Ah, the first week of June, and also the week which roughly coincides with my birthday, and the first week of summer break, and the first “official” week of summer, even though we still have to endure about two more weeks of spring.

1977: Alice Cooper, “You and Me”

I loves me some Alice Cooper, and I probably heard this song right about when it came out. When I played the video I had a burst of deja vu of being a young kid, probably hearing the song come from the radio of a passing car as I read a book on the porch, or something. As a bonus, here is Cooper singing the song with a Muppet.

1982: Huey Lewis and the News, “Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do”

This was playing when I was (probably) milking cows on the morning of my thirteenth birthday. The album which contained this song, Picture This, is good and entertaining, but didn’t make a splash like Sports and Fore! a few years later. Still, the song is fun and I likely heard it a lot more once I left for college and had access to e.g. culture and/or MTV.

1987: Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine, “Rhythm is Gonna Get You”

Ah, my eighteenth birthday. A week after the end of school I hosted a graduation/pool party, which was probably the last fun thing I did before leaving for college in late August.  “Rhythm is Gonna Get You” (from Let it Loose) was certainly playing at the time, as was “Conga” from her earlier album Primitive Love. We played “Conga” in the marching and pep bands in high school, and probably college as well. So yeah, whenever I hear Estefan (and Miami Sound Machine) I get All The Nostalgias for being a geeky kid with a trombone playing pop music covers.

1992: Das EFX, “They Want EFX”

I don’t know when or where I heard “They Want EFX” the first time, but it was probably at a time when I didn’t “get” it. 1992 was all frats and rednecks and working third shift in a garment factory in West Michigan. So, not a lot of exposure to hip hop, and definitely not in an environment where it was appreciated. “They Want EFX” is brilliant, and I’ve listened to it about half a dozen times in the past three days.

1997: Various Artists, “ESPN Presents the Jock Jam”

Umm…yeah, I might have heard this in a bar somewhere.