Wm. Harris
@wmharris.bsky.social
📤 92
đź“Ą 181
đź“ť 331
Math professor and music blogger. Read all about it at
https://musicofmylife.net
Today is the 50th anniversary of the day I became a full-fledged American Top 40 junkie, when I first wrote down the songs Casey was spinning.
musicofmylife.net/2026/06/06/a...
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American Top 40 PastBlast, 6/5/76: Starland Vocal Band, “Afternoon Delight”
Fifty years ago today, at 6pm on an early evening Sunday, I tuned in to Cincinnati’s 1360 WSAI-AM and started a routine that lasted well over six years. For the previous four months or so, th…
https://musicofmylife.net/2026/06/06/american-top-40-pastblast-6-5-76-starland-vocal-band-afternoon-delight/
4 days ago
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Despite coming down with a highly contagious childhood disease a month-and-a-half before my wedding, EVERYTHING TURNED OUT FINE.
musicofmylife.net/2026/06/01/m...
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Modern Rock Tracks, 6/1/96
Six weeks away from our wedding day. Dresses and tuxes–check. Cake–check. Invitations, music for reception–check and check. Chicken pox–check? My sister Amy and I had manage…
https://musicofmylife.net/2026/06/01/modern-rock-tracks-6-1-96/
9 days ago
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Yes, Hands Across America occurred 40 years ago today, but it was also the day I graduated from college. Last month some of us reunited to commemorate the occasion.
musicofmylife.net/2026/05/25/a...
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American Top 40 PastBlast, 5/3/86: Madonna, “Live To Tell”
I have a tale to tell. Forty years ago today, the Transylvania University Class of 1986 was released into the world, ready (or otherwise) to face the rest of their lives head-on. I wrote about that…
https://musicofmylife.net/2026/05/25/american-top-40-pastblast-5-3-86-madonna-live-to-tell/
16 days ago
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Installment number 5 of 12 in my quest to learn about music I missed out on in '76. This time there's country and disco royalty, along with a tune from an LP that's never seen the light of day.
musicofmylife.net/2026/05/23/s...
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Songs Casey Never Played, 5/15/76
Let’s get caught up, more or less, with this series of AT40 wannabees from 50 years ago. This time out they’re all from acts with which I have reasonable familiarity, with one exception…
https://musicofmylife.net/2026/05/23/songs-casey-never-played-5-15-76/
18 days ago
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A mini-story arc appears in the April edition of songs from 50 years ago that spent their entire run in the Bottom 60. Oh, and we get a silly tribute to Fonzie, too.
musicofmylife.net/2026/05/09/s...
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Songs Casey Never Played, 4/17/76
It’s not often I get a chance to connect three songs in a SCNP post, so I feel compelled to seize that opportunity. But first: last time out, we ended on a novelty note–why not start wi…
https://musicofmylife.net/2026/05/09/songs-casey-never-played-4-17-76/
about 1 month ago
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How not to treat new technology, and a quiz: name the LP inspired this Steve Simels quote: "It’s not as silly as Haircut One Hundred, though, and after the overwrought Bowie-isms of ABC it’s attractively unpretentious."
musicofmylife.net/2026/04/30/s...
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Stereo Review In Review: April 1983
During my high school years, I’d greet the arrival of a new issue of SR by tucking into it as soon as possible. As a college student, well, things would have to wait. No specific memories of …
https://musicofmylife.net/2026/04/30/stereo-review-in-review-april-1983/
about 1 month ago
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I think I first heard David Allan Coe's "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" when I was in college--I'd guess that someone came across the DAC LP on which it appeared in the WTLX station library.
about 1 month ago
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Trying to play catch-up--here, have some crackin' modern rock tunes from the spring before the Atlanta Olympics.
musicofmylife.net/2026/04/27/m...
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Modern Rock Tracks, 4/6/96
This is three weeks late in coming out, so I’ll keep the personal stuff from this period brief. After becoming formally engaged in early February, Martha and I began in earnest the sprint to …
https://musicofmylife.net/2026/04/27/modern-rock-tracks-4-6-96/
about 1 month ago
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"Carolyn's Fingers," from the Cocteau Twins, fall '88. Didn't have to run far or work hard to learn about it, as I first heard it over the PA system at the Campustown Record Service in Champaign, but you can be damn sure that I walked out the door with Blue Bell Knoll that day or soon after.
add a skeleton here at some point
2 months ago
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Shoulda gotten this out a couple of weeks ago: the third installment of would-be hits from a half-century ago.
musicofmylife.net/2026/04/04/s...
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Songs Casey Never Played, 3/20/76
Fifty years ago this weekend I was hearing the Stampeders retool “Hit the Road Jack” and Larry Santos croon “We Can’t Hide It Anymore” for the first time as they embar…
https://musicofmylife.net/2026/04/04/songs-casey-never-played-3-20-76/
2 months ago
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A time-consuming task that was more fruitful than expected: identifying 70s songs which moved up a decent amount in the Top 40 one week only to fall back the next.
musicofmylife.net/2026/03/31/a...
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American Top 40 PastBlast, 3/15/75: Dan Fogelberg, “Part of the Plan”
After I began my weekly habit of writing down the songs Casey was playing, in June 1976, I couldn’t help but notice certain “rules” that might indicate when a tune had reached its…
https://musicofmylife.net/2026/03/31/american-top-40-pastblast-3-15-75-dan-fogelberg-part-of-the-plan/
2 months ago
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Listening to 3/16/74 AT40 this morning and the song at #40 raises a question about a detail in it: should I be bugged that Harry Chapin places WOLD way west of the Mississippi, in Boise?
3 months ago
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Another set of six songs from 50 years ago that didn't break through sufficiently:
musicofmylife.net/2026/02/28/s...
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Songs Casey Never Played, 2/21/76
The second monthly installment in a year-long project; the object each time is to learn a half-dozen “new” songs from half-a-century ago. 98. Dan Hill, “Growing Up”Hill̵…
https://musicofmylife.net/2026/02/28/songs-casey-never-played-2-21-76/
3 months ago
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Marking 50 years of being aware of American Top 40 by noting a guy who re-entered my life much later with his recordings of children's songs.
musicofmylife.net/2026/02/22/a...
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American Top 40 PastBlast, 2/21/76: Larry Groce, “Junk Food Junkie”
I noted several years ago that the first time I can distinctly recall listening to American Top 40 from the beginning was for that of the 3/6/76 show, when Sweet’s “Action” kicked…
https://musicofmylife.net/2026/02/22/american-top-40-pastblast-2-21-76-larry-groce-junk-food-junkie/
4 months ago
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Thumbs up: Seger, Buckingham, Crimson Thumbs down: Garfunkel, the Dead, and Mr. Loaf. All that, plus the best listens of '81, are in:
musicofmylife.net/2026/02/19/s...
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Stereo Review In Review: February 1982
Here’s what SR had on offer when I was a senior in HS. If it’s a February issue, that means this peek back in time includes the critics’ top picks from the previous year. Albums o…
https://musicofmylife.net/2026/02/19/stereo-review-in-review-february-1982/
4 months ago
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Tidbits from 70s variety shows that never shook loose from my brain.
musicofmylife.net/2026/02/07/a...
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American Top 40 PastBlast, 2/9/74: Cher, “Dark Lady”
A number of the music/comedy/variety series of the 70s received at least some play in my house while I was growing up. Mac Davis, Jim Stafford, Tony Orlando & Dawn, Donny & Marie–even…
https://musicofmylife.net/2026/02/07/american-top-40-pastblast-2-9-74-cher-dark-lady/
4 months ago
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Words I did not utter 30 years ago this evening: "Maybe you're gonna be the one to save me." Words I DID utter 30 years ago this evening: "Will you marry me?"
musicofmylife.net/2026/02/03/m...
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Modern Rock Tracks, 2/3/96
Without quite outright saying so to each other, Martha and I both knew as 1996 dawned that it was time to think seriously about uniting in marriage. We had done a tiny bit of engagement ring shoppi…
https://musicofmylife.net/2026/02/03/modern-rock-tracks-2-3-96/
4 months ago
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Gonna take a monthly look at some neglected songs from half-a-century ago this year. Here's the first installment:
musicofmylife.net/2026/01/24/s...
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Songs Casey Never Played, 1/24/76
1976 was a watershed year for me musically. I bought my first 45s and my first LP, but of greatest importance was discovering American Top 40 and subsequently keeping track of what Casey counted do…
https://musicofmylife.net/2026/01/24/songs-casey-never-played-1-24-76/
5 months ago
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Songs that rang in the new year almost half a century ago:
musicofmylife.net/2026/01/10/a...
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American Top 40 PastBlast, 1/7/78: Steely Dan, “Peg”
As the calendar turned to 1978, I was ready to get back to a formal chart-keeping routine. My AT40 lists throughout the last two months of ’77 had been slapdash efforts, initially due to suff…
https://musicofmylife.net/2026/01/10/american-top-40-pastblast-1-7-78-steely-dan-peg/
5 months ago
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Maybe one of these was the final song someone out there heard in 1978? Regardless, here are six tunes that are among the last I'm listening to this year, 47 years on.
musicofmylife.net/2025/12/31/s...
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Songs Casey Never Played, 12/16/78
Seems like there are always short stories to tell about many of the songs/artists that didn’t gain enough steam to merit a slot on American Top 40. Here are six of ’em from the tail end…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/12/31/songs-casey-never-played-12-16-78/
5 months ago
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Fifty years ago today my sister and I received a portable tape recorder for Christmas. It came with a 10-minute cassette (yes, 5 minutes per side) on which my father, posing as Santa, recorded a brief greeting. We also got a couple of longer blanks, probably 60-minute tapes.
6 months ago
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Past and current seasonal practices collide in an attempt to make the title of Kate's song a prophecy.
musicofmylife.net/2025/12/21/c...
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Christmas/Holiday Cheer: Kate Bush, “December Will Be Magic Again”
Things hit a little different for me this year as the holiday season approached. Martha and I always do quite a bit of decorating for Christmas, but getting stuff out and placing it around the hous…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/12/21/christmas-holiday-cheer-kate-bush-december-will-be-magic-again/
6 months ago
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It’s the 25th anniversary of Kirsty’s tragic death. This is a wonderful overview of her career.
add a skeleton here at some point
6 months ago
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While mid-90s alternative played, a Christmas tradition was born...
musicofmylife.net/2025/12/09/m...
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Modern Rock Tracks, 12/2/95
As the end of 1995 approached, I was finishing up my seventh semester at Georgetown. The thing I remember most about that term now was the geometry class I taught. I’d picked an idiosyncratic…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/12/09/modern-rock-tracks-12-2-95/
6 months ago
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From five years ago: a treatise on high school crushes and odd memories. Happy Wait for Me Day.
musicofmylife.net/2020/12/05/a...
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American Top 40 PastBlast, 12/1/79: Daryl Hall and John Oates, “Wait for Me”
8/12/79: It’s Sunday morning, and I’m hearing voices. More accurately, the voices of folks around me in the hotel restaurant and the swimming pool area sound just like those of people I know, which…
https://musicofmylife.net/2020/12/05/american-top-40-pastblast-12-1-79-daryl-hall-and-john-oates-wait-for-me/
6 months ago
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Cracking open a 39-year-old issue of SR, for better (Smithereens, Winwood, Peter Case) or for worse (Dylan, Young).
musicofmylife.net/2025/11/30/s...
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Stereo Review In Review: November 1986
At this point I guess I was still a stranger in the strange new land of Champaign-Urbana, beginning to find my footing as a first-year grad student. For all I know, I may have leafed through this i…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/11/30/stereo-review-in-review-november-1986/
6 months ago
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My 1000th post: a bit of news.
musicofmylife.net/2025/11/18/d...
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Don’t Be Afraid To Let Them Show
In the early spring of 2000, Martha and I learned we were going to be parents. We’d been trying for some time, ultimately turning to a fertility specialist. Over the ensuing months, there were the …
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/11/18/dont-be-afraid-to-let-them-show/
7 months ago
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The last installment of hits from '85: the ones that definitely still rock my world.
musicofmylife.net/2025/10/31/l...
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Let Me Steal This Moment From You Now
For my 1984 list, there were only two American acts in the top 10–I’ve upped it to three this go-round. Without further ado… 10. The Hooters, “And We Danced” (#21, Oct…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/10/31/let-me-steal-this-moment-from-you-now/
7 months ago
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More hits from 40 years ago that I still dig, one of which is no doubt some folks' least favorite song of the year.
musicofmylife.net/2025/10/28/i...
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I Can’t Stand This Indecision
In addition to the three guys I noted in the last post who have three songs on this list, there are fifteen acts with a pair of tunes. Ten have already appeared at least once; the other five debut …
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/10/28/i-cant-stand-this-indecision/
8 months ago
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Twenty additional tunes that are fab to these ears forty years on...
musicofmylife.net/2025/10/25/i...
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It’s A Do Or Die Situation
Yesterday afternoon Martha and I drove to Lexington for a bit of shopping. It was a beautiful day–clear sky, high in the low 60s. Our route to the shoe store didn’t take me by Transy, t…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/10/25/its-a-do-or-die-situation/
8 months ago
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Twenty-five more groovy tunes that peppered the charts 40 years ago. Don't know about you but I'm digging on the incongruity between title of the post and the video thumbnail.
musicofmylife.net/2025/10/21/i...
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I’m Relying On Your Common Decency
Time for the second quarter of my list of faves among 1985 Hot 100 hits. I acknowledge this is a creation springing from a couple nights’ thought and that the rankings could easily be somewha…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/10/21/im-relying-on-your-common-decency/
8 months ago
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My fave picture from Lexington this afternoon. I'm certain they're only trying to talk to each other above the noise.
8 months ago
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Part 1 of a musical look back forty years and what I think of the hits of 1985 now.
musicofmylife.net/2025/10/18/a...
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All Alone In A World That’s Changed
Around this time last year I looked back forty years to put together my top 100 pop hits of 1984; while I can’t imagine making such a list too many years beyond that one, I do have sufficient…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/10/18/all-alone-in-a-world-thats-changed/
8 months ago
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One feels like there's hope for a day when the song one hears on the way to work (it's a short commute) is "Tangled Up in Blue."
8 months ago
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The greatest musical discovery I made around this time of year 30 years ago wasn't on the MRT chart then but definitely should've been.
musicofmylife.net/2025/10/11/m...
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Modern Rock Tracks, 10/7/95
One Friday afternoon toward the end of September 1995 found me on the road to Ft. Wayne, meeting up with friend Mark L for a weekend bridge tournament. A quick search at the American Contract Bridg…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/10/11/modern-rock-tracks-10-7-95/
8 months ago
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This past weekend Premiere played the first show from what evolved into an ongoing series of discussions, referred to within as "wide divergences of opinion."
musicofmylife.net/2025/09/30/a...
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American Top 40 PastBlast, 9/22/79: Nick Lowe, “Cruel to Be Kind”
Once Mark Seaman and I agreed to “debate” the merits of AT40 lists from the 70s and 80s (now over four years ago), there was the matter of making my first selection for discussion. I el…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/09/30/american-top-40-pastblast-9-22-79-nick-lowe-cruel-to-be-kind/
8 months ago
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How about something good that's happened as a result of scrolling through Facebook?
musicofmylife.net/2025/09/23/f...
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Forgotten Albums: Camera Obscura, Let’s Get Out Of This Country
There are many days when I question the wisdom of continuing to visit Facebook on an ongoing basis. I post daily Wordle results in a couple of places and share links to these pieces when I get my a…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/09/23/forgotten-albums-camera-obscura-lets-get-out-of-this-country/
9 months ago
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Start-of-the-school-year ain't what it used to be, so I'm thinking about some of the times when it was.
musicofmylife.net/2025/09/10/a...
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American Top 40 PastBlast, 9/8/84: Madonna, “Lucky Star”
Long, long ago, the beginning of the college year was energizing, exciting, fun. The hint of change in weather, the new folks you’d meet–there was just something in the air that felt di…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/09/10/american-top-40-pastblast-9-8-84-madonna-lucky-star/
9 months ago
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Hard to fathom that the albums addressed within are on the cusp of becoming a half-century old.
musicofmylife.net/2025/08/31/s...
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Stereo Review In Review: August 1976
This is the farthest back in time I have yet gone for one of these looks back. While I don’t recall anything from this issue, it’s likely it was still in the house when I began perusing Dad’s SR ma…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/08/31/stereo-review-in-review-august-1976/
9 months ago
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Why, yes, there are changes a-plenty in the air...
musicofmylife.net/2025/08/20/i...
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I Can’t Trace Time
Today is the first day of class at my institution. It’s a weird one for me, since, outside of sabbatical terms, it’s the first time I’m not going to be in the classroom on day one…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/08/20/i-cant-trace-time/
10 months ago
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Seeing friends, losing friends, great joy, and great sadness.
musicofmylife.net/2025/08/13/r...
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Reflections, Coming Through The Radio
This past Friday I traveled to Newberry, SC, to visit college friend Warren and his wife Debbie. A couple of months ago he invited me to go see 10,000 Maniacs, who would be playing at the Opera Hou…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/08/13/reflections-coming-through-the-radio/
10 months ago
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A fave concert and an appalling failure of memory lead in to a look back at alternative hits from the summer of '95.
musicofmylife.net/2025/08/07/m...
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Modern Rock Tracks, 8/5/95
In July of ’95, I spent two weeks teaching the math portion of a science/math camp for high schoolers that my college had been running for about five years. I was involved with it (with one e…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/08/07/modern-rock-tracks-8-5-95/
10 months ago
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Another helping of arcane AT40 trivia, but at least there's some fine early 80s funk accompanying it.
musicofmylife.net/2025/08/02/a...
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American Top 40 PastBlast, 8/7/82: The Gap Band, “Early in the Morning”
I became an avid, ardent listener of American Top 40 in the late winter of 1976. Since it’s always been very much my nature to seek out patterns and try to formulate rules when encountering n…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/08/02/american-top-40-pastblast-8-7-82-the-gap-band-early-in-the-morning/
10 months ago
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From the summer of Grease, six songs that looked longingly up the charts in hopes of more love:
musicofmylife.net/2025/07/26/s...
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Songs Casey Never Played, 7/29/78
Several years ago I noted that I ran daily (and I do mean daily) for several months beginning in June of ’78 in an attempt to improve on my lackluster eighth grade performance on the school c…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/07/26/songs-casey-never-played-7-29-78/
11 months ago
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Today is the blog's 8th birthday. This weekend's AT40 show from 1972 gave me an excuse to think back on the summer I was 8 years old. Turns out what I most remember are the neighborhood kids in the new world I'd just joined.
musicofmylife.net/2025/07/20/a...
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American Top 40 PastBlast, 7/22/72: Argent, “Hold Your Head Up”
The summer I turned 8, we moved. After spending almost four years at a church in Stanford, a small town forty-five miles south of Lexington on U.S. 27, Dad accepted a pastorate in Walton, a small t…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/07/20/american-top-40-pastblast-7-22-72-argent-hold-your-head-up/
11 months ago
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Eights are wild on a two-post weekend marking eight years of blogging, starting with some thoughts about an AT40 from 37 years ago.
musicofmylife.net/2025/07/19/a...
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American Top 40 PastBlast, 7/23/88: Jane Wiedlin, “Rush Hour”
This weekend marks the eighth anniversary of posting here at The Music of My Life. To denote the occasion, we’re taking a look at the two Premiere AT40s on offer; it’s fortunate I don&#…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/07/19/american-top-40-pastblast-7-23-88-jane-wiedlin-rush-hour/
11 months ago
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An exercise in 80s chart trivia: how often did all the songs in a week's Top 10 make it to the Top 5? Or even higher?
musicofmylife.net/2025/07/05/a...
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American Top 40 PastBlast, 7/5/86: El DeBarge, “Who’s Johnny”
I’ve mentioned before that I do a lot of my 70s and 80s Billboard Hot 100 chart research via the Ultimate Music Database. I know it’s an imperfect resource–that’ll happen wi…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/07/05/american-top-40-pastblast-7-5-86-el-debarge-whos-johnny/
11 months ago
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Thinking about the stuff from our early years that gets left behind.
musicofmylife.net/2025/06/30/b...
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But Not So Little Boys
This may not be news to those who know me, but as far back as I can remember I’ve had an emotional reaction (that is, tears, oftentimes plentiful) to songs and stories about growing up and saying f…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/06/30/but-not-so-little-boys/
12 months ago
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Happy birthday to Harriet Wheeler of the late & great Sundays. "Here's Where the Story Ends" is 100% an all-time fave tune. This is another banger from their debut album; always got a Smiths vibe from it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8Gw...
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My Finest Hour
YouTube video by The Sundays - Topic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8GwiPemL8I
12 months ago
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Writing about current music for a change, but of course the thought was inspired by a couple of tunes from the 70s...
musicofmylife.net/2025/06/18/w...
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Waiting For Wednesday
I’ve been on the road for longish stretches a few times recently, which in recent years has become a signal for me to tune into Channel 28 on the SiriusXM dial, The Spectrum (“where cla…
https://musicofmylife.net/2025/06/18/waiting-for-wednesday/
12 months ago
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