{"id":7550,"date":"2019-08-07T14:05:20","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T18:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/?p=7550"},"modified":"2024-08-29T23:13:15","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T03:13:15","slug":"reaching-for-the-stars-vol-29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/2019\/08\/07\/reaching-for-the-stars-vol-29\/","title":{"rendered":"Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 29"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chart Week: August 31, 1985
\nSong: \u201cInvincible (Theme from The Legend of Billy Jean<\/em>)\u201d – Pat Benatar
\nChart Position: #12, 15th week on the chart. Peaked at #10 the week of September 14.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m cheating a little for this entry. Although I\u2019m sure if I listened to the iHeart Radio classic AT40 station long enough I\u2019d hear a countdown from around this period, I decided to pick a week on my own.<\/p>\n

With M off to high school tomorrow, I was thinking back to my last day before I started high school. I remember going to Oceans of Fun, the water park in Kansas City. But I have no idea who I went with, which is a little strange. My best guess is a good friend that went to the other high school in our area. But I have no concrete memory of that afternoon other than being at the park.<\/p>\n

I also remember sitting around that night, burning off some nervous energy for the big day by playing the game Risk with my parents. Yeah, I played Risk as a 14-year-old. Yeah, I got along with my parents well enough to play board games with them. Sue me.1<\/a><\/sup> And I\u2019m roughly 95% sure that while we played games, the evening replay of American Top 40<\/em> was on in the background. Or maybe the Rick Dee\u2019s Weekly Top 40<\/em>, which was broadcast at night and I enjoyed listening to to compare\/contrast with Casey\u2019s countdown.<\/p>\n

Regardless\u2026I was listening to a pop radio countdown from the heart of my favorite years. So many good songs on this week\u2019s list, but I just happened to hear this song as I was driving to pick M up from her morning orientation session, and it seemed like a sign.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t really go wrong with a Pat Benatar song. Her big hits were all really, really good. For as big a part of the culture of that time she was – admittedly that is as much because of Fast Times at Ridgemont High<\/em> as her music – it surprised me to see Pat only had four top ten hits. But she did have 11 other top 40 songs, which is a pretty great career.<\/p>\n

I think this and \u201cWe Belong\u201d are my two personal Benatar favorites.<\/p>\n

As parents we know that the high school years can be tough. I\u2019m hoping M has a little invincible in her for the next four years. And that she never gets herself into any legal misunderstandings like Helen Slater did in the summer of \u201985<\/a>.<\/p>\n