My Past In Popular Music: Introduction
Sep. 30th, 2020 02:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
damontFor those of you who might be wondering: the "short break" I mentioned in my most recent post is mostly a short break from posting to my GoFundMe... but will also be a break from pandemic-related posts. (There will be a short vacation for a few days next week as part of this.)
In the meantime it's finally time to start a new series of posts with the overarching topic "My Past In Popular Music." This was inspired by watching a bunch of music critics on YouTube, many of whom have started making videos about the best/worst hit songs of years going all the way back to the 1950s. Since most (if not all) of these critics are under the age of 35, it occurred to me that there was one thing these relative youngsters simply couldn't provide. It's one thing to go back and revisit years from 1996 on to the present, but for most of them, if they look at a year before 1996, the knowledge they have is all second-hand. I, on the other hand, *lived* through each of those years, unless we go back to "before USA Beatlemania".
So I decided to take a larger look back at each year of my life in US pop music, though I'll probably not go any more recent than the mid-1990s. (And maybe I'll look further back as well, in which case it won't be "My" past in pop music, just *The* Past...) These posts are going to be strictly on Dreamwidth for now; I'm not ready to tackle a podcast, much less a YouTube type video. But before I make my first post, here's an overview of what those posts will be like.
A. For each quarter of the year, I will look at the Top Twentysomething songs of that quarter and rank each one on a scale of 0 to 5: Terrible, Bad, Meh, Decent, Good, Excellent. Occasionally a song will be Exceptionally Great (a rank of 6). Hopefully *lesss* occasionally, a song will be Exceptionally Horrid (a rank of *negative* 1).
B. For each year as a whole, I will list my Top Ten(-Plus) Best Hits, with Honorable Mentions. I will also list my Top Ten(-Plus) Worst Hits, with Dishonorable Mentions. In keeping with precedents previously set by a few of the YouTube critics, the format of the Top Ten+ is a bit more fungible (you can call it "cheaty" if you like)... for example, I can choose to lump everything by one artist into one entry. I can guarantee there will be some of this going on because I've already prepped one year for writing about, and realized very quickly I wouldn't survive without cheating a bit. Maybe more than just a bit.
C. And for each year I will look at the Year-End list and rank each song on it with the same scale as the quarterly rankings. The Year-End list will always include some songs that didn't make any quarterly list, and likely leave out some songs that DID make a quarterly list. The year-end list will be at least 100 songs, and almost certainly more, for reasons I'll explain below.
1. I am considering songs that were hits in the USA in the target year. Until I was 14 or 15, I knew nothing about what was popular in other countries unless it made some kind of splash here.
2. In the USA, Billboard magazine was the most widely accepted source for popularity during the period I was paying sufficient attention to popular music to be able to offer what I consider valid opinions. Cashbox and Record World did exist, but I'm going with Billboard, in part because of that respect, and in part because the data I need is mostly readily available via the Billboard site.
3. Now, I have the benefit of doing all this decades later, so the need to publish a year-end list before the end of December isn't there. Billboard generally based its year-end Top 100 list on the first 48 weeks of the year. I can calculate the top 100 for the entire calendar year. I will consider both of these lists when talking about "year-end" lists, which for 1970 (for example) means there are 108 songs on the year-end list.
3a. Songs making the Billboardyear-end list for year X based in part on their performance at the tail end of Year (X-1) may be put on the Best/Worst Lists for Year (X-1) instead. No song will make a Top 10+ List for two different years, though may qualify for (Dis)Honorable Mention. For such year-straddling hits, which year they are considered for is SOLELY based on my own perception of which year *I* associate the song with.
4. I can confirm from multiple sources that prior to 1992, Billboard used a points formula when calculating its multiple-week lists, so I will do the same. The base formula is 100 points for a week at Number 1, 99 points for Number 2, and so on down to 1 point for Number 100, There are also bonuses added, which are not nearly as clear. At least for the purposes of calculating the 1970 list, if I add a bonus for each week spent at Number 1, my calculations for the first 48 weeks pretty much line up with the published year-end list, so I'll go with that as good enough. I reserve the right to tweak this over time if the data indicate it necessary.
5. For my "Top 10+ Worst Hits" and "Top 10+ Best Hits" lists, I am decreeing that to be considered a hit for my purposes, a record must have made the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, or made the Year-End Top 100 or the calendar-year Top 100. Rare exceptions will be made and noted as such.
5a. Making the year-end list almost always guarantees the song was a Top 40 hit, though not vice-versa. Preference in case of "ties", when needed, will be given to a song on the year-end list.
6. The Top 10+ Worst/Best lists will also have "(Dis)Honorable Mention" sections, and some songs there are allowed to not have been hits. In fact, some of the "Mentions" might not have been released as singles! (For a 1969 example, consider "Here Comes The Sun" by The Beatles, which has always gotten incredible amounts of airplay and deservedly so, but was never released as a single.)
7. A song whose chart position peaked in year X, and did not make the year-end Top 100+ list for a different year, will only be considered for the year it peaked, unless exceptional circumstances apply. See also rule 3a.
7a. Winter Holiday songs get exceptional treatment, as Billboard had a policy in most of my period of study of not including them in the Hot 100. I will consider these songs for the year in which they were released, and not again unless something truly exceptional occurs.
Again, for the quarterly Top 20+ and year-end Top 100+ there are usually six tiers of rankings: Terrible, Bad, Meh, Decent, Good, and Excellent. On rare occasions I will add Exceptionally Horrid and Exceptionally Great categories as needed.
And with that, stay tuned for my first post of actual content in this series, coming soon! If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments.
In the meantime it's finally time to start a new series of posts with the overarching topic "My Past In Popular Music." This was inspired by watching a bunch of music critics on YouTube, many of whom have started making videos about the best/worst hit songs of years going all the way back to the 1950s. Since most (if not all) of these critics are under the age of 35, it occurred to me that there was one thing these relative youngsters simply couldn't provide. It's one thing to go back and revisit years from 1996 on to the present, but for most of them, if they look at a year before 1996, the knowledge they have is all second-hand. I, on the other hand, *lived* through each of those years, unless we go back to "before USA Beatlemania".
So I decided to take a larger look back at each year of my life in US pop music, though I'll probably not go any more recent than the mid-1990s. (And maybe I'll look further back as well, in which case it won't be "My" past in pop music, just *The* Past...) These posts are going to be strictly on Dreamwidth for now; I'm not ready to tackle a podcast, much less a YouTube type video. But before I make my first post, here's an overview of what those posts will be like.
A. For each quarter of the year, I will look at the Top Twentysomething songs of that quarter and rank each one on a scale of 0 to 5: Terrible, Bad, Meh, Decent, Good, Excellent. Occasionally a song will be Exceptionally Great (a rank of 6). Hopefully *lesss* occasionally, a song will be Exceptionally Horrid (a rank of *negative* 1).
B. For each year as a whole, I will list my Top Ten(-Plus) Best Hits, with Honorable Mentions. I will also list my Top Ten(-Plus) Worst Hits, with Dishonorable Mentions. In keeping with precedents previously set by a few of the YouTube critics, the format of the Top Ten+ is a bit more fungible (you can call it "cheaty" if you like)... for example, I can choose to lump everything by one artist into one entry. I can guarantee there will be some of this going on because I've already prepped one year for writing about, and realized very quickly I wouldn't survive without cheating a bit. Maybe more than just a bit.
C. And for each year I will look at the Year-End list and rank each song on it with the same scale as the quarterly rankings. The Year-End list will always include some songs that didn't make any quarterly list, and likely leave out some songs that DID make a quarterly list. The year-end list will be at least 100 songs, and almost certainly more, for reasons I'll explain below.
Anyway, before I go any further, allow me to set up the ground rules.
1. I am considering songs that were hits in the USA in the target year. Until I was 14 or 15, I knew nothing about what was popular in other countries unless it made some kind of splash here.
2. In the USA, Billboard magazine was the most widely accepted source for popularity during the period I was paying sufficient attention to popular music to be able to offer what I consider valid opinions. Cashbox and Record World did exist, but I'm going with Billboard, in part because of that respect, and in part because the data I need is mostly readily available via the Billboard site.
3. Now, I have the benefit of doing all this decades later, so the need to publish a year-end list before the end of December isn't there. Billboard generally based its year-end Top 100 list on the first 48 weeks of the year. I can calculate the top 100 for the entire calendar year. I will consider both of these lists when talking about "year-end" lists, which for 1970 (for example) means there are 108 songs on the year-end list.
3a. Songs making the Billboardyear-end list for year X based in part on their performance at the tail end of Year (X-1) may be put on the Best/Worst Lists for Year (X-1) instead. No song will make a Top 10+ List for two different years, though may qualify for (Dis)Honorable Mention. For such year-straddling hits, which year they are considered for is SOLELY based on my own perception of which year *I* associate the song with.
4. I can confirm from multiple sources that prior to 1992, Billboard used a points formula when calculating its multiple-week lists, so I will do the same. The base formula is 100 points for a week at Number 1, 99 points for Number 2, and so on down to 1 point for Number 100, There are also bonuses added, which are not nearly as clear. At least for the purposes of calculating the 1970 list, if I add a bonus for each week spent at Number 1, my calculations for the first 48 weeks pretty much line up with the published year-end list, so I'll go with that as good enough. I reserve the right to tweak this over time if the data indicate it necessary.
5. For my "Top 10+ Worst Hits" and "Top 10+ Best Hits" lists, I am decreeing that to be considered a hit for my purposes, a record must have made the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, or made the Year-End Top 100 or the calendar-year Top 100. Rare exceptions will be made and noted as such.
5a. Making the year-end list almost always guarantees the song was a Top 40 hit, though not vice-versa. Preference in case of "ties", when needed, will be given to a song on the year-end list.
6. The Top 10+ Worst/Best lists will also have "(Dis)Honorable Mention" sections, and some songs there are allowed to not have been hits. In fact, some of the "Mentions" might not have been released as singles! (For a 1969 example, consider "Here Comes The Sun" by The Beatles, which has always gotten incredible amounts of airplay and deservedly so, but was never released as a single.)
7. A song whose chart position peaked in year X, and did not make the year-end Top 100+ list for a different year, will only be considered for the year it peaked, unless exceptional circumstances apply. See also rule 3a.
7a. Winter Holiday songs get exceptional treatment, as Billboard had a policy in most of my period of study of not including them in the Hot 100. I will consider these songs for the year in which they were released, and not again unless something truly exceptional occurs.
Again, for the quarterly Top 20+ and year-end Top 100+ there are usually six tiers of rankings: Terrible, Bad, Meh, Decent, Good, and Excellent. On rare occasions I will add Exceptionally Horrid and Exceptionally Great categories as needed.
And with that, stay tuned for my first post of actual content in this series, coming soon! If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments.
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Date: 2020-10-01 05:50 am (UTC)