Sidetracked

Considering I complained last week about VH1’s “100 Greatest Songs of the 80s” (Def Leppard – ugh!), I feel I probably ought to complain at least a bit about the “100 Greatest songs of the 90s,” which I watched in its entirety this past weekend. (What can I say – it rained a lot.)

I actually liked many of the songs on the list (“I like big butts and I cannot lie!”), though I’m surprised by the number of one-hit wonders (“Do the humpty dumpty!”), which I think reflects a downward spiral in the music industry.

Still . . . Backstreet Boys at #3? I couldn’t help but groan. One sure way to discredit your best-of music list is to include a boy band in the top ten. Or anywhere, for that matter.

From the get-go there was no doubt that Nirvana would be #1. I mean, they were the 90s, right? And, of course, you knew you’d see Lisa Loeb’s cute little glasses, Kris Kross and their backward pants and, of course: da-duh-duh-duh, dah-duh, dah-duh – can’t touch this. But the biggest surprise to me was how old and overweight some of these people now look, which of course leads to one very important social question:

Have I also gotten old and fat? Considering many of these people are my age, it makes me fear for my fleeting youth and burgeoning waist line.

The ones who looked noticeably older include the girls from En Vogue, Sinead O’Connor, Paula Cole and Edwin McCain. The fact that so many of them were heavy confirms my belief that our metabolism just falls apart once we hit 30. In fact, the only person who was actually thinner, I think, was Blues Traveler front man John Popper, and that’s because he had to have surgery to lose weight or he was going to die.

Anyway, you can see the list here. While you’re checking that out, I’m gonna get older and gain some more weight.

–Pat P.

Posted on January 7th, 2008 by Pat
Filed under: Music