Thank you for your kind words, thoughts and prayers following my recent posts. For a variety of reasons (many of which I shared here) the last few weeks have been difficult for me emotionally. I am continuing to heal, to work through my grief, to learn how to live my life without my baby girl and to try to make peace with our wonderful family being three of kind, (along with one baby girl and three more angel babies in Heaven) but no where near the full house I have always hoped for and dreamed of. I am feeling a lot better this week, more stable, less emotionally fragile. I know that I will continue to have ups and downs in the weeks, months and years to come, however your encouraging comments help me a lot and I so appreciate your care and support.
Bob and I had a really great talk last night after dinner and putting Sean down for bed which was also really good for both of us. We hadn’t really touched base formally in awhile about how we were both doing with the death of our daughter six months ago, our life currently and our future plans for our family. Though I choose not to share the details of our conversation or our thoughts on how we may or may not try to expand our family in the future, it went a long way to helping me accept and feel good about where Bob, Sean and I are at right now.
Now to get to the real reason for my post…
Everyone loves a good distraction and when I saw this on Shelli’s and then JuliaS’s blogs I decided I had to try it out for myself! It was a lot of fun and a great trip down memory lane. If you want to make your own:
A.) Go to musicoutfitters.com
B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function box at the top of the page. The first thing on the list should be a link to the list of the 100 most popular songs of that year.
C.) Cut & paste the list into your blog. Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you REALLY hate.
TOP 100 SONGS FROM 1993:
1. I Will Always Love You, Whitney Houston2. Whoomp! (There It Is), Tag Team
3. Can’t Help Falling In Love, UB40
4. That’s The Way Love Goes, Janet Jackson
5. Freak, Silk
6. Weak, SWV7. If I Ever Fall In Love, Shai8. Dreamlover, Mariah Carey
9. Rump Shaker, Wreckx-N-Effect10. Informer, Snow
11. Nuthin’ But A “G” Thang, Dr. Dre
12. In The Still Of The Nite, Boyz II Men
13. Don’t Walk Away, Jade
14. Knockin’ Da Boots, H-Town
15. Lately, Jodeci
16. Dazzey Duks, Duice
17. Show Me Love, Robin S.
18. A Whole New World, Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle
19. If, Janet Jackson
20. I’m So Into You, SWV
21. Love Is, Vanessa Willlams and Brian Mcknight
22. Runaway Train, Soul Asylum
23. I’ll Never Get Over You (Getting Over Me), Expose
24. Ditty, Paperboy
25. Rhythm Is A Dancer, Snap26. The River Of Dreams, Billy Joel
27. I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles), Proclaimers
28. Two Princes, Spin Doctors
29. Right Here (Human Nature)-Downtown, SWV
30. I Have Nothing, Whitney Houston
31. Mr. Wendal, Arrested Development
32. Have I Told You Lately, Rod Stewart
33. Saving Forever For You, Shanice
34. Ordinary World, Duran Duran
35. If I Had No Loot, Tony! Toni! Tone!36. I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That), Meat Loaf
37. Slam, Onyx
38. Looking Through Patient Eyes, P.M. Dawn39. I’m Every Woman, Whitney Houston
40. Baby I’m Yours, Shai
41. Come Undone, Duran Duran
42. I Don’t Wanna Fight, Tina Turner
43. I’d Die Without You, P.M. Dawn44. Whoot, There It Is, 95 South
45. Hip Hop Hooray, Naughty By Nature46. Another Sad Love Song, Toni Braxton
47. Will You Be There, Michael Jackson
48. Comforter, Shil
49. Good Enough, Bobby Brown
50. What’s Up, 4 Non Blondes
51. All That She Wants, Ace Of Base
52. 7, Prince and The New Power Generation
53. Dre Day, Dr. Dre
54. One Last Cry, Brian McKnight
55. Just Kickin’ It, Xscape
56. I Get Around, 2Pac
57. Bed Of Roses, Bon Jovi
58. Real Love, Mary J. Blige
59. Here We Go Again!, Portrait
60. Cryin’, Aerosmith
61. Cats In The Cradle, Ugly Kid Joe
62. What About Your Friends, TLC
63. I Got A Man, Positive K
64. Hey Mr. D.J., Zhane
65. Insane In The Brain, Cypress Hill
66. Deeper And Deeper, Madonna
67. Rain, Madonna
68. The Right Kind Of Love, Jeremy Jordan
69. Bad Boys, Inner Circle
70. That’s What Love Can Do, Boy Krazy
71. Do You Believe In Us, Jon Secada
72. Angel, Jon Secada
73. Forever In Love, Kenny G
74. Again, Janet Jackson
75. Boom! Shake The Room, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince
76. When She Cries, Restless Heart
77. Sweat (A La La La La Long), Inner Circle
78. It Was A Good Day, Ice Cube
79. More And More, Captain Hollywood Project
80. How Do You Talk To An Angel, Heights
81. Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat), Digable Planets
82. What Is Love, Haddaway
83. To Love Somebody, Michael Bolton
84. Give It Up, Turn It Loose, En Vogue
85. Alright, Kris Kross
86. Check Yo Self, Ice Cube
87. Fields Of Gold, Sting
88. Ooh Child, Dino
89. Faithful w/ Go West
90. Reason To Believe, Rod Stewart
91. Break It Down Again, Tears For Fears
92. Nothin’ My Love Can’t Fix, Joey Lawrence
93. Three Little Pigs, Green Jelly
94. Livin’ On The Edge, Aerosmith
95. Hey Jealousy, Gin Blossoms
96. If I Ever Lose My Faith In You, Sting
97. Anniversary, Tony! Toni! Tone!
98. One Woman, Jade
99. Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love, Taylor Dayne
100. Two Steps Behind, Def Leppard
I love many Bon Jovi (seen them live in concert twice) and Madonna (would love to see her live in concert) songs, but not the ones listed here. As you can tell I was, and still am, a BIG fan of rap and some house music. I also liked at the time, a lot of pop music and rock songs. The only stuff I tended to not care for was very heavy metal and overly cheesy love songs. Though I did and still do like a good ballad. I attribute much of my love of rap/dance music to growing up in Evanston, IL which is a fairly culturally and ethnically diverse suburb just north of Chicago. I had friends and acquaintances of a variety of different races and many who exposed me to music I might otherwise not have been as “in to.”
At our local YMCA in Jr. High we had “Y-Dances” and in High School they were called Friday Night Live (FNL). Though I am Christian/Catholic, Evanston also has a great variety of religions represented (from Christian to Jewish to Muslim and Unitarian) and thus I had (and still do have) friends whose families believe in and practice a variety of faiths. Therefore I also attended many Bar and Bat Mitzvah parties back in the day. At the Y-dances, Mitzvah parties and family weddings we would dance for hours to the music the DJ played. I was often told that I could “really move for a white girl!” You should see me do “the snake…” In fact I was doing it last month at my sister’s wedding! 😉
Though I was never a real DJ, like JuliaS (which I think is so awesome, by the way), I use to pretend I was one at home and at parties with my friends. I still have a big collection of 45s and 33s from the 80’s and 90’s and a record player in our basement on which I still listen to them from time to time. When I was in Jr. High (in the late 80’s), I use to spend my allowance many weeks at our local record stores in Evanston buying the latest Top 40 singles. Do you remember when you could get those lists of the top songs for the week and then on the back it would have the lyrics printed for one of of the tunes? That was the best! It was before the Internet and it was possible to Google the lyrics when you couldn’t figure them out and they weren’t included on the record sleeve or in the tape case. And if you know me IRL (in real life) and/or follow my blog somewhat regularly, you know that I find listening to and comtemplating music lyrics to be very therapeutic and like to share the lyrics to some of my favorites songs here from time to time.
I also was big into making “music mix” tapes or compilations for family and friends back then and still enjoy doing it these days with CDs and more recently with my Ipod playlists. Which is part of why I love and have a great appreciation for the movie “High Fidelity,” in which John Cusack’s record store owner character describes how to make a great music compilation.
A few more random memories from 1993, that came right back when I scanned this Top 100 list… I recall dancing to the song “Paperboy” by Ditty more than once with friends on our Prom night that year and recently uploaded the song onto my Ipod because it is so nostalgic and fun to run or clean house to. I also recall dancing with my sorority sisters to “What’s Up” by 4 Non Blondes and “I’m Gonna Be (500 miles)” by the Proclaimers later that year at Frat parties during my freshman year of college.
Anyway, I really should go do something more productive, but thank you for indulging me in this trip down memory lane and reminiscing with me about what it was like to party in, or at least listen to music of, 1993!
If you decide to play along or already have done this, feel free comment here with a link to your blog post (or email me if you don’t have a blog) so I and others and come check out your senior year music memories! Have fun and thanks again to Shelli and JuliaS for sharing theirs and inspiring me to do the same!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Umm, you all would make fun of my music from Class of 79!
Sending you a big (Hug) and thinking of your sweet daughter and wonderful family.
Pretty good list! I had forgotten about many of those songs!
What?? You don’t like Whoomp! There it is?? :0) (Did it really come out in ’93 – I thought it was more recent than that)
Great list. I have to admit this was fun and glad you enjoyed it too! I was a big fan of mix tapes. I use to listen to the radio for hours waiting for a song I wanted so I could record them.
Martha – some of the best music came out of the 70’s!
i ‘m only one yr behind and I LOVE that list. I also make random “mix” cd’s still.
I am glad that you and bob were able to have a talk. It alway’s helps so much for me to feel connected that way