Friday Random Ten - "High School Prom" Edition

And after all that, the return of the Electric Mayhem Random Ten, out of 345 tracks.

1. Black Flag - Black Coffee
2. David Byrne - Glass Concrete and Stone
3. Death From Above 1979 - Sexy Results
4. The Smiths - Hand in Glove
5. Art of Noise - Beat Box
6. The Pixies - Gigantic
7. Death Cab for Cutie - Furry Little Bugs
8. Aimee Man - Going Through The Motions
9. Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights
10. Kanye West & The Beach Boys - Jesus Walks

(Interested about Kanye & Beach Boys? Click here. Thanks to Accordion Guy.)

Found this from Accordion Guy, who found it through Damian Penny, who found it through...well, that's a little bit more info than you - or I - need. The basic jist is: go here and find the Billboard Top 100 songs from the year you graduated high school, highlight the ones you like, cross out the ones you hate, underline your favorite, and ignore the ones you couldn't care enough to have an opinion about. This is kind of unrepresentative, because Canadian charts would have had different songs on them, but it's an interesting experience, if only to show how far of the beaten track I am.

Top 100 Songs of 1996
1. Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix), Los Del Rio
2. One Sweet Day, Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men
3. Because You Loved Me, Celine Dion
4. Nobody Knows, Tony Rich Project

(Nothing in particular about this song made me like it. It's just a nice R&B song, and I am a sucker for good soulful music.)

5. Always Be My Baby, Mariah Carey
6. Give Me One Reason, Tracy Chapman

(Who doesn't like this song? I mean, in the mid-90s there was a blues song that cracked the Top 10 hits of the year? Tracy Chapman has soul coming out of all of her pores, and she drives me crazy with good songwriting. Plus, freshly dumped girls love to sing this song, and I like to watch angry girls sing self-righteously. It's a quirk I have.)

7. Tha Crossroads, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
8. I Love You Always Forever, Donna Lewis
9. You're Makin' Me High / Let It Flow, Toni Braxton
10. Twisted, Keith Sweat
11. C'mon N' Ride It (The Train), Quad City Dj's
12. Missing, Everything But The Girl

(I like Tracy Thorn's voice a lot, and it was a good song to dance to back in the day. An odd kind of song, sad and depressing but with a good beat to it. I liked it before it was remixed, but I like the remix better - one of the rare times that I do.)

13. Ironic, Alanis Morissette
14. Exhale (Shoop Shoop), Whitney Houston
15. Follow You Down / Til I Hear It From You, Gin Blossoms
16. Sittin' Up In My Room, Brandy
17. How Do U Want It / California Love, 2Pac
18. It's All Coming Back To Me Now, Celine Dion
19. Change The World, Eric Clapton
20. Hey Lover, LL Cool J
21. Loungin, LL Cool J
22. Insensitive, Jann Arden

(I have a thing for Jann Arden, an Alberta girl with a good sense of humour and a wicked mean streak. She's mastered the songwriting craft, and has a beautiful voice. Thumbs up.)

23. Be My Lover, La Bouche
24. Name, Goo Goo Dolls
25. Who Will Save Your Soul, Jewel
26. Where Do You Go, No Mercy
27. I Can't Sleep Baby (If I), R. Kelly
28. Counting Blue Cars, Dishwalla
29. You Learn / You Oughta Know, Alanis Morissette
30. One Of Us, Joan Osborne
31. Wonder, Natalie Merchant
32. Not Gon' Cry, Mary J. Blige
33. Gangsta's Paradise, Coolio

(It may be lame to admit it now, but this was a huge part of me learning to like rap music. I had always been the sheep, saying "Yeah, I hate rap music" simply because my friends said the same thing. But this song made me realize that I should actually think for myself and do some listening of my own. And the more I heard, the more I liked.)

34. Only You, 112 Featuring The Notorious B.I.G.
35. Down Low (Nobody Has To Know), R. Kelly
36. You're The One, SWV
37. Sweet Dreams, La Bouche
38. Before You Walk Out Of My Life / Like This And Like That, Monica
39. Breakfast At Tiffany's, Deep Blue Something
40. 1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New), Coolio
41. The World I Know, Collective Soul
42. No Diggity, BLACKstreet (Featuring Dr. Dre)

(I like this song mostly because of the marionette video. The song's good, but this was a great video.)

43. Anything, 3t
44. 1979, The Smashing Pumpkins
45. Diggin' On You, TLC
46. Why I Love You So Much / Ain't Nobody, Monica
47. Kissin' You, Total
48. Count On Me, Whitney Houston and Cece Winans
49. Fantasy, Mariah Carey
50. Time, Hootie and The Blowfish
51. You'll See, Madonna
52. Last Night, Az Yet
53. Mouth, Merril Bainbridge
54. The Earth, The Sun, The Rain, Color Me Badd
55. All The Things (Your Man Won't Do), Joe
56. Wonderwall, Oasis

(I think it's a nice song. It was eaten up with gusto by my Beatles-loving hippie friends, but I just thought it was a nice ballad.)

57. Woo-hah!! Got You All In Check / Everything Remains Raw, Busta Rhymes
58. Tell Me, Groove Theory
59. Elevators (Me and You), Outkast

(I'd never heard this in High School. I have this cd now, and I like it; back then, I didn't know who Outkast was. Other than me and my fellow thespians, living in our small redneck town.)

60. Hook, Blues Traveler
61. Doin It, LL Cool J
62. Fastlove, George Michael
63. Touch Me Tease Me, Case Featuring Foxxy Brown
64. Tonite's Tha Night, Kris Kross
65. Children, Robert Miles
66. Theme From Mission: Impossible, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen

(It's just a cool song, on the level of Moby's James Bond Theme or the vsstly superior On Her Majesty's Secret Service by The Propellerheads. Good to dance to, great to drive to.)

67. Closer To Free, Bodeans
68. Just A Girl, No Doubt
69. If Your Girl Only Knew, Aaliyah
70. Lady, D'angelo
71. Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First), John Mellencamp
72. Pony, Ginuwine
73. Nobody, Keith Sweat
74. Old Man and Me (When I Get To Heaven), Hootie and The Blowfish
75. If It Makes You Happy, Sheryl Crow
76. As I Lay Me Down, Sophie B. Hawkins
77. Keep On, Keepin' On, Mc Lyte
78. Jealousy, Natalie Merchant
79. I Want To Come Over, Melissa Etheridge
80. Who Do U Love, Deborah Cox
81. Un-Break My Heart, Toni Braxton
82. This Is Your Night, Amber
83. You Remind Me Of Something, R. Kelly
84. Runaway, Janet Jackson
85. Set U Free, Planet Soul
86. Hit Me Off, New Edition
87. No One Else, Total
88. My Boo, Ghost Town Dj's
89. Get Money, Junior M.A.F.I.A.
90. That Girl, Maxi Priest Featuring Shaggy
91. Po Pimp, Do Or Die
92. Until It Sleeps, Metallica
93. Hay, Crucial Conflict
94. Beautiful Life, Ace Of Base
95. Back For Good, Take That
96. I Got Id / Long Road, Pearl Jam
97. Soon As I Get Home, Faith Evans
98. Macarena, Los Del Rio
99. Only Wanna Be With You, Hootie and The Blowfish
100. Don't Cry, Seal

Using my extremely faulty memory, back then I was mostly listening to The Beatles, jazz, Green Day, Beck, NoMeansNo, Prince, NOFX, Screaming Trees, Weird Al, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Propaghandi, R.E.M., U2, and whatever punk rock my friend Graham would play for me. The only albums that came out that year that I bought back then the Lost Highway & Trainspotting Soundtracks, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, Odelay, and Tiny Music. Nothing like what was just printed above. Even then, my finger was decidedly NOT on the pulse of the mainstream...

(Edit: Jamie pointed out that I was indeed incorrect and that "Who Will Save Your Soul" is not the same song as "You Were Meant For Me". I have deleted the commment I made about the song, however, I will put it here, as I really don't like Jewel. I believe that "Who Will Save Your Soul" has the stupidest lyrics in the history of pop music? "I got my eggs, got my pancakes too / Got my maple syrup, everything but you / I break the yolks and make a smiley face..." It makes me so mad that I want to break something of Jewel's. Maybe her face.)