Monday, March 9, 2009

On the subject of Life's Soundtrack

Okay, here’s another one of those Facebook challenges… from Brent Ruth… the instructions are thus:

Think of 15 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically, shaped your world.

Now to my personalization of it…

Okay – since I take these things one step further – I will pick the top tracks off them as well! (You can find them on Google now!)

Helen Reddy – I Am Woman
Okay… start the presses and make fun of me, but it was the first album I ever bought when I was like 7 years old. I loved the sound of her voice and I used to hear her on the radio. She might have been one of my first crushes too.
More than anything, I think it set the stage for my relationships with women, and made me realize at an early age the importance and wonderment of the other sex.
4. Peaceful – One of my first favorite songs… a song about serenity
6. Where Is the Love? – a classic
7. I Am Woman – It was the anthem of the time and probably set me up for the statement I use more than about any other “in the battle of the sexes, I rarely root for my own side.”
9. This Masquerade – Love the George Benson version of this song as well.

Abba – Waterloo
This was one of the first albums I bought and I really liked Anna. Great sound. I think that I just liked the title track though and kept playing it over and over.

Barry Manilow Live
As a teenager, I was not sure who I was going to turn out to be. There were many feelings of guilt and self doubt because of a lot of complex issues, the biggest of which was the fact I never seemed to be able to find a girl to like me. So I would be at home sometimes when my parents went out, and I would blast this album on the big stereo and sing at the top of my lungs.
1. Riders to the Stars – first song on the album and a great opener.
3. Looks Like We Made It – a boy who wanted to dream that he actually had a girl.
4. New York City Rhythm – just liked the song.
7. This One's for You – Love sick heartbreaking sing out!
10. Weekend in New England – Hopeless romantics unite.
12. Could It Be Magic/Mandy – Classic Manilow.
13. It's a Miracle – When I wasn’t feeling down, a great song to sing. When I was down, even better.

Soundtrack – Grease
Look at me, I was Sandra Dee. At least that was what the other kids in the neighborhood thought of me. I was the clean cut kid who always stayed out of trouble. I dreamed of being Danny, but was probably more of a Kenickie. But in reality, I was Sandy, a love struck pup who just wanted to be able to date someone who everyone else liked.
2. Summer Nights by Olivia Newton-John – tell me more, tell me more. Every great romance I had as a teen was a summertime romance.
4. You're the One That I Want by Olivia Newton-John – Olivia Newton-John. Spandex Pants. Do I need to go on here?
6. Beauty School Dropout by Frankie Avalon – An in home karaoke hit which one day I need to do in public.
7. Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee by Stockard Channing – See above.
8. Greased Lightnin' by John Travolta – I loved to perform this with the gang at Confetti Night Club. We had all the choreography.
15. Born to Hand Jive by Sha Na Na – I know the hand jive… do you?
22. We Go Together by Olivia Newton-John – I actually can sing this whomp bam boo song all the way through

Billy Joel – The Stranger
Sitting by the pool, dreaming of going out with Kim Hill, seeing her sister Debbie who gave me my first kiss, hanging out with Kenny, Paul and the gang. Having that first puppy love date with Shellie Donohoe. Dreaming of fitting in… that was in my head when this album hit my ears. It is the only album here that every song has a meaning.
1. Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) – The search for independence began here.
2. The Stranger – feeling like I am on the outside when I am really in.
3. Just the Way You Are – the way I wished people felt about me.
4. Scenes from an Italian Restaurant – I wasn’t Brenda or Eddie.
6. Only the Good Die Young – so I pray I don’t die before I’m 50.
7. She's Always a Woman – I used to sing this about Kim Hill… boy, talk about puppy love.
9. Everybody Has a Dream – and so do I.

Soundtrack – Saturday Night Fever
I love disco. There, I said it. And this is obviously the penultimate disco album. However my story goes deeper. It was in Spain and France where I really got into this album. I was traveling on a school trip with a number of other schools from around the country. When I had gone to lunch with 4 girls from Karns High School in Knoxville, Tennessee, we got into a taxi that took us to the wrong hotel. We missed our tour and were basically on our own for the day. We spent it learning dances from the movie. Kelly Seaman (who I had a big crush on) Karen Ohnesorge (who became my big time penpal and very good long distance friend) and her two classmates went through all the choreography for “Night Fever.” We all, as teenagers, performed the dance in a grown up disco in San Sebastian and received a big ovation from the stunned crowd in the disco, who all wondered how these kids could dance so well.
1. Stayin' Alive by The Bee Gees – a classic.
3. Night Fever by The Bee Gees – see story above.
5. If I Can't Have You by Yvonne Elliman – a great lyric.
12. Jive Talkin' by The Bee Gees
13. You Should Be Dancing by The Bee Gees
17. Disco Inferno by The Trammps – perhaps the best disco song of all time.

Supertramp – Breakfast in America
Seabrook Island, South Carolina. Summertime at the beach as a teenager. I was a disc jockey at a roller skating rink and helped out with the local dances. But on the juke box at Seabrook was The Logical Song. I remember singing this song in my car with the Sovinski sisters and can still remember to this day most of the words to the tracks below. It was a great time in my life and one I will remember fondly always.
2. The Logical Song – the single from the album and a song that is so true for all of us who think we should be logical.
3. Goodbye Stranger – an anthem for saying goodbye to people I grew to love, but knew I would never see again.
4. Breakfast in America – Singing in the car down Bohicket Road with Linda and Sharon.
6. Take the Long Way Home - Because I never wanted these days to ever end.

Donna Summer – On the Radio
Tuesday and Friday nights were the greatest nights of the week when I spent Summers at Seabrook. That is because those were the nights that neighboring Kiawah Island held their teen dances. On those nights, the gang would all go over to the bike shack where the rec director, Frank Olivetto would spin the tunes. He had a limited selection, that is, until I volunteered my huge dance music collection. The final song every dance… Last Dance.
I never wanted to hear that song, as it always meant the dance was over. Sometimes, it would mean the end of an amazing night with a cute girl. Other nights, it was the end of a victorious evening when Elizabeth Scheld, a 98 pound wonder of a dancer, would have won our umteenth t-shirt for winning the couple’s dance competition. Every time I hear the song, I am transported back… wishing for those days when the only thing that would outnumber my dreams were the stars above.
1. On the Radio – a song you can belt out on the way to the dance.
8. Heaven Knows – a duet with Brooklyn Dreams – and a classic dance song.
9. Last Dance – see above.
10. MacArthur Park – Someone left my cake out in the rain?
11. Hot Stuff – along with
12. Bad Girls – one of the best dance songs ev-ah!
13. Dim All the Lights – an underrated Summer Song and one of my favorites.
14. Sunset People – Another underrated song – very LA.
15. No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) – with Babs and a fun duet.

Michael Jackson – Off the Wall
When you are a DJ in a roller disco, you have to have this album in your rack. These songs are still among my favorites to roll too, and I have done it all these years later. Yes, I can still dance on skates, although I am much more terrified of falling now.
1. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough – a fast dance. Crossing my skates and snapping my fingers.
2. Rock With You – I am turning backwards and dancing my wheels off.
5. Off the Wall – third place of these songs, but still darn good.



Pat Benatar – In the Heat of the Night
For years, Kristy McNichol was the object of my crush affection. That was until I heard the spandex covered, powerful female sound of Pat Benatar. And life was never the same. I have seen her more than any other artist in concert and still think she’s pretty spectacular these days, even though I still prefer picturing her back in the 80’s. Sign.
1. Heartbreaker – How could someone so tiny sing something so big.
6. We Live for Love – shows off her operatic skills and made me enjoy high notes.

Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run
My friends as a teenager loved three artists – The Who, Rolling Stones, and Bruce. This was the album I most associate with those Friday nights in Paul Gerrity’s basement, with everyone pairing off into their own couples and little ol’ me dreaming of one day being part of a couple.
1. Thunder Road – first song on the album and the start of any beer laden singalong.
5. Born to Run – we all loved this song… what Bruce fan doesn’t? Also led to one of my favorite times in a comedy show when a comic played this song and I screamed 1-2-3-4 at the perfect time, causing him to stop and say, “no one has ever done that – very cool.”
8. Jungleland – When we sang this, there was a lot of passion in the room… and that was not about sex… just friendship.

Pretty in Pink Soundtrack
I love John Hughes movies, and this, while underrated, was one of his best. I was not Ducky, I just thought I was. I was not poor like the lead, but identified with her greatly. It’s the story of someone who just wants a place in the world, and I could see myself there when this album came out.
1. If You Leave by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – a great coming of age song.
2. Left of Center by Suzanne Vega – identified with this more than any other song, although it seems that even though I thought I was Left of Center, I was just normal
5. Pretty in Pink by The Psychedelic Furs – Title track, nuff said.
6.Shellshock by New Order – I wore out two cassettes of this album with this one song along. I would always play it when I took off on an airplane for a trip. I would be asleep by the end of the song.
8. Wouldn't It Be Good by Danny Hutton Hitters – The song I believe in more times than not – about being in a different place and time when times aren’t so great.
10. Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want by The Smiths – The title is self explanatory.

Prince – Purple Rain/The Time – Ice Cream Castles
My best friend and I loved this movie and the music from it led to many night of dancing with our girlfriends. Later, when I worked at Confetti, I would do performances of The Time from this movie. It was the best music of my leaving college days.
1. Let's Go Crazy by Prince & the Revolution – Just a great party song.
2. Take Me With U by Prince & the Revolution – a great cruising song… and how many of you ladies wanted to be Apollonia?
5. Darling Nikki by Prince & the Revolution – I actually played this during a happy hour when I was a DJ and got in trouble. Saw an incredible performance of this song just last night at a birthday party. Timeless entertainment.
7. I Would Die 4 U by Prince & the Revolution along with.
8. Baby I'm a Star by Prince & the Revolution – one of the best combo songs of all time.
9. Purple Rain by Prince & the Revolution – an anthem of all anthems.
The Time – Ice Cream Castles
4. Jungle Love – Oh Ee Oh EE oh!
6. The Bird – We learned all the choreography and did the routine at Confetti as the lipsync group “White Time is It.” I was Morris Knight!

Celine Dion – Unison
I am guessing it is probably not hip to love Celine Dion, but you didn’t listen to Celine when I did. I was in Detroit covering a lacrosse game and the league asked me to stay an extra day so that they would not have to pay more for the plane ticket. Back in those days, it was easier to pay for another night in the hotel than the extra plane fare. So I stayed the extra night on my own and had a great adventure beginning with a basketball game, spending the day at the auto show (where I discovered an old college friend as one of the car models – leading to an unexpected lunch) and ending with Stars on Ice. When I returned to the hotel room, there was a special with this new star on CBC singing in French and her newly learned English. Her name… Celine Dion.
I won’t list the tracks as I loved all of them.
As a postscript, her songs would provide the soundtrack of my honeymoon and wedding including “When I Fall in Love” and “The Power of Love”

Elton John – Greatest Hits 1976-1986
My wife turned me onto Elton John’s music as we were dating. Philadelphia Freedom was always one of my favorite songs. “Can you feel the Love tonight” was “our song.” This album was the one she seemed to play the most.
1. I'm Still Standing
6. Don't Go Breaking My Heart
9. I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues

Amy Winehouse – Back in Black
How can Amy Winehouse and I have anything in common? I first heard her on British radio a few years ago and called her a new millennium Nancy Sinatra. I loved her sound. Then, I found out what a mess she was. Rather than writing her off, I just began to love her music more. Last year, I thought of a song to debut at my first improv karaoke night and decided Rehab would be funny. Little did I know if the importance of that song in helping me understand my life.
1. Rehab – see above.
2. You Know I'm No Good – Kate Jaeger rocked my world with her performance of this song on that night, and I am trying to figure out how to do a guy’s version of it.
6. Love Is a Losing Game – One of the most tragic love songs of all time, and most beautiful at the same time.
7. Tears Dry on Their Own – When I went through a bit of the blues last year, I sang this song a lot.

Well there you have it. What makes me take a simple game and turn it into a novel. It’s all a journey in self realization and another exercise in counting my blessings. If these songs brought back some memories for you, I am very pleased. If they reminded you of me, then I am truly honored.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love ya, Jon, but this list explains a lot about you (LOL!)

P.S. Hit me up on facebook - there's a whole lot more Jon Horton's than there are Bob Hazlewood's listed.

Anonymous said...

My son is into Bruce, Petty, U2 and Buddy Holly, last night I was telling Beth it might be time to have him start listening to the Who. She suggested that we should let him find music he likes on his own. I then showed her your list,
Who's Next is now cranking in our house.