Disclaimer: This is not a list of what I think are the best songs of all time. You may think some of these songs are bad or annoying. These are the kinds of songs that I heard once and had to buy them. At the very least they made me a fan of the performers.
When I was in middle school they had a party for the 8th graders moving on to high school. One of the janitors in the school happened to also be a DJ. They would hire him for school functions. At our promotion dance he did a Dance Hall set. I was on the stage hanging by the DJ table (like usual). All of a sudden I hear this very basic guitar riff. As soon as the song came on all the kids started grinding and going crazy. I ask the DJ what song it was. He hands me the sleeve. It read, Murder She Wrote - Chaka Demus. Before the week was over I made my dad drive me to Sam Goody to buy this record.
Fast forward about 15 years. I used to work in Annandale, Virginia. I used to get off from work around 3pm. My commute would bring me up 395 over the 14th Street Bridge. As you may already know I was always stuck in traffic. This particular hot summer day I was flipping through 3 different radio stations. It was a Friday so they were playing new music. They announced the new Kanye West song. I started listening and the beat was ridiculous. I especially liked the sample of what I thought was an old Ray Charles song. 95.5 played the song, then they played it again. I flipped to 93.9 and they were playing it too. So I changed it 92.3 and of course they were playing it again. On my 45 minute drive home they must have played Gold Digger about 10 times.
This next one is a very unusual song. It's a country song, but it doesn't sound like one to me. Another night I was driving home from work. It was raining outside. I was listening to the oldies station. I can't recall what the theme was, but the DJs were playing their favorite songs. This song started with a basic country riff. Then this voice comes on sounding like a young girl. Describing how she broke with her boyfriend. The chorus got me, her voice got high and says "I got a brand pair of roller skates, you got a brand new key". I was mesmerized by the melody. The song was Brand New Key by Melanie.
Many years ago I made one of my many trips to New York City. I had gone with my girlfriend at the time. She was in awe of Time Square. They had just opened the Virgin Records store. We went over there to check it out. They were playing videos on these large screens that you saw as you walked in. I noticed the singer before the song. I though, "that's Deborah Harry". The guitar riff was rapid. We immediately asked someone what song it was. It was a single that Blondie had just released called Maria. We each bought a copy of the single.
The following song is dear to my heart. My daughter was born in September 12th 2004. Around that time there was a song that was quite popular on the soft rock stations. I had heard about John Mayer, but wasn't a fan. One day I heard the song, and listened to the words, "Fathers, be good to your daughters Daughters will love like you do Girls become lovers who turn into mothers So mothers, be good to your daughters too". That immediately became her song.
What's the song that you loved the first time you heard it? Where were you? How does it make you feel? What does it remind you of? Thanks for listening, and remember you can leave your comments and answers to the questions below.
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