Everyone knows it's Cyndi

I have distinct, positive memories associated with Cyndi Lauper. After endless hours playing the Nintendo adaptation of The Goonies, the 8-bit version of the Goonies Theme has become an ever-present earworm. To this day, any time my mind goes blank the intro kicks in like hold music for my brain. Delving back into her oeuvre, however, was a little challenging to the idealized notion of Ms. Lauper that I have lodged in my memory. Many of her songs* are a detailed exercise in how not to use a synthesizer. However, it's exactly that ubiquitous abuse that precipitated the resurgence of guitar rock just in time for Nirvana. So I guess we should be thankful... maybe. Nirvana eventually led to Creed, so...

Aaaaanyway, moving right along.
Here are the winning picks:

5- When You Were Mine (again)

4- Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

3- True Colors

2- (The Goonies R) Good Enough

1- Time After Time

*Somewhat honorable mention: All Through the Night - If not for the horrendous synth jamming at the bridge, this could have made the list. Life Lesson - Don't leave your producer, session-player or whatever alone in the studio with a casio and a ki of coke.

Cyndi Lauper...this fever for you is just burning me up inside.

From the first time I secretly watched MTV and saw her strut around in that glorious red dress in the video for "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", I knew that one day I wanted to grow up to be Cyndi Lauper. Folks who knew me in high school might say I made an excellent effort in this pursuit.

The aformentioned hit is certainly Ms. Lauper's best known work. But I exclude it from my list for two reasons:

1. It was overplayed as a ring tone for weeks on end on the phone of an annoying coworker.

2. I really think that Lady Lauper's strong suit is the ballad.

One last thought. As I think back on touchstones of my childhood, I am often amazed at the pop culture bits my parents allowed me to consume. Holy crap a lot of Cyndi Lauper's songs are about sex! Girl really needed to get her ticket punched. What were my parents thinking?

Okay, I know what you're here for. So here it goes...My top five:

5. Fearless

4. I Drove All Night

3. Time After Time

2. She Bop

1. All Through The Night

5 Lessons I Learned From Prince

This was hard to narrow down once I reached my top 8. Prince has so much range it's almost necessary to make a separate list for every single purple personality. Also, I realized that Prince is a serious ripper. Dude can play a guitar. Why none of his songs are on Guitar Hero or Rock Band is beyond me. Seriously, I am not even kind of kidding about this.

Check the catalog.


(I can't help myself. Though not officially in my five, I have to extend an honorable mention to "Kiss" and "Let's Go Crazy". Those songs were my introduction to Prince Rogers Nelson and should by all rights be on this list but, for personal reasons, didn't make the cut.)

5-I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
4-When You Were Mine
3-Raspberry Beret
2-The Beautiful Ones
1-When Doves Cry

The Purple One Still Reigns Supreme

Prince Rogers Nelson. Never has anyone else made purple and platforms seem so manly.

He is most certainly the most prolific songwriter of our generation. So much so that his output fueled his own endeavors as well as The Time (with lead singer Morris Day), Sinead O'Connor, Sheena Easton and Celine Dion (we'll forgive him for that. The release of "Darling Nikki" also lead to the creation of the Parents Music Resource Center by Tipper Gore, after witnessed then 12 year old daughter Karenna listening to said song.

He's also been involved in fueds with his record company leading to "the symbol" and most recently with the Foo Fighters which lead to an amazing cover of "The Best of You" during the Super Bowl half time show.

So here it is, Prince's best:

5. Get Off

4. Let's Go Crazy

3. Controversy

2. I Would Die 4 U

1. When Doves Cry

The Don Comes Around

Donald Hugh "The Don" Henley hid behind the drums for most of the seventies (and who could blame him?). But the eighties brought on the solo synth-infused fury that is the Don we know and cherish today. His brief love connection with Stevie Nicks even produced a catchy jam that locked number two on my countdown. There are other choice Henley jams out there, but for my money these five little doozies make up a fine portrait of our formerly feathered friend.

5.Desperado
4.Heart of the Matter
3.End of the Innocence
2.Leather and Lace*
1.Boys of Summer

*Not technically a Don song, but c'mon, it's a classic and the man totally holds up his end.

Don's Best

Our first list is the best of Don Henley.

1. Boys of Summer
2. Leather and Lace- duet with Stevie Nicks
3. The Heart of the Matter
4. Dirty Laundry
5. End of the Innocence

Your Personal Parameters

Blogs. Can't live with 'em, can't live without... eh, that's probably not true. But everyone's doing it so why not test the waters? This little addition to the blogosphere might just stay the private bulletin board of a few people, or it could become a forum for a variety of voices with short opinionated bursts of brilliance. So, without further ado, just a few rules and then on to the fun:

Top 5

The list is the list; 1-5 untainted.

A short introduction is allowed.
If explanation is needed, it is done with an asterisk and a footnote.