Yep, I am late but here we go....
1. Sit on the top floor of the train every day: everyone needs a change in perspective once in awhile.
2. Save at least $1050 a month: A lofty figure so we shall see!
3. Raise 20k for Santa's Gift: I am on the board of a non-profit called Santa's Gift (www.santasgift.com) and I would like to raise 20k for them. Major gifts work has always been fascinating to me.
4. Write a novel: I read two years ago about national write a novel month in November (www.nanowrimo.org) I think it would be fun to try.
5. Find 1 dollar in change every week: One of my funny little quirks is I enjoy finding change on the ground. I think my record in one day was almost 2 dollars. 1 dollar per week would be a great way to have 50 dollars by the end of the year!
5 should be enough. If I get all of these done by the end of the year, it will be a great year!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Top 5 Songs of the 1990's
Top 5 songs of the 1990’s
Before I begin this post, I wanted to say that I don’t consider “Top” to be the most influential songs, well-received, or most liked by teenagers. My criteria is this: what are the songs that I can remember as saying something. That timelessness of the song was my overarching criteria. If a song can still communicated 10, 20 or even 50 years later, then it is something of value.
After watching the mindless program called VH1’s top 100 songs of the 1990’s, I was dismayed by their list. As you can see below, it is very pop heavy. Granted, I didn’t think the 1990’s was a great decade for music, but this top 5 didn’t really express what I thought was good music of the 1990’s. So here was what VH1 presented as the top 5 songs:
1. Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (1991, #6 US)
2. U2 - "One" (1991, #10 US)
3. Backstreet Boys - "I Want It That Way" (1999, #6 US)
4. Whitney Houston - "I Will Always Love You" (1992, #1 US)
5. Madonna - "Vogue" (1990, #1 US)
The Backstreet Boys? I don’t think so….
Here is my list of the top 5 songs of the 1990’s…
5. The Unforgiven Metallica Metallica hit a great patch during the 1990’s. The Unforgiven was a seminal song about the birth, life and death cycle. It's haunting beginning was enough in itself...
New blood joins this earth
And quickly he's subdued
Through constant pained disgrace
The young boy learns their rules
Learning the rules is a necessary evil at best...
4. Name by the Goo Goo Dolls This song by the Goo Goo Dolls was originally a b-side that a disc jockey in LA played on a lark and when people heard it, they were shocked that a pseudo-metal band would be singing something like this. For some reason it resonated with the people listening and caught on throughout the U.S. The song was written about growing up an orphan and being raised by his sisters.
3. Ships That Don’t Come In by Joe Diffie Many would be surprised a country song would near the top of this list. Joe Diffie’s ode to things that may or may not have happened sent one message very clearly: be thankful for what you do have because someone else would be ecstatic to have it and don’t wait forever to appreciate it.
2. November Rain by Guns N Roses An ode to loss that showed a side of GNR that most people didn’t see. At almost 9 minutes and a sweeping orchestral score behind GNR, the solo by Slash is still rated highly in the history of rock music. Keeping an open heart is difficult...
I know it's hard to keep an open heart
When even friends seem out to harm you
But if you could heal a broken heart
Wouldn't time be out to charm you
1. Jeremy by Pearl Jam A haunting melody along with lyrics that showed the true face of bullying way before popular culture picked up on the problem. The video for this song would probably be my top video of the 1990’s also. Jeremy" was inspired by a newspaper article Eddie Vedder read about a high school student who killed himself in front of his classmates.The image of a young boy wrapped in the American flag as he burns everything down was the image that, in my opinion, summed up the prevailing thought of music in the 1990’s: burn everything down because it has gotten too corrupt. And, indeed it has.
Some people might be surprised Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit is not in the top 5. First of all, I didn’t think of it as a really good song. It was influential but not in my top 5 because it is my opinion, a second rate song from a second rate band.
Before I begin this post, I wanted to say that I don’t consider “Top” to be the most influential songs, well-received, or most liked by teenagers. My criteria is this: what are the songs that I can remember as saying something. That timelessness of the song was my overarching criteria. If a song can still communicated 10, 20 or even 50 years later, then it is something of value.
After watching the mindless program called VH1’s top 100 songs of the 1990’s, I was dismayed by their list. As you can see below, it is very pop heavy. Granted, I didn’t think the 1990’s was a great decade for music, but this top 5 didn’t really express what I thought was good music of the 1990’s. So here was what VH1 presented as the top 5 songs:
1. Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (1991, #6 US)
2. U2 - "One" (1991, #10 US)
3. Backstreet Boys - "I Want It That Way" (1999, #6 US)
4. Whitney Houston - "I Will Always Love You" (1992, #1 US)
5. Madonna - "Vogue" (1990, #1 US)
The Backstreet Boys? I don’t think so….
Here is my list of the top 5 songs of the 1990’s…
5. The Unforgiven Metallica Metallica hit a great patch during the 1990’s. The Unforgiven was a seminal song about the birth, life and death cycle. It's haunting beginning was enough in itself...
New blood joins this earth
And quickly he's subdued
Through constant pained disgrace
The young boy learns their rules
Learning the rules is a necessary evil at best...
4. Name by the Goo Goo Dolls This song by the Goo Goo Dolls was originally a b-side that a disc jockey in LA played on a lark and when people heard it, they were shocked that a pseudo-metal band would be singing something like this. For some reason it resonated with the people listening and caught on throughout the U.S. The song was written about growing up an orphan and being raised by his sisters.
3. Ships That Don’t Come In by Joe Diffie Many would be surprised a country song would near the top of this list. Joe Diffie’s ode to things that may or may not have happened sent one message very clearly: be thankful for what you do have because someone else would be ecstatic to have it and don’t wait forever to appreciate it.
2. November Rain by Guns N Roses An ode to loss that showed a side of GNR that most people didn’t see. At almost 9 minutes and a sweeping orchestral score behind GNR, the solo by Slash is still rated highly in the history of rock music. Keeping an open heart is difficult...
I know it's hard to keep an open heart
When even friends seem out to harm you
But if you could heal a broken heart
Wouldn't time be out to charm you
1. Jeremy by Pearl Jam A haunting melody along with lyrics that showed the true face of bullying way before popular culture picked up on the problem. The video for this song would probably be my top video of the 1990’s also. Jeremy" was inspired by a newspaper article Eddie Vedder read about a high school student who killed himself in front of his classmates.The image of a young boy wrapped in the American flag as he burns everything down was the image that, in my opinion, summed up the prevailing thought of music in the 1990’s: burn everything down because it has gotten too corrupt. And, indeed it has.
Some people might be surprised Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit is not in the top 5. First of all, I didn’t think of it as a really good song. It was influential but not in my top 5 because it is my opinion, a second rate song from a second rate band.
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