#68 Done.

Songs have a way of marking time like few things can.  When I was putting together this list, Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” was playing on the radio which immediately brought me back to 1983.  My brother Sean and I would tune into MTV every morning before school to catch the video of the short ugly guy singing to his super model wife.  Because I hadn’t made a mix tape since High School, I thought it would be fun to compile one for this list.  As I journeyed back in time I was surprised to learn two things.  The first was that my most memorable songs are not among my most favorite songs, and in some cases barely tolerable.  The second surprise was that no song was important enough for me to remember until I was ten and stopped being important all together when I was about twenty eight.  I guess that’s why they say never trust anyone over thirty.  The music stops.

 

The Kenwood Playlist:

 

1. “Karma Chameleon” by Boy George and the Culture Club. 

2. “Every Breath You Take” by The Police

3. “Thriller” by Michael Jackson

 

Why: The first three songs are grouped together because the albums they were a part of were the first ones I ever owned.  My parents gave me a “ghetto blaster” and those three cassette tapes for my tenth birthday.  My Mom left it up to the clerk at K-Mart to chose these seminal albums that helped shape me as I listened to them over and over again.  Easy to see why I didn’t become a longshoreman. 

 

4. “Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel (see above)

 

5. “Peter Piper” by Run DMC 

 

Why: My Dad returned home from a business trip in 1986 with Run DMC’s monumental album, Raising Hell.  I was the first kid on the block to have it and milked the fame it brought me.

 

6. “Never Tear Us Apart” by INXS.

 

Why: The song that marked my first puppy love in the summer between 8th and 9th grade.  Ironically, it was a love that was easy to tear apart. 

 

7. “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley.

 

Why: It was 1988 and I was a 15 year old kid spending the summer in Gustavus, Alaska.  I got a job as a “housekeeper” at the Glacier Bay Lodge.  I use the term “housekeeper” lightly because I wasn’t very good at what I did.  In fact, I often didn’t change the sheets between guests. Sorry, I was 15.  Anyway, it was one of those summers that will be forever etched in my mind.  The song was my commute tune.  My grandmother would wake me at 4am, feed me and my grandfather (also Kenwood) with a bowl of oatmeal, and send us off to work.  Still dark, I kickstarted the motorcycle, embedded the sony walkman headphones into my ears and headed off into the Alaskan wilderness.  I would often pass moose or bears along the ten mile dirt road singing “Three Little Birds” in my best Rastafarian voice.

 

8. “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin.

 

Why: One of my best friends was the first to get a car in High School, so it was always packed with kids.  Every day after school, five of us would pile into his Volkswagen Rabbit (surprisingly nobody made fun of him for that) and cranked up the Zeppelin. When I think Zeppelin, I think freedom.

 

9. “Fuck The Police” by NWA

 

Why: The following April I became of driving age and chose Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and Easy E to announce my arrival.  On the rare occasion that I hear their songs I am instantly transported to those days when I’d drive through wine country with my windows open and “Fuck the Police” blasting through the speakers.  If I’m able to complete number 37, I think I’ll roll up to The French Laundry with NWA thumping on the sound system.

 

10. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana.

 

Why: The birth of grunge. Whether you like this song or not, if you are my age, this is the song of your era. 

 

11. “The Sky is Crying” by Stevie Ray Vaughn

 

Why: As a senior in High School, my best friend Waldow introduced me to this amazing guitar player.  It was as if I had been listening to fluff my whole life.  Looking back, I can’t think of my senior year without thinking of Stevie.

 

12. “Wild World” by Cat Stevens

 

Why: FFP at Marquette University. It was a culture shock that catapulted me into a different life.  I remember standing at the window in my room at McCormick Hall on 15th and Wisconsin Ave in Milwaukee. Cat Stevens was belting out “Wild World” as I watched the homeless and drunk college kids interact on the streets below.  At the time I wondered what the Hell I had gotten myself into.  But it wasn’t long before I knew I was home.

 

13. “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” by Brooks and Dunn.

 

Why: In one of my most embarrassing periods, I had a country phase my freshman year of college.  Rather than room with my good friends, I chose to stay at East Hall because it was the only building on campus with ESPN.  Turns out it was also the building that had Country Music Television.  Unfortunately for me, most of the kids at East Hall were there for the Country Music Television and not ESPN.  And seeing how I was outnumbered, I came to “appreciate” country music for a half second.  Not only did I listen to “Boot Scootin’ Boogie”, I actually became quite good at singing it.  I don’t think there was a week that didn’t go by over the next three years that one of my buddies didn’t request a rendition.

 

14. “Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrex.

 

Why: The summer between freshman and sophomore year in Roslyn, Washington with my buddy Waldow.  It was the summer of hard labor.  When we weren’t roofing in 100 degree weather, we were jack hammering sidewalk.  After eight hours of brain concussing work, Waldow and I would commute back to my Aunt Ona’s house listening to Jimi.  It was also the summer of grunge and we had a front row seat to the beginnings of Sound Garden, Alice in Chains & Pearl Jam.

 

15. “Jeremy” by Pearl Jam.

 

Why: I returned to Marquette in the fall of 92’ and told all of my friends about the grunge movement.  As fate would have it, Pearl Jam booked a show at the tiny Varsity Theatre at Marquette.  Unfortunately, I was a horrible salesman because I was unable to persuade any of my friends to join me for the concert.  However, these were the same friends that I was unable to convince to join me to witness Robin Yount’s 3000th hit.  Seriously, Matt, what else did you have to do? Getting back to the Pearl Jam concert, I ended up going with my “country” friends from East Hall and it turned out to be the best concert I have ever attended.  

 

16. “In A Daydream” by The Freddie Jones Band.

 

Why: My buddy Packy and I followed this semi famous Chicago band throughout Milwaukee for a couple of years.  I remember catching a cab from McCormick Hall to a bar on the far East side of Milwaukee and watching a show.  A dozen songs and beers later, we stepped out into the frigid night (9 degrees) and decided it would be cheaper to walk home.  We could have died that night.  Instead, we warmed up in various bars on the way home.  I specifically remember line dancing that night.

 

17. “Satellite” by Dave Matthews Band.

 

Why: I am a Dave Matthews fan to this day. I continue to go to his concerts despite the cloud of pot that permeates the air.  This is the song that never stopped when I lived with Packy and Dave my sophomore year.

 

18. “Crash”  Dave Matthews

 

Why: The last song of my playlist is still one of my favorites.  The year is 1998 and I met a girl named, Sonia. It’s our song.