84, 3,500.
Billy Ocean, "Get Out of My Dreams, Get Into My Car", 1988. 4,250.
Toto, "Africa", 1983. 2,600. It has a good hook at the beginning, and monotone singing. The hardest part is when they try to squeeze Kilimanjaro and Serengeti into the same meter, same couple of lines. They kind of rush Kilimanjaro and spread out Ser-en-get-i.
George Harrison, "I've Got My Mind Set on You", maybe around '84. 2,100.
Buggles, "Video Killed the Radio Star". This one gets a lot of extra points just for being so prophetic, so ahead of its time and the first video played on MTV, back when the main network actually played music and music videos. This is listed as 1979, which might be when it came out, but I'm not sure MTV was around until the '80s, when a lot more people had cable TV. The song gets props and 1,900. By the way, I checked and found that MTV's first telecast was Aug. 1, 1981.

Going solo

From Nov. 18:
Bangles, "Walk Like an Egyptian", '86. I've done this one before. I'd say it was in the 1,800-2,000 range. If I find that I have significant differences in these when I hear them more than once, I'll average them out or certainly made adjustments toward the middle.
REO Speedwagon, "Keep on Loving You", I think it's '82; I forgot to look. I'm pretty sure I've rated this one. I'd say it was in the 2,100-2,200 range, definitely in the top half of the 5,000.
Sheila E., "The Glamorous Life" from '84. Not very good, 4,650. She opened for Prince the time Philip won concert tickets at the Carrier Dome when he was about 10. Apparently in those days, they let 10-year-olds (and Diana would have been about 13) go to concerts with everybody smoking pot and whatever. Just asked Philip. He said he was 9, but wasn't aware of pot smoking around him. He said he wasn't aware of pot until a short time later when Nancy Reagan began the "Just say no" campaign. Mary Beth took them because I had a commitment to the Rochester Press-Radio Club basketball team for a charity game in Brockport. It was good that I went because we had only five players.
Bon Jovi, "I'll Be There for You", '89. Those five words he'd say to her. The music itself was not really good, repetitive. 4,300.
Michael McDonald, "Sweet Freedom", '86. McDonald wasn't the only person who was much better with a supporting cast than as a solo act. I'll have to make a list of those. Even someone like Marilyn McCoo, who shone through for The 5th Dimension, had a difficult time going solo or even in a duo with her husband, Billy Davis, Jr. 4,400, comparing it to the Bon Jovi.
Katrina and the Waves, "Walking on Sunshine", '85. Even though Katrina sings it as "walkin' on sunshine" repeatedly. 2,550. It's right there around the midpoint, and could go either way.
A side note: I'm virtually stopped in traffic here on U.S. 75, headed toward Dallas, at about 6:30 p.m. It appears that a lot of tractor trailers have planned their trip so that they arrive in this area after the rush hour. In so doing, by taking up all of the lanes on the highway, they've created their own rush hour. Or it may be an accident holding us up.
How is Elton John like Katrina and the Waves? The last song I had was Elton John, "I'm Still Standing", '89, maybe. But he sings, "standin'," kind of like Katrina. I'll give this bouncy one 4,100.
Guns 'N' Roses, "Paradise City", '89, 2,250.
Howard Jones, "No One Is to Blame" from '86. When I was entering the list into my database, I noticed Howard's name a number of times. I did not remember him or his music. This is typical '80s, with keyboard, and I think his message is that we're all to blame, we're all at fault. I could be wrong; I didn't listen to it closely. 4,600.
Go West, "We Close Our Eyes", 1985. This is one of those that the longer I listened, the less I liked it. The lyrics are kind of dopey. It's filled with almost every '80s movie musical cliche. 4,800.
Phil Collins and Philip Bailey, "Easy Lover", '85. I'm not really sure who Philip Bailey is; I'll have to look him up. Just did; he was with Earth, Wind & Fire -- and had, possibly has, a four-octave range. Phil Collins is one guy who did well as a soloist after a successful career with Genesis. 2,700.
A-ha, "Take on Me", 1985. A lot about this screams 1980s. You've got the synthesizer, the '80s beat, techno elements. On the positive side, we've got an easily memorable group name. If A-ha had come around in Greek history, it might have been Eureka. I kind of like the low "TAKE ON ME" followed by the higher-pitched "take on me." It has a little variety in this period piece. 3,300.
Motley Crue, "Dr. Feelgood", '89. The singing includes a lot of yelling, and not the screaming artistry of Steven Tyler. 4,350.
I mentioned Philip and his Prince concert, and here comes Prince! "Let's Go Crazy" from 1984. 3,900.
Huey Lewis and the News, "Walking on a Thin Line", 1984. Huey sings it as "walkin'," even though he clearly enunciates, "ci-ty." The guitar is pretty nice in this. 4,400.
Belinda Carlisle, "Heaven Is a Place on Earth", 1987. Another person who did pretty well after going solo. 3,100.

The effect of our mood on listening to music

Nov. 15, on the way home from the Stars game:
Crosby, Stills & Young, "Southern Cross", I forgot the year. I think we had it a day or two ago, and I think I said 3,100.
I think this is the same countdown that I had earlier. We've got Sylvia, "Nobody". I don't know if I need to switch to another channel or let it go.
I turned off Sirius XM and probably listened to ESPN radio. Didn't get back to listening and recording my thoughts until Nov. 17.
REO Speedwagon, "Keep on Loving You" from '81. 1,600.
Pat Benatar, "Hit Me with Your Best Shot". Early '80s anyway. 2,200. I like the way it ends. Good work with the guitar and drums. As I write this, I'm perplexed as to why I would have rated REO higher. Both good songs, but this was Pat's best. I recall my college friend Jim Fellabaum's telling me how good Pat was in concert, and I'm still inclined to believe him. I'll probably adjust these to something like 1,700 or even higher for Pat and 1,800-1,900 for REO. Or maybe keep REO where it is and jump Pat even higher (1,400?).
Level 42, "Something About You", 4,500, possibly slightly higher.
ZZ Top, "Legs" from '84. 1,200.
Paul Kerick?, I think it's "Don't Shed a Tear", don't remember the year. 4,650.
Dead or Alive, I think it's "Brand New Lover", about '84. 4,600.
A side note: I sounded tired or possibly distracted (by traffic?) on this recording, which would explain why I wasn't sure of so many names, song titles and years. Perhaps I was inclined to downgrade the mertis of these songs because I lacked enthusiasm. That is the effect of our mood on the music, instead of the other way around. No big problems with the 4,000-somethings, but perhaps REO, Pat and ZZ will move up.
Till Tuesday, "Voices Carry", I think it's around '84. When they sing something that sounds like "It's so scary," it's probably "Voices carry." 4,450
Bruce Springsteen, "Cover Me". I'm still thinking '84. 4,200.
Ratt, "Round and Round", I forget the year. 4,300.
Sly Fox, "Let's Go All the Way" from '86. 4,600.
Dire Straits, "Money for Nothing", '85. 800.
Huey Lewis and the News, "Bad Is Bad", '83. 4,250.

History of a one-hit wonder

This is from Nov. 15. I didn't listen to any station last evening. Driving to a volleyball match in Richardson, I was charging the phone. Driving home, I was tired and it was a short drive anyway.
This morning when I got in the car, the radio was on Sirius XM Channel 9, and I heard Extreme, "More Than Words", 1991. I might have written about this one before, and if so, I probably said it was about 1,500.
Then I switched over to Channel 8 and heard "Pressure" by Billy Joel in '82. 4,250, not one of Billy's best.
Rush, "New World Man". This is a 1982 countdown, so most of these will be from '82. This one was number 21during this week that year. I'm giving it 4,300.
Number 20 was Crosby, Stills & Nash, "Southern Cross". 3,000.
Number 19: Sylvia, "Nobody", 4,100. I just happened to think as I was typing this that Sylvia's style is similar to Suzanne Vega's.
Number 18: Survivor, "American Heartbeat", '82. 4,750, might be generous. A side note: doesn't it seem that Nina Blackwood today sounds a lot like Marge Simpson?
Number 17: Evelyn King, formerly known as Evelyn "Champagne" King, "Love Come Down", 4,850. Listening to these last two makes me think that the lousy music of the '80s started earlier than I remembered. This one doesn't have a disco beat, doesn't have anything that would indicate it would become rap or hip hop at any time, doesn't have a dance beat. I just really don't know what it's all about. I'm thinking these last two, if I get through more than 5,000 songs in this project, might have a good chance to get dumped off the list.
Number 16: Steel Breeze, "You Don't Want Me Anymore". It's pretty repetitive, but it does have a little bit of rock going for it. 4,600.
Number 15: Glenn Frey, but I don't have the name. I'm going to give this one 4,700 on the belief that he meant it as a lullaby, because it could be effective there. When the horns come in, they make me think of how I would perceive a 1950s second-rate jazz club.
Number 14: Joe Jackson, "Steppin' Out". 4,400.
Number 13 is Toni Basil, "Mickey". 2,050. I can't quite get it over 2,000. Most of Toni's 15 minutes of fame -- I'd say 14 minutes and 45 seconds -- is from this song, which was voted as high as No. 5 in lists of the best one-hit wonders. Her other 15 seconds were her turn in "Easy Rider," because that's about how long she was in it. I don't know who Mickey was, but I'll look that up. Which I just did. The song originally was recorded by British group Racey in 1979. The name was changed to Mickey so Toni would be singing about a man. She denied rumors that she chose that name because she was infatuated by the Monkees' Mickey Dolenz, whom she met while working as choreographer in the movie "Head". The 1981 video for "Mickey" is considered the first choreographed music video. It's catchy, with a beat, Toni running around in a cheerleader uniform, organ music, some change of tempo. It has some good qualities. Mickey is so fine, he blows her mind. Toni was pretty fine, too.
One of the things that I use to judge how much I like songs is when they come on the radio, do I change the station hoping to see if there's something I like better. If I do change the station, do I go through a few and then come back to the original song? The best ones are the ones that when they come on, I just listen to them. The next group would be OK, it will win out over a bunch of pretty good songs if I've changed the channel. The third group is where it's a good song, but it's beaten out by even better songs. The next level would be, well, there's really not much good here, so I'll have to settle for this song. Then down at the bottom there are just the ones that I would never come back to.
Number 12: Daryl Hall and John Oates, "Maneater". I'll say 4,000. It's the same beat throughout. There are some horns in it. Sometimes this duo was called just Hall and Oates. Oates said in an interview that they preferred being known by both their first and last names.
Number 11: The Alan Parsons Project, "The Eye in the Sky". This is one where I will use the "just compare it to what we just heard." Is it as good as "Maneater"?I don't think so. Another criterion is whether there's something special about this music either within its own time or against songs from other eras. I don't think so. It's a nice enough song, but there's nothing that stands out about it. I'm not sure what the project was, and I'm not sure how successful Alan Parsons was.
Number 10: Diana Ross, "Muscles". I vaguely remember this one. 4,500. The Sirius DJ, maybe it was Mark Goodman, was saying how this was nominated for, or maybe won, an R&B Grammy for Diana Ross. That tells me a few things. One is that there are too many Grammy awards. Number 2 is that it doesn't take much to win one, and No. 3 is it takes even less to get nominated.
Continue with sound recording #090.

Some music from the movies

From Nov. 14, Sirius XM Channel 8
Modern English, "I Melt with You", 1983. It was in one of the John Hughes movies, I think maybe "The Breakfast Club." 2,000. I checked, so I guess not a John Hughes film. It was in "Valley Girl" and a number of other movies. There even was a movie "I Melt with You" in this century with Rob Lowe and Sasha Grey.
Dream Academy, "Life in a Northern Town". I can't remember the year. 1986? All I can say is the "mau mau mau mau" just kind of takes it out of the dreaminess and gets it up to 4,400.
Scandal featuring Patty Smyth, "The Warrior", 1984, I think. It's pretty good, but nothing special. 4,150.
Ready for the World, "Oh Sheila", '85. Very standard mid-to-late-'80s stuff. 4,600, but that might be a little high. It's so standard that it's probably why I can't remember whether Ready for the World ever had another hit.
The Romantics, "What I Like About You", 1980. 2,100.
Duran Duran, "Hungry Like the Wolf". I'm not sure of the year. 3,300. I'll have to check to see if the band got its name from the character in "Barbarella." Just checked. Wikipedia said the band did take the name from the movie character -- who actually was Durand-Durand, according to imdb.com.
Robert Plant, "In the Mood", 1984. Robert sings that he's in the mood for a melody, but what really carries this song and makes it interesting are the instrumentals with the guitar and drums. They carry it up to 3,600.
Dead or Alive, "You Spin Me Round" -- or in the lyrics, "right 'round, baby, right 'round." It was from 1985. 3,350.
Huey Lewis & the News, "I Want a New Drug" from 1984. It's a bit monotonous, but it's a love song: "I want a new drug. One that makes me feel like I feel when I'm with you." 4,250
Aerosmith, "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)". A pretty rocking song, I think from '87. 2,600.

Getting into the '80s

From Nov. 12, when I apparently was listening to '90s music on Sirius XM Channel 9.
No Doubt, "Just a Girl", 1995. 1,600.
Janet Jackson, "Because of Love", '94. It's 4,700 because it's boring.
Tom Bachmann, "She's So High", '99. 3,700.
Sinead O'Connor, "Nothing Compares", 1990. I did compare it, and decided it's not so high as the Tom Bachmann piece. It's a nice song, but it's a little too slow and never picks up. 4,050.
Blessid Union of Souls, "Hey Leonardo" from 1999. This one does move, but comes up a little short. 4,500.
Mariah Carey, "Fantasy", '95. Downtown Julie Brown used her "I said big HITS" joke regarding Mariah the other day. She does have some big hits. This one probably was a hit, but it's not very good. 4,400.
Jewel, "Who Will Save Your Soul", I think '96. I liked it at the time, and as I listened to it, I liked it even more. It seems as if she channels Sheryl Crow and maybe a little bit of Rickie Lee Jones. 2,200.
Beastie Boys, "Intergalactic", '98, I think. 3,100. Also, saw a Texas license plate with an Ohio State sticker and the license plate "LS OSU." I'll have to check it out and see who is/was the Buckeyes' long snapper from Texas. Just checked; I guess the plate had nothing to do with a long snapper. OSU has two, from Georgia and Ohio. The football team also does not have any player with the initials L.S. However, quarterback J.T. Barrett is from Wichita Falls Ryder High School.
Quad City DJs with their greatest hit, "C'mon and Ride It" from 1996. I can remember at Frontier Field, the minor league ballpark in Rochester, the train tracks ran just beyond the right field fence -- not inside the park, as in "Brewster's Millions" -- sometimes between innings if a train went by, they would play this Quad City DJs song on the stadium sound system. I also will have to rank various train songs: "Midnight Train to Georgia", or even modes of transportation: "Leaving on a Jet Plane". I didn't rank "C'mon and Ride It" yet.
Toad the Wet Sprocket, "Fall Down", '94. I don't really remember this song, and there's nothing special about it. 4,700.
George Michael, "Freedom 90" from, not coincidentally '90. 4,800.
Puff Daddy and Faith Evans and 112, I think it was from '99. It's "I'll Be Missing You", which is kind of like "I'll Be Watching You", same tune. 3,850.
Presidents of the United States of America, "Lump", '95. 3,300.
Deee-lite, "Groove Is in the Heart", '90. 4,700.
Outkast, "Pretty Fly for a White Guy". I think I've done this one before and it was in the neighborhood of 3,500 to 3,700.
Bon Jovi, "Living on a Prayer", '97. 1,200.
Rick Springfield, "I've Done Everything for You", 1981. 1,700. I did finish entering the '80s into my database, so that's why I was listening to the '80s on Nov. 13.
From '82 is Flock of Seagulls, "I Ran". 4,550.
Pebbles, "Mercedes Boy", 1988, I think. 4,850.
.38 Special, "Hold on Loosely", '81. 900. No, I'm going to go down to 750.
Simple Minds, "Alive and Kicking", 4,500.
Johnny Hates Jazz, "Shattered Dreams" from '88. The crappy late '80s were about to become the crappy early '90s, so this one gets 4,750.
Men at Work, "Who Can It Be Now" from '82. 1,400.
Bruce Hornsby & the Range, "The Way It Is" -- or at least the way it was in '86. Mellow keyboards, 4,200.
Asia, something Till It's Over -- I forget the name, it's from '82, I think -- 3,800. "Insincerity" was the key word in there.
Madonna, "Borderline" from '84. Very '80s music. Madonna's singing style on this song was one of the reasons that made me theorize that she and Cyndi Lauper were the same person. 4,200.
Police, "I'll Be Watching You". 1,250.
Mike and the Mechanics, "All I Need Is a Miracle", '86. 4,150.
Bangles, "Walk Like an Egyptian", '86. 2,050. My biggest memory of this song is from when the Buffalo Bisons had a shortstop named Sammy Khalifa, who also played for the Pirates. He was born in Egypt, and every time he would draw a base on balls, the ballpark sound system would play -- you guessed it -- "Walk Like an Egyptian".
Joan Jett, "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" from '82. I do love rock 'n' roll, and I like Joan Jett too. 400.
Climax Social Club, "Rumors", 1986. I think with a name like that, the group would be singing something like "Somebody's Watching Me." 4,860, it's pretty bad.
Just talking with Philip about my crappy late '80s-early '90s comment. He disagreed with the early '90s assessment, citing three albums -- "The Chronic" by Dr. Dre, "The Predator" by Ice Cube and "Never Mind" by Nirvana. Philip is way into politics, and he thought the Bill Clinton election and the peak of the crime wave were turning points in our culture. Also, he graduated from high school in '92.
Next is voice recording #088.

Philip answers some questions

Some Nov. 12 listening, I guess also from the 2000s:
Lady Gaga, "Bad Romance", '09. 4,400. There's a lot of stuff in there -- some French, some "Ga, ga, ooh, la, la."
Counting Crows, "Accidentally in Love", '04. I'm not sure I'd ever heard this one, 4,550. So not very good, because I generally like the Crows.
ATC, I forget the name because I lost interest in it pretty early. 2000. 4,750.
Usher and Ludacris and Lil Jon, "Yeah" from '04. The hook is probably better than the song and the rhythm, but even the hook gets old. 4,500, and that might be slightly high.
Linkin Park, "New Divide", '09. Really nothing much to differentiate itself from 50 other songs at that time. 4,750.
The Ting Tings, "That's Not My Name" from '09. They do some interesting things with the rhythm. At the end, they throw in the kitchen sink. There's ethereal music in the background, and a whole lot going on. 4,100.
Shaggy, "It Wasn't Me", '01. 4,700. I don't think this is the same guy as Shaggy 2 Dope from Insane Clown Posse. I'll check that. And I did, with Philip, who said they are different people.
Dream, "He Loves You Not", 2000. As I'm evaluating these, a lot of times I'll have a number in mind and then I'll alter it as I go through the song. What I'm finding with a lot of the more current ones is that I get kind of bored by the monotony in them and I'll downgrade them. Sometimes I'll move songs up 100, 200, but it seems that the newer songs I'm more likely to move them down. This one I started at 4,200, but ended up at 4,400.
The Fray, "How to Save a Life", 2006. It seems like kind of a slacker piece. The lead singer is very low-energy, but he does pick up the pace toward the end. I'm not sure whether it's the lead singer or THE singer because I don't know whether The Fray is a band or a person. 4,550. And Philip points out that it is a group.
Dave Matthews Band, "No Matter What You Say"? -- not sure of the name. 4,350.
Savage Garden, "Truly Madly Deeply", '96, I think (or maybe 2006?). It's not very savage. 4,600.
Continue with #080, also Nov. 12, next time.

Some Samantha favorites from this century

From Nov. 11, on Sirius XM Channel 10:

Michelle Branch, "Everywhere", 2001, 3,600.
Daughtry, something about Being Surprised, 2009, 4,550. He was one of those American Idol runners-up who made a name for himself afterward.
James Blunt, "You're Beautiful", I forget the year. I remembered the name of the song because he says it many times. That's true. 4,800, possibly lower.
Baby Bash, "Suga, Suga", 2003 maybe? It started really low, but I went up to 4,850 primarily because I liked the rapping better than the singing, which was very repetitive and didn't match the beat as well as the rapping did.
N Sync, "It's Gonna Be Me" from 2000. It was good to get this one next to the Baby Bash song. My thinking was "Is this song better than that one?" You know? It's not. 4,900. There's a chance they both might move up slightly but they won't go down probably.
50 Cent/The Game, I forget the name of it, I don't even know the year. It was not real good. They are high-powered names and the rap was OK as far as the beat, but the message was pretty much, "I'm cool because I may or may not go to jail." 4,925.
No Doubt featuring Lady Saw, "Underneath It All", 2008. I kind of wondered why they needed Lady Saw when they have Gwen Stefani. Lady S did add something; I guess she's a reggae performer, 4,650.
Fountains of Wayne, "Stacey's Mom", '03. It was the first MILF song, that I can remember anyway. 2,900.
Black Eyed Peas, "Boom Boom Pow" from 2009. They did mix up some things in there. I think they could have used more Fergie. She had the line, "I'm so 3008, you're so 2000-late," or something like that. 4,450.
Rob Thomas, "Little Wonders". I have little affection for this one. The year was '05, I think. 4,750.
Green Day, "Holiday", '05. 2,800.
Linkin Park, "Shadow of the Day", '08. 4,550.
Kelly Clarkson, "Walk Away", '05, I think. 4,400.
Outkast, "Hey Ya", from '03. I reconsidered something about these songs in relation to each other and  based on what I've heard today. If I'm going to give "Stacey's Mom" 2,900, I would give Outkast about 2,600 and I would move that Green Day song up to 2,400. The Outkast song gets you out of your seat, for sure.
Lady Gaga, "Paparazzi". I've already reviewed this one. I think it was around 3,900.
Three Doors Down, "Let Me Go", '05. I've been so distracted by the traffic that I didn't get a good listen to it. It wasn't anything great. 4,500.
Owl City, "Fireflies", '09. This is something Samantha liked when it was popular. It's not terrible. 4,300.
Here's another one she really liked: Taylor Swift, "Love Story", and I'll go 3,700 on it.

In which I recall various college and fantasy sports

More from the aughts on Nov. 8:
Kelly Clarkson, "Breakaway", one of these songs was from '05 but I think this one was from '04. I'll give Kelly credit for making a pretty good career out of her modest talent. I don't give her credit for being the one person that I mention to people that are "American Idol" fans that it sucks, essentially, and they come back with "Oh, Kelly Clarkson, she's great!" She has hung around, and I do give her credit for that. I'm guessing that even those "American Idol" fans can mention more than two or three of the people who actually won the thing. Some years the success anybody had was by the second banana or somebody lower than the actual winner. My biggest argument with "American Idol" is that I've heard so much good music knocked down by terrible arrangements and bad renditions of that music. I don't really watch the show, but I do hear it at times coming from other rooms when people in my house are watching it. I just can't handle having mangled Beatles and such. We live in a "reality" TV world. I noticed tonight that there's another season of "The Bachelor." And even "Survivor" has survived somehow.
Eminem, "Just Lose It", '04. I understand it took him or whoever wrote the lyrics (check this) minutes to do that. 4,700.
Terror Squad featuring Fat Joe and Remy, "Lean Back," '04. I think it's number 7 on the playlist. 4,750. It does have a bit of a beat that mixes it up.
Maroon 5, "She Will Be Loved," 4,200.
Now some of my listening from Nov. 9.
Rihanna, "S.O.S." I'm not sure of the year. 4,000.
Britney Spears, "Toxic", 2004. 3,800. I remember going to the Whitney Young Classic in '04 or '05. Both historically black colleges' bands played "Toxic", and I remember saying that it was an appropriate song to be playing at The Meadowlands. Who knows what's buried under there?
Bon Jovi, "Who Says You Can't Go Home", '05. It has a little country sound in there. 4,500.
Jennifer Lopez, "Waiting for Tonight", 2000. Pretty standard dance music. 4,625.
Simple Plan, "Perfect", I think '03. 4,650.
Vanessa Carlton, "A Thousand Miles". 2002, I believe. I also believe she's the one who looks like Michelle Branch. 4,500.
Jamie Foxx/T-Pain, "Blame It". I kind of got interested in the line at the end, "blame it on the a-ahc-a-ach-alcohol." 4,750.
Linkin Park, "Breaking the Habit". Nothing really to recommend this over a few thousand other songs. 4,800.
Janet Jackson, "Someone to Call My Lover", 2001. 4,700.
Those must have been songs I listened to on my way home from the American Airlines Center after midnight, because I also have songs from Nov. 9 that were from the '90s on Sirius XM Channel 9.
This was another Downtown Julie Brown Back in the Day Replay. Number 28 on the list from this week in '93 is K7 with "Come Baby Come". May be a little suggestive. Early in the song, they rhyme innuendo with crescendo. I didn't record my score, so I'll have to listen to this again.
Number 27 is DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, "Boom! Shake the Room". I remember that in the '90s I used to work at basketball games at the University of Rochester, this was very popular at least for the "Tick ... Tick ... Tick ... Tick Boom!" lyric, I think when the team was on a roll. Also, Fresh Prince came into my life last year when I played fantasy basketball for the first time in an ESPN.com league. It was allegedly Los Angeles-based, so I figured I needed an LA name for my team. I was thinking of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and I named my team Fresh Prints, which also refers to the fact that I've done a lot of work in print journalism. And I won the league after having a terrible start. I'm having a terrible start this year, so maybe I'll do better. 4,100 for Jazzy Jeff.
Number 26: Gin Blossoms, "Hey Jealousy", I guess '93. 4,150. These last two are pretty good, and I realize they could move up when I find I have more songs below 4,000 than above.
Shy, "Baby I'm Yours". This is a song that has no idea what it is. Is it a sappy ballad, is it smooth mellow soul out of its time, is it danceable as some kind of scaled-down hip hop? 4,900, and that might be generous. There's also spoken-word in here, adding to the confusion.
Rod Stewart, "Reason to Believe". 3,900.
I was talking to Margaret (M-Tex) about rap music and trying to understand it. She said to her it's a story, and really it's deep-down roots are in recitative opera. That's something we can explore. Again on Margaret, there is a fairly prevalent string part in "Reason to Believe". I'm guessing that she probably played that when she was in concert with Rod as part of his orchestra, I think in the early aughts when he played in Lubbock.
Blind Melon, "No Rain". 4,300. Julie Brown mentioned something about this with a video with a bee girl in it.
Tupac/Digital Underground, I think it's "I Get Around". I just realized that it ended. I got kind of tired of listening to it. It's not Tupac's best, and I don't think it's Digital Underground's worst either. Cough, cough ... Humpty Dance. On the Tupac fred, I'll give it 4,350.
Mariah Carey, "Hero", listed as 1994. 4,200, maybe a little higher.
Inner Circle, I forget the name of the song. It goes, "la la la la la la la long, long time." 4,400
Aerosmith, "Cryin'". 300, maybe higher. You may recall that in an earlier post I rated it at 250, and said possibly higher. Part of my premise in this project is that our perception and our opinion of music is affected by our mood at a particular time, which in turn is influenced by the music we hear. So I'm guessing that in the final analysis, "Cryin'" will be between 200 and 300.
Aaliyah, "(You Are Love)", 1994. Just a kind of love song. 4,500, giving the late Aaliyah the benefit of the doubt.
Third Eye Blind, "Semi-Charmed Life", 1997. 1,500.
Madonna, "Ray of Light," 1998. As I listened, I kept dropping this down, got to 4,500.
Montell Jordan, "This Is How We Do It", 1998. I think I had this one the other night and gave it 4,000 or 4,100, which sounds about right.
Nirvana, "Smells Like Teen Spirit". I think I had this one the other night too, and it was around 1,500 to 1,800.
Bone Thuggz and Harmony, not sure what song, from '96. And I didn't record my score.
Roxette, "Fading Like a Flower", 1991. 4,450.
Smash Mouth, "Walking on the Sun", I forget which year, maybe mid-'90s. 4,025.
Paula Abdul, "Opposites Attract", 1990. Seemed as if she was trying to bridge the gap between dance music and hip hop a little bit. 4,400.
Tracy Chapman, "Give Me One Reason", I'm pretty sure '96. 4,250. It was kind of bluesy, and that was pretty much like swimming upstream at that time. It was interesting for its time.
Will Smith, "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It", 1998. This is one of those things that was really big at the time and when you look back at it, you wonder whether that came in from some alternative universe. Will Smith rapping. This is a phrase that became popular, but any time a white parent said "get jiggy wit it," their children were mortified for weeks if not months afterward, that the parent ever uttered those words. I think Jada Pinkett-Smith has done a good job playing a bad girl on "Gotham," so at least she can be cast against type. After all that, I didn't give Will a rating.
Sugar Ray, "Falls Apart", 1999. This was a group that had some ascendency in the late '90s, so its longevity is a little more than a shooting star. And that reminds me of my fantasy hockey team this year, the Shooting Stars. The irony there is that the worst thing the Shooting Stars do is shooting.
Color Me Badd, "I Want to Sex You Up", I believe 1991. I never said that to any woman, but I think that if I did I'd get the same reaction as if I said, "I want to get jiggy wit it." 4,450 for "I Want to Sex You Up." Not you.
Next is recording #70 from Nov. 11.

"Crying" moves toward the top

More that I listened to Nov. 7:
Aerosmith, "Crying", 1993. When I was going through listening to songs and trying to figure out how I was going to go about this project, there were a number of groups and individuals that I heard and really didn't remember how good they were. Aerosmith was one of those. "Crying" is great! Nobody screams out the lyrics as well as Stephen Tyler, the video on this is good as I recall. 250, may go higher.
On Nov. 8, I was listening to songs from the aughts on Sirius XM Channel 10.
Black Eyed Peas, "I Got a Feeling" from 2009. It's the "Tonight's going to be a good night" song. 3,600.
The Calling, "Wherever You Will Go". Not sure of the year. 4,100.
Snoop Dogg/Charlie, "Beautiful" from 2003. It's really more weird than beautiful. It's mixing rap with some kind of song. I'm just not sure why they do it. It's like taking decaf coffee and mixing it with regular coffee. What's the point? 4,600. I would have gone 4,500 for Snoop, but Charlie, I don't know about that dude.
Lil Wayne, "Go DJ" from 2004. 4,700. I had a thought that I really didn't know a lot about hip hop and rap music, what makes it good. I'm willing to have anybody who could write something to explain that, and include it with my work.
These songs are a top 30 list. Lance Bass is spinning the discs or hitting the play button or whatever it is radio personalities do these days. The latest was Nelly and Joheim (I think it's pronounced YO-hime) with "My Place". If I gave the other one 4,700 I can't see this one being any better than 4,750, and I think I'm going to be hearing a lot of the same kind of music and I might not be giving too many good grades.
Ryan Cabrera, "On the Way Down", from '04. I think he said it was number 15. 4,600. I'm also thinking I'm on a pace to have several thousand songs between 4,000 and 5,000 so naturally some of these lower numbers will be sliding up.
Alicia Keys, "Diary", says it's from '03, so maybe we're taking a break from the countdown. I can't imagine this being number 14 from any year. Dear Diary: If this is on Alicia' best-of album, she's not as good as I thought she is. Obviously, she can sing. She can play the piano. This particular song should come with a can of Red Bull to keep us awake. 4,800.
N.O.R.E./Nina Sky/Daddy Yankee and one or two others, "Oye Mi Canto", I think it's pronounced NOR-ee. 2004. It's partly in Spanish and partly in English, and I thought I heard an "arigato" in there, so maybe it's partly in Japanese too. It was lively, it had some energy, so it picked me up a little bit. I'd say it was better than the music I would hear in Panama when I was in the Army, so 4,650.
Avril Lavigne, "My Happy Ending", '04. It's got some energy. I don't think of Avril as particularly happy in some of her songs, but this one's pretty good. 3,800.
Akon, number 11, "Locked Up". I understand it's about an African-American man who's locked up in jail, maybe unjustly, which is a hot topic as I write this. But musically it's pretty monotonous. 4,720.
Before I forget, Philip told me the Pussycat Doll he sat next to on a plane was Nicole Scherzinger herself, who is THE Doll probably.
Trick Daddy and another couple of people, "Let's Go". It has the Ay-ay-ay thing in it, and it's got some energy. I'd rather see collaborations between people in the same kind of business than to hear a Trick Daddy/Justin Timberlake or Akon/Miley Cyrus collaboration. It makes no sense to me.

A Fantastic Voyage and an insult to the Stones

More from Nov. 7, written on Nov. 30 and finally posted here.
I have been doing some good work on the database, and have now completed the '70s.

On our way back from Charleston, S.C., where we celebrated Thanksgiving and my sister Margaret’s (M-NY’s) birthday.

As part of the celebration my brother-in-law, Neal, put together a playlist from dates significant in her life. Some good entries from 1954, ’72, ’76, ’77, ’79 and ’81. Many of those I’m sure I’ll be reviewing before too long.

Getting back to what I’ve heard before on Sirius XM, we have Coolio, “Fantastic Voyage,” 1994, 3,650.

Semisonic, “Closing Time,” maybe 1998. The great line in there is “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” 1,200.

Robyn S., “Show Me Love, ’93. I guess Robyn R. wasn’t available. The longer I listened to this, the worse in got. 4,910.

Sheryl Crow, “Every Day Is a Winding Road,” sometime after ’95. I really like Sheryl Crow because musically she does well and she also writes her lyrics. But whoever does, she has some really thought-inducing lyrics. In this one there’s “I’m a stranger in my own life,” and “Had a daughter named Easter. She was born on a Tuesday night.” (Check the exact lyrics.) In contrast with the earlier song, I kept going up with the ratings for this one. 1,200.

Arrested Development, but not the TV show, “Mr. Wendal” from ’92. It does have some message in there and they did throw some music in around the constant beat. I’ll give them some credit for both of those things. 4,350.

Nirvana, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” not sure of the year because I’m in Samantha’s car that doesn’t have the whole display for longer titles. It seems to me that grunge was kind of the precursor to general alternative music, which to me was the highlight of the ‘90s. Butt-head called them “Nivarna.” 550.

En Vogue, “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It),” not sure of the year. I think they did a good job mixing it up. 3,400.

Spin Doctors, “Two Princes”, late ‘90s. I like this one. The Spin Doctors were good, but limited. They didn’t do a lot. 900. I like the syncopation especially.

Janet Jackson, “Rhythm Nation”. I think I was too depressed to see the date. I’m guessing even half of Janet’s fans couldn’t remember many of the crappy songs she put out during the ‘90s, not to mention that someone in her entourage left us with a turd called wardrobe malfunction. 4,600.

Melissa Etheridge, “Come to My Window”. I could see only the 9 in the date. I’m not a big fan of Melissa’s, she’s too country for me. It’s not even the best windows song. 4,100.

Tag Team with “Whoomp (There It Is)”. It’s hard to imagine why there was a time that this song and the other one, “Whoot (There It Is)” were ruling the pop culture. They were quite of equivalent of a little later time when you might have known all of the dance moves to “Macarena”.

The Offspring, “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)”. The ‘90s were a bad time to listen to music on this radio because they had so many long titles with parentheses. 2,700.

Taylor Dayne, “Heart of Stone”, 1990. I think the Stones were insulted that she borrowed their title. 4,600.
About that time I had to put up the tray table and put away the computer. A little more to come from Nov. 7, and I'll be moving forward from there.

The 'American Idol' effect

There you go.
Told you I would resume this listing. Once I get caught up, I'll also put the songs in their order in the beginning of the final database.
"There You Go" is also the name of the first song I heard Nov. 7. It was by Pink in 2000, and it's score is 4,450.
Beyonce, "Irreplaceable" from 2006. Very replaceable, very pedestrian musically. 4,820. I think Beyonce is one of the 21st-century female soloists who is nowhere near as strong as the female soloists coming up in the '80s and '90s.
For that matter, the male soloists aren't very strong either. I just heard Enrique Iglesias, "Being with You," I think that's '06. I think I also heard it a couple of nights ago, and I'm pretty sure it was in the mid-4,000s, between 4,400 and 4,600. That may be generous.
I'm not sure if "American Idol" has lowered the bar for what's considered good or what the deal is.
The Killers, "Somebody Told Me" from 2004. 3,800. Kind of reminds me a little of the Jonas Brothers. Kind of from the same era, a little earlier.
K.T. Tunstall, "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree," '06. I would have called it "Whoo-hoo." I like the guitar work on this one, 3,750.
Britney Spears, "Lucky" from 2000. She seemed to be singing in a baby voice, sounded younger than she did when she was 15. 4,600.
Smash Mouth, with a 2001 remake of "I'm a Believer." It's a little more up tempo than The Monkees' version, but it doesn't really add a lot musically. It does bring back some '60s organ. 4,100.
Alicia Keys, "If I Ain't Got You" from 2004. It's kind of a love song. It's not one of her best, but she surely can sing. 4,275.
My phone battery is dying and I have to get on the road soon. So I'll cut off this voice message #047 at 2:26 and pick it up later.

Catching up

The blog has gotten away from me for what has stretched into nearly two weeks.

I'll be making a number of posts, fitting in whatever I can, from my listening during the hiatus. I haven't blogged, but I have continued to listen to music and enter information into the database associated with this project.

I've missed only one day of listening since Nov. 7, and not sure that there have been any days when I haven't entered data. I've completed the 1980s, so I've been listening to Sirius XM Channel 8 for the last six days. I guess I'll listen to Channel 10 tonight on my drive to and from the American Airlines Center. Then Channel 9 Friday, and back to the '80s Saturday the 22nd.

At this point, I'm most of the way through the '70s, so by Sunday I could/should be listening to Sirius Channel 7 for seven days. By then, I could be ready to begin on the '60s, and after that the '50s. Then I'd set up a schedule incorporating all of the music channels on my Sirius XM radio.

Some information on family members I'll be mentioning in these posts. My children are Diana, Philip, Erin and Samantha. They range in age from 42 to 16, so they represent diverse interests. Anne was my first wife, Mary Beth my second and Margaret (M-Tex) my third/current/last. We'll just say they're older than my children but younger than I am. My sisters are Carolee (deceased) and Margaret, whom I'll indicate as such if she's included in a post to differentiate her from my wife, who's from Texas, M-Tex.

Some explanation of the rankings

Before I realized I was wrong Thursday, I again set the radio to Sirius XM Channel 10, which covers the aughts.
So on Friday, I'll make sure to listen to Channel 9 (1990s). Perhaps I might make it 2 days in a row, or perhaps I'll keep on going first with Channel 10.
I'm not as far along as I'd like in entering the 1980s Billboard Hot 100s to the database -- about halfway there, but I could have some time during the day Saturday and on Sunday morning.
Here's what I heard Thursday on the way to and from the American Airlines Center.
Pussycat Dolls, "Stickwitu". Because Philip once sat next to one of the Dolls on a flight, I'll give it 4,600. I didn't record the year.
The Script, "Break Even", I would have thought it was called "Falling to Pieces." It's from 2008. 4,150. Not bad for a song from this century.
Akon/Snoop Dogg, "I Wanna Love You", '06. When it's just one beat and kind of indecipherable lyrics, it's hard to give it a good score. They did mix it up some toward the end, so 4,700. One of the reasons why I try to listen to different channels is so I can try to get a feel for the music of that time and it could jog my memory as to some songs I listened. Even if I wanna love this song, I can't.
Lady Gaga, "Poker Face", '09. I know it was a big hit at the time. I'm not a big fan of Lady Gaga. I'm feeling a bit generous to give it 3,950. A word on how I resolve discrepancies between my rankings and how they were received by the general public at the time: My recollection is that "Poker Face" was No. 2 in the '09 Billboard list. That would put it in the top 99%. The 3,950 rating would put it in the top 21%, meaning that I'd expect 79% of the songs to be better. So I could take an average, and move it up or down my list accordingly. 99+21=120, and the average of the two would be 60. I haven't quite decided whether to move it up 60 places to 3,890 or move it up the difference between the average and my ranking (60-21=39), which would put it at 3,911. At present, I don't expect I would ever change my ranking by as much as 100 places, and rarely would I move it more than 50. I'll see how it plays out as I get more songs ranked.
Mario, "Let Me Love You", '04. It's kind of a melodic ballad over a steady -- not rap, but a steady -- beat. 4,800.
Atari, "Boys of Summer", I think that was about '03. I've been debating whether to put it up in the top half of my rankings. I don't think it's that good. I have a little soft spot for it because the title reminds me of Roger Kahn's book, "Boys of Summer," about the Brooklyn Dodgers -- and I'm a sucker for baseball stuff. I would not have been able to tell you the group was Atari. I didn't give it a ranking. And when I was entering some '80s songs into the database, I noticed that the original was by Don Henley. The Atari version sounds like the version I remembered (Henley's), so I couldn't give Atari as high as score as Henley. For now I'll say 3,600 for the Atari version, but I'll revisit it when I hear Henley's.
Christina Aguilera from '99 spilling over into 2000, "What a Girl Wants". I don't think it's the original. 4,600.
T.I./Justin Timberlake, "Dead and Gone". I think it was Justin trying to establish some street cred by being associated with some rap. 4,650.
Pink, "There You Go" from 2000. 4,450.
Beyonce, "Irreplaceable" from 2006. Very replaceable. Very pedestrian musically. 4,820, and that may be too high. I think Beyonce is one of the 21st-century female soloists who is nowhere near as good as the strong female vocalists who were coming up in the '80s and '90s. For that matter, the male soloists aren't that good either.
Enrique Iglesias, "Being with You". I think I heard that a couple of nights ago. I think I ranked it in the mid-4,000s, between 4,400 and 4,600, and that may be generous. I'm not sure if American Idol has lowered the bar for what is considered good, or what it is.
Killer, "Somebody Told Me", from '04. 3,800. It kind of reminds me of the Jonas Brothers, same era.
KT Tunstall, "Black Horses and the Cherry Tree" from '06, though I would have thought it was called "Whoo-hoo!" I like the guitar work on this one. 3,750.
Britney Spears, "Lucky" from 2000. She sings it in kind of a baby voice. She sounded younger than she did when she was 15. 4,600.
Smash Mouth with a 2001 remake of "I'm a Believer". It's a little more up-tempo than The Monkees' version, but it really doesn't add much musically. It does bring back some '60s organ. 4,100.
Alicia Keys, "If I Ain't Got You" from 2004. It's kind of a love song, and not one of her best, but she sure can sing. 4,275.
Three Doors Down, "Here Without You", 2003, I believe. I'll pump it up a bit to 4,050 in honor of M-Tex because they put some strings in there.
Flo Rida/T-Pain, "Low" from '08. I'm going 1,900 on this one. I've written about it on another blog as a song that helped the Tampa Bay Rays come together when they became a good team. The song always seemed to be on in the visitors' clubhouse when they came to Arlington. It's kind of catchy: "Shawty got low, low, low, low ..."
Santana/Michelle Branch from 2002 with "The Game of Love". Not the original, but a different song with the same title. I would have expected a better collaboration from the two stars. Carlos' guitar was much better than Michelle's singing on this one, but it's also possible it's just not a very good song.
19 songs. That's a better pace.

21st-century music?

On Tuesday, I went back to the American Airlines Center, listening to Sirius XM Channel 10.
Drove home after midnight, really too tired to work on anything that required thought.
Spent a lot of today resting and fighting a headache.
So here are the Tuesday results:
Christina Aguilera, "Keeps Gettin' Better" from 2008, but it doesn't. 4,550.
Green Day, "Wake Me Up When September Ends", 2005, 3,950.
Justin Timberlake, "Rock Your Body", '03. 4,700.
Nelly Furtado, "Say It Right", '06, 4,375.
Aerosmith, "Jaded", 4,100. Not one of their best. I'll have to check the year.
Outkast, "The Way You Move", '03. 4,050.
Crazy Town, "Butterfly", '01. It's about one step removed from standard-issue rap or hip hop. 4,800. Crazy Town tried to step out with lyrics about Sid and Nancy, but it was more dated than edgy.
Enrique Iglesias, "Be With You", 2000. Kind of standard-issue dance music, 4,850. Part of it reminds me of a better song, but I can't remember which one. I'll keep it in the back of my head and if I do hear that song, I'll mention it.
Evanescence, "My Immortal", '04. I'll slide this one up to 4,400 in honor of Allie, a woman I knew back in those days. I remember one time she was sitting in the driver's seat of her car and some Evanescence song came on the radio, don't think it's this one, and she starting singing it while I stood outside the car window. She called them Evan-sense. Kind of a weird moment, and I'm not sure what she meant by it, but it was memorable.
Backstreet Boys, "The One", '01. I'll go 4,980. There might be 20 worse than this one.
Just 10 songs? The traffic wasn't bad.

A nice mixture of reverence and skepticism

On today's trip to the American Airlines Center for Celtics vs. Mavericks, I was back on Sirius XM Channel 9 and '90s music.
Sponge, "Plowed", 1995, 4,300.
Salt-N-Pepa, "Shoop", from 1993, 3,100, no make it 3,400.
Joan Osborne, "One of Us", a nice mixture of reverence and skepticism: "What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us." and "Nobody calling on the phone. 'Cept for the pope maybe in Rome." 1,900. I forget to record the year but I'm pretty sure it was 1995 or later.
Fatboy Slim, "Praise You", 1999. 3,200. It had some good keyboards and a lot of engineering effects, probably too many. The producer pretty much had his way with it.
Roxette, "Dangerous", 1990. I don't know much about Roxette. They were around for a while, so they must have something going for them. I don't think "Dangerous" was particularly their best, I'd say on the low side of 4,500.
From '94, "Tootsie Roll" by 69 Boyz. 4,000. It's kind of catchy. In later years, the same idea kind of morphed into the one that had "cha cha real slow now." Looked it up; it's "Cha Cha Slide".
Duran Duran, "Come Undone Breath After Breath", 1993. Not one of their best efforts. 4,800.
The Real McCoy, a 1995 remake of "Come and Get Your Love," and not a very good remake. I don't think Luke McCoy would be beaming with joy. 4,750.
Extreme, and this is their greatest hit, "More Than Words" from 1991. It's a ballad with acoustic guitar and pretty good lyrics. 2,100.
Montell Jordan from 1995, "This Is How We Do It." 4,150, no 3,950. It's not just the same old beat and the same old rap, he actually sings some of it.
The Cure, "Friday I'm in Love" from '92. I never got into The Cure. I think Philip kind of liked them, but about the only time I paid attention to them was when Robert Smith was on "South Park" fighting the giant Barbra Streisand robot that threatened the earth. 4,200.
Eleven more. I have to pick up the pace. Maybe not drive home when I'm too tired to listen.

The first 2 days

I actually finished the first post on Nov. 1, but Margaret and I rushed off to a movie before I had published the post. So I didn't actually post it until I woke up Sunday morning.
Here's what I've listened to the last 2 days.
Electric Light Orchestra, "Strange Magic" (1991), first one. I'll go about 2,900.
Luther Vandross, I Don't Want to Be a F (1991). I was driving Samantha's car, in which a long song name doesn't scroll across the display. Based on the lyrics, it's actually "I Don't Want to Be a Fool". I gave it 4,800, but based on what I heard today, I'd move it up to about 4,400. I didn't know that Luther was deceased until I heard Downtown Julie Brown say he was.
Naughty By Nature, "O.P.P." from 1991. 4,950.
Also from '91, Jesus Jones or Haysus Jones, "Real Real Real". 4,900 on this one. At least it has some music. Downtown Julie pronounced it Jesus.
She was running down the Back in the Day Replay for 1991 on Sirius XM Channel 9. She made a joke when she said, "This is Downtown Julie Brown with big hits. I said big HITS."
Number 6 actually was recorded in 1990 according to the Sirius information. It was not Extreme's greatest hit, but rather "Hole Hearted". I said 4,700, but later moved it up to 4,200 because I like the lyric "There's a hole in my heart that can only be filled by you."
No. 5, Bryan Adams, "I Can't Stop This Thing". 4,300.
Natural Selection, "Say Anything". A generous 4,700, which means it should be 4,700 and something.
Mariah Carey was No. 2 with "Emotions". About 4,250. She had that ridiculous high-note thing going for her.
Karyn White, "Romantic", who knows? 4,220 to get it ahead of Mariah.
On Sunday, I listened to Sirius XM Channel 10 on the way to Texas Motor Speedway.
The Raconteurs, "Steady As She Goes". Never heard it before, give it about 4,650.
Howie Day from '04 with "Collide". About 4,800 with that one. It has some promise but is very repetitive.
From '09, Taylor Swift with "You Belong with Me"-Ee-Hee. In honor of Samantha, I'll give that 2,900. She and I would sing it together if it came on the radio while I was driving her to middle school.
Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz, I think it's from '03, and it's not Flo Rida's "Low" but "Get Low", and it's 4,700.
From 2002, No Doubt and "Hella Good". But it wasn't. In order to be hella good, it would have had a lot more Gwen Stefani and a lot less techno music.
From '06, John Mayer, "Waiting on the World to Change". I started at 3,100 and went on to 3,200 and 3,300. If I heard it more, I might even drop it down farther.
Beyonce, "Single Ladies", '08. Women like it, so in honor of them I'll give it 4,500. I just remember M-Tex singing, "If you like it, then you should have put a ring on it," before we were married.
Bon Jovi, "Who Says You Can't Go Home". A little bit country, and my Bon Jovi feelings are a little lukewarm anyway. I'll go 4,800.
Lady Gaga -- speaking of lukewarm or less -- and "Paparazzi". It's got some musical merit. I'll go 4,100.
2000, Matchbox 20, "If You're Gone". Sounds pretty sappy. I'm going 4,850.
Jay-Z, '04, "99 Problems". Make it 100 problems. 4,900. Or perhaps off the top 5,000 list. It's not musical, and the message isn't positive. More like how not to get arrested, or how to get off if you do.
From '06, Jack Johnson. Give him 3,900 for Erin. She was a big fan. I think she saw him perform in New York, maybe at the time she saw Nick Lachey's brother. Thinking of that instance reminds me of how her cousin's best friend's stepsister's boyfriend, or something like that, was the ugly guy from 98 Degrees.
From '05, Kanye West with "Gold Digger". It's quite a bit better than "99 Problems," so around 4,650.
From '04, Sarah Connor, "Bounce". She's got some stuff going on beneath a predictable beat, so I'm going 4,550. And wasn't Sarah Connor in "Terminator"?
Puddle of Mudd, '02, "She Hates Me". There's some rock in it. I was thinking they're a Christian rock band, but probably confused them with Jars of Clay. I'm going to go about 4,600.
That's 24 in 2 days, an average of 12. To get to where I want to be, ranking more than 5,000, I'd need to average 15 or more songs per day. There will be some repeats over the course of a year. I'm thinking there could be cases where my moods could produce significant differences in how I rate the same song at different times. My overall hope is that I'd be fairly consistent if I forget that I've already rated a song several months before.
A note on the rankings. I also have spent time over the past year trying to gauge how high I'd rank songs. So I do have some frame of reference at least in the back of my mind. If I'm going to rank 5,000 songs, each 1% of that consists of 50 songs. I hope to hear more than 5,000, so some of the marginal ones ranked in the low 4,000s will be dropped off the list, mentioned as being worse than the 5,000 or perhaps given a 5,000-plus number.

The Days the Music Lived

Here's the reason for this blog.
Like many, quite possibly most, people, I have spent a lot of my life listening to music. For this blog, I'll be writing about rock, popular, contemporary, alternative, soul, some rap and even bubble gum music. Radio music. Album music.
The music we've listened to in our spare time, occasionally even on someone else's time and dime. The music that in part defines our lives, but which definitely has shaped our lives.
I tried a number of other names for this blog -- Music of Our Lives, Music of My Life, The Best Music -- but all were already taken. That tells me that a number of people have had similar ideas for blogs.
So far there has been only one Day the Music Died, and that was a sad day indeed. On every other day of our lives, the music also has been alive. Let's celebrate it.
Here's how I'd like this celebration to go. I'll listen to music as I go about my days. Mostly, that will be during time in the car while I'm driving to assignments. Most of those are drives of half an hour, 45 minutes, an hour, even more if I'm stuck in Metroplex traffic.
I will document what I've heard. Through the magic of Sirius XM radio, I'll be able to listen to a variety of formats at different times. Before long, I'll have set up a schedule to make sure I give myself exposure to any format I can find on the satellites.
As I listen, I'll record notes to myself about what I've heard. Then I'll give each piece of music a number from 1 to 5,000. By the end of the year, I'm hoping to have a 1 to 5,000 listing of the favorite songs of my life in a database full of album-liner-type information and possibly in book form.
It doesn't all have to be my ratings. I welcome input from family, friends, anyone else who happens to read this. And I would incorporate that additional input into my ratings. So it will be the music of our lives and not just the music of my life.
I have started that database, in an attempt to make it easier to find information about the music. As a framework, I began about a year ago to enter Billboard Hot 100 lists beginning with 2012. I realize the Hot 100 is just a slice of the musical spectrum, and there will be a number of different types of music, album cuts, etc., added to it. Ideally, I'll end up with a chronological database as well as the 1-5,000 list.
The data entry has been stop and go as I've had other things to work on or music to listen to. So I've barely made it back into the '80s.
For that reason, my initial listening will be heavy with '90s and 21st-century music, whose titles already have been entered into the chronological database. I'll adjust the schedule so that I won't be listening to those decades as much -- or the '80s, which should all be entered within the next week.
I started my listening today on my drive to Dallas for a high school football game. Sirius XM Channel 9 had Downtown Julie Brown counting down the Back in the Day Replay for 1991.
I remember recently entering 1990 and '91 and thinking what a musical wasteland the early '90s were. There were a lot of 4,000-plus ratings for the music I heard today.
My method of recording my thoughts will be refined over time. I was using the voice recorder on my phone, but it was cumbersome to make a short recording, turn it off and then get back to it after my phone's screen had gone dark while I was waiting for the next song. That while making sure to drive safely.
I'll either get better at that, or use a small digital recorder. Something to make it more efficient to make my observations.
From time to time, the music will raise questions. Any questions I raise in the daily blog would be addressed in the resulting book.
I'm charging my phone now. Later, possibly after midnight, I'll post the thoughts from today's listen.