Rate the #1 songs of your birthdays

Cafe Society
1

http://www.bobborst.com/popculture/numberonesongs/

For my birthday, including the year I was born…

OK, well let’s just say that there is some supreme shit on this list… so much so I wonder if I have accidentally brought upon our planet some sort of vengeance from a demon of the musical arts. I mean, it starts off OK, even a little strong with 60s classics “Happy Together” and “Dock of the Bay” to lead things off, and the Roberta Flack song is pretty… but seeing America and Tommy Roe is a portent of things to come.

Then we got three years of total crap, and the only reason it doesn’t extend to four years is because I’m going through a Hall and Oates thing right now so “Rich Girl” is, temporarily at least, no longer crap.

Then… holy hell, we have 3, 4, even 5 good songs over the next few years! “Night Fever”, a quintessential disco hit, “Brick in the Wall”, which was supremely cool to my 13yo self, “Rapture”, the first song to feature rapping to hit #1, “Billie Jean” (MJ’s best song), and even “I Love Rock and Roll”, a song I particularly don’t like but understand why people do.

So stop right there… I got Otis, I got the Bee Gees, I got Floyd, Michael Jackson, Blondie - not a bad set if it came on the local 60s/70s/80s station, right?

But then… my God, it just falls off the rails. Kenny Loggins. Phil Collins. Falco. Starship. Gloria Estefan. Celine. And, representing the absolute nadir of Western Civilization, Cher’s “Believe”. What the hell did I do to deserve that???

I mean… Christ, there was no hope after that, right? I’m sure some of those 2000’s-era songs are good, but I still see Fergie on the list and that can’t be a good sign… right?

(Looks further on list, sees “Harlem Shake” paired up with “Happy”.)

All right, just kill me now. This world can no longer afford any more birthdays from me.

So… what were the #1 songs on your birthdays? What do you think

2

(Hit submit too soon. I’d blame it on the cat, but I don’t have one. Stupid cat.)

Anyway… what do you think? Does your birthday have a bunch of classics on it, or is it a stain upon the arts (as mine is)?

3

A stain upon the arts. But I thought the first entry worked out well:

Fair enough.

4

Let’s put it this way. Not only are my #1 songs not the best songs of the year, they aren’t even the best songs by those particular acts.

Still, there are a couple of good songs from early Elvis Presley and Del Shannon’s classic “Runaway”, so it’s not a total loss.

5

It starts with The Partridge Family’s “I Think I Love You”, which normally would tip us off that it’s going to be bad. But the year after I was born, we had a good run. Sly and the Family Stone’s “Family Affair”, Temptations’ “Papa was a Rolling Stone”, then The Carpenters’ “Top of the World”. Pretty good songs, I can live with those three. After that, it’s just terrible. It eventually includes “Blame it on the Rain”. Ugh, at least I have only one birthday each year.

The UK charts start promising, with Dave Edmund’s “I Hear You Knocking”, then Slade, then Chuck Berry’s “My Ding-a-Ling”. After that, it performs the same type of slide.

6

Hey, I was born on Apr. 30th also. The early stuff is pretty good, Heartbreak Hotel and Witchdoctor are among my nostalgic favorites.

7

My birthday songs are all pretty bad, with one big exception: Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean”.

8

Damn, “In the Year 2525” for my first day on Earth. I hope I make it.

9

I picked the UK charts because it’s geographically closer to where I grew up. Some comments are included when I feel like it. “?” denotes a song that I don’t know/remember.

1974 – David Essex - Gonna Make You A Star
?

1975 1 David Bowie - Space Oddity
GREAT ! One of my favourite Bowie songs.

1976 2 Chicago - If You Leave Me Now
Meh.

1977 3 ABBA - The Name Of The Game
Far from their best.

1978 4 Boomtown Rats - Rat Trap
?

1979 5 Dr Hook - When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman
?

1980 6 Blondie - The Tide Is High
Perhaps the only Blondie single that I can’t stand.

1981 7 Police - Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Meh again.

1982 8 Eddy Grant - I Don’t Wanna Dance
OK song.

1983 9 Billy Joel - Uptown Girl
Not my favourite Joel song but I have clear memories of when it came out so bonus points for nostalgia. My dad loved it.

1984 10 Chaka Khan - I Feel For You
NO. Mid 80s dance music at it’s most annoying.

1985 11 Feargal Sharkey - A Good Heart
A song I think of once every 5 years. It’s quite good. Sharkey was everywhere for about 6 months in 1985.

1986 12 Berlin - Take My Breath Away
Not bad. Memories again.

1987 13 T’Pau - China In Your Hand
Another band which was everywhere then and forgotten now. I can’t say I miss them.

1988 14 Enya - Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)
Boring.

1989 15 Lisa Stansfield - All Around The World
I hated it at the time. Like it a little bit better now.

1990 16 Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody
A good song that I’ve heard too often.

1991 17 Vic Reeves and The Wonder Stuff - Dizzy
?

1992 18 Boyz II Men - End Of The Road
Ugh. Terrible and unescapable in 1992.

1993 19 Meat Loaf - I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)
Way too long and so serious.

1994 20 Pato Banton (with Robin and Ali Campbell) - Baby Come Back
?

1995 21 Robson and Jerome - I Believe / Up On The Roof
?

1996 22 Robson and Jerome - What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted / Saturday Night At The Movies / You’ll Never Walk Alone
?

1997 23 Aqua - Barbie Girl
Goes from fun to annoying in a matter of seconds.

1998 24 Cher - Believe
Meh again. Slightly annoying actually.

1999 25 Geri Halliwell - Lift Me Up
?

2000 26 A1 - Same Old Brand New You
?

2001 27 Westlife - Queen of My Heart
?

2002 28 Westlife - Unbreakable
?

2003 29 Kylie Minogue - Slow
Hmmm, not bad come to think of it. Her mini-come back at the beginning of the 00s yielded some of her best songs.

2004 30 Eminem - Just Lose It
?

2005 31 Westlife - You Raise Me Up
?

2006 32 Westlife - The Rose
*? WTF are Westlife? The name is familiar but 4 songs at #1 in 5 years, none of which rings a bell? Weird. *

2007 33 Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love
I have vague memories of it. Forgettable.

2008 34 The X Factor Finalists - Hero
?

2009 35 JLS - Everybody In Love
?

2010 36 Rihanna - Only Girl (In The World)
?

2011 37 Professor Green feat. Emeli Sande - Read All About It
?

2012 38 Robbie Williams - Candy
?

2013 39 Storm Queen - Look Right Through
?

2014 40 Cheryl - I Don’t Care
?

So.

Lots of songs that I completely blank on. Space Oddity is the only one that I’d consider great. Another 6-7 songs are decent. The rest is really bad. Disappointing.

10

The first two on my list are both Frankie Valli!
[ul]
[li]For my birthyear: “My Eyes Adored You”, my most hated Frankie Valli song[/li][li]Then for my first birthday: “December 1963”, o.k., this one’s actually damned good[/li][/ul]

Then, with the exception of two, count 'em two, appearances by REO Speedwagon, it’s a pretty good run up to my tenth birthday. Progressing from Frankie Valli, it’s [ul]
[li]Streisand’s “Evergreen” (Love, soft as an easy chair…)[/li][li]Bee Gees “Night Fever”[/li][li]Gloria Gaynor “I Will Survive”[/li][li]Pink Floyd “Another Brick in the Wall”[/li][li]then the dreaded REO Speedwagon “Keep On Loving You”[/li][li]but we bounce back with Joan Jett “I Love Rock n Roll”[/li][li]Michael Jackson “Billie Jean”[/li][li]Van Halen “Jump”[/li][/ul]
Then, for my 10th birthday, I’m treated to REO Speedwagon’s crappitude again. This time it’s “Can’t Fight This Feeling”. Ugh!

Then it’s hit-or-miss for the rest of my life. Snow’s “Informer” the year I graduated from highschool, Puff Daddy’s “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down” the year I graduated from college. Nothing particularly memorable- in fact there are several, even from years when I listened to more popular radio, that I can not remember at all.

Still, it was a relatively good first ten years.

11

Not bad, early on. Couple of Everly Brothers, couple of Beatles. Number one on my 16th birthday was Edgar Winter’s Frankenstein, and it was all downhill from there.

“Some people wanna fill the world with silly love songs. . .”

12

Maybe I overlooked something?

In no way can I remember music around the date of my birth. I was a baby. The only music was if my mum switched the radio on. I have no memory of that at all.

My first memory of music was Nat King Cole singing Rambling Rose.

13

Love Me Tender by Elvis when I was born. Not bad.

14

I’m pretty limited by the fact that I’m not sure I would recognize any of the tunes since 85 or so.

Have to put Isaac Hayes – Theme from Shaft (1971) at the top, followed by KC and the Sunshine Band - That’s the Way I Like it (1975) and Partridge Family - I think I Love You (1970), just for nostalgic fun. Maybe also Rod the Mod’s Tonight’s the Night (1976) – really liked than album in HS. There are 3 Supremes tunes from 64-66 - Baby Love, I Hear A Symphony, and You Keep Me Hanging On. Then 4 Seasons - Big Girls Don’t Cry in 62.

Wraps up the only ones I’d willingly listen to.

Kind depressing how many of the dreck I still know every word/note of. Anyone else wanna Get Physical w/ me and Olivia? Kids today have NOTHING the likes of top 40 AM back then.

15

I don’t think you overlooked anything - the thread isn’t asking if you remember these songs, but if you consider those songs you do remember to be crap or not.

16

You know, Dinsdale, your list was looking pretty solid… until I came across this twenty-year run:

Ugh.

But at least you don’t have “Believe” on your list!

17

Never heard of the #1 from my first birthday in 1968, Paul Mauriat - Love Is Blue, but the next two years are fantastic, Sly and The Family Stone - Everyday People and Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water. Other notable songs are Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly With His Song, Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive, Queen - Crazy Little Thing Called Love (I even had the album, The Game, on cassette), J. Geils Band - Centerfold, Michael Jackson - Billie Jean.

But there are some real stinkers, songs I absolutely loathe: Terry Jacks - Seasons In The Sun, REO Speedwagon - Can’t Fight This Feeling, Bon Jovi - Livin’ on a Prayer, Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up, Mr. Big - To Be With You, Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On, James Blunt - You’re Beautiful, Black Eyed Peas - Imma Be. Ughhh. Glad I didn’t listen to the radio on those birthdays.

About the rest I’m quite indifferent or else I don’t know them. So my top #1 birthday song would be Everyday People from 1969, and the nadir 1974’s Seasons In The Sun, which is even still a tad more horrible than the rest of the dreck I posted above.