Monday, December 3, 2007

The Way Back Machine

  1. A visit to my mom's house provided me with some archival material. She saves everything, and is slowly tossing out stuff. Anyway, I stopped by, and she gave me a bag of books and junk, like who's who in American high school students (yeah, I was there), and a few old copies of Freetime, the local free publication that lists club dates, events, and the like. So in one of them was a two page spread by WMCF, a local radio station that used to be pretty radical, but over time has settled on playing the same songs relentlessly. So the text at the top of the ad reads:

    "The WCMF Top 96 Songs of 1982 was compiled from votes submitted by WCMF listeners during December, 1982. "

    I don't think there is anything scientific about the poll, and some of the selections I can't remember the station playing, at least not in daily rotation. Uncle Roger would always play better stuff during the overnight, you could call him up to request it, and you could always visit him and party on. But this was during a time when radio still mattered a bit, and there was always an attitude from the younger set, that college radio was the way to go (still is), and I'd guess a few of the votes came in from people trying to skew the results. And if you're feeling nostalgic, below is the list. Read on

    1. Joan Jett ------ I Love Rock n’ Roll
    2. John Cougar ------ Jack & Diane
    3. Survivor ------ Eye of the Tiger
    4. Asia ------ Heat of the Moment
    5. Scorpions ------ No One Like You
    6. J. Geils ------ Centerfold
    7. Men At Work ------ Who Can It Be Now
    8. Fleetwood Mac ------ Gypsy
    9. Genesis ------ Abacab
    10. Duke Jupiter ------ I’ll Drink To You
    11. Sammy Hagar ------ I’ll Fall In Love Again
    12. Loverboy ------ Lucky Ones
    13. Asia ------ Sole Survivor
    14. Aldo Nova ------ Fantasy
    15. .38 Special ------ Caught Up In You
    16. John Cougar ------ Hurts So Good
    17. Billy Squier ------ Everybody Wants You
    18. Genesis ------ You Might Recall
    19. Cars ------ Since You’re Gone
    20. Fleetwood Mac ------ Hold Me
    21. Police ------ Every Little Thing She Does
    22. Saga ------ On The Loose
    23. Toto ------ Rosanna
    24. Asia ------ Only Time Will Tell
    25. Who ------ Athena
    26. Van Halen ------ Pretty Woman
    27. Flock of Seagulls ------ I Ran
    28. Def Leppard ------ Bringing on the Heartbreak
    29. Eddie Money ------ I Think I’m in Love
    30. CSN ------ Southern Cross
    31. Loverboy ------ Workin’ For the Weekend
    32. Genesis ------ Man on the Corner
    33. Stray Cats ------ Rock This Town
    34. Prism ------ Don’t Let Him Know
    35. Human League ------ Don’t You Want Me
    36. Judas Priest ------ You Got Another Thing Comin’
    37. Bryan Adams ------ Lonely Nights
    38. Pete Townshend ------ Slit Skirts
    39. Billy Squier ------ Learn How To Live
    40. Huey Lewis ------ Do You Believe In Love
    41.John Hall Band ------ Crazy
    42. Nazareth ------ Love Leads to Madness
    43. J. Geils ------ Freeze Frame
    44. Genesis ------ Paperlate
    45. Eddie Money ------ Shakin’
    46. Steve Winwood ------ Still in the Game
    47. Tommy Tutone ------ 867-5309
    48. Sammy Hagar ------ There’s Only One Way To Rock
    49. Men At Work ------ Down Under
    50. Roger Daltrey ------ Say it Ain’t So, Joe
    51. .38 Special ------ You Keep Running Away
    52. Kansas ------ Play the Game Tonight
    53. Joe Jackson ------ Steppin’ Out
    54. Loverboy ------ When It’s Over
    55. Soft Cell ------ Tainted Love
    56. Police ------ Spirits in the Material World
    57. Bad Company ------ Electricland
    58. Shooting Star ------ Breakout
    59. Jon Anderson ------ All in a Matter of Time
    60. Rolling Stones ------ Goin’ to a Go Go
    61. Elton John ------ Empty Garden
    62. Clash ------ Rock the Casbah
    63. Van Halen ------ Dancin’ in the Street
    64. 805 ------ Young Boys
    65. Rush ------ New World Man
    66. Joan Jett ------ Crimson and Clover
    67. Steve Winwood ------ Valerie
    68. Frankie & the Knockouts ------ You Never Had it Better
    69. Pat Benatar ------ Shadows of the Night
    70. Le Roux ------ Addicted
    71. Toronto ------ Your Daddy Don’t Know
    72. Sherbs ------ We Ride Tonight
    73. Tom Petty ------ You Got Lucky
    74. Gamma ------ Right the First Time
    75. Steel Breeze ------ You Don’t Want Me Anymore
    76. Loverboy ------ Take Me to the Top
    77. Go Go’s ------ We Got The Beat
    78. Don Henley ------ Dirty Laundry
    79. Uriah Heep ------ That’s The Way That It Is
    80. Cars ------ Shake It Up
    81. Pete Townshend ------ Stardom in Action
    82. Charlie Daniels Band ------ Still in Saigon
    83. Journey ------ Still They Ride
    84. Frank Zappa ------ Valley Girl
    85. David Johansen ------ Animals Medley
    86. Robert Plant ------ Burning Down One Side
    87. Loggins/Perry ------ Don’t Fight it
    88. Scorpions ------ You Give Me All I Need
    89. Billy Joel ------ Pressure
    90. Buxx ------ Can’t Say No
    91. Motels ------ Only the Lonely
    92. April Wine ------ Enough is Enough
    93. Greg Kihn ------ Testify
    94. Steve Miller ------ Abracadabra
    95. Spys ------ Don’t Run My Life
    96. Sammy Hagar ------ Fast Times …

3 comments:

Casey said...

I was expecting a trendy - 'you know you're in Rochester when... you haven't finished raking leaves and the first blizzard hits'. :)

Ooooh that list was a dose some nasty tasting medicine. ('Scuse me while I spit the vomit from my mouth.) I think I actually bought that Joan Jett album.

Pranayama mama said...

hey, kris won tix to the greg kihn band from wcmf in 81/82 and took me to the show at the pyramid theater. uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh.

Tracy Kroft said...

I, too, was a good student (read: geek) and was in the Who's Who of American High School Students. That's why I'm where I am today.
T