It's High Time For A Fluffy Post
My last two posts have been unintentionally serious, so it's time to lighten things up around here.
My friend Shayla tagged me with a Thirty Random Songs on Your iPod note. Normally I don't do these but A) it's Shayla who's asking and B) there's so much unpleasant stuff I need to accomplish around here (e.g. clean the basement, starting by picking up all Maisy's 100 soup bones because the floor looks like an archaeological dig site and, also, the cats are protesting something - the loss of pineapple maybe? - and have taken to pooping in the general vicinity of the box rather than inside) that I sort of can't resist.
Plus, at the end you guys can participate. Everyone wins.
Here goes...
New Order/Bizarre Love Triangle - This song makes me happy because every time I hear it, I'm suddenly twenty years old in the middle of a crowded basement at a fraternity party, trying to dance while also attempting to keep my plastic cup of keg beer from sloshing onto my pristine Keds.
Avril Lavigne/Girlfriend - Huh. I didn't expect SHAME to show up so quickly on this list. I have no excuse for this song being here except that it's great to run to on the treadmill. (Possibly because subconsciously my brain wants to move my body away from it?)
Andrea Bocelli/Time to Say Goodbye - This played at the end of The Sopranos on a Sunday night and I thought it was the most beautiful song I ever heard. The first thing that Monday morning, I was at my desk at the dot com ripping it from Napster. The idiot Joshes mocked me at first, but by mid-afternoon, I could hear each one of them playing it at their own desks. They all started the songs at different times, so it was like the Italian version of Row, Row, Row Your Boat every time I walked to the printer.
The Escape Club/Wild, Wild West - More college dance music, but I particularly loved this one because it referenced Ronald Reagan having nuclear arms. Don't forget, the Berlin wall was up and we were still cold warriors at the time. This song gave me great comfort knowing we had superior American fire power. (I'm pretty sure this isn't the reaction The Escape Club anticipated.)
Guns 'N Roses/Sweet Child O Mine- When this song came out, I didn't care for GNR, ironic because not only were some of the guys from my college town, but my boss was married to Izzy's brother. So I could have actually hung out with the band when they were home, but I thought they were "icky" and I was holding out for George Michael. Yeah, that worked out nicely for me.
The Cure/Just Like Heaven - I carried this cassette in my purse for months when it was released. So anytime I was around a jam box, I'd insist on playing it over and over and over. I'm sure that couldn't have been annoying.
Crowded House/Don't Dream It's Over - We listened to this tape on a continuous loop one day when a bunch of my fraternity friends and I were participating in a philanthropic endeavor, riding a go-kart from Lafayette to Indianapolis. Somehow I never had to take my turn pedaling, opting instead for the warmth of the pace car.
Beastie Boys/Fight for Your Right - This one didn't do anything for me until a couple of my guy work friends at the insurance company played it all afternoon in anticipation of the concert that night. The next day they came back complaining about having been the only people there over the age of 15. And that's just funny.
The B-52s/Rock Lobster - This song is the only reason the 4:30 aerobics class at Purdue's Co-Rec was bearable, largely due to choreography involving gatoring.
Ice Cube/It Was a Good Day - You know what's more gangsta than an insurance company service rep driving to appointments in her Dodge Stratus listening to Ice Cube with the windows open? Nothing, that's what.
Guns 'N Roses/Live and Let Die - The winter before Such a Pretty Fat came out I wanted to change the title of the book because I didn't like it. Originally, it was supposed to be Pretty Fat but we found out that this phrase linked to a fat fetish site and I was all, "People are going to think those women are me!" I wanted to call the book Live and Let Diet but it was too late. I'm not quite sure how the song and the book title are related but I began to associate them in my head, hence its presence on my playlist. (Hey, I can't swing for the fences with every story.)
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones/The Impression that I Get - Dear Paul Rudd, the only reason Fletch didn't dump me when I dragged him to see you in Clueless back in 1995 is because the Bosstones were in the film, too. You might not have had anything to do with the decision to cast them, but if you did, thanks!
The Police/Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - A little anorexic girl with ridiculous implants sang this song so badly on American Idol a few weeks ago that it's erased all the nice memories of this music. Whore.
Biz Markie/Just a Friend- My BFF Joanna and I roadtripped to Virginia Beach for senior week when she was about to graduate and we sang this loudly and badly at least 400 times during the course of the trip. Now my reaction is pretty much Pavlovian and I can't hear it without singing along, loudly and badly. (P.S. I miss using "roadtrip" as a verb.)
* * *
So... huh.
This list only contains fourteen songs.
You know what? With a playlist like this, thirty is probably sixteen too many.
Anyway, consider yourselves tagged if you want to do this on your blog, or you can give me your five-song condensed version in the comments.
Play on.
