Tuesday, June 05, 2007

On August 29th, 1997, it's gonna feel pretty fucking real to you too.



Sometimes when I leave work I feel like I'm not supposed to be leaving and I'm mistakenly leaving an hour early or something. Our schedules just changed and especially now that I actually leave BEFORE RUSH HOUR--in mutherfuckin' Fort Worth, no less--well, I just feel all kinds of guilty.

For like, four minutes.

We started Music and Lyrics last night. Meh. Half-way through. I thought it was going to be more guilty-pleasure don't-tell-anyone-I-laughed type movie. Great opening credits, dead on. But the plot is just embarrassingly thin so far...I mean seriously, if the plot of this movie were a condom, it would totally get someone pregnant. And a bit achingly predictable. Maybe it'll pick up.

But in that vein of old music, hey! Mob has tagged me with a little meme about nostalgia for the year that I turned 18, so here's how this deal works:

1. Go to http://www.popculturemadness.com/

2. Pick the year you turned 18

3. Get yourself nostalgic over the songs of the year

4. Write something about how the song affected you

5. Pass it on to 5 more friends

1997, baby.

So at this point I was a sophomore in college. I was working 40 hour a week at my out of town retail job and doing 19 hours at university. And I have never liked popular music. I don't recognize 1/16 of the shit on this list. So let's go.

The Top 10 that year.

1. Barbie Girl - Aqua
2. ESPN Presents Jock Jams - Various Artists
3. Wannabe - Spice Girls
4. Tubthumping - Chumbawamba
5. To The Moon and Back - Savage Garden
6. You Make Me Wanna - Usher
7. I Like It Like That - Blackout All-Stars
8. Hard To Say I'm Sorry - Az Yet
9. Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band
10. It's Your Love - Tim McGraw & Faith Hill

If I italicized it, I heard it a lot but never by choice. There is not a damn thing on this top ten I ever listened to by choice. I goddamn hated #4 and to this day it is severely overplayed on the goddamn radio. The other crap I don't think I ever even heard.

The rest of the list?

13. How Do I Live - LeAnn Rimes
46. Men In Black - Will Smith
65. Secret Garden - Bruce Springsteen


These are all etched into my mind due to the fact they were in movies that year (ok, Jerry Maguire was Christmas 1996) and I was still working at my first shit theatre. MIB especially stands out. In that theatre, despite being a projectionist I had to clean shit up just like everyone else. I cleaned up a LOT of popcorn and spit cups to this song. I couldn't even watch the whole clip down below, too painful for me.(And #13 is actually sung by Trish(a?) Yearwood in Con Air, but it doesn't matter. It's an awful song no matter what).



27. Semi Charmed Life - Third Eye Blind

This song just REALLY reminds me of driving to the The Pocket Sandwich Theatre every day in summer for the play I was in. They played it each and every single day sometime during the hour I spent driving from Denton to Dallas. I never knew they were blipping out the drug lyric until I heard it years later in full form.

35. The Impression That I Get - Mighty Mighty Bosstones
72. Hell - Squirrel Nut Zippers


And while in that play, we used to hit The Red Jacket evey Thursday night after our show to go swing dancing! This was during that swing surge...

36. I Want You - Savage Garden
37. Song 2 - Blur
49. Your Woman - White Town
44. Building A Mystery - Sarah McLachlan


Four songs on the list I liked! Don't tease me about #36, it was catchy. Can't stand anything else they've done, don't even recognize their hit on the top ten up there. Ooh, and I really liked #49 and this video, which I even recall seeing on MTV! Yes, MTV was showing (some?) videos as late as 1997.



And the first time I heard Sarah play Building a Mystery was on David Letterman and I think I still have the tape somewhere. She'd cut off all her gorgeous hair and had the skunk stripe, not to mention she was doing the wretched dress & pant combo, a fashion I shudder at to this day.

53. You Were Meant For Me - Jewel

And yes, I was one of the billions who bought this goddamn album and one of the billions who is ashamed. I assume Who Will Save Your Soul was 1996, cause how would this shit song make it over that one? (Not that that song is anything special).

Well, that's it for me. I tag anyone brave enough to attempt it. Actually, I definitely tag Veloute because she probably had really cool music in her year. *pouts*

12 comments:

Mob said...

That's funny, I'd forgotten the six weeks that swing was popular again.

I'll admit to liking the Savage Garden sing as well...don't judge.

MacGuffin said...

I liked and still like Blur's song 2. That is the "whoo hoo" or whatever song, right?

Ellen Aim said...

Mob: It was seven weeks, dude. A little longer if you were a single girl fantasizing about meeting a hot swingin' lad.

MacG: Totally the woo hoo song! Goofy for them not to just come out and name it as such. It's what everyone calls it anyway.

Mob said...

That's what they fucking called it when they came into my store wanting to buy it...

I'd always play hard to get "Um, can you sing some more of it? What comes after the Woo HOO part?"

Frustrated customer: "Something about heavy metal? Look it's on the radio all the time, you must know what I'm talking about..."

MacGuffin said...

lol, I knew you were giving me the runaround, bastardo.

Veloute said...

You know, most of the cool music was so 1987.

I'll do this :D
I totally recognize nothing in your top ten.

Tubthumping?

JulieGong said...

music and lyrics was a let down

Al said...

I got divorced in 1997 !

I have that White Town song, but haven't played or heard it in 10 years. It was number one the week we split and even if it plays in my head it takes me back to bad times.

Triana said...

I have to go with Vel.

I looked at 1990 and I hardly recognize anything. There's a few, but nothing really. I remember now why Vel and I made so many tapes for each other!

Ellen Aim said...

Mob & MacG: That totally makes me laugh. I love taunting annoying people...

Vel: Actually, yeah, I did the math later and realized you turned 18 all the way in 1991. Wtf. You could just do 1987 out of principle...

JGong: Damn. I gotta finish it, tho. I suppose I should have a beer or eight to make it go down easier.

Al: Shit! Sorry, didn't mean to be such a downer for you!!

Tri: Yeah, I guess what I recall from 1990 is not what the mainstream recalls from 1990...!

The [Cherry] Ride said...

I too was hopeful that Music & Lyrics would be a guilty pleasure, but it truly sucked. You're dead-on in your "thin" assessment - I've seen Seinfeld episodes with more meat to them then this movie had.

Great post, btw.

Ellen Aim said...

Cherry: thanks! Finally finished it yesterday and ooh boy... I won't say it "went downhill" because that would have been impressive. But it did continue to be sadly mediocre. I think I cracked a smile once or twice during the whole thing, but that'll happen.

The ending does get one point for not being the first-most obvious prediction but rather the second-most obvious prediction.