me and popular music
Oct. 29th, 2021 05:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calimacI came across a series of YouTube videos labeled "Most Popular Song Each Month in the ..." for each decade from the 1950s to the 2010s. I don't know on what basis it was determined what was the most popular song for each month, but it seems a pretty good sampling of 12 songs per year, and a chance for me to test my knowledge of popular music. I listened through the whole set and counted up the songs that I recognized, that I know I'd heard before, and also the number of those that I positively like, that I've deliberately gone and listened to because I enjoy them. (A few that I recognize I positively hate, but only a few.)
What I couldn't count from clips of a few seconds is ones that I didn't know but would come to like if I listened to them a few times in full. All I can say of that is that there were more clips that sounded likely in the 2000s than in the 1990s.
I divided up the years by meaningful chunks.
1950-63, i.e. before the Beatles: A lot of nightclub crooner types in here, as well as (from 1956) Elvis Presley, whom I don't care for at all and, it turns out, know little of. I recognized a few instrumentals from the lush Muzak radio stations that my father liked to listen to in my youth. And some songs I know from Allan Sherman or Stan Freberg parodies. Rate: know about 3.25/year, like about .75/year.
1964-70: full of Beatles songs, every one of which I like. And a lot of others as well. (Top favorite non-Beatles song, probably "Downtown.") Though most of my knowledge of this period is retroactive - I wasn't listening to current pop music at the time - I'm apparently a child of my generation in finding this the heart of my pop-music tastes. Rate: know about 9/year, like about 6/year. Remember that's out of 12 total per year.
1971-80: this is the period I was in high school and college, so I was hearing a lot of incidental pop music even though I wasn't seeking it out, and styles were turning against my taste in the later 70s: though I know a lot of songs from that period, except for the weird outlier of Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" (1978) (what's that doing in here?), there's nothing I really like in between McCartney's "Band on the Run" (1974) and Lennon's Double Fantasy songs (1980). Rate: know about 5/year, like about 1/year.
1981-85: This is the sole period in my life when I was actually listening to current pop music of my own volition. A couple songs I really liked hit the charts - one of them is here - and I kept on until the good stuff dribbled off a few years later. Rate: know about 6/year, like about 2/year.
1987-present: A true desert. I know almost none of this stuff, though when listening to these clips there's a fair number of post-2000 songs that I expect I might come to like if I ever heard them in full, but the point is, I never have, and I'm not moved to seek them out. One that I did, it turned out I wished I hadn't. For the 90s in particular, almost everything I know is either because it's a remake of an older song I know or else because Weird Al parodied it. But of the 6 songs I list as liking, most I really like. Top favorite: "Orinoco Flow" by Enya (1988) (what's that doing in here?). Rate: know about 1/year, like about .25/year.
What I couldn't count from clips of a few seconds is ones that I didn't know but would come to like if I listened to them a few times in full. All I can say of that is that there were more clips that sounded likely in the 2000s than in the 1990s.
I divided up the years by meaningful chunks.
1950-63, i.e. before the Beatles: A lot of nightclub crooner types in here, as well as (from 1956) Elvis Presley, whom I don't care for at all and, it turns out, know little of. I recognized a few instrumentals from the lush Muzak radio stations that my father liked to listen to in my youth. And some songs I know from Allan Sherman or Stan Freberg parodies. Rate: know about 3.25/year, like about .75/year.
1964-70: full of Beatles songs, every one of which I like. And a lot of others as well. (Top favorite non-Beatles song, probably "Downtown.") Though most of my knowledge of this period is retroactive - I wasn't listening to current pop music at the time - I'm apparently a child of my generation in finding this the heart of my pop-music tastes. Rate: know about 9/year, like about 6/year. Remember that's out of 12 total per year.
1971-80: this is the period I was in high school and college, so I was hearing a lot of incidental pop music even though I wasn't seeking it out, and styles were turning against my taste in the later 70s: though I know a lot of songs from that period, except for the weird outlier of Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" (1978) (what's that doing in here?), there's nothing I really like in between McCartney's "Band on the Run" (1974) and Lennon's Double Fantasy songs (1980). Rate: know about 5/year, like about 1/year.
1981-85: This is the sole period in my life when I was actually listening to current pop music of my own volition. A couple songs I really liked hit the charts - one of them is here - and I kept on until the good stuff dribbled off a few years later. Rate: know about 6/year, like about 2/year.
1987-present: A true desert. I know almost none of this stuff, though when listening to these clips there's a fair number of post-2000 songs that I expect I might come to like if I ever heard them in full, but the point is, I never have, and I'm not moved to seek them out. One that I did, it turned out I wished I hadn't. For the 90s in particular, almost everything I know is either because it's a remake of an older song I know or else because Weird Al parodied it. But of the 6 songs I list as liking, most I really like. Top favorite: "Orinoco Flow" by Enya (1988) (what's that doing in here?). Rate: know about 1/year, like about .25/year.
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Date: 2021-10-29 06:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-29 09:18 pm (UTC)I like to think that this explains a great deal about me.
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Date: 2021-10-29 10:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-30 10:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-10-31 08:46 am (UTC)I listened to the 1950s installment. I remember many of these songs! I suppose I heard them on the oldies station I listened to in the early 1970s. (Also, I remember my grandmother playing "Where Is Your Heart" on our piano in the 1960s.)
I'm amazed at how many films were made of the singers.
"Rock Around the Clock" really shatters the 1950s trend till that time, doesn't it? No wonder it made such a splash. But I was surprised at how varied the music was: everything from orchestra pieces that would be at home in the 1930s to folk music that would be at home in the 1960s.
Also, I never realized how much of a crooner Elvis Presley was. He's like a cross between the crooners and the rockers.
The 1960s
Date: 2021-10-31 09:57 am (UTC)The transition from pre- to post-Beatles actually wasn't as abrupt as I'd expected it would be. It's really interesting watching the music gradually speed up at the beginning of the 1960s.
I already knew most of the songs of this era (though the only ones I remember hearing in the sixties - in the dimmest recesses of my memory - are "You Can't Hurry Love" and "Love is Blue"). It was a terrific decade, and the Beatles deserved all the praise they got.
The rest
Date: 2021-10-31 12:33 pm (UTC)The 1970s was a *lot* better than I remembered. Lots of stuff I liked there.
The 1980s was my sweet spot, from when I was in college and New Wave had taken over. I can see why I stopped listening to the radio after I graduated in 1987, though.
Nearly everything after that was new to me. I found the 90s-00s rather boring, but I perked up in the late 00s. From then on, they were playing stuff I liked! I began scribbling like mad.
Now I have a whole list of songs to listen to. Thank you so much.
P.S. My heart beat a little harder when I (re)heard Enya. I need to listen to all her albums now.