LOL, yep. I was just coming back to say, and that's GOOD news, that this music is timeless. <3
I don't think age works the way it used to with regard to music, and I think that's because of the Beatles and the Sixties. It's the first time that music from prior generations has stayed deeply relevant and transformative, sixty years later. It's quite remarkable, really. (There's all kinds of data to support this, btw, that there really isn't an age gap when it comes to music anymore, praise be. It's more just personal listening preference.)
I can at least lay claim to being a lifetime fan. I would say I stopped being scholarly around high school, but prior to that, I read or watched anything I could get my hands on (which, during the 80s, wasn't all that much).
Well, I certainly remember a book called "It Was Twenty Years Ago Today." This book came out just in advance of the 20th anniversary of Sgt Pepper, so some time in late '86 or early '87.
This book was wonderful.
The Compleat Beatles was indispensable in middle school. I probably watched it 5x.
I bet there are at least half a dozen other sources, but those are the ones I remember best.
I don't think I've seen the Compleat Beatles, though I feel like I can say with a high degree of certainty even without having seen it that it is not either compleat or complete. 🤔 😎 But I did watch the Dick Clark produced Beatles TV biopic from the 80s awhile back, and I may never recover from the scars... (Pete Best was the consulting producer, so you can imagine how that all went down...)
Great post. “3 Little Birds” - the Corinne Rae Bailey version is a classic even if it’s become a coffeehouse staple. Also I can’t wait to see the new “Marley” biopic
"It Takes Two" to dance til "A Quarter to Three" and to figure out "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover." But "If 6 Was 9" you'd have the Stooges' in "1969." Or was that Bowie in "1984," from "In the Year 2525"? I haven't had coffee yet, so I got "99 Problems," crying "96 Tears," but if I listen to Jimmy Charles' "A Million to One," I'll feel better.
My local radio station trivia was once "which is the only song with three numbers in the title to be in the top 10?" Answer was 25 or 6 to 4 which I'm happy to parse as a clock reading some time after 3:30am
At the time, I thought they were better than Prince in Purple Rain … still do, actually. Which is ironic, considering they were one of his many side projects.
The album was named Double Nickels on the Dime as a reaction to the Sammy Hagar song "I Can't Drive 55," a protest against the federally imposed speed limit of 55 miles per hour on all U.S. highways in place at the time.[17] Minutemen decided that driving fast "wasn't terribly defiant"; Watt later commented that "the big rebellion thing was writing your own fuckin' songs and trying to come up with your own story, your own picture, your own book, whatever. So he can't drive 55, because that was the national speed limit? Okay, we'll drive 55, but we'll make crazy music."
Great list! Also by Prince, and in the same style as the one you listed (but more tired perhaps, at this stage), "Nothing Compares 2 U". I'm the sort of person who has random thoughts about this kind of stuff but when prompted, nothing comes out 😆
This reminds me ***so much*** of the Top 5 lists that were created on the XM radio show “Debatable”. Love it! Until it gets started, you never realize how many songs fit the category.
Well, I mean, Eight Days a Week... ;-)
And Dolly's 9 to 5.
The Beatles are timeless and iconic (and definitely before my time.) That transcends generations. ;-)
Same, to an obviously far lesser degree, Dolly.
LOL, yep. I was just coming back to say, and that's GOOD news, that this music is timeless. <3
I don't think age works the way it used to with regard to music, and I think that's because of the Beatles and the Sixties. It's the first time that music from prior generations has stayed deeply relevant and transformative, sixty years later. It's quite remarkable, really. (There's all kinds of data to support this, btw, that there really isn't an age gap when it comes to music anymore, praise be. It's more just personal listening preference.)
Because music overall basically started sucking around 2000 or so? (with the usual few notable exceptions)
Such good catches!!!!
Also “nails by DOLLY” gets a credit on the record. Love it. https://youtu.be/gOIQ3fFkmjU?feature=shared
Beat me to it on the Beatles!
(not super shocking)
well y'know, throwing my whole life over to become a Beatles scholar has a few payoffs in these situations.. 😎
I can at least lay claim to being a lifetime fan. I would say I stopped being scholarly around high school, but prior to that, I read or watched anything I could get my hands on (which, during the 80s, wasn't all that much).
The 70s/80s was the Dark Ages for Beatles studies, really. What was there in your experience? I'm asking for actual research purposes.
Well, I certainly remember a book called "It Was Twenty Years Ago Today." This book came out just in advance of the 20th anniversary of Sgt Pepper, so some time in late '86 or early '87.
This book was wonderful.
The Compleat Beatles was indispensable in middle school. I probably watched it 5x.
I bet there are at least half a dozen other sources, but those are the ones I remember best.
I don't think I've seen the Compleat Beatles, though I feel like I can say with a high degree of certainty even without having seen it that it is not either compleat or complete. 🤔 😎 But I did watch the Dick Clark produced Beatles TV biopic from the 80s awhile back, and I may never recover from the scars... (Pete Best was the consulting producer, so you can imagine how that all went down...)
Excellent picks!
Great post. “3 Little Birds” - the Corinne Rae Bailey version is a classic even if it’s become a coffeehouse staple. Also I can’t wait to see the new “Marley” biopic
Me either! A few people I know have seen it and liked it, so I'm looking forward to it.
Great list and here are few more favorites from my twisted world:
Zebra One - Ten Thousand Voices
https://youtu.be/0Rb-yEcSxc0?feature=shared
The Sound - 1,000 Reasons
https://youtu.be/9cjysAM7bWA?feature=shared
Television Personalities - 14th Floor
https://youtu.be/LYMaFtlq6AQ?feature=shared
Great picks!
"It Takes Two" to dance til "A Quarter to Three" and to figure out "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover." But "If 6 Was 9" you'd have the Stooges' in "1969." Or was that Bowie in "1984," from "In the Year 2525"? I haven't had coffee yet, so I got "99 Problems," crying "96 Tears," but if I listen to Jimmy Charles' "A Million to One," I'll feel better.
This is a textbook case of a great post, Professor!
“32 flavors” ani difranco https://youtu.be/m_pMYbleHpU?feature=shared
Oooh yes! Ani ❤️
Such an amazing song!!
YES!
Ha - great list!
You sideways-mentioned 867, which was the first one to my mind. Also:
A Million Vacations by Max Webster
1979 by Smashing Pumpkins
1901 by Phoenix
One by U2 (voted somewhere along the line as the best song ever -- I disagree)
Two of Hearts by Stacey Q
One after 909 by the Beatles
The perplexing 25 or 6 to 4 by Chicago
Final Countdown by Europe (but that's a pun, so maybe doesn't count...?)
If we’re talking about U2, then Two Hearts Beat as One surely deserves a mention
But of course!
Nicely referenced!
My local radio station trivia was once "which is the only song with three numbers in the title to be in the top 10?" Answer was 25 or 6 to 4 which I'm happy to parse as a clock reading some time after 3:30am
Makes sense to me. Only, couldn't it be 3-something in the afternoon? (Maybe a Saturday? In the park?)
Everything Counts (in large amounts)!
Ha! Glad to hear it's encouraged... lol
777-9311 by The Time. A phone number I was desperate to ring when I was 13 ...
one of my favorites! I still make time to play The Time all the time!
At the time, I thought they were better than Prince in Purple Rain … still do, actually. Which is ironic, considering they were one of his many side projects.
I'm not sure I've ever heard ths one. Changing that now!
Noice!
I love "19th Nervous Breakdown." That's a great number song.
Love the AbFab reference. That was some seriously funny stuff.
That Hagar song is just awful. I hope it doesn’t earworm me….
Haha. Sorry about that!
I was going to say for me seeing that Hagar song mentioned reminds me that The Minutemen titled their magnum opus in response: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Nickels_on_the_Dime
‐------------------------
The album was named Double Nickels on the Dime as a reaction to the Sammy Hagar song "I Can't Drive 55," a protest against the federally imposed speed limit of 55 miles per hour on all U.S. highways in place at the time.[17] Minutemen decided that driving fast "wasn't terribly defiant"; Watt later commented that "the big rebellion thing was writing your own fuckin' songs and trying to come up with your own story, your own picture, your own book, whatever. So he can't drive 55, because that was the national speed limit? Okay, we'll drive 55, but we'll make crazy music."
Great list! Also by Prince, and in the same style as the one you listed (but more tired perhaps, at this stage), "Nothing Compares 2 U". I'm the sort of person who has random thoughts about this kind of stuff but when prompted, nothing comes out 😆
Don’t forget “7” by Prince
One - Aimee Mann
99 Red Balloons - Nena
1999 - Prince
How could I forget Nena! Or the cover version by 7 Seconds, for that matter.
88 lines is an unsung masterpiece. I’d fight for a few other Prince songs but I would die is one of his best
There's so many good ones......
The Beach Boys - 409
The Birds - Eight Miles High
? & The Mysterians - 96 Teardrops
The Beatles - When I'm 64
Paul Simon - 50 Ways
Bryan Adams - Summer of 69
Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
Ramones - She's The One
Iron Maiden - Two Minutes to Midnight and Number of the Beast
Metallica - One and The Four Horsemen
The Who 5:15
Three Dog Night - One
Dylan - Rainy Day Woman #12
Fantastic picks here, Billy!
Love this! But also:
Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes
12:51 - The Strokes
Not Nineteen Forever - Courteeners
Twenty-one - The Cranberries
8 Dead Boys - Babyshambles
All good adds!
This reminds me ***so much*** of the Top 5 lists that were created on the XM radio show “Debatable”. Love it! Until it gets started, you never realize how many songs fit the category.
This is the sort of list/prompt that could easily find me tweaking the list for days.
A lot of R&B songs use numbers like that. The Four Tops' "Just Seven Numbers" and The Chi-Lites' "Twenty Four Hours Of Sadness" are just two examples.
I'm not sure I know that Chi-Lites song. I'm on it!