Pete and repeat

From Nov. 22, beginning with voice recording #121.
Michael Jackson, "Bad", '87. 4,200.
Steve Winwood, "Valerie", also from '87. 4,100. This is a Big '80s countdown for that week in '87. This must have been No. 23; "Bad" was 24.
Stevie Wonder, "Skeletons", '87. I might have reviewed this one already, or it might have been late at night as I was arriving home so I didn't hear the whole thing. If so, I didn't miss a whole lot. I do remember a line about "up the wazoo." 4,350 for No. 22 in the countdown.
Pretty Poison, "Catch Me I'm Falling", No. 21 in '87 this week. 4,550.
Madonna, "Causing a Commotion", '87. 4,500.
Whitney Houston, "So Emotional", '87. 4,600. I realized when I was listening to this that I've been giving close to the same numerical rank for all of these from that year. I think the reason is that there's so much sameness in them. It's as if every one was part of the "Weird Science" sound track. Maybe for a similar reason, a lot of the superstars, if you will, of this era have been overrated. Michael Jackson, Madonna, even Whitney. Maybe a reason why so many people a generation younger than I are so attached to Bruce Springsteen is that even if he also is overrated, he was considerably better than most of what was going on during his time, so he was the best thing to latch on to. He still pales in comparison with Elvis or the Beatles and the best of some other eras, in my opinion. I'm not sure he's at the same level as Elvis or the Beatles; in fact, Bruce definitely isn't.
Squeeze, "Hourglass Number 18". Oh, boy! 4,700.
Jody Watley, "Touch Me" maybe? Something about touching. I zoned out on this one several minutes early. 4,750. My January research did not find a Watley '87 song title including touch. This could have been "Don't You Want Me".
Whitesnake, "Is This Love", '87. Kind of a boring ballad. Not their best, by any means. 4,400.
Pet Shop Boys, "It's a Sin". I don't remember this one from when it apparently had some popularity; it was No. 14 on this weeks list. I had some hope for it when it started out because the instrumentation was different, but there was the same damn beat: DOO doo, DOO doo, DOO doo. Every time I would warm up to it, they'd come back with that drum track under it. I don't this is even as good as what I said was 4,500, so I'll say 4,550.
Debbie Gibson, "Shake Your Love", '87. There's that beat again. This one probably isn't as bad as the worst one I heard today, and it's Debbie Gibson too. Still, I'll give it 4,725.
Poison, "I Won't Forget You", '87. It's a little country, but at least there's a little bit of change in the rhythm. 4,400.
Sting, "We'll Be Together", '87, No. 11 in the survey. Not very good. 4,500. I just listened to it again because I apparently didn't stop the recording between songs. This was very repetitive. The last minute or more was "Together. We'll be together tonight," repeated and re-repeated.
On my way home after the Stars game, I heard the same survey repeated. Fitting for the theme of this day. Number 27 was Aerosmith, "Dude Looks Like a Lady", '87. I might have done this before and been closer to 2,500, but I think 2,700 is about right.
George Harrison, "I've Got My Mind Set on You" -- a 1987 remake from '62, by a guy named James Ray. 3,000.
Los Lobos, "Come On, Let's Go", '87, was No. 25. I was thinking it was Buddy Holly who did this originally, but Martha Quinn told me it was Ritchie Valens. There's kind of an eerie connection there. I didn't remember that Los Lobos did anything other than "Black Is Black". This one is a good early rock-n-roll song. Probably not as good as Ritchie's version from 1958, but 3,900.
Next up: voice recording #128 from Nov. 24.