At the party, the mix worked like a charm.

December 10, 2010 12:51 PM

This year, as the holiday season approached, we were in a celebratory mood, and I decided to create a playlist* for our holiday party composed of one song from every year of the magazine’s existence.

1925: “Collegiate,” by Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians
1926: “Fat Meat and Greens,” by Jelly Roll Morton
1927: “Struttin’ With Some Barbecue,” by Louis Armstrong
1928: “Statesboro Blues,” by Blind Willie McTell
1929: “That’s How I Feel Today,” by The Little Chocolate Dandies
1930: “It Happened in Monterey,” by Ruth Etting
1931: “Farewell Blues,” by Cab Calloway
1932: “Night And Day,” by Fred Astaire
1933: “Tea for Two,” by Art Tatum
1934: “Moonglow,” by Benny Goodman
1935: “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter,” by Fats Waller
1936: “Summertime,” by Billie Holiday
1937: “Sweet Home Chicago,” by Robert Johnson
1938: “Begin The Beguine,” by Artie Shaw
1939: “Moonlight Serenade,” by Glenn Miller Orchestra
1940: “New San Antonio Rose,” by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
1941: “Jumpin’ Punkins,” by Duke Ellington
1942: “Sleepy Lagoon,” by Harry James
1943: “Paper Doll,” by The Mills Brothers
1944: “Swinging on a Star (Single),” by Bing Crosby
1945: “Scorpio,” by Mary Lou Williams
1946: “Choo Choo Ch’boogie,” by Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five
1947: “Serenade of the Bells,” by Jo Stafford
1948: “Nature Boy,” by Nat King Cole
1949: “Just Friends,” by Charlie Parker
1950: “The Fat Man,” by Fats Domino
1951: “Rocket 88,” by Jackie Brenston
1952: “Lawdy Miss Clawdy,” by Lloyd Price
1953: “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” by Hank Williams
1954: “Work With Me Annie,” by Hank Ballard & The Midnighters
1955: “Folsom Prison Blues,” by Johnny Cash
1956: “Strode Rode,” by Sonny Rollins
1957: “Mona (I Need You Baby),” by Bo Diddley
1958: “Rock Billy Boogie,” by Johnny Burnette
1959: “Along Came Jones,” by The Coasters
1960: “Walk Don’t Run,” by The Ventures
1961: “Shout Bamalama,” by Otis Redding
1962: “Return To Sender,” by Elvis Presley
1963: “Be My Baby,” by The Ronettes
1964: “Nadine (Is It You?),” by Chuck Berry
1965: “I Can’t Explain,” by The Who
1966: “Day Tripper,” by The Beatles
1967: “I Heard it Through The Grapevine,” by Gladys Knight & The Pips
1968: “White Light / White Heat,” by The Velvet Underground
1969: “Israelites,” by Desmond Dekker
1970: “Spirit in the Sky,” by Norman Greenbaum
1971: “Family Affair,” by Sly & The Family Stone
1972: “Superfly,” by Curtis Mayfield
1973: “The Payback,” by James Brown
1974: “You Haven’t Done Nothin’,” by Stevie Wonder
1975: “The Ballroom Blitz,” by The Sweet
1976: “Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker),” by Parliament
1977: “Got To Give It Up—Pt 1,” by Marvin Gaye
1978: “Miss You,” by Rolling Stones
1979: “Rock Lobster,” by The B-52’s
1980: “Cars,” by Gary Numan
1981: “Rapture,” by Blondie
1982: “Buffalo Gals,” by Malcolm McLaren
1983: “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” by Michael Jackson
1984: “Head Over Heels,” by The Go-Go’s
1985: “Perfect Way,” by Scritti Politti
1986: “Walk This Way,” by Run-DMC
1987: “Housequake,” by Prince
1988: “Express Yourself ,” by N.W.A.
1989: “Me Myself And I,” by De La Soul
1990: “Love Will Never Do Without You,” by Janet Jackson
1991: “Mama Said Knock You Out,” by LL Cool J
1992: “Rump Shaker,” by Wreckx-N-Effect
1993: “Return of the Crazy One,” by Digital Underground
1994: “Whatta Man,” by Salt-N-Pepa
1995: “California Love,” by 2Pac
1996: “Where It’s At,” by Beck
1997: “Hypnotize,” by The Notorious B.I.G.
1998: “Intergalactic,” by Beastie Boys
1999: “Vivrant Thing,” by Q-Tip
2000: “Music,” by Madonna
2001: “Get Ur Freak On,” by Missy Elliot
2002: “Without Me,” by Eminem
2003: “Crazy In Love Feat Jay-Z,” by Beyonce
2004: “Yeah,” by Usher, featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris
2005: “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House,” by LCD Soundsystem
2006: “SexyBack,” by Justin Timberlake
2007: “Umbrella,” by Rihanna
2008: “Paper Planes,” by M.I.A.
2009: “Heads Will Roll,” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2010: “Monster,” by Kanye West, featuring Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj and Bon Iver


*(Some substitutions made where necessary. Also available as a playlist for those who will be listening to this forever.)

posted by oinopaponton (16 comments total)

You rock so granitelike for linking it all up like that. Thanks!
posted by Miko at 1:03 PM on December 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

I, for one, am glad to see "Rock Lobster" on this list.

Here's hoping they played the album version.
posted by reductiondesign at 1:06 PM on December 10, 2010

Otherwise known as the New Yorker Hip-Hop Stealth Exposure Experiment
posted by hermitosis at 1:07 PM on December 10, 2010 [7 favorites]

Totally, hermitosis. The prevalence of hip hop seemed pretty conspicuous at first, but thinking back, it's undeniable that loads of the most memorable songs of the last however many years have been hip hop.
posted by incomple at 1:23 PM on December 10, 2010

Oh, the 90s. It's a strange coincidence that my teen years happened to be the best pop music years.
posted by chebucto at 1:40 PM on December 10, 2010

The prevalence of hip hop seemed pretty conspicuous at first, but thinking back, it's undeniable that loads of the most memorable songs of the last however many years have been hip hop.

It makes more sense if you realize that it is meant to be played in sequence at a party rather than just being a list of memorable songs spanning across a given time period. It's hard to make a case for Rump Shaker being included over say Smells Like Teen Spirit in terms of being a memorable part of early 90s music, considering that it's not even the most memorable one hit wonder butt-themed party rap single of the early nineties. But it fits in a lot better than a lot of other possible choices in that part of the playlist, especially since Paper Planes later on in the list has a similar chorus.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:44 PM on December 10, 2010 [2 favorites]

Dear fans of Rock Lobster, please find and listen to the track known as God Is A Lobster (short sample on Amazon), also known as God Is a Lobster (A B52's Tribute Rmx) (US iTunes store link). I'm sorry I couldn't find a proper full track, but be assured, it is worth your time. The rest of (DJ) Soul Slinger's work is also enjoyable.

Sincerely,
filthy light thief, a big fan of the old D'n'B sound
posted by filthy light thief at 1:44 PM on December 10, 2010

<Darth Vader voice> Most impressive. </Darth Vader voice>
posted by shothotbot at 2:02 PM on December 10, 2010

oinopaponton you are my hero.
posted by twsf at 2:03 PM on December 10, 2010

"Return of the Crazy One" for 1993? Wow, that's a welcome surprise--it was only on the charts for 3 weeks and peaked at #77. Great song though
posted by Hoopo at 2:29 PM on December 10, 2010

Gary Numan is a "lesser-known" artist?

I bite my thumb at you, sir. (From inside my car.)

Oh, the 90s. It's a strange coincidence that my teen years happened to be the best pop music years.

Hah. That's what I thought about the 80s section!
posted by chavenet at 2:30 PM on December 10, 2010

Ooh, I like stuff like this.

I also was tangentially involved in a similar gesture. I used to take part a lot in a twice-annual trivia contest at Williams College in Massachusetts (despite not being an alum). The way the contest ran was, if your team won a contest, you had to create and run the next contest.

My team won the contest in the winter of 1999, and realied we would end up running the first contest of 2000. So we paid tribute to that with one of our audio sections -- the team found one song each from every year in the 20th Century and put clips of each all together -- and teams had to identify as many songs as possible from those clips.

Here's the link if anyone wants to try, and here are the answers.

(And yes, we really did name our team "Make Way For Ducklings, Motherfucker" for a while.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:58 PM on December 10, 2010

Isn't "Nadine" by Chuck Berry is a rather bizarre choice for 1964? I mean, after all it was 1964. One band had the top 5 hits in the USA all at the same time, as I recall.
posted by Seekerofsplendor at 11:53 AM on December 11, 2010

On quick glance, Seekerofsplendor, it looks to me like all the artists are American. It might have been a criterion. And Chuck Berry was huge.
posted by Miko at 11:58 AM on December 11, 2010

Miko: "It might have been a criterion."

1978.
posted by flatluigi at 2:16 AM on December 12, 2010

OK, perhaps not a criterion, but obviously a strong bias.
posted by Miko at 12:49 PM on December 12, 2010