two top 10s for the price of one

why on earth is the title "young turks", when the line in the song is "young hearts be free tonight?"

(okay, duff, where the heck did that come from?)

one of our sister stations flipped formats a few months ago, and now instead of "lite" music, they're playing mostly 80's stuff.

translation for the non-radio folks in the audience: one of the other stations in our building, is playing better music than the nap-inducing tunes of their past.

anyway, since i'm a bit of an 80s music nerd (the one category at which i dominate when playing the 80s version of trivial pursuit), i have to admit i've been listening a lot lately. (actually, i bounce back and forth between about three stations, but i usually wind up on steve-fm.)

in fact, perhaps i've been listening a little too much, as in the past month, i've found myself singing in the car (and drawing stares from the folks next to me- and not just when i'm picking my nose) a little too frequently lately. however, it's totally not my fault.

the songs i sing along to seem to fall into two categories:

ten songs i've known all the words to for years

1. "shake your love"- debbie gibson
out of the blue was the first tape i ever bought. i played it constantly
...yet i don't have it on cd. go figure.

2. "take on me"- a-ha
yeah, yeah- this one should come as no surprise. i know all the words, but can't hit all the notes.

3. "livin' on a prayer"- bon jovi
the second tape i ever bought was slippery when wet

4. "daydream believer"- the monkees
in the mid-80s, the monkees made a bit of a comeback. (i know, i know- no one else remembers "the new monkees", complete with the giant mouth named helen. however, everyone remembers the originals.) we watched a lot of monkees reruns on tv- how harsh reality was- i still remember thinking those shows were new and that mickey was old enough to be my big brother, not my....dad- and consequently learned most of the songs. when i'm in the mood for a semi-"quiet" song, this is the one for me. (sadly, i was never the homecoming queen...heck, i never had a date to a dance during my high school career...but that's another matter.)

5. "heaven is a place on earth"- belinda carlisle
yeah, i bought the heaven on earth cassette- played the heck out of it, too. while the song's no longer a favorite, singing along is a bit of a reflex, whih brings me to...

6. "the reflex"- duran duran
i thought about putting down "i don't want your love", because that was actualy the first duran duran song i recall noticing on the radio, and i know all the words (to the entire freaking album, but the original, unremixed version of the "reflex" shows up on the radio more often, which means i have more chances to sing along....or something like that.

7. "the promise"- when in rome
remember when you were younger and used to tape songs off the radio, and sometimes the tape would end partway through a song? i had dozens of tapes, and one of them featured the first verse of this song...and then silence. it took me years (seriously- these things really bother me) to figure out what the song was. i mean, i knew the first line after the cutoff, and that was it. i finally found out the answer during my lunch break one weekend at my high school job. after finding the song on a cd (sadly, it was only a compilation), i played it enough times in a row to ensure i'd never forget the words again.

yeah, i'm a little odd like that.

8. "karma chameleon"- culture club
a. for the longest time, i thought it was "comma, chameleon"
b. for even longer, i thought boy george liked girls- he was just...flamboyant

9. "we built this city"- starship
we used to rollerskate to this every wednesday night. singing along gave me something to do while practicing my killer limbo technique.

10. anything off of kick, listen like thieves, the swing, shabooh shoobah, or x by inxs
i know them all...still

and the other category:

ten songs i don't know all the words to yet, so i only look half insane because people in other cars can't tell i'm humming anything not included in the chorus

1. "i'm your boogie man"- kc & the sunshine band
though i heard the white zombie version first (okay- liked it first), i find myself singing along to the chorus of the original, too. still haven't picked up all the other lines, so i get to practice humming in my funkiest style, too.

2. "walking on broken glass"- annie lennox
i know, i know- it was big in 1992, but the station doesn't play just 80s music....

3. "kyrie"- mr. mister
i really need to look up the lyrics to this, as i have no idea what they're saying after her name. none whatsoever.

4. "you got it (the right stuff)"- new kids on the block
just kidding- i know every word to this- still. (don't laugh, or i'll have to break out my jordan t-shirt)

5. "what's on your mind (pure energy)"- information society
actually, i only have to hum the instrumental parts, for the most part.

6. "whatever the song was i had to listen to twelve times in a row last week to learn the first verse....yet now i have no clue what it was i had to keep repeating."
crap- guess i'll have to wait for the station to play it again. (i hate when that happens.)

7. "so in love"- omd
i've got "if you leave covered, but i'm still manage to muddle this one regularly.

8. "electric blue"- icehouse
see? finally got that one straight. now, if i could just get the rest of the words....

9. "now that we found love"- heavy d & the boyz
it's been rumored that heavy's actually lost weight. every time i hear this song, i thionk about that instead of paying attention to the lyrics....except the chorus, of course- everyone knows that part.

and that brings me back to....

10. "young turks"- rod stewart
i only know the chorus, which doesn't match the title, and i tend to spend most of the song trying to figure out the logic behind that.