One day last month, I noticed that my Twitter account had gotten up to 1,950 followers, so I decided to tweet a YouTube link to my favorite song of 1950, and keep doing that every time I got a new follower until I got up to 2,013. When it was all done, I put them into a Spotify playlist:

1950: Ella Fitzgerald with Ellis Larkins - "How Long Has This Been Going On?"
1951: Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats – “Rocket 88”
1952: Kitty Wells – “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels”
1953: Big Mama Thornton – “Hound Dog”
1954: The Four Aces – “Three Coins In The Fountain”
1955: Chuck Berry – “Maybellene”
1956: Harry Belafonte – “Day O (The Banana Boat Song)”
1957: Buddy Holly – “That’ll Be The Day”
1958: Cannonball Adderley – “Autumn Leaves”
1959: George Jones – “White Lightning”
1960: John Coltrane – “Naima”
1961: Etta James – “At Last”
1962: Bobby “Boris” Pickett – “The Monster Mash”
1963: The Beatles – “She Loves You”*
1964: The Supremes – “Where Did Our Love Go?”
1965: Petula Clark – “Downtown”
1966: The Who – “A Quick One, While He’s Away”
1967: The Jimi Hendrix Experience – “Manic Depression”
1968: The Rolling Stones – “No Expectations”
1969: Led Zeppelin – “Ramble On”*
1970: Simon & Garfunkel – “Cecilia”
1971: Al Green – “Tired Of Being Alone”
1972: Little Feat – “Easy To Slip”
1973: Bruce Springsteen – “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)”
1974: Pink Floyd – “Time”
1975: Willie Nelson – “Hands On The Wheel”
1976: Thin Lizzy – “Cowboy Song”
1977: Steely Dan – “Deacon Blues”
1978: Elvis Costello & The Attractions – “(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea”
1979: The B-52s – “Rock Lobster”
1980: The Pretenders – “The Wait”
1981: Queen and David Bowie – “Under Pressure”
1982: Dexys Midnight Runners – “Come On Eileen”
1983: Michael Jackson – “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”
1984: Van Halen – “Panama”
1985: Tears For Fears – “Head Over Heels”
1986: Peter Gabriel – “Sledgehammer”*
1987: Prince – “Adore”
1988: Slick Rick – “Children’s Story”
1989: De La Soul – “Me, Myself & I”
1990: Bel Biv Devoe – “Poison”
1991: Pearl Jam – “Porch”
1992: Sonic Youth – “Theresa’s Sound World”
1993: Nirvana – “Serve The Servants”
1994: The Notorious B.I.G. – “Respect”
1995: The Geraldine Fibbers – “Lilybelle”*
1996: Jay-Z – “Can I Live”
1997: Trans Am – “Carboforce”
1998: Aaliyah – “Are You That Somebody?”*
1999: Destiny’s Child – “Bills, Bills, Bills”
2000: M.O.P. – “Ante Up (Robbing-Hoodz Theory)”
2001: Ted Leo/Pharmacists – “Timorous Me”
2002: Kylie Minogue – “Love At First Sight”
2003: Kenna – “Siren”
2004: Kelly Clarkson – “Since U Been Gone”
2005: My Chemical Romance – “Helena”
2006: Ciara – “Promise”
2007: R. Kelly featuring T.I. and T-Pain – “I’m A Flirt (Remix)”
2008: Erykah Badu – “Master Teacher”
2009: Maxwell – “Pretty Wings”
2010: Butch Walker and the Black Widows – “She Likes Hair Bands”
2011: Miguel – “Sure Thing”
2012: Meek Mill – “Dreams & Nightmares”
2013: Paramore – “Grow Up”

* songs not available on Spotify

Some of these years, I could've picked any number of songs depending on how I felt that day, and some of them I would always say the same song. In any event this was just a fun exercise, I tried not to think too much about it.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 02, 2013 at 3:45 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.