As I reach another milestone birthday this coming week, I’ve added a postscript to the annual playlists I posted throughout 2024, selecting one song from each for a Franken-Mix that spans my entire life to date. I often included the track originally featured with a YouTube link in each playlist, but made the occasional substitution (starting off the entire mix with ideal album closer “Just Another High” just felt wrong).
Taken together, there’s no rhyme or reason apart from the concept itself. Even by not repeating any artists, I still couldn’t find room for *all* of my favorites (apologies to Sam Phillips, Leonard Cohen, Pet Shop Boys, Concrete Blonde, Erasure, Emm Gryner, Donna Summer, etc.) If anything emerges, it’s a rough snapshot of my taste in music cultivated over a half century. One could argue “Upside Down” sort of anticipates “Poor Fake” or that “Don’t Leave Me This Way” and “Free Yourself” are kindred spirits, but that was not the intention of including them here.
From the landmark Mermaid Avenue, an album where Billy Bragg and Wilco crafted music for Woody Guthrie lyrics, enjoy “California Stars”, a song my husband and I have bonded over and a tune that stands the test of time, not sounding exactly like 1998, 1968 or potentially 2028 for that matter.
Fifty for 50:
- 1975: Bee Gees, “Jive Talkin’”
- 1976: ABBA, “Knowing Me, Knowing You”
- 1977: Thelma Houston, “Don’t Leave Me This Way”
- 1978: Kate Bush, “Wuthering Heights”
- 1979: Supertramp, “The Logical Song”
- 1980: Diana Ross, “Upside Down”
- 1981: Grace Jones, “Walking In The Rain”
- 1982: The B-52s, “Mesopotamia”
- 1983: The The, “This Is The Day”
- 1984: Rubber Rodeo, “Anywhere With You”
- 1985: Kirsty MacColl, “He’s On The Beach”
- 1986: Prince, “Kiss”
- 1987: New Order, “Temptation (Substance version)”
- 1988: Sade, “Paradise”
- 1989: Neneh Cherry, “Buffalo Stance”
- 1990: Deee-Lite, “Groove Is In The Heart”
- 1991: The KLF Feat. Tammy Wynette, “Justified and Ancient”
- 1992: 10,000 Maniacs, “Noah’s Dove”
- 1993: The Judybats, “Ugly On The Outside”
- 1994: Freedy Johnston, “Bad Reputation”
- 1995: Jen Trynin, “Better Than Nothing”
- 1996: Cibo Matto, “Know Your Chicken”
- 1997: Catherine Wheel, “Satellite”
- 1998: Billy Bragg & Wilco, “California Stars”
- 1999: Fiona Apple, “Paper Bag”
- 2000: The Avalanches, “Frontier Psychiatrist”
- 2001: Ivy, “Edge of the Ocean”
- 2002: Sleater-Kinney, “Step Aside”
- 2003: Stars, “Elevator Love Letter”
- 2004: Sufjan Stevens, “To Be Alone With You”
- 2005: Saint Etienne, “Stars Above Us”
- 2006: Marit Bergman, “No Party”
- 2007: The Shins, “Australia”
- 2008: Martha Wainwright, “You Cheated Me”
- 2009: Florence + The Machine, “Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
- 2010: Robyn, “Dancing On My Own”
- 2011: Destroyer, “Kaputt”
- 2012: Of Monsters and Men, “Dirty Paws”
- 2013: John Grant, “GMF”
- 2014: Future Islands, “Seasons (Waiting On You)”
- 2015: Belle and Sebastian, “Nobody’s Empire”
- 2016: The Radio Dept., “Committed To The Cause”
- 2017: Jens Lekman, “Evening Prayer”
- 2018: Twin Shadow, “Too Many Colors”
- 2019: Kelsey Lu, “Poor Fake”
- 2020: Christine and the Queens with Caroline Polachek, “La Vita Nuova”
- 2021: Cassandra Jenkins, “Hard Drive”
- 2022: Jessie Ware, “Free Yourself”
- 2023: Everything But The Girl, “Run A Red Light”
- 2024: Alison Moyet, “Such Small Ale”
Haunted Jukebox 