Audiophile #1 - The Eighties

Down in my basement there's a big box marked "Wendy's Stuff". It holds my yearbooks and high school literary magazines (I was the editor. For as important as that felt back then, it means absolutely nothing now.), stacks (and stacks) of papers from creative writing classes and a thick, final-letter-that-was-never-mailed-to-the-boy-who-broke-my-heart. It's very dramatic and there are quite possibly, actual tear stains on this six-page dissection of a relationship gone wrong. Unfortunately, the offending boyfriend never got to read it. The tediousness of the "why?" and the "how could you?", and the total lie of the "I don't hate you" just might have killed him. Too bad...that was some creative writing that might have done some good...


My "stuff" also includes my Candy Striper smock, reports cards and various awards from school, handouts from church, journals, and every letter I received while I was at college. The box is my history - up until I got married, but I should probably get rid of half of it - it's just taking up space. Keep the yearbooks and the journals, toss the rest.

I was poking through the box 'o Wendy the other day, after Aaron and I had been talking about music. He's become quite enthusiastic about it in the last year (more on this later), and I knew that down in my box was evidence of my own love of music. From the eighties.

Tucked inside my sophomore yearbook was a thick stack of folded notebook paper. At the top was written, 1984 KIS'N FM - 97.1 Countdown. Oh, baby.


That's right, I've got the top 100 songs and artists of the year, carefully documented (in pencil), and saved with all the other Most Important Things in my life.


I also have a 1983 Top 40 Countdown List with a bonus Top 10 Videos of the Year. What a Feeling by Irene Cara was the #1 song and Michael Jackson's Beat It was the #1 video. Of course.

New Year's Eve Parties? Babysitting jobs? Stake dances?

Nah. I'll just sit cross-legged on the floor of my basement bedroom and listen to the radio for 8 hours, writing it all down, 'cause I, like, love music. And I'll want to know all this stuff later in life, like now, when the internet has made it just a couple clicks aways. Wasted youth.

Seriously. imagine the time it must have taken to listen to the DJs play every song and commercial. That's madness dedication. I looooooooved music!

Reading through the list is hilarious - I can sing a few bars (or more) from almost every song, and quite a few of them are on my ipod right now.

Here's just a partial list from 1984:

40. Running With the Night...Lionel Ritchie
39. If This Is It...Huey Lewis and the News
38. Like a Virgin...Madonna
37...Owner of a Lonely Heart...Yes
36. Somebody's Watching Me...Rockwell
35. Purple Rain...Prince
34. Almost Paradise...Mike Reno and Ann Wilson
33. I Feel For You...Chaka Kahn
32. Hold Me Now...Thompson Twins
31. Self Control...Laura Brannigan
30. Reflex...Duran Duran
29. Out of Touch...Hall and Oates
28. She-Bop...Cyndi Lauper
27. Jump (For My Love)...Pointer Sisters
26. That's All...Genesis
25. Say Say Say...Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson
24. Lucky Star...Madonna
23. Drive...Cars
22. Heart of Rock 'n Roll...Huey Lewis and the News
21. Let's Go Crazy...Prince
20. Thriller...Michael Jackson
19. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go...Wham!
18. Sad Songs Say So Much...Elton John
17. Oh Sherry...Steve Perry
16. Dancing in the Dark...Bruce Springsteen
15. Caribbean Queen...Billy Ocean
14. Karma Chameleon...Culture Club
13. What's Love Got to Do With It?...Tina Turner
12. Let's Hear It For the Boy...Denise Williams
11. Stuck On You...Lionel Ritchie
10. Time After Time...Cyndi Lauper
9. Missing You...John Waite
8. Footloose...Kenny Loggins
7. I Just Called To Say I Love You...Stevie Wonder
6. Ghostbusters...Ray Parker Jr.
5. Hello...Lionel Ritchie
4. When Doves Cry...Prince
3. Against All Odds...Phil Collins
2. Jump...Van Halen
1. Hard Habit to Break...Chicago

Now that's some good music.

#22 is me at a Youth Conference Dance at BYU, wearing Jelly Shoes and a dress with ruffles.

#38 is knowing that my parents disapproved, but LOVING this song and pretty much everything about her.

#14 is my sometimes friend Shauna, who used to dress like (swear it!) Boy George!

#s 34, 12 and 8 is wanting to put on a dance in a small repressed town, and show those adults what it feels like to be young.

#24 is watching my friend Amy sing this into a microphone at the mall!

And #25 and 20 is watching Friday Night Videos to see the genius of him.

Where does this music take you?

(it's okay if you say that it takes you back to your mother's womb.)