Revisiting and supplementing my favorite series from the original aweofunderstanding

One of the last series I undertook before losing the first version of this site back in 2014 was “40 for 40,” inspired by one of my oldest friend’s party playlist for his 40th birthday. What follows are 10-year-old posts with a few editorial comments. At some point, I will figure out how to recreate the corresponding conversations from the original comments.

Last spring [2010], a whole passel of my friends (myself included) turned 40. My college roommate Nathan threw a huge bash to celebrate, and part of his party involved a list of 80 songs. Being who he is, there were rules. He chose two of his favorite songs from every year of his life (1970-2010). In addition, no artist could be represented more than once. Finally, the songs needed to suit the occasion – this was a party, after all. Here’s his rules in his own words:

Nathan’s Rules

This is a party playlist

1) The most important factor is that this was a playlist for a *party.* All songs had to be good party songs, and there needed to be enough variety to keep it interesting. No matter how much I like a song, if it is undanceable, potentially offensive to an audience including parents, or consists of a lot of spoken word, it was not included. Bitchin’ Camaro by the Dead Milkmen, for example, fails on all three counts. Self Esteem by The Offspring was on earlier drafts, but every time it came on Michelle would ask me “What the hell *is this?*” so I was shamed into removing it.

One song per artist

2) One song per artist. I also extended that rule to prohibit including both a group and a solo artist from that group. For example, because I had a Paul Simon song, Simon & Garfunkel were out. Similarly, inclusion of the Jackson 5 excluded a Michael Jackson solo song.

Meaningful songs

3) To the extent possible, I wanted to include songs that were meaningful to or beloved by me, even if in retrospect the song is . . . not that great. What I Am by Edie Brickell? Man I loved that song 20 years ago.

Qualifying years

4) I ended up having a lot more trouble with dates than I expected. Some years were over-full, and some were droughts. I gave myself the freedom to date a song by any of these methods: release of the single; release of the album; year in which the song hit highest on the charts. For example, Let’s Groove by Earth, Wind, and Fire was released as a single in 1981 but spent 8 weeks as the R&B number one over 1981-82. Therefore I could use it for either ’81 or ’82. 1982 was, as it happens, the best year in music history ever (Thriller by MJ, 1999 by Prince, Rio by Duran Duran, Eye of the Tiger by Survivor, Come on Eileen by Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Centerfold by J Geils band, 867-5309 by Tommy Tutone, I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do) by Hall & Oates, Tainted Love by Soft Cell … the list of fabulous music from 1982 never stops!) so I was happy to be able to put Let’s Groove in ’81.

Shorter is better

5) Finally, shorter was better. I needed 5 hours of music for the party, and I ended up with 5.5 hours. So where possible I chose shorter songs. Limelight won out over Red Barchetta not just because it’s a better party song, but also because it’s 2 minutes shorter.
Nathan Robertson, email from 2 November, 2010

Nathan challenged me to create my own list, and I spent a few weeks [2024: If timestamps are to be believed, more like a couple of years] compiling my own. I added a rule – 6) No song that appeared in Nathan’s list can appear in mine – and I broke the rule that prevents a solo act that’s also a member of a group from appearing in both settings. In fact, it was the Paul Simon example that Nathan used above. [2024: I also de-emphasized the length priority. This was never more than a hypothetical party list for me.] That list has never been revealed . . . UNTIL NOW! My goal is to showcase one year per day. I’ll include a stream-able copy of each song, [2024: Oh, the trouble that caused. These days, Spotify links will keep the web-hosting gods from hitting me with the ban-hammer.] along with the choices that didn’t make the cut, and then Nathan’s choices. Please comment often! Ready – Set – . . .