Out of 100

I used to have a subscription to Paste Magazine. When Paste got out of the printing business and went electronic, they began sending me emails with news, commentary, and feature articles. This week I received their list of the 100 greatest songs of the 2010s. Each entry had an accompanying YouTube video.

I was curious to see how many songs I knew. My criteria consisted of knowing how the song sounded after reading the title. I might recognize a song when I press "play" because I had heard it playing at the mall or in a commercial, but I don't consider that "knowing" the song.

Out of 100 songs, I knew four:

63. Adele: “Rolling in the Deep” 

51. Katy Perry: “Teenage Dream” 

39. The Black Keys: “Everlasting Light” 

36. Lorde: “Royals” 

32. Fleet Foxes: “Helplessness Blues” - I was wrong. I know this band, but I didn’t know this song.

I had to read 37 titles before I knew one song? Where have I been for the past 10 years? I didn't have my head in a hole in the ground, did I? 

I remember when music was a huge part of my life. When the Sunday paper would arrive, my roommate would grab the sports page, and I'd go for the Best Buy ad. I used to drive to Iowa City to see emo bands like the Promise Ring or rock groups like the Foo Fighters. I watched Weezer in Kansas City, and I was there when Slipknot premiered Mate, Feed, Kill, Repeat at the Safari Club here in Des Moines. I went to Woodstock '99 for crying out loud.

I have 100s of CDs and LPs in my basement, and now I only know four songs from the past ten years? What happened?

Oh, yeah. I became middle aged. Today's popular music is created by artists in their 20's and performed for audiences aged 14-30. I know a lot of crabby 50-year-olds, but there's not a lot of new music for the 50 angst crowd... 

Hey! Have you heard that new rock anthem, "'We're Cold! Who's Got a Blanket?"

I can't completely blame it on age. I became a parent in 2010, and I haven't listened to my music in the car for most of this decade.

But then I thought about it more. I realized I have been buying new music, it's just not top 100 music. Char's excited to break out JD Mcpherson's Christmas CD, Socks next month. I've been spinning  Durand Jones & The Indications, All Them Witches, Dommengang, Clutch, and King Garbage records in my basement.

I've also picked up a lot of "new to me" music like Marvin Holmes & the Uptights and Golden. I could spend all afternoon hanging out with Lou Rawls' LPs. While working on my Aragon bike, Stephen Ashbrook's live CD kept me company.

This Yamaha tape deck was a Goodwill find. After a cleaning, it's been busy playing 80's cassettes in my classroom.

Okay. Whew. I'm may be out of the loop, but I'm not out of the game.

Here, check it out and see how many songs you know ---> link