It's the last day of April and you know what that means. Time to reveal the next set of songs...
April is quite important to me because it is in fact my birth month. Due to this significance, I thought it was best to crack open a certain book titled "This Is Your Life" and pick out a collection of songs that really reflect my time on Earth and my own personal tastes.
And the 30 songs of April 2023 are:
Art Of Noise feat. Duane Eddy - "Peter Gunn Theme"
Billy Joel - "We Didn't Start The Fire"
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - "Tha Crossroads"
Busta Rhymes - "Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check"
Camp Lo - "Luchini - This Is It"
Carly Simon - "Itsy Bitsy Spider"
The Commodores - "Nightshift"
Corey Hart - "Never Surrender"
The Disney Afternoon Studio Chorus - "Duck Tales Theme"
Falco - "Rock Me Amadeus"
Force M.D.'s - "Tender Love"
George Michael and Elton John - "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me"
Heart - "These Dreams"
Kriss Kross - "Jump"
La Bouche - Sweet Dreams"
Level 42 - "Something About You"
Limp Bizkit - "My Way"
Limp Bizkit - "Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)"
Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch feat. Loleatta Holloway - "Good Vibrations"
Meat Loaf - "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That) [Single Edit]"
Michael Sembello - "Automatic Man"
Mike + The Mechanics - "All I Need Is A Miracle"
Naughty By Nature - "Feel Me Flow"
The Outfield - "Your Love"
Pet Shop Boys - "Westend Girls"
Polaris - "Hey Sandy"
Shanice - "I Love Your Smile"
Stardust - "Music Sounds Better With You"
Tevin Campbell - "I'm Ready"
Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers - "Give A Little Love"
As briefly seen on this site many years ago, I'm a big pro wrestling fan. Though I don't watch it religiously as I seemingly once did, I still follow the "sport"; I view some matches or old televised episodes via YouTube, Twitch or Peacock, I listen to radio shows or podcasts, and I attend the occasional house show or live televised event.
Wrestlemania, the most important annual pro wrestling event for the WWE, took place on April 1st and 2nd this year. To help celebrate, and to help wash out the awfulness of Night 2's main event, I wanted to go through the history of Wrestlemania and get two songs that served as the official theme tune of the event. Sadly, Peter Gabriel's "Big Time" was dq'ed because I absolutely adore Gabriel's album So, I didn't bother to look for Saliva's "Ladies And Gentlemen", and I forgot yet again that Philip Bailey and Phil Collins' "Easy Lover" could have counted. Also, I don't think the mid-90s Wrestlemania theme, aka Linda McMahon's theme song, was available. Instead, I went to the WWE's Most Favorite Band (trademarked since 2003), Limp Bizkit.
I was a Limp Bizkit fan back in the late 90's/early 00's but never fully one largely due to my older brother's "ownership" of the band (bought all the CDs, dressed like Fred Durst, etc). Though I barely listen to them anymore, I still will praise the virtues of their song "My Way". You could make the case of it being the absolute masterpiece of nu metal, for better or worse. But what really makes it immortal was its usage as the theme for Wrestlemania X7, arguably the greatest Wrestlemania of all time, and serving as the culmination of the Stone Cold-The Rock feud and the end of the Attitude Era.
Unfortunately, I was unable to get the second theme song for a Wrestlemania supplied by Limp Bizkit, "Crack Addict", because it still hasn't been digitally released for purchase. This despite it also being the theme song to another phenomenal Wrestlemania, that being Wrestlemania XIX, as well being a far more enjoyable tune that practically everything on their then latest album Results May Vary. So instead, I got "Rollin'", the most famous song of theirs which was performed live at Wrestlemania XIX and served as the theme for The Undertaker for a spell.
For the first full week of April, I wanted to explore the early years of my childhood and pick out the songs that mattered a whole lot when I was a wee lad.
Though my first favorite song was most likely something from a movie, probably "Ghostbusters" or something Disney, the song that always pops up for me is "Itsy Bitsy Spider" by Carly Simon. My mom loved Carly Simon, especially the album Coming Around Again. I vividly remember her owning the cassette version of the album and how she loved to play it in the car, often mainly so I could sing along to "Itsy Bitsy Spider". I also remember how I very slowly started to enjoy the title track of the album, which "Itsy Bitsy Spider" is a slight remix of, more and more as time when on. But my favorite memory is when my family went on vacation one time and we decided to do a picnic by a lake. The clouds were a bit dark and the wind was blowing more fierce and sure enough it began to rain. Guess what I wanted to listen to through the car stereo as we waited out the wet weather?
My parents were relatively okay and fine with me listening to pop music as a little kid but they didn't share the same sentiment when it came to music videos. MTV was "banned" in my household and despite being more in-tune with their own love of adult contemporary, they plum forgot about or didn't have access to VH1. But every once in a while, I would sneak around via channel surfing and watch a full music video. And the one that really stuck with me was Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire". Still love the song despite what others say but oh boy, what a video to first see when you're young. Billy Joel all in black and mad as hell at those damn Cola Wars, the inclusion of disturbing pictures such as Nguyen Van Lem's execution, and that haunting ending. Very shocking for me at the time but my enjoyment of it and its mind-blowing nature helped prevent me from having any nightmares.
So those were potentially my first favorite song and first music video. What about my first album? That's easy: Time Has Come... The Best of Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers. I got this album solely for "Give A Little Love", a song that I loved in part because it was featured in Men At Work. Yes, the Charlie Sheen-Emilio Estevez film (plus Keith David!). Didn't care for any of the other songs on the album, I just wanted "Give A Little Love".
I had to pay tribute to my adoration for animation as a kid so I went to what many still consider the greatest television block right next to NBC's Must See TV Thursday: The Disney Afternoon. Man, I loved watching that block through my elementary years and my brother and me just had a blast playing The Disney Afternoon Songbook album over and over again. I previously bought my favorite tune from the album, that being the theme to Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers sung by an uncredited The Jets, so I went to the second best Disney Afternoon theme song, "DuckTales". Oh yes, I went there. I also had to buy it because I remember having a great time seeing DuckTales The Movie: Treasure Of The Lost Lamp in theaters.
"Good Vibrations" by Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch was the song that always got away from me as a kid. I really loved the high energy of it all, and that amazing sample/chorus by Loleatta Holloway, but I just never got around to getting it until illegally downloading it as a teen. I always associate the song to Starburst, a rollerskating rink that I went to many times as a kid and how whenever the DJ put the song on, I was immediately energized and ready to burst.
Ah, Kriss Kross and "Jump". That song was such a beast back in the day, especially if you were in elementary school. And yes, I did do the backwards pants thing once but never in public. One of my friends did it for a full day in school and immediately regretted it.
To close out Child Week, I got yet another television theme song that is greatly associated with a famous television block. From the big orange couch of SNICK, I picked up "Hey Sandy" by polaris, the theme to the cult Nickelodeon series The Adventures of Pete & Pete. It took some time for me to really get into alternative music despite living through its heyday but I was so transfixed by this tune from day one of the show, especially with its dreamy guitars and nonsensical lyrics. I wish the TV edit version of "Hey Sandy" was also available for purchase because the full album version has some audio samples at the beginning that I frankly don't like and I always love how the TV edit version lingers on the final "Hey!".
For the second week of April, I chose to really celebrate my birthday by going back in time and looking at what was on the Billboard Hot 100 around that date. And woo boy, what a great collection of pop songs to pick and choose.
I had to first go with Mike + The Mechanics' "All I Need Is A Miracle". I really liked "The Living Years" growing up, even though I didn't actually know who sang it and just referred to it as "Say It Loud, Say It Clear", but this little bop has become my absolute favorite from the pop supergroup.
Level 42's "Something About You" is another one of those 80's songs I fell for after being exposed to it via VH1 Classic, 80's radio stations and 80's CD compilations. But whatever you do, don't buy the album version. It's fine but it has an unnecessary long intro (starting to see a pattern forming this month?).
Not much to add about "These Dreams". It's a stone cold classic. I love Ann Wilson and all but I kinda like how Nancy Wilson was able to get a couple of hits for the group with herself on the lead vocals.
Ah, The Outfield. The band everyone thinks is an one-hit wonder despite them having several hit songs. I'm more of a big fan of some of their other songs, namely "Voices Of Babylon" and "My Paradise", but "Your Love" has lived forever in people's hearts. Practically hard not to enjoy.
I first heard Force M.D.'s "Tender Love" around the same time when Frankie J's "Don't Wanna Try" was a hit, which is really weird because the two sound so much alike. Also, getting this song made me realize that I really have to pull the trigger and finally watch Krush Groove one of these days.
"West End Girls" is one of the absolute best songs from the 80's bar none. A fantastic song to lose yourself into and/or a perfect tune to listen to while driving at night.
While "West End Girls" can be labeled as one of the the best songs from the 80's, "Rock Me Amadeus" can be labeled as one of the best songs to define the 80's. Falco is actually a pretty interesting artist and more than just a one-hit wonder, despite actually having a second hit here in the United States with "Vienna Calling". If you're ever interested, check out his song "Jeanny" and all of the history around it.
After the birthday break, I chose to do another week of revisiting my youth, this time going through my tween years.
If there ever was a movie made about my life, "I Love Your Smile", "I'm Ready", and "Feel Me Flow" would most certainly be playing in the background of scenes. That's because those three really did seem to play in the background all the time, whether in malls, stores, offices or parties. They really encapsulate the fleeting times where I was carefree but slowly starting to grow.
After a couple years of constantly arguing with them, sneaking in some secret viewings and pushing the limit on what I could watch, my parents finally lifted the "ban" on MTV around late 1995-early 1996. Now set free, I ingested as much as I could, well except for 120 Minutes which was too late to watch and I kinda thought it was pretentious. My taste in music rapidly started to change. I got way more into hip-hop and rap, with Busta Rhymes and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony being my true highlights thanks to their amazing music videos for "Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check" and "Tha Crossroads" respectively. I still couldn't buy their albums thanks to that pesky Parental Advisory sticker but I could at least settle for the singles on cassette or CD.
I also started to get more into electronic and dance music, with La Bouche being the biggest star of the latter genre at that moment thanks to "Be My Lover" and "Sweet Dreams". I thought about getting "Be My Lover", since I actually liked it a lot at the time and its music video used to play nonstop, but "Sweet Dreams" was a dark horse song for me at the time and it stuck like glue, eventually becoming one of my favorite 90's songs.
There's no better way to cap my tween period than a song that has "This Is It" in the title. Man, I feel like I'm the only person in the world that loves Camp Lo's "Luchini - This Is It". The beat is so good and the lyrical flow is so fresh.
So yeah, that's kinda where I leave my look back at my childhood. I really do mean it when I said I wanted to cap my tween years with Camp Lo's "Luchini". Not long after I got the "Luchini" single on cassette, my life turned upside down when my parents separated and later got divorce. I was still a kid but I suddenly no longer felt like one. And that was it.
I did think about doing a teen week to round out the month but I pretty much covered what my taste in music was during those years in my January article. Plus, if I had to do only songs released at that time, the song selection might look like something from a NOW That What I Call Music! CD. For example, Kylie Minogue, 311, and N.O.R.E. were in consideration.
Instead, I wanted the last week of April to cover some of my absolute favorites, including some songs that I would definitely put on my personal Top 100 of all time.
One such song on my Top 100 would be "Peter Gunn" by The Art Of Noise feat. Duane Eddy. A great television theme song that is spruced up for the 80's by an eclectic electronic band yet still retains that amazing twang by Eddy's guitar. Further helping its case is its cinematic music video, which blends film noir, comedy and ballet well together and features Rik Mayall as a goofy gumshoe.
"Pete Gunn" was the second single off of The Art Of Noise's In Visible Silence, an album that means quite a lot to me for two reasons. First, it's an album I've been waiting to get for many years now, as it remained unavailable for a long time. When I saw that it was finally available on iTunes this year via a Deluxe Edition, I was shocked and amazed. Alas, I will have to wait till 2024 to purchase the album fully (just a little longer "Legs" and "Paranoimia", I promise) and just settle for my favorite song for now. And secondly, In Visible Silence was originally released in April 1986.
Now for another favorite, this time from... Michael Sembello?! The guy who did "Maniac"?!! What could he possibly make that's so great, you say? Well that would be "Automatic Man"! This song, which technically charted at #34 on the Billboard chart and thus makes him a two-hit wonder, is such a delicious treat for anyone that loves 80's snythpop schlock. I like many was first introduced to it through the YouTuber Todd in the Shadows, who covered Michael Sembello in his video series One Hit Wonderland. And I'm so glad to be made aware of the tune and especially of its gloriously over-the-top music video. It has since become my most played track of all time on iTunes and it seems to follow me wherever I go, whether it is in music video collections or featured on Twitch streams, most notably FORGOTTEN_VCR.
I first came across Corey Hart's "Never Surrender" via a television commercial promoting Cool Rock, a compilation CD featuring a bunch of 80's and 90's songs that you never would call as cool or rock (Wilson Phillips' "Hold On"?). This commercial used to play so many times when I was a kid that I had it memorized and could sing along to the song clips ("Baby, come to me... / Joannnnnnna! / Ladddy in reddddddd..."). Most likely due to this lasting memory of paid advertising, I have surprisingly listened to "Never Surrender" far and away more than Corey Hart's other big hit throughout my life. I find it very fascinating that while the song is uplifting and tries to empower the listener, it's not as bombastic and/or pompous like other 80's power ballads. It keeps a hint of darkness to the proceedings, retaining the song's message of raising your voice during tough times.
Now, I fudged the rules with this next pick. For you see, I bought Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell II album last year via iTunes, thus "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" should be ineligible. But you see, the single edit version of the song wasn't on the original album way back when, nor on the digital album that I bought. Plus, the single edit version is much shorter and doesn't retain the album version's length at 12 minutes!
I just had to include "I'd Do Anything For Love..." here. A big chunk of myself wouldn't be here if not for that song. My dad absolutely loved Meat Loaf. One of his favorite cassettes was Bat Out Of Hell, which he would listen to while in his den or have on hand when driving his black sports car. Seeing how interested I was with the album, particularly with its audacious title and the incredible album artwork, he would play some of it for me. While I didn't particularly grabbed on to it immediately save for maybe "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad", something about Meat Loaf and the musical production of Jim Steinman seemingly struck a chord. Fast forward to 1993, where Meat Loaf drops "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" on to the world. The Earth shook when he did and I utterly adored it. I loved the single. I loved the music video. I loved that my dad got the album, on CD NO LESS! Thanks to my dad's fancy audio equipment, I was able to rip the song to one of my mixtapes, albeit having to settle with the original 12 minute version. And from that song, my tastes in art began to blossom.
I couldn't have Daft Punk be a part of this project but I was able to settle for Stardust, the offshoot project that Thomas Bangalter worked on, and their song "Music Sounds Better With You". I always remember the song as the tune that would often play in the background whenever a MTV VJ would have a brief spot to talk to the viewer or featured in the original television airings of Daria, one of my all time favorite shows. The song is great and all but man do I wish I was able to buy the single version. It's a lot more easier to listen and slightly less repetitive (oh the irony) than the original version.
Another song that suffered the same "too long" fate was The Commodores "Nightshift". I loved the song since first seeing its music video on VH1 Classic but the band's ode to their fallen brothers in music is a bit better 30 seconds shorter.
And to close out the month, I went with "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me", specifically the George Michael and Elton John duet that was white hot in the early 90's. I love this version so much that I honestly can't really enjoy Elton John's original version or any other version for that matter. George Michael just kills it in the first half and then your goosebumps get goosebumps when he introduces Elton John and the crowd explodes. I don't know if I would place the song in my Top 10 but it would be very high on my Top 100.
