Sorry to have kinda dropped off the face of the earth. It’s been difficult for me to do book reviews lately, maybe due to the pandemic. Today I start a project that will probably take me some time to complete.
My dh started a new job earlier this year, working for a Christian radio station. He does the same thing he did before (human resources). It’s pretty awesome. I like the music, and I was into music for the longest time, so it’s kind of cool to get some behind-the-scenes info on how things work.
Anyway, our health insurance pays us to walk. Or do other exercise, as measured by our Fitbit. One of the tasks they pay me to do is to walk 500 steps, 6 times a day. But–my Fitbit will also count dancing as “steps.” In many cases, it uses a lot more energy than walking too.
For fun, I decided to dance to the Top 5000 Songs of the Rock Era, as listed in Billboard’s Hottest Hot 100 Hits. Although the link is to the 4th edition, I have the first edition.
These songs range from the years 1955 to 1994. Many of these songs I’ve heard before, but some will be new to me. Some of these songs I haven’t heard for years. So as I go through these 5000 songs, I’m going to blog my experience, 10 songs at a time. Maybe it will be interesting, maybe not. I’m starting with the top 10 songs and moving down. They’ll get less well-known as I go along.
#1 – Whoomp! (There It Is) – Tag Team
I’ve had this book for a very long time, and when I first got this book, it was a little surprising that Tag Team’s “Whoomp! (There It Is)” was the #1 song. It’s a fun song, but it still surprised me. It spent 45 weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100 charts though.
I have memories of driving down the road with my friends blasting this song. So it was fun to hear again.
#2 – The Twist – Chubby Checker
This one isn’t really a surprise. I think most people know this song, from my grandparents (when they were still alive) to my kids. Not only was this song popular in 1960, the year it came out, it also saw a resurgence of popularity in 1988, when the Fat Boys made a remake of the song with Chubby Checker. It was fun to get my 500 steps to this song.
#3 – The Sign – Ace of Base
I loved “The Sign” by Ace of Base when it first came out. The lovely high notes tickle my ears, and I fell in love with this song immediately. However, years later, this song has a whole different connotation to it (even though it still is catchy). Is it about a neo-Nazi? Eeew. I can’t think about this group the same way after I read about one of the band member’s skinhead ties. The singer in question, Ulf Ekberg, says that he regrets some of his earlier attitudes, and that he didn’t record some of the racist songs on a demo tape that were attributed to his former band, Commit Suicide (and as someone with depressed family members, that’s a horrid band name). As a Christian, I suppose I need to extend forgiveness, but it does put a taint on their music.
#4 – I Will Always Love You – Whitney Houston
Whitney was such a talent. It’s very sad that she’s no longer around anymore. Anyway, it was nice to hear this song again, but it didn’t give me many steps. So I danced to the next song as well.
#5 – End of the Road – Boyz II Men
Another fairly slow song, but it was enough to get me my 500 steps, when combined with the Whitney song. I had forgotten this song was from the 1992 movie Boomerang. Good song.
#6 – Don’t Be Cruel/Hound Dog – Elvis Presley
For #6, we get two songs for the price of 1. At some points during the Billboard Hot 100’s history, the A and B sides of a single were lumped together, which is why they rank together here. These are short songs, so it took dancing to both of them to get to my 500 steps. Most people are familiar to these old songs.
#7 – I Swear – All-4-One
It’s been a long time since I’ve heard this song, but it’s still good. Listening to it years later, after I’ve found the love of my life and we’ve been together for years, it takes on a whole new meaning.
It didn’t get me my 500 steps, so I also listened to the next song:
#8 – Breathe Again – Toni Braxton
Another slow song. Not much of a workout here. This was from 1994. Toni Braxton had so many great songs out in the early 1990s. I’m sure I’ll hear from her more in this series of songs.
#9 – (We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock – Bill Haley & His Comets
“Rock Around the Clock” is considered to be the song that ushered in the Rock & Roll era. It’s a song I’ve heard many times. I found the video here fairly interesting. I couldn’t really imagine people dressing like that for a concert these days.
Like many songs from that era, this song is very short, so it didn’t give me 500 steps.
#10 – Autumn Leaves – Roger Williams
This was not what I was expecting. When I was very young, I remember my parents listening to a song which I’m guessing was called “Autumn Leaves,” but it was not this one. This is an instrumental. The other one, I’m guessing, is probably from the 1960s. This one is from 1955. It’s likely that I’ve heard this song before, but I didn’t remember it. I bet my grandparents listened to this song back when they were in their 20s. This song definitely takes you do a different era. It was a #1 Billboard single in October of 1955. Even though that was after Bill Haley & His Comets changed music history with “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock,” the Billboard charts of 1955 still saw a lot of music that my grandparents would have enjoyed more than my parents.
So that’s the top 10 songs on this list. I’m not sure why the top 10 songs on this list were all from the years 1955-60 and 1992-1994, but that’s how the list turned out (as do the next 9 songs). I wonder if the 4th edition does this as well.