I have been issued a blogochallenge! Last Visible Dog proprietor John “Buttermilk” Mitchell has tagged me with this musical meme. Very well, I agree that the instructions are vague, but I will do my best. Having consulted the specified website for the year I turned 18 (1985), I can only despair. I sometimes feel I’m becoming more nostalgic for the music of my youth, but looking at that list, I can’t see how. Nevertheless, I will force myself to purge a few memories.

71. We Are The World - USA for Africa. Wow, this really says it all. Remember the day every radio station in America played this song simultaneously and we all cured world hunger together? They actually stopped class at my high school so we could sit there at our desks and listen to the loudspeakers play this song we heard 47 times a day anyway. Not that I’m complaining, really. I believe I was in Mr. Monroe’s history class. He was having none of it.

68. Can't Fight This Feeling - REO Speedwagon. I remember my friend Rodney changing the chorus to “I can’t raise this walrus anymore.” I don’t know what inspired that. I know there were more words – something about “flopping on the floor” I think – but alas, they are lost in the mists of time. The song did become slightly more bearable with his changes, which made it a tiny bit easier to resist the urge to puncture my eardrum with a sharpened pencil.

65. One Night In Bangkok - Murray Head. Okay, I admit it, I had a 12-inch single of this. And now it’s stuck in my head, which is nice, as it’s dislodged “Don’t Stop Believin’”, which has been stuck there since The Sopranos ended Sunday night. Maybe I’ll download it from iTunes.

57. (Don't You) Forget About Me - Simple Minds. I guess this should be the anthem of anyone my age, and yeah, it has a certain cheesy majesty, but honestly I just never cared for The Breakfast Club. Yes, it’s time for my generational card to be revoked.

32. Dancing In The Street - Mick Jagger & David Bowie. Okay, this one is memorable due to the elaborately choreographed handshake my friend Dan and I worked out, which incorporated elements of this video (Dan did the Bowie, I did the Jagger), dialogue from Three’s Company, and various other grunts and jigs. (Manny Ramirez has nothing on us.) I just wish a record existed of the whole thing. Or maybe I don’t.

17. I Want To Know What Love Is – Foreigner. I remember Rolling Stone declaring this one of the 50 or 100 or 500 greatest songs ever. I’m not sure which, but it doesn’t matter. That’s when I realized I didn’t need to read Rolling Stone anymore.

1. We Built This City - Jefferson Starship. Yep. These were my glory days, people. Why, I’m so glad I decided to do this.

Anyway, I guess I’m supposed to tag five other blogs now. I’ll go with The Phil Nugent Experience, From Here to Obscurity, The Ol’ Bait Shop, Skullbucket and Big Red Blog. Participate…if you dare!