Top 40 Songs From November 1992

I'm a pop music fan. Maybe it's because Neil Diamond and Billy Joel were the first two artists I listened to more than anyone else. Maybe it's because I watched a good amount of MTV as a kid, who played only pop music in its early days. Maybe it's because my favorite radio station growing up was Pittsburgh's B-94. It's probably a combination of all of this.

Last week, a friend shared a tweet with the Cash Box top 40 singles from November 21, 1992. Even though I just shared that I'm a pop music fan, there's a lot more not good on this list than good, and I'm probably being generous.

Let's start with the good. If Jump Around, Rump Shaker, and to a lesser extent, Rhythm Is a Dancer, doesn't get you pumped up, you have no pulse. There are also some really strong songs by female artists here with Free Your Mind by En Vogue, Walking on Broken Glass by Annie Lennox (an underrated song in my opinion), and Real Love by Mary J. Blige. Two TLC songs are a nice bonus. This may hurt my street cred here, but I like If I Ever Fall In Love by Shai.

Now to the others. The slow version of Layla is fine, but not nearly as good as the original (though I get bored by the instrumental part at the end of the original very quickly). End of the Road was played at the end of every dance and graduation event from 1992-1995. It got tiresome after the first 20 or 5000 events. Prince and Madonna both had much, much better songs. I'll also take My Prerogative, Don't Be Cruel, and the Ghostbusters 2 songs over the two Bobby Brown songs here. How Do You Talk To An Angel is an awful song. Maybe this gets me some street cred back. There are a lot of songs here I don't even recognize. Wayne Newton had a top #25 song in 1992? What is a Mad Cobra? Just so much meh here.

Share your thoughts about this list in the comments section below.

Sean's Steelers-Vikings Preview

If you've read my blog long enough, you know that I like to point out absurd and fun (at least to me) information about sporting events. Therefore, if you're looking for the keys to this Sunday's Steelers-Vikings or a breakdown of Steelers rookie Shamarko Thomas' positioning, you'll have to go somewhere else. I'm also sorry if this post doesn't help you with your NFL picks this weekend. Anyway, here are my thoughts on the game:

- The Steelers leave Pittsburgh tonight and arrive in London on Friday morning. Meanwhile, the Vikings landed in London on Tuesday. Doesn't it seem like the Steelers should have left earlier to get acclimated to the time change and new city? For the Olympics, did Usain Bolt arrive in London two days before his race? I think not (though I have no idea when he actually got there).

- Someone needs to make sure Big Ben visits Big Ben and shares pictures of this.

- Do you think the British will know that the Terrible Towel is associated with the Steelers? As I wrote recently, you wouldn't know by this Terrible Towel.

- Serious question: Do people in London care about this game? I'm not talking about Americans living in England or Europe but your regular British citizen. I'm guessing that two 0-3 teams aren't helping walk-up ticket sales.

- Perhaps as a way to get more Londoners excited for the game, Gene Simmons of Kiss and his reality show Family Jewels is performing the National Anthem. Personally, I think the NFL should have gotten performers that represent Minnesota and Pittsburgh. Prince and Christina Aguilera would be fine.

- Remember Giant Jason Taylor from the 2007 NFL game in London? For this year, I hope they have a Giant Christian Ponder that has a matching rib injury like the non-giant Christian Ponder.

- Let's say that you're a rookie free agent in Steelers or Vikings training camp in August. Do the teams require you to get a passport in case you make the team and will travel to London? Who pays for the passport?

- Meanwhile, the Steelers signed center Fernando Velasco just a few weeks ago. Did the team make sure that he had a passport so he could play in London before they signed him?

- I assume that someone from the Associated Press (AP) will cover the game and write about Adrian Peterson (also AP) in the story. I wonder if United Press International wishes that there was a successful football player named Upton Paul Iglesias with the nickname UPI.

- I hope Troy Polamalu has a chance to freak out people at London's Madame Tussauds.



- I feel like Brett Keisel and his beard could become stars in London. Of course, people might think that he's one of the Duck Dynasty family.

Enjoy the game!

Super Bowl Notes

Congratulations to Tony Dungy and Bob Sanders. I am very happy for both of them. I’m guessing that Erie, Pennsylvania will not only have a Bob Sanders Day, but probably a Bob Sanders Month.

I personally thought that Colts running back Dominic Rhodes deserved the MVP award more than Peyton Manning. I think Manning won because he is Peyton Manning. I guess this means even more Peyton Manning commercials (including the one where he’s going to Disney World) over the next few months.

Prince has hundreds of songs, so why did he perform covers of other songs?

While it may have had no effect on the result of the game, why didn’t Chicago call a timeout at the end of the first half? The Colts had fourth and two at the Chicago 17 with just over 30 seconds left. Instead of calling a timeout to ensure that they would get the ball back to end the half, the Bears let the clock run down to two seconds when the Colts took a timeout. Vinatieri ended up missing the field goal and the half ended. If the Bears called a timeout, they would have had the ball with about 25 seconds left and two timeouts. Even if Vinatieri would have made the kick, the Colts would have had to kickoff, and as we saw, the Bears have Devin Hester returning kicks.