Throwback Tracks -- August 10, 2017
David R. Smith
There is a very particular theme to TBT this week. As it turns out, today is my birthday so we're dedicating this list to me! And by that, I mean every one of the songs on this week's TBT list are songs that were #1 (in the US) on my birthday. I literally went through 1983 to 2000 and found all the songs. Let me tell you: some of the songs that were popular on my birthday are pure crap! So I filtered them down and found the best ones. So here they are! (In chronological order.)
The Guys From do not hold the rights to any of these songs, it is more our hope to expose our readers to new (*cough*) and different retro music, or re-expose them to things they may have forgotten about.
At the top of each section, will be the song name, followed by the artists' name linked to their website (if possible...which is totally hit and miss with oldies), so you can fall down the rabbit hole, finding and supporting what you dig.
Every Breath You Take - The Police
Ugh. How is this the song that was popular the day I was born? It's literally a song about a stalker! I don't love the Police, but I also don't hate them. I just don't think this is the best song that they've done. But it was the one that was released in summer of '83 so I guess it's the one that's famous.
What's really interesting? 14 years later, on August 10, 1997, Puff Daddy's "I'll Be Missing You" which used the same bass line (and, really, the chorus was essentially the same) also was the number one song. So I guess history repeated itself! So that's neat.
So I just checked... Every Breath You Take was the number 1 song from July 3 to August 27. Apparently people REALLY liked it. Fun fact: It was bookended by Irene Cara's Flashdance, and The Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams. It's hard to be upset about a song when it's popularity spanned 2 months. At least it wasn't just a flash in the pan, you know?
Also, Sting is super cool. Just making my feelings known.
Shout - Tears for Fears
One of the British pop-synth bands that came out of the 80s, Tears for Fears have put out some pretty decent stuff. Even if you don't know you know their stuff, you know their stuff. (What a weird sentence. But it's already down, no takesies backsies now!)
This song is great. One of the comments I read said something about how it's the typical song you would want to listen to while driving 75mph down the interstate. Now I don't know about that, but it does have a good feel to it. I feel like it's more "getting stuck in traffic and you can't go anywhere but it's okay because Tears for Fears' Shout is on and you can handle anything" sort of music. But you know; same-same...
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2
As somebody who professes to dislike Bono as much as I do, I find it interesting that his songs keep coming up on TBT. That said; this song came was a number one on August 10, so I had to pick it. Plus this song isn't bad. It was still back in a time when U2 was still singing about what was going on in Ireland, as opposed to just singing about how terrible everybody is.
This song came out on The Joshua Tree which is one of the best albums ever made. Period. Not just by U2. But period. It's so good. And if Bono et al would have kept churning out stuff like this, maybe I wouldn't hate U2 so much. Though, uploading their shit album onto my phone without my knowledge or permission was a bit of a dick move. I know that was Apple just as much (if not more) as U2, but I still blame them both. Ugh. I wish I didn't rock all Apple.
Stay (I Miss You) - Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories
GUYS! Lisa Loeb has her own line of eyewear! Of course she does! How could she not? Look at those glasses! Half of her fame came from those cat's eye glasses. Why not make a mint off that fame??
This song was on the Reality Bites soundtrack. Apparently. I could have sworn she sang something else other than this song, but my very basic research has proved otherwise. That said, this song is pretty terrific. (As is the movie, if you've never seen it.) Plus Lisa Loeb made glasses cool and sexy (she wasn't the only one. I mean, I would argue Elvis Costello made glasses cool and maybe some people find him sexy?) I'm just saying; as a glasses-wearer since about 1996, it was nice to know there were a few people out there who made it okay to be wearing glasses. So thanks Lisa!
Waterfalls - TLC
Great song. It's made all the better by Michael Keaton making perpetual TLC references in The Other Guys but that said, it's a good song all the same.
I'm not the worlds largest fan of R&B and Hip Hop, (I legit don't know what category this falls into) but I do love this song and was a pretty big fan of TLC. I mean; as far as their radio songs went. I don't know a lot of their other stuff. I know my cousin Sean was devastated when Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes died, but since it came on the heels of the discovery of Layne Staley's body, it was a tough couple weeks for the music industry. Not surprisingly, TLC didn't do much after she died. But at least we have this song. And No Scrubs.
Happy birthday to me! Interesting array of songs popular on my birthday, non?
Stay tuned for more great stuff. And, since we're into a new month, here's the July playlist for you (and I assume it's also available on spotify too, so here's the Spotify version of it.)
Also here's all the other ones:
June playlist and the June Spotify List
Throwback Playlist for Dec 16/Jan 17
October 2016 Throwback Playlist,
September 2016 Throwback Playlist
-D (@davidronn)
P.S. I think September might be the punk-esque month, so if you can think of any "must haves" on there, I'm accepting suggestions. Otherwise, it's all Davey's list. And who knows how y'all will feel about that.