MY LIFE Day 11

I am very knowledgeable in all things concerning pop music.

As I edit this, I have music playing

I once went 22 songs with an Uber driver of “name that tune” In Scottsdale, Arizona. I could have kept playing but my friends all wanted to go inside and eat dinner already!

Somewhere in my basement is my beloved Wham!’s “Make It Big” tape. My Sony Boombox didn’t make it long past grade school but it was the highlight of my Christmas that year. THANKS DAD!!

My affinity for pop music I can attribute to a few things
1) I worked at a skating rink for the end of high school and on breaks in college. There is nothing like hearing the same mid 90s songs and earlier songs all day for years to get you to know them backwards and forwards, that and I can make a mean cotton candy. SHOUT OUT TO ALL OF MY OLD FLIPPO’s CREW.

2) Teaching group exercise for 12 years, I ended up knowing not just current pop music but basically anything from the 1950s on to appeal to anyone I might get in my classes. Especially when I was teaching in a corporate gym. I had to have music that would appeal to everyone from a 20 year old summer intern to the 65 year old CEO.

I think of the signature songs when it comes to movies
Take My Breath Away from Top Gun
or
I’ve Had the Time of My Life from Dirty Dancing
Or
Day O as in Beetlejuice

Friendships dancing to Color Me Badd, Ace of Base, Hootie and the Blowfish, Dave Matthews Band and the Indigo Girls in college
or
driving around looking for apartments with “I Want It That Way” blaring in the Hawaiian heat

Relationships gone wrong
Someday by Mariah Carey
Or
What Goes Around…to people who shall remain nameless

Phases of my life

Junior high school dances
Mony Mony by Billy Idol (and the things we were not supposed to chant)

Summer before Senior year of high school
Baby Got Back by Sir Mix A Lot

Every morning in the car during 6th grade when my daughter was having a hard time at school
“Mean” by Taylor Swift

The cure alls

Need the perfect mantra to break up with a bad dude?

“The bed feels warmer sleeping here alone” Kelly Clarkson

Can’t stop dating the wrong women?
“Never trust a big butt and a smile” Poison

Life isn’t fair and you need to quit your whining?
“You can’t always get what you want” The Rolling Stones

Are you sure you want to stand by the dumb thing you just said to me?
“You better check yo self before you wreck yo self” Ice Cube

You will be grateful if you get out of your own way
“Shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life you’d like to” – The Smiths

It’s never too late for a happy ending
“There’s still time to change the road you’re on” – Led Zeppelin, ‘Stairway To Heaven’

Before the big presentation/meeting/appearance

“Here I go, it’s my shot, feet fail me not/this might be the only opportunity I got” – Eminem,

Enough with the dead end job/relationship/whatever it is you keep complaining about…

“You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away, and know when to run.” Kenny Rogers

“Music makes the people come together
[Never gonna stop]
Music makes the bourgeoisie and the rebel
[Never gonna stop]” Madonna

What songs always remind you of college?
High school?
turning 30?
That girls trip to Miami?

What is your musical go to that can make you smile (until you can get your BFF on the phone)?

Photo credit Stacey Natal