Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 19
Chart Week: December 22, 1984 Song: “The Belle of St. Mark” – Sheila E. Chart Position: #34, 9th week on the chart. Peaked at #34 for three weeks over December and January. One last 1984 countdown to close out the year. And, holy crap, what a countdown it was! The summer of ’84 gets all the glory, but this week…
Friday Playlist
Christmas vacation has begun. The girls had early dismissal yesterday and are now home for two-plus weeks of holiday bliss. Or hiding in their rooms staring at their devices. Christmas in 2018… As a self-anointed connoisseur of holiday music, I thought I would share some of my favorite songs that aren’t jam-packed into every other Christmas playlist you may have…
Favorite Songs of 2018
After about six weeks of hard work, here they are: my 22 favorite songs of 2018. Yeah, 22. Got a problem with that? I didn’t think so. I’ve provided both a Spotify playlist that goes from the end of the list to #1, and individual videos for each song. These posts are always hard to get right with all the…
State of Music: 2018
Before I drop my favorite songs of the year on you, a few moments for my annual State of Music address. 2018 was tough. Regular readers know the biggest reason why I say this: the May suicide of Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison. I was pretty emotional about Prince’s death, and felt a little strange because of that. I figured…
Friday Vid
OK, wanted to slide one more thing in for the week. This delightful video of how crabs exchange shells should make your day.
Friday Playlist
I’m all set to unleash my Favorite Songs of 2018 list on the world early next week. As was a tradition on my old podcast, I’ll offer up this appetizer: a playlist of my #1 song of each year going back to 2004. I always offer the disclaimer that I do not update these lists. A few of these songs…
Song and Dance
A couple Christmas entertainment links to share this morning. I had been kicking around the idea of writing about my least favorite Christmas songs. Alexandra Petri decided to take that to a whole other level and rank 100 Christmas songs. A few of these I’ve never heard of and I think she leaves out a few that get played a…
Friday Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/user/224aiwksicafjldlua6nnpo4y/playlist/05vFwBpOdx80juaTDV90Kw?si=_YAOcPI-Q8OSU0iffEYGkg “Hire” – Girlpool. I don’t know much about this band. This song made Steven Hyden’s November Mixtape, and he says they make lots of perfect songs, so I may need to check them out. This track has a heavy Elliott Smith vibe to it. “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You) – The 1975. I’m not sure that there’s…
Friday Playlist
November 30. This is when my music listening patterns begin to change. I’ve been listening to some Christmas music, but not as much I have in the past. I think I’m waiting for December 1 to really dive in. This week has been largely devoted to rounding out my Favorite Songs of the Year list. But more about than in…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 18
Chart Week: November 15, 1986 Song: “Human” – The Human League Chart Position: #2, 10th week on the chart. Peaked at #1 the week of November 22. I only got to listen to a few minutes of the local countdown two Sundays ago. I felt obligated, though, to write about it as that was the last old AT40 we will…