I think I’ve officially reached the point in back to school week when your momentum begins to slow down. I didn’t get out of bed with the same enthusiasm I did way back on Monday morning. My throat felt sore and I began to daydream about Saturday morning and no alarm clocks.
It’s just all such an adjustment. I’ve filled out forms and surveys and signed various documents and helped Caroline with science homework that caused me to have to recall the steps to prove a hypothesis. I’ve packed lunches and cooked dinner and driven to soccer practice. And you know what I haven’t done one time this week? Sat by the pool.
Re-entry is a tough old bird.
And I’m assuming most you don’t care to hear the riveting tale of how I put my fall wreath on the front door and hung my Aggie flag yesterday in celebration of game week. Which is fortunate because I just told you the whole story in my previous sentence. And P didn’t even look up when I said I had nothing to write about tonight. It’s like he’s been hearing that every night for seven years or something.
But then I thought about something Sophie and I briefly talked about in the podcast yesterday. Well, technically, we didn’t talk about it, but we talked about J. Lo singing with T. Swift (I know. T. Swift. Like I’m so down with the kids. But it fits with J. Lo.) and if you watched the video then you might remember that Taylor is the one that actually brought up this specific subject.
What song did you like to lip synch to in your bedroom when you were anywhere between the ages of 12 to 17? Or, you know, yesterday? There’s no judgment here.
But I’m thinking specifically about those angst-y, dramatic teen years when you really knew what Bonnie Tyler meant when she sang, “I don’t know what to do and I’m always in the dark. We’re living in a powder keg and giving off sparks.” because (hypothetically speaking) your boyfriend Danny broke up with you right as you were leaving the junior high dance at the YMCA and you still had to see him when everyone met up at Mr. Gatti’s ten minutes later.
Here’s my own personal list. Please remember that we are not here to judge other’s choices. The heart and the hairbrush mic wants what it wants. Also, this is by no means a comprehensive list. No one possibly has that much time. These are just the first ten that came to mind.
1. Hard to Say I’m Sorry – Chicago
This is still one of my favorites. In fact, if you told me I could only listen to one group for the rest of eternity, Chicago might be my pick. I have no explanation for this other than Peter Cetera and David Foster.
2. Keep On Lovin’ You – Reo Speedwagon
This was the line I really liked to belt out, “When I said that I love you, I meant that I love you forever.” Or until you wore those dorky looking jeans to the eighth grade pep rally. Whatever.
3. Crazy for You – Madonna
I never saw Vision Quest because I wasn’t allowed to see rated R movies when it came out. And then by the time I was old enough, I no longer cared to watch a love story involving a high school wrestler. Is that what the movie is about? That’s just what I gleaned.
Anyway, it gave the world this song and for that I am grateful. Or at least I was back in 1985.
4. Let’s Hear it for the Boy – Deniece Williams
Because love isn’t always a downer. Some days when my potent cocktail of teenage hormones was just right, I felt optimistic about life. This usually coincided with being invited to some sort of dance by a cute boy who really needed to shave the six hairs on his face, but hadn’t started shaving yet because, well, he only had six hairs on his face.
5. Hard Habit to Break – Chicago
How would you feel if I told you I had to buy the Chicago 17 cassette three different times because I kept overplaying it and the tape would get all mangled in my sweet York stereo system with dual cassette players?
6. Forever – Kenny Loggins
This is a big one for me. I even learned how to play it on the piano. And you know what’s more dramatic than a fourteen-year-old girl playing a love song on the piano?
Nothing.
7. Faithfully – Journey
Journey is another strong contender for group I’d choose if I could only listen to one group for the rest of my life. And honestly I almost went with Open Arms here. It’s a toss up.
8. What Have You Done for Me Lately? – Janet Jackson
Those of you who didn’t actually own the Control album may not be aware of the best part of this song. At the very beginning there are girls just talking and one of them says, “I know he USED to do nice things for you, but what has he done for you LATELY?” And you have to say LATELY with strong emphasis on both syllables, like it’s two separate words.
9. Fortress Around Your Heart – Sting
Clearly as I got older I had to move away from the senseless pop music of my early years and exchange it for a sophisticated, intellectual sound. This was about the time I discovered The Dream of the Blue Turtles and it fit the bill. I mean, blue turtles? That’s deep.
10. Lookin’ for A New Love – Jody Watley
If I weren’t so tired, I’d find the picture of me from junior/senior prom where I essentially made my hair look like Jody Watley’s thanks to a phenomenal spiral perm and a tiny curling iron. It was one of my finest hair moments of the entire decade.
Sadly, my date dumped me the following week for the girl who was part of the couple we double-dated with to the prom. Which is for the best since he obviously had no appreciation for a girl who could use a whole bottle of Aussie Sprunch Spray in one evening.
Please join me in this humbling walk down memory lane. What were your songs? Did you sing them into a hairbrush? A curling iron? Don’t be afraid to share. This is a safe place.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013
Ummm….let’s see…I am 34 so, I MIGHT have sang a few of these:
1. Cryin’ by Aerosmith (or anything from their Get a Grip album)
2. Hold On by Wilson Phillips
3. All for Love by Rod Stewart, Bryan Adams and Sting (maybe?) My BFF and I had lyrics written out, along with who sang which part.
4.Stay by Lisa Loeb
5. Toy Soldiers by Martika (step by step, and heart to heart)
6. Step by Step and other various NKOTB songs
7.Waterfalls by TLC
8.Strawberry Wine by Deanna Carter
9. Livin’ on a Prayer by the one and only Bon Jovi
10. Romeo by Dolly Parton…our show choir did this, way before Glee made it cool to be in show choir.
Now, let’s all sing along!
Excellent song selection, Kelley! I also loved All for Love and anything by NKOTB or Bon Jovi. I still listen to some of that music today and may or may not still belt it out when no one else is around. 🙂
I am also 34 and my list would be very similar. LOVED Toy Soldiers! But I would also have to add “One Moment in Time” by Whitney Houston. I liked to sing it while picturing myself winning an Olympic gold medal. Probably because I have no athletic ability whatsoever.
I totally forgot about Toy Soldiers…I had to go listen to it!
Ditto – my list wouldn’t have been better than yours if I spent all day on it! Ah, Toy Soldiers, I think I need to bring that up on You Tube and listen for old times sake. I may have had a little Whitney Houston (I Wanna Dance With Somebody), Debbie Gibson (Electric Youth), and Tiffany’s (I Think We’re Alone Now) on my list too though!
I’m 33 and that is the perfect list! Strawberry Wine particularly reminds me of when I was a hostess at Cracker Barrel the summer of junior year of high school and they played that song approximately ten million times a day.
But I still love it. 🙂
YES! Tiffany’s “I Think We’re Alone Now” is my #1!! My sister and her friend performed it in a talent show so I heard it over and over and over again as a kid and now it just has the fondest memories for me. It is the only song I will sing at Karaoke. “Children behave! That’s what they say when we’re together!” AHH I LOVE IT!!
Kelley, your list is pretty much perfect! I’m a few years younger (just turned 30), but that list definitely sums up my childhood and pre-teen years. Wilson Phillips?! Be still, my heart! And let me just add Mariah Carey’s “Daydream” album…a few years after most of the songs on your list, but still a huge part of my early teenage memories!
You nailed it. Plus Shoop by Salt N Pepa. Here I go, here I go, here I go again…
Yes, yes, yes, to all of hte above. I’ll be 34 next week. And yes, Shoop. And I also had a phase where I rocked out to Janis Joplin and Van Morrison, in addition to Aerosmith and Bon Jovi.
I’m too young for Strawberry Wine, but I still can’t hear it without singing!
Hahaha! I just had to look up “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips to play for my fiance who had never heard it. And the second it came on, I proceeded to sing along loudly to the entire song and then have it stuck in my head for a week (but I didn’t mind at all).
This is so fun! My favorites were:
You’re Still the One by Shania Twain. I requested this song so I could dance with the boy who had just dumped me but had agreed to one last dance. (I’m sure I begged!) As you can imagine I was heartbroken. I sang this song as I cried into my pillow each night for days!
Once I was over him, I sang The Dance by Garth Brooks a lot!
Then, of course, there’s In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel. I knew every word and practiced this song while watching myself in the full length mirror. I thought it was the most romantic song ever.
I spent a lot of time singing Bryan Adams- Everything I Do, I Do it for You, Summer of ’69, and Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman.
I was pretty much a big mush when it came to love songs! And I could not for the life of me figure out why the guys weren’t lining up to serenade me like they did in the music videos! HA!
REO definitely, and Journey– exactly the songs you mentioned. I also was incredibly fond of Def Leppard’s Too Late for Love. (I am mortally afraid to google the lyrics of any of those…) Oh, the memories!
Mary
Oh Mary, I hear ya on the lyrics.
My bff and I got a Loverboy cd several years ago to play on the road trip to summer camp with our kids.
Her way too mature for her years daughter with a sly smile on her face – “Um, mom? What are they talking about???”
Needless to say, we shelved the cd until after we dropped the kids off at camp and then sang our hearts out on the trip back home.
Loved all things Def Leppard and Journey, too.
Oh, those 80’s.
Wow. This is awesome!
So many to list here.
Al of the above plus-
1. Somethin’ to Talk About by the One and Only Bonnie Raitt.
2. Jeremy by Pearl Jam (especially that screams/whaling/uh-huuuh jam at the end)
3. Okay, really that entire Pearl Jam album.
4. Bsically the entire Big Chill soundtrack. (Still to this very day)
5. I often find myself singing along with the Indigo Girls a tad too loudly at Publix (the closer I am to fi-iiiiiiine.)
6. As a tribute to my late aunt and fond memories of her and my more with large glasses of boxed wine, I have been known to really go for it when I hear Linda Ronstadt’s Blue Bayou.
7. Escapade-Janet, Miss Jackson if you’re nasty.
Oh, Big Chill soundtrack..blasting from the windows of my best friend’s blue 1978 Camaro.
is there any other music worth listening to?
I thought I may have been the only person to ever buy the Big Chill soundtrack for my iPod…obviously not!!!
Anything Pearl Jam. And I still sing it loud. All the time. To the embarrasment of my 10 year old.
Ditto Indigo Girls and Pearl Jam (although Better Man is the one that really does it for me).
One question……how in the heck can you remember all of that.???
I can’t remember the three things I went to the grocery store for!!
Now if I hear an old song I can remember all of the words……or what I think the words are but not much more
I love all of your songs, but they were from my college years 🙂 I am not sure of my favorites, but since you said this is a safe place, I will share the few that popped into my head first:
“Torn Between Two Lovers” haha, anything from the Captain and Tennille, “Play that Funky Music” and “Sweet Home Alabama”. Not sure if I sang them into a hairbrush in front of a mirror. Age does bad things to your memory!
Ahhh so fun! My number one is Footloose. I can’t explain it but even to this day I pick up my 3 year olds and swing them around the living room like a crazy person when I hear it.
And a whole lot of Wilson Phillips was played when I would drive around town with my bestie in high school — in my Olds Cutlass Supreme no less. “Hold On” was our specialty. Then there were the boy bands. 98 degrees and “I do”. Backstreet Boys and “I want it that way”. N Sync and “This I promise You.” And let’s not forget Boyz 2 Men “On bended knee” and “I’ll Make Love to You”. True story – my best friends in college never wanted to admit they liked the boy bands, so they would give me those CD’s for my birthday so that way I would have them in my possession but they could listen to them anytime they wanted. Sweet friends, right? 🙂
Air Supply. “The beating of my heart is a drum, and it’s lost and it’s looking for a rhythm like you…” I mean come on, how do you not belt out those lyrics?
Yes! Air Supply! I shed ENDLESS amounts of tears to them. They’re still the songs that transport me immediately back to my teenaged angst!
Ahh, Kenny Loggins! And Journey. Oh, and Chicago. Wow, I could go on but this just dates me. What a walk down Memory Lane.
(Do you have a new purple/green design for your blog, or is the the problem on my computer? Anyone else experienceing this) Those songs are classic. And a fourteen year old girl on the piano playing a love song? Funny!
Two words: Boy. Bands. I am a product of the late ’90s/early 2000s, so my middle and high school years are one big NSync, 98 Degrees, Backstreet Boys loop. I remember being all, “Yes, quit playing games with my heart!” It seemed so intense at the time. All this VMA talk has made me so nostalgic, it makes me want to pull out my curling iron and work on my bangs while singing “Tearin’ Up My Heart,” which may or may not be how I started my first day of high school. I have been known to sing boy band songs to my 7-month-old daughter at bedtime because I am guaranteed to remember all the lyrics. Also, does anyone remember the absolute necessity of being home from school to watch “TRL” with Carson Daly? Essential for finding all the best hairbrush songs.
Foreigner – I’ve Been Waiting For a Girl Like You. Serious skating rink memories right there. And Rick Springfield – Jesse’s Girl.
Also, a few years before that, the ENTIRE Grease soundtrack.
Love your list, but please let’s not forget about Mariah Carey and Vision of Love! That was one of my favorite “hairbrush” songs! Sadly I sounded nothing like Mrs. Carey as evidenced by the recording I made of myself on ye olde’ cassette player 🙂
Expose’~ Season’s Change
Bette Midler~ Wind Beneath My Wings
Color Me Badd~ I Wanna Sex You Up (I was in sixth grade, what on earth was my mom thinking letting me listen to that???!!)
Sophie B. Hawkins~ Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover
Sinead O’ Connor~ Nothing Compares 2 U
The Whole MTV Party 2 Go Volume 5 cassette~ wore it out, twice
LL Cool J~ I Need Love (so proud when that was finally memorized!)
Dirty Dancing Soundtrack~ My friends and I spent many many months recreating that movie in our back yard!
I love music, so this list could go on and on…………
Ok, I’ve wasted plenty of time on Youtube this morning because of this post! But my OCD side is getting to me! I was in love with MTV Party to Go Vol. 2 ….. not volume 5! Woulda bugged me all day if I didn’t fix that!
I have to say my list would very closely resemble yours, but I might have to add some more obscure songs like… Cruel Summer or Venus by Bananarama, I love rock n Roll, joan Jett, Safety Dance – Men Without Hats, Tainted Love, Soft Cell…and who didn’t want to rock on to Electric Avenue???
Can I get a little hairbrush love for Sinead O’Connor? It just doesn’t get much more dramatic than this:
“All the flowers that you planted, Mama, in the back yard….all died when you went away.”
Ok, so over half my list was on yours. . oh children of the ’80’s how you shine.
I’d add Baby Baby by Amy Grant.
Also, you got dumped after two dances?? That’s harsh, My Friend, very harsh!
Mel, (I can call you that right, we are besties in my head)
I am DYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ” The heart and the hairbrush mic wants what it wants”
Hysterical!!!
I would ad a 90’s hit, WEAK by SWV!!
Stacy
I am your age, Melanie and I could have written your post. Let me say this…I STILL love me some Journey, REO Speedwagon and Chicago. I died and went to heaven when I got to see Chicago in concert at age 18 and then in college Styx and REO came to my college town and did a concert at our UNI- Dome. It was a dome and it wasn’t the best acoustics, but I was literally thrilled beyond care on how they sounded mostly because- umm, REO! I could listen to any Chicago, REO or Journey song over and over to this day. I remember crying when my boyfriend broke up with my senior year of high-school, listening to Chicago and REO over and over in the tape deck of my Chevy Chevette before cheerleading practice. Oh, the drama and angst I felt.
Now I love when I hear any of these groups music on the radio because I immediately belt it out and sing to my husband who just loves it. 🙂
Love this!! And sad to say that my 10 year old son and I still sing JOURNEY at the top of lungs on the way to school 🙂
I love Chicago! Makes me feel good to know we have that in common, lol!
I have never, until reading this life changing post, known those lyrics to “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” I would emote/mumble something like “I’m all here in the power and I’m livin’ it up far” totally missing the awesome metaphor that is a powder keg giving off sparks.
I didn’t discover Sting until my first year at A&M (1988) and yes, those blue turtles did make me feel like my musical tastes had taken a turn for the cool.
Something that I’ve always wanted to do: lip sync and perform a choreographed routine to Let’s Hear It For The Boy at a friend’s rehearsal dinner. I think that would be SO FUN.
I am now off to find the 80’s love song station on Pandora.
Almost ANYTHING by either Chicago or the Eagles, and then throw in Smoke From A Distant Fire by Sanford Townsend band. Yeah, that was me. And there is a very good reason that I sit behind the hearing impaired section in church….
I was lucky enough to have a bed that could be converted into a canopy bed – although we never converted it. That just meant that the decorative finials on top of each post came off, which were always used for microphones. One day after school I was in my room, door open, thought I was home alone. Turned the volume way up and was singing along, at the top of my lungs, mic in hand, watching myself dance in the mirror, to “Kiss You All Over” by Exile. When something caught my eye. I looked over to find my brother had just gotten home and had brought two friends with him, one of which was my current crush. Who was staring at me from the doorway, eyes wide with shock. I was 13. One of my more mortified moments. Thought. I. Would. Die.
OMG….Kiss You All Over!……yes, that guy’s voice at the beginning gave me chills that I didn’t know I was allowed to have at 13. And I too, was busted by my parents singing at the top of my lungs when I thought I was alone.
Oh, thank you, Little Baby Jesus, that someone else got caught singing that, too! LOL!
Absolutely! Carol Larson and I in her basement with our Radio Shack SolidState record player–one step up from a close and play. Although we still needed to weight the needle with a penny.
Aussie Sprunch Spray!! You can’t forget the pink bottle of suave hairspray either. that was a staple of the 90’s.
I’m right there with you for most of those songs. I agree with your journey pic…that is a tough pic between Open Arms and Faithfully. Just a small town girl……..
I also remember studying for a states test with my BFF Miki while we listened to the Janet Jackson tape!
I would have to add:
Love is a battlefield because I mean Pat Benatar!
And you know we have to give a nod to anything MJ
And for sure Duran Duran Broken wings.
Great trip down memory lane…I kind of miss the hair!
Well, I am 26 so my teen years were smack dab in the middle of the Nsync, Britney Spears movement and it was AWESOME!
However, I recently caught myself doing this to the One Direction song. I had to school my 10 year old sister of the hair brush singing!
Four come to mind in particular singing with a “corded” curling iron so we had full creative control in front of my parent’s gold-veined mirrored tile wall in the dining room:
1) Captain & Tennille: Love Will Keep Us Together
2) Donna Summer: Last Dance
3) Linda Rondstadt: When Will I Be Loved
4) THE ENTIRE TAPESTRY album note for note….by Carole King when I was feeling all-growed-up and mellow.
This post = awesome! Child of the 80’s here and we truly did have the very best music!
Where is the hairbrush love for Air Supply??? Now that’s a sappy mess.
Don’t forget Whitesnake…cause I know what it means to walk along the lonely street of dreams…and here I go again…
or Van Halen….I can’t stop lovin you no matter what I say or do…
They aren’t exactly Journey or Foreigner but they had some awesome break up songs! Such good memories.
Melanie-
All these choices are awesome! Just a few more to add…
1.Tiffany-I think we’re alone now
2. George Michael-(I was sooo in love with him)-One more try
And now I’m drawing a blank…long term loss of short term memory…Thanks for your site, it’s wonderful! Have a great day! 🙂
These were songs that I would sing in my room and cry to, sing in my shower and to and let’s be honest here, sing in my car and cry to. These songs are pretty killer if I do say so myself.
1. I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues – Elton John
2. Strawberry Wine – Deanna Carter (true story, last month I was at a red light singing this with my eye closed like I meant it and when I looked up the guy in the car next to me was looking at me like I was insane)
3. Jolene – the one and only Mrs. Dolly Parton. The woman is an American treasure
4. That Time of Year – Better Than Ezra
5. Wonderwall – Oasis
6. Everything I Do, I Do It for You – Bryan Adams
7. Because You Loved Me – Celine Dion
8. Don’t Let Go – En Vogue
9. Un-Break My Heart – Toni Braxton
10. What’s Up – 4 Non Blondes
God bless you 1990’s, God bless you.
Deanna Carter and Bryan Adams got me through so many break-ups. Like one every 2 months…
Young love… 😉
OMG. Anyone for the theme from Greatest American Hero????
And Broken Wings, by Mister Mister?
And….Rapture by Blondie? (Wait, that may have been the 70’s)…………………..
LOVE!
I loved loved loved the theme from Greatest American Hero. Hadn’t thought about it in ages. Thanks for the reminder.
OH OH OH!!!!
And 99 Red Balloons …. in English AND in German!
OM Goodness! I could copy your entire list as songs I’ve sung beautifully into a pink Goody hairbrush when my spiral perm required a three foot clearance. When my double-belted Calvin Klein jean wearing self felt like anything was possible. Until Billy voted “Best Sense of Humor” dumped me like yesterday’s news for my friend with way better bangs. Not really very funny, Billy B. Yeah, I’m over it. This list seriously makes me so happy. I mean REO Speedwagon? Love them! They are from my hometown and we all thought they were playing just for us. Plus we completely got the lyrics “I can’t fight this feeling anymore” when we were fourteen and unaware of our burgeoning dorkiness. If you can’t sleep or need to escape the perils of meal planning and homework patrol – you really should watch the Journey video for Faithfully. I may or may not have just done so which shows that I haven’t quite outgrown the dorky stage just yet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMD8hBsA-RI
I’m a longtime reader, but I don’t think I have ever commented! My hairbrush mic songs are too amazing not to share, though. The first one that came to me was “Its All Coming Back To Me” by Celine Dion and I was probably about 11 when I enjoyed belting it out…I am near certain that I did not fully understand what I was singing, especially since when your only 11, nothing of Celine’s variety is coming back to you, or it certainly wasn’t in my case since I hadn’t even had my first kiss! The 2nd sing was “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys and there is a good chance I am starting to sing it to myself NOW as I type this instead if getting ready for work. Messy ponytails are “in” right now in the professional world, right?
I am a little surprised here that no one has yet to mention Shoop by Salt N Peppa, Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice, or All That She Wants by Ace of Base…but really, I think the song I may have sang the loudest was My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion. Seriously…who doesn’t love Titanic?
What’s Up by the Four Non Blondes.
Twenty-five years and my life is still, trying to get up that great big of hope….
Twenty-five years after this song rocked my world (because I was 16 and it was so mature to sing about being twenty-five…I totally got what she was saying, because I was deep…), this song STILL rocks my world!! I actually got a text/video from my high school friend and it was her 4 year old rocking our song!!! That’s parenting at it’s finest…
You people are babies! What about I’ll Be There by the Jackson 5? Others were Wonderful Tonight – Eric Clapton, I Love the Night Life – Alicia Bridges, The Rose – Bette Midler, September – Earth, Wind and Fire. I’m sure I just gave away my age (I was still really young for the Jackson 5 tune). Plus anything by Lynard Skynard! Freebird!
Agreed!
Hey Jude anyone?? makes me cringe now and I totally understand my parents hating it. it just goes on and on and on. Remember the Olympics?
“Little ditty, ’bout Jack and Diane,
two American kids growin’ up in the heartland
Jackie gonna be a football star
Diane debutante backseat of Jackie’s car.”
(But of course you had to change the lyrics to whomever you may or may not have been dreaming about at that moment!)
Thanks for the trip back in time!
That song made me go and buy Bobbie Brooks jeans at Sears.
I’m way older than you all, but belted out Jack and Diane. Still do when it is on the oldies station. Another favorite was Bye Bye Miss American Pie.
Saw that someone sings Ice Ice Baby. Our son is the same age as you all. We took him to a Milli Vanilli concert when he was a young teen. I loved it and still belt out that song! The problem is I can’t carry a tune and never could!
Love your list!! Definitely #4 & 10…and we can’t forget Footloose!
Btw-I also miss lounging by the pool!
Stefanie
Ummmm… gee I’m way older than all you other posters. In my ‘hey day’ it was the Carpenters, and that was about all my parents allowed me to listen to. With four kids in the car, the radio was mostly off because there was so much ambient noise. In my earliest teens – it was a transistor radio and you all have no idea what the reception was like on those things! LOL Seriously, my parents did not allow us to listen to true rock-n-roll. And once I was older and got married we were too poor to buy luxuries like 8-tracks! ~grin~ We did finally invest in a stereo/turntable and purchased some LP’s – Air Supply (Ah) and Carole King. Those were the days! (Later there will be a quiz to see if everyone can define the technology listed above.)
Those transistor radios were awesome! I can rememer climbing onto the top of my Dad’s truck and having to hold it in a certain position to tune into some station. But nighttime was wonderful for them. You’d get all those stations from like Mexico or somewhere. Kids would flip nowadays with that kind of technology. There was very seldom immediate gratification with a transistor!
Funny, I just threw away some 8 tracks that were hidden in a closet for all these years!
Transistors were great and I had a clock radio in my bedroom. I would listen to those old love songs and cry over my lost loves every night!
As a girl from the south, we were big on Kenny Rogers and Alabama.
I just sang all the lyrics in my kitchen to The Gambler, luckily no one is home but me and the dogs! It made me laugh! And I’m sure I can come up with most all of the words to My Home’s In Alabama (because it is!)
Your list almost mirrors mine, but I must must must add Time for Me to Fly by REO Speedwagon. It is the best I don’t need you break up song ever.
Child of the 80’s SO Paula Abdul, NKOTB, Tiffany & Debbie Gibson, Ice, Ice Baby, Stand By Me (best movie ever!!), Shoop and Killing Me Softly are mixed in there. Best of all, Bon Jovi (all of them, but especially the Slippery When Wet album). Fun times!!
Carly I think you invaded my head and stole my list! Seriously I think that we are soul sisters when it comes to music because those artists were the same ones that I blasted and sang at the top of my lungs.
I’m probably the oldest reader you have here on Big Mama so this is gonna go way back. I remember putting my clock radio under my pillow so I could fall asleep listening to the Turtles sing So Happy Together and woke up the next morning to a melted, dented radio from the obvious heat under a down pillow.
Come on Down to My Boat by Every mother’s son ( and every mother of daughters nightmare)
All the Monkees songs as that was the BIG deal in junior high on Friday nights.
The Beatles cranking out Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Doors Strange Doors which seemed like a totally strange song to a middle schooler.
The Rolling Stones telling everyone to Get Off of My Cloud
The biggest song was Lulu wailing To Sir With Love
Bobby Vee and the Strangers Come Back When You Grow Up
Buckinghams great song Kind of a Drag
Strawberry Alarm Clock Insense and Peppermint
Rolling Stones Ruby Tuesday
Jefferson Airplane Somebody to Love
Herman’s Hermits There’s a Kind of Hush
Simon and Garfunkel, who was my first concert experience and did not disappoint, At the Zoo, Sounds of Silence and I am a Rock, which the nun who taught English made us analyze. To this day all any of us as to say at a reunion is “I am a rock. I am an island” and we will dissolve back in time to fits of giggles.
The Seekers Georgy Girl
Shall I stop now because evidently I have long term memory but no short?
Vicki B, I am your age because I loved those same songs!
Same at our reunions! We used the Old Friends album as theme at our class night performance before graduation. We are now 62 and will soon have our 45 reunion. We will once again belt out those songs , Lots of laughs and memories in them!
True story, I loved Les Miserables’ “On My Own” so much, I recorded myself singing it (as you do)…consequences not good.
I also have to include Restless Heart’s “When She Cries”. To say that my pre-teen self loved that song would be something of an understatement (my sister says she might have to mention it at my funeral).
A few old favorites are: “Cowboy Take Me Away”, anything by Pam Tillis, “Standing Outside the Fire”…or pretty much anything by Garth between 1992-1998, “Strawberry Wine”, “This Kiss”, Trisha’s “How do I Live”, “American Girl”, “She’s In Love With the Boy”, and the all time best “Walkaway Joe”, Celine Dion “Color Of My Love” album.
Great list…Chicago, Journey, Madonna would all definitely be on my list.
I’d have to add “Billie Jean” and “Beat It”….and “Thriller” – M.J. was big…got his album and a curling iron for my birthday in the 4th grade (I think). I had the parachute pants and M.J. sleeveless shirt to go with my dance moves. Smooth, I’m telling you.
I also liked some of the “one hit wonders” like “Too Shy” – Kajagoogoo (what kind of band name is that anyway?)
“I Ain’t Missing You” – John Waite
“Sunglasses at Night” – Corey Hart (this song kind of annoyed me but it definitely stuck with you.)
“I Love Rock and Roll” – Joan Jett
Anything by Heart- What about Love? , favorite: These Dreams…..”a wa-u-tch with no hands”?
Def Leppard “Photograph” and “Fffffoooling” …”Rock of Ages” …actually the whole Pyromania album.
Then I got on a Bad Company kick ….weird because these songs were older than me. I remember bringing my cassette out to play this song for my mom that I absolutely loved….”Feel Like Making Love”. Yep, Mom really appreciated that one.
Robyn, you ROCK for remembering John Waite. Gosh, how could I forget that song. And my first kiss was a game of Spin the Bottle with Joan Jett playing in the background. Because isn’t that the most romantic thing you’ve ever heard of?
Ummm “Jose Cuervo”. And I was just a kid!
This post makes me feel so young! I was born in 87, so I didn’t grow up with any of the music you did. It was all about the boy bands when I was in Jr. high (Backstreet Boys for me!) Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera were big too. In high school I listened to Simple Plan, Blink182, and Green Day. I am sure these bands for you are probably like Justin Bieber and One Direction are for me. The wrong decade. But hearing them play brings back fun memories 🙂
Two words.
MANIC. MONDAY.
Not that I knew what a bedroom voice was. Or why he wanted to make noise. Still. Best song ever.
We are a kindred spirit.
I would like to add “Straight up” by Paula Abdul
I was at that Taylor concert! LOVED that it was JLO even though the 12 year olds at their first concerts were a little bewildered. Jenny from the Block was my hairbrush song as well… in COLLEGE. Yeash. In loose chronological order:
1. Ace of Base – I Saw the Sign
2. Kylie Minogue – Locomotion. (Aaaand I just googled it and found out it’s a cover of an older song. Huh.)
3. Mariah Carey – Dreamlover
4. TLC – Waterfalls
5. Aerospace – I Don’t Want to Miss A Thing (I don’t know why i latched on to this song but I did)
I DON’T WANT TO MISS A THING – what a song!!!!!!!
Pretty much your great list but I’ll toss in a few.
Money For Nothing–Dire Straits
Twilight Zone–Golden Earring
Footlose–Kenny Loggins
Coldhearted–Paula Abdul
I am 43 and that list is perfect for me! Brings back memories too. 🙂
Okay, I’m older than most of the other readers (not all) but I can’t believe I didn’t see this one in the list:
“I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor. Great to belt out into a hairbrush.
Strawberry Wine- I still remember crying into my pillow and sneaking the cordless phone into my room to call a boy named Donnie who a)probably had about 5 other girls doing the same exact thing and b) grew up to be a rather chubby fellow that, as an adult, I wouldn’t have given a second glance.
Isn’t life funny like that 😉
I’m 40 so the eighties was my favorite decade.
Hold on to the Night by Richard Marx was a big summer one for me.
Love of a Lifetime by Firehouse made me miserable after my boyfriend broke up with me.
Heaven. Bryan Adams. Prom.
99 luft balloons was fun. The German version of course.
I’m glad you cleared up the lyrics to Total eclipse of the Heart because I thought she was saying something about getting off the phone and I didn’t even come close to the powder keg lyric. 🙂
How about some U2 (Bad, Pride) REM, The Police, Genesis, Tom Petty (American Girl!), And no one hairbrush/mirror sang Madonna’s Crazy for You as often as me, just sayin.
Showing my age here (49). “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” by Elton John and Keekee Dee (sp????????????). My best friend and I used to stand/sit in front of her full length mirror with hairbrushes in hand. She did the girl part and I was Elton John. Still brings a smile to my face!
Malli Vanilli – Blame It On the Rain
That is all, my friends…….
That should have said MILLI not Malli….sorry.
you were sincing and so were they!!
I agree with all your song picks. I synched to them all. But as I thought about the hairbrush, I recalled my very first lip synch was at my friend Angie’s house and she had a four poster bed with canopy. We unscrewed the finial things from two of the posts and sang our hearts out to Just Call Me Angel by The lovely Juice Newton. Not a very appropriate so g for a couple of 7 year olds. Good times.
I was the piano playing 14 year old. I played/sang I Honestly Love You by Olivia Newton John and Your Song by Sir Elton approximately 100 million times. Oh, and “Lady” by Styx.
My Prerogative, Bobby B(eeeee)
How Will I know, Whitney Houston
So Emotional, Whitney
Walk like an Egyptian, the bangles
Wild, Wild West, Escape Club
Hold on to the nights, Richard Marx
All sounded fantastic blaring from the ‘scort (duh)
LOL at Walk Like An Egyptian!~ My son was a young teen and we would dance in the kitchen, singing and doing the hand motions. Great memories!
This is my first comment on a blog. Ever. The entry today was that good. In middle school, one of my friends had a karaoke machine…epic…
Ok, Top 10:
1-4. Anything by Michael Bolton
5. I Swear- All-4-One and John Michael Montgomery
6. Right Here Waiting- Richard Marx
7. The Greatest Love of All- Whitney Houston
8. I Will Always Love You- Whitney Houston
9. Hold On- Wilson Phillips
10. Dreamlover- Mariah Carey
I am so excited to hear that someone else loves Chicago as much as I do! Probably my all time favorite band!
I love all the various ages!
Summer of 1976 If You Leave Me Now by Chicago.
I thought I was going to marry that guy. It would have been a trainwreck!
Glory of Love by Peter Cetera! Man, I loved that song. I may have had to download it after reading this post.
This is totally awesome. Just sayin’. 😉
So many great ones…….MANY duplicates from my list already, but here are a couple more that we’re forgetting :
Hey Mickey by Toni Basil
Three Times a Lady by the Commodores
Babe by Styx
I’ll Still Be Loving You by Restless Heart
Groovy Kind of Love by Phil Collins
Lost in Your Eyes and No More Rhyme by Debbie Gibson
I know I’m forgetting a TON! I LOVE MUSIC!!!! There’s a more recent song by Kenny Chesney that talks about a song taking you back (I think it’s called I GO BACK) —-that is truth! Thanks for the remembering 🙂
Oh my York boom box with the dual cassette decks. *sigh* Plus, did you have the one with the removable cassette deck? So you could take it with you like a Walkman but not quite as cool? I really miss that thing.
All of the above, along with my all time favorite “Tainted Love”! 😀
Def Leppard photograph, pour some sugar on me, bringin on the heartache
Bad Company ( which was my license plate) shooting star, feel like makin love
Journey Faithfully, don’t stop believin
Bryan Adams cuts like a knife, Heaven
Restless heart I’ll still be loving you ( 1 st wedding dance)
The Police every breath you take
Van Halen ice cream man
U2 New Year’s Day
I could go on and on……..:)
Wonderful lists. Tiffany was always a sing-along given. Beastie Boys…You’ve Got To Fight For Your Right to Parrrtttyyy!
I think we’re alone now. Doesn’t seem to be anyone around. I think we’re alone now…OH CRAP! THERE HE IS! HURRY. DO YOU THINK HE SAW US DRIVING BY? OMG, I AM SO TOTALLY GONNA DIE IF HE DID.
Just have to say that Vision Quest is my favorite movie of all time! You’re right in that it’s a love story about a High School wrestler, but there are many different facets to the movie that I never tire of, not to mention the awesome quotes. Seriously. It’s awesome.
“It ain’t the six minutes… its what happens in that six minutes.”
I’m MUCH older so I had Carole King’s whole Tapestry album (yes a real LP) memorized, plus anything James Taylor, John Denver , Loggins & Messina and the Carpenters PLUS we even had Chicago way back then. Loved to sing along with Barbara ( Streisand) and my “wild side” was Yes and their Yessongs album along with Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick. Again, these had amazing album cover I held and read while singing rather than a hair brush. You don’t know what you young kids missed not having the actual words th the songs;-)
Oh my word! EVERY SINGLE ONE THAT YOU LISTED!! Every time they came on the radio. Also…the entire Grease soundtrack. And anything by Air Supply. “Suddenly” by Olivia Newton John. Well, basically anything she ever sang that they would play on the radio. I’d also sing along to “Afternoon Delight”, but when it first came out I was too young to know I was actually singing about The S-E-X. I loved Elton John’s songs but I never knew exactly what he was saying so I’d fake it. Great question…love seeing what everyone else liked/likes!
You all had the best music in the 80’s 🙂 I was still busting out Chicago and Journey in 2000!
Oh. My. Goodness. I am cracking up! Your memories of the 70s and 80s continually leaves me with my side splitting and mascara running down my cheeks from laughter. I am convinced we lived parallel lives- you in Texas and me in Georgia. ….still laughing….
“All Cried Out” by Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam with Full Force was my belt it song. It’s just THE song of the 80’s. And then of course “Why You Treat Me So Bad” by Club Nouveau. I was just super angsty.
A memory blindsided me this morning – “You Take My Breath Away” by Rex Smith anyone??? LOL!
How do I not remember who your Jr/Sr prom date was? I think I might remember, but I’m totally busy feeling like a self-absorbed teen and remembering when I went to Sr Prom with Mustard our Jr year and I called you (and your date) to come to the after party because my date was making out in a back room with someone else’s date and I was all alone. Trying to remember what song I consoled myself with that year…probably “Love Bites” by Def Leopard.
Oooohhh…now that I’m going down memory lane, I think I probably wore out some Richard Marx songs when we went to stay with your dad in San Antonio one summer that I was heartbroken over a boy.
Until we met those cute lifeguards at Schlitterbahn, of course.