themusicaddict's Greatest CDs of All-Time: Peter Gabriel's "So" (Finished November 3rd, 2014)

Hello,

It seems a video hasn't been made for the complete album of "So", here's the trailer for "So". (Yeah, I don't remember a CD having a trailer before either.)

But to hold you over here's the video for the complete CD of Peter Gabriel's "1978" self-titled CD. It seems his first four CDs were all self-titled. But to differentiate the 4 CDs, each had a self-title. This specific CD's subtitle is "Scratch". The "Peter Gabriel (Scratch)" CD is the second of those four self-titled CDs. The below video only has 889 views at the time of the writing of this blog, let's push it over 1,000 views. My thanks to James Birchall for creating the following video.

The track list for "Peter Gabriel": (as you can see this CD doesn't have any of Gabriel's "hits" on it, but that doesn't mean its not a great CD.)

1 "On the Air"
2 "D.I.Y." (It seems Gabriel and his producers were using "D.I.Y." (do it yourself) before it broke into everyday language.)
3 "Mother of Violence" (Peter Gabriel, Jill Gabriel)
4 "A Wonderful Day in a One-Way World"
5 "White Shadow"
6 "Indigo"
7 "Animal Magic"
8 "Exposure" (Peter Gabriel, Robert Fripp)
9 "Flotsam and Jetsam"
10 "Perspective"
11 "Home Sweet Home"

On to "So", it was released on May 19, 1986. I listened to my iTunes this morning, I've been listening to songs based on how long ago they were played. I pretty much had already decided to do a greatest CDs of all-time blog today. When Gabriel's "I Have The Touch" played I thought of "So", although "I Have The Touch" isn't on that CD. "Touch" was last played on my iTunes July 26th, 2012. To think I used to be really far behind!

"So" with that inspiration in mind, I started writing a blog about "So". "So" is Gabriel's sixth solo CD. Gabriel first made an impression on the world of music when he was in Genesis. He recorded 7 CDs with Genesis, culminating with "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway".  This was the Genesis before Phil Collins took more control over the band, which was probably partially due to Gabriel leaving the band. Collins took the band a lot more mainstream after the experimental feel of Genesis' first 7 CDs. I read once that Gabriel would only rejoin Genesis again if they could perform "Lamb" again.

I'm listening to "Lamb" on Rdio now, I'll give you my thoughts on it when I have listened to it a time or two. It has a few good songs on it, but overall only a decent CD. For what it's worth: it does remind me a lot of Pink Floyd's "The Wall" in music and lyrics though.

"So" was Gabriel turning to more of a mainstream sound, at least as much as Gabriel would do. He doesn't create a lot of mainstream music, in fact he might be as famous for his world music as for his 80's hits. "So" went on to sell over 5 million copies in the US and indeed it was his peak in mainstream music, which again is only one of the many kinds of music Gabriel dabbles in. Gabriel took advantage of the relative newness of MTV by creating some stunning videos. "Sledgehammer" is one of the more memorable videos of MTV's first 10 years.

Gabriel also works on film scores, writing music for such films as "Birdy", "The Last Temptation of Christ" and "The Long Walk". The music for "The Long Walk" is particularly haunting:

1) "Red Rain":

2) "Sledgehammer":

"Sledgehammer" (Live):

Who would have thought there would be another song titled "Sledgehammer" that wasn't a cover of Gabriel's classic. Fifth Harmony's "Sledgehammer" is a perfectly good song, it's also a completely different genre.

3) "Don't Give Up" (with Kate Bush):

4) "That Voice Again":

"That Voice Again" (Live in 2013):

5) "Mercy Street":

6) "Big Time" (Live):

7) "We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37)":

8) "This Is The Picture (Excellent Birds)":

9) "In Your Eyes":

From the not very good "Say Anything", this is one of the most classic scenes in any 80's movie:

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Greatest CD's Of All-Time: Steve Perry's "Street Talk" (Completed October 27th, 2014)

Hello,

Continuing with the recent theme of songs from 1984 and also continuing one of my long running blog series of my greatest CDs of all-time with this blog. Today's blog is about Steve Perry's first solo CD, "Street Talk". It was released in April, 1984, I haven't been able to find a specific release date yet. Perry's solo debut CD went on to sell over 2 million copies. Although it's an amazing CD, sadly for some reason it has been over looked.

As I've been writing this blog for several years now, I've kept a list of some of my favorite CDs of all-time. One CD that only made that list recently was "Street Talk". Honestly it had completely fallen off my radar, I was one of many that over looked it. When I started writing the 1984 music blogs and hearing "Oh Sherrie"again , it reminded me of how much I liked "Street Talk". Thankfully I still have the actual CD and put it through the drive test. I was completely jamming out to it as I traversed Salt Lake Valley. This is such a great CD with so many great songs. This CD is a rarity in that the two final songs on it are two of the best songs on the whole CD. Both "Captured By The Moment" and "Strung Out" are amazing songs. Many times the last few songs on a CD are filler, sounding like they were quickly made up on the final day of recording.

As is the desire for most lead singers, even singers of hugely successful bands, they want to see how they'll fare on their own. Such was the case with Steve Perry and Journey. Journey released their amazing "Escape" in 1981 and the very good "Frontiers" in 1983. "Escape" featured such great songs as "Stone In Love", "Who's Crying Now", "Open Arms", "Still They Ride" and that one song that has now been overplayed including in the Soprano's closing scene. Journey likely peaked with "Escape" but "Frontiers" wasn't that big of a step down. (Thanks to Wikipedia for the biographical information, all opinions are mine.)

I saw the Journey "Escape" tour in the early 80s and it was such a great concert. The band was tight that night and Steve Perry's vocals were pitch perfect. The Journey "Live In Houston" captures this great sound of great band and great singer playing great songs perfectly.

Sadly after the "Frontiers"/ "Street Talk" combination it's been downhill for both Journey and Steve Perry since then. Steve Perry seemed to lose the desire for being in a band in the late 80s and has virtually disappeared, although he returned this year to perform a couple of songs with the Eels. For Journey it has been a revolving door of singers, with not one of them matching the charisma and power of Perry. Although the sound alike singers of Perry have generally been good singers.

By his past several years standard, 2014 has been a bust out year for Perry. Here he is at Game 3 of the NLCS:

With the Eels singing "She Was Only 16" and "Open Arms":

The original "Street Talk" only had 10 songs, but has been beefed up to having 15 songs since it's 1984 release. I'm including the videos for all 15 songs.

1) "Oh Sherrie": I've posted the original video enough lately, here's Steve singing the song live.

2) "I Believe":

3) "Go Away":

4) "Foolish Heart":

5) "It's Only Love":

6) "She's Mine":

7) "You Should Be Happy":

8) "Running Alone":

9) "Captured By The Moment": I didn't realize this was a tribute to some of the all-time great rockers and JFK until I saw this video.

10) "Strung Out":

11) "My My My":

12) "Harmony":

13) "Makes No Difference":

14) "Don't Tell Me Why You're Leaving":

15) "If Only For The Moment, Girl":

themusicaddict

My Review for the Chenxi The Gifts for Men Designer Sports Watch (Currently Unavailable)

Hello,

Honestly I'm not a watch wearer, but when I received an offer for a free watch I took it. The first thing that caught my eye when I received the watch (in only two days!) is how attractive of a watch it is. It's a nice looking watch. Having said that the watch's face is a bit too busy. I prefer a white background as the only thing I want out of a watch is the time. I'm glad I didn't take the time to figure out what the 3 other dials on the watch were, they are just there for looks. If those 3 smaller dials are just for looks, it would have been better not to have them. I prefer a less busy watch face over looks every day.

I work in a fairly physical job and the watch has held up through a couple of weeks of work. It seems to be a durable watch, but it's a bit heavy. That being said after a few minutes of wearing the watch I forgot I had a watch on. I do a lot of lifting at work and the watch hasn't got in my way once.

A couple of the comments I received about the watch. My 18 year old son informed me that no one wears watches any more. A friend said that it's a "nice watch".

If you are looking for an inexpensive watch, this would be a good watch to start with. If you don't mind a too busy face then this is a good watch.

themusicaddict

Best of the Rest: 1984's Greatest Hits Highlights, Part 2: Hair Metal & Rock, Random Songs + Billy Idol's New Song

Hello,

Billy Idol recently released a new CD, titled "The Kings and Queen of The Underground". Billy mentions the year 1984, "Rebel Yell" and some of his other hits. He also mentions Ace, which I'm guessing he means Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley. (Warning, Billy drops the F bomb in this song.)

I know you're probably sick of the songs from 1984- just like I'm sick of hearing Hozier's "Take Me To Church" about once a hour on X96- but somehow I missed a few songs. Thanks to Billboard and multiple Rdio playlists of songs from 1984 I discovered a few songs that fell through the cracks. A special thanks to Brett Finley Rdio's playlist of (Hot 100+) Top Hits of 1984. This is Part 2 of 2 blogs collecting these missing gems.

Yes, some of the below songs would have made my Top 100 songs from 1984 if I had found them before.

Just like I'm a sucker for a great ballad, I'm also a sucker for the great heavy metal/ hair metal (whatever you want to call it) songs of the 80s. Here are a few:

Ratt's "Lack Of Communication":

Quiet Riot's "Mama Weer All Crazee Now":

Motley Crue's "Too Young To Fall In Love": This is such a great song, Nikki Sixx knows how to write a great song!

Billy Squier's "Rock Me Tonite": Great song, terrible video. This is the most felonious case of white boy dancing I've ever seen, but its we the viewers that are punished! (said tongue in cheek)

Robert Plant's "In The Mood":

Here are the random songs:

Pat Benatar's "We Belong":

Kool and the Gang's "Tonight":

Lindsey Buckingham "Go Insane":

Yes' "Leave It":

Survivor's "High On You": One of the most unappreciated bands of the 80s, this is just one of their many great songs. My favorite Survivor song definitely is "The Search Is Over".

Hall and Oates "Say It Isn't So":

The Pointer Sisters "I'm So Excited": How did this song not make Rolling Stone's songs of 1984 and how did I miss it? Just a great song.

Kenny Loggins "I'm Free (Heaven Helps The Man)":

themusicaddict

Best of the Rest: 1984's Greatest Hits Highlights, Part 1: The Ballads, New Wave & Rick Springfield

Hello,

I know you're probably sick of the songs from 1984- just like I'm sick of hearing Hozier's "Take Me To Church" about once a hour on X96- but somehow I missed a few songs. Thanks to Billboard and multiple Rdio playlists of songs from 1984 I discovered a few songs that fell through the cracks. A special thanks to Brett Finley Rdio's playlist of (Hot 100+) Top Hits of 1984. This is Part 1 of 2 blogs collecting these missing gems. Part 2 should be coming Thursday.

Yes, some of the below songs would have made my Top 100 songs from 1984 if I had found them before.

I'm not going to lie I'm a sucker for a cheesy and sappy 80's ballad, here are a few:

The Scorpions "Still Loving You":

Madonna's "Love Don't Live Here Anymore":

The Honeydrippers "Sea of Love":

Elton John's "Sad Songs (Say So Much)":

Lee Greenwood's "God Bless The USA": This song has appeared on my blog several times over the years and it still gets me every time. Indeed God Bless The USA!

Steve Perry's "Foolish Heart":

Chicago's "You're The Inspiration":

Alphaville's "Forever Young": "Are you going to drop the bomb or not?"

Billy Joel's "An Innocent Man":

Rick Springfield's "Bop 'Til You Drop":

Rick Springfield's "Don't Walk Away":

1984 had great years for both New Wave and Heavy Metal, many of those classics have been on my previous 1984 blogs. On this specific blog I'll focus on the new wave classics that slipped through the cracks. Next blog I'll focus on the Heavy Metal and also random songs of 1984 that slipped through the cracks. Have I said it already, but 1984 was such a great year for music.

Adam Ant's "Strip":

The Romantics "One In A Million":

The Fixx "Are We Ourselves":

ABC's "How To Be A Millionaire": I know the video says "1985?", but the song was released on October 26th, 1984- almost exactly 30 years ago.

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Top 100 Songs of 1984, Part 10: The Top Ten

Hello,

As I mentioned previously, my thanks to Rolling Stone magazine and bobborst.com for inspiring this list. Rolling Stone released their list on September 17th, 2014, I took their list and created my own list. Nineteen songs from Rolling Stone's list didn't make it on my personal Top 100, those 19 songs are mentioned in the first blog in this series of blogs. Thanks to the bobborst.com website for reminding me about the rest of these songs. That is except for Julie Brown's "Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun". I thought it came out in 1984 and I Googled it and sure enough it did. The number/letters in parenthesis indicate where the song ranks on Rolling Stone's Top 100 list. NR = not rated

themusicaddict's Top Ten songs of 1984:

10) Deneice Williams "Let's Hear It For the Boy": (39) This is from one of my favorite 80's movies and soundtracks, "Footloose".

9) Scandal/ Patty Smyth's "The Warrior": (99) This song has the biggest upward move from Rolling Stone's Top 100 songs of 1984, 90 spots.

8) U2's "Pride": (12)

7) Bananarama's "Cruel Summer": (41) I love this song so much.

6) Madonna's "Like A Virgin" (67)

5) Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" (NR) Quite likely upcoming a topic for my greatest CDs of all-time blog series.

4) Phil Collins' "Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)" (NR) One of the all-time best ballads. This is my highest rated song that didn't make the Rolling Stone list.

How can I just let you walk away, just let you leave without a trace
When I stand here taking every breath with you, ooh
You're the only one who really knew me at all (Thanks to azlyrics.com)

For those that might be mixing up the above song with another similarly themed Phil Collins song. In 1985 Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin's "Separate Lives" was released.

3) Tina Turner's "What's Love Got To Do With It": (11) The CD this came from, "Private Dancer", is one of my all-time greatest CDs. I blogged about it on January 2nd, 2014

2) Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" (4) From the amazing opening "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to get through this thing called life." Here's a bastardized live version of this song recorded this year with 3rdEyeGirl.

1) Prince's "When Doves Cry" (1) I believe this is the only selection I agree with Rolling Stone on, I'm glad to see that they got at least one selection right :) In his infinite wisdom, Prince blocks most of his music being on YouTube.

Cris Vara's version, a pretty faithful version. Cris even sounds a bit like Prince.:

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Top 100 Songs of 1984, Part 9, #'s 19-11

Hello,

As I mentioned previously, my thanks to Rolling Stone magazine and bobborst.com for inspiring this list. Rolling Stone released their list on September 17th, 2014, I took their list and created my own list. Nineteen songs from Rolling Stone's list didn't make it on my personal Top 100, those 19 songs are mentioned in the first blog in this series of blogs. Thanks to the bobborst.com website for reminding me about the rest of these songs. That is except for Julie Brown's "Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun". I thought it came out in 1984 and I Googled it and sure enough it did. The number/letters in parenthesis indicate where the song ranks on Rolling Stone's Top 100 list. NR = not rated

19) Animotion's "Obsession": (62)

18) John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band: (NR) from the movie "Eddie and the Cruisers":

17) Night Ranger's "Sister Christian": (34) This is still such a great song 30 years after it's release. I am surprised this video only has a tidge over 5 million views.

16) The Time's "Jungle Love" (29) Part of the mid 80's Minneapolis groove machine that included Sheila E and of course Prince.

15) George Michael's "Careless Whisper" (24) That amazing sax solo!

14) Shannon's "Let The Music Play" (NR) I love the nasty funk of this song.

13) Chicago's "Hard Habit To Break" As I work on these blogs and listen to all these great songs, I can't help but think, again, what a great year for music.

12) Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round" (98) This song is the second biggest upward move from Rolling Stone's Top 100 1984 songs. This is a quintessential 80's song. Before making this list, if someone had asked me where would I place this song I probably would have said at #1. Too bad that amazing hook has been stolen sampled for much inferior songs.

11) Steve Perry's "Oh Sherrie" (89)- The lead singer of Journey branching out on his own. Journey and Steve Perry were never quite the same. Although the CD this song is taken off, "Street Talk" is a very good CD.

So many of these songs I  looked at where they are on my list and I thought to myself that song isn't higher? What the heck? Again 1984 was such a great year for music. Up next, saving the best for last, the top ten.

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Top 100 Songs of 1984, Part 8 #'s 29-20

Hello,

As I mentioned previously, my thanks to Rolling Stone magazine and bobborst.com for inspiring this list. Rolling Stone released their list on September 17th, 2014, I took their list and created my own list. Nineteen songs from Rolling Stone's list didn't make it on my personal Top 100, those 19 songs are mentioned in the first blog in this series of blogs. Thanks to the bobborst.com website for reminding me about the rest of these songs. That is except for Julie Brown's "Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun". I thought it came out in 1984 and I Googled it and sure enough it did. The number/letters in parenthesis indicate where the song ranks on Rolling Stone's Top 100 list. NR = not rated

29) Wham's "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" (50) Both Wham/ George Michael and INXS are the masters of getting the most out of the saxophone in their songs. A great example below, but nothing tops the mournful sax solo on "Careless Whisper".

28) Don Henley "Boys of Summer": (7) What a great year for music when this song is my only 28th song. I know I've written that before, but 1984 truly was a great year for music.

27) Madonna's "Borderline" (2) I guess it won't come as a surprise I had a massive crush on Madonna back in the 80s and it was a torch I carried for many years.

26) Bruce Springsteen's "Born In The USA" (9) The Boss recently celebrated his 65th birthday.

25) Madonna's "Holiday" (25) Can a video look more DIY? It looks like it was filmed in somebody's basement. However the inexpensive video can't detract from yet another great Madonna song.

24) Madonna's "Lucky Star" (24) Three Madonna songs on this one blog and there's still one more Madonna song on the way.

23) Hall and Oates "Adult Education" (NR) Probably not one of the first songs someone thinks of when they think of 80's music. But Hall and Oates have been wrongly forgotten. They wrote some of the best and most fun songs of the 80s.

22) Kenny Loggins "Footloose" (NR) First of all is there a more joyous song ever recorded? Second of all how did this song not make Rolling Stone's Top 100 songs from 1984?

21) General Public's "Tenderness" (76) "Where is the tenderness?"

20) Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters" (69) This video is a who's who of entertainment stars in 1984.

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Top 100 Songs of 1984, Part 7 #'s 37-30

Hello,

As I mentioned previously, my thanks to Rolling Stone magazine and bobborst.com for inspiring this list. Rolling Stone released their list on September 17th, 2014, I took their list and created my own list. Nineteen songs from Rolling Stone's list didn't make it on my personal Top 100, those 19 songs are mentioned in the first blog in this series of blogs. Thanks to the bobborst.com website for reminding me about the rest of these songs. That is except for Julie Brown's "Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun". I thought it came out in 1984 and I Googled it and sure enough it did. The number/letters in parenthesis indicate where the song ranks on Rolling Stone's Top 100 list. NR = not rated

37) Prince's "Purple Rain" (8) From one of the greatest CDs of all-time and probably the greatest soundtrack comes the title song "Purple Rain". Prince's "Batman" soundtrack is also pretty amazing. Prince seems to be afraid of youtube when fans can use it to find his classic songs, but when its suits his own purposes he's no longer afraid of youtube.

The best I could do is this Tom Jones and David Gilmour cover:

36) Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" (6) which comes from Lauper's amazing debut CD "She's So Unusual". This CD is full of classics, along with "Time After Time", it includes "She Bop" (#49 on my list), "Girls Just Want To Have Fun (upcoming on this list), "Money Changes Everything" and "All Through The Night". 

35) Chaka Kahn's "I Feel For You" (3) , yet another classic song written by Prince.

34) Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me" (25) (yes, that's Michael Jackson singing background vocals) 

33) Sade's "Smooth Operator": (17)

32) Peter Schilling's "Major Tom" (NR)

31) The Cars's "Magic" (NR):

30) The Thompson Twins' "Doctor Doctor" (NR)

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Top 100 Songs of 1984, Part 6 #'s 46-38

Hello,

As I mentioned previously, my thanks to Rolling Stone magazine and bobborst.com for inspiring this list. Rolling Stone released their list on September 17th, 2014, I took their list and created my own list. Nineteen songs from Rolling Stone's list didn't make it on my personal Top 100, those 19 songs are mentioned in the first blog in this series of blogs. Thanks to the bobborst.com website for reminding me about the rest of these songs. That is except for Julie Brown's "Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun". I thought it came out in 1984 and I Googled it and sure enough it did. The number/letters in parenthesis indicate where the song ranks on Rolling Stone's Top 100 list. NR = not rated

46) The Go Go's "Head Over Heels" (48) (For those of you wondering Tears For Fears "Head Over Heels" came out in 1985 and yes that's a great song also.)

45) The Cars "Drive" (21) Again another song that's great, but gets pushed back a bit because of ALL the amazing songs of 1984. In many years "Drive" would be much closer to the top ten.

44) a-ha's "Take On Me"(18)- this might be the best video ever.

43) Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell" (55):

42) Billy Idol's "Eyes Without A Face" (47) A double shot of William Allen Michael Broad.

41) The Cars "You Might Think" (78) Yep, sometimes all you can say is yes this is an 80's video.

40) Olivia Newton John's "Twist of Fate" (NR)

39) Mike Reno and Ann Wilson's "Almost Paradise": (NR) The love song from one of my Top Ten favorite 80's movies "Footloose":

38) Michael Jackson's "Thriller" (5) One of the most innovative and creative videos of all-time. This is the full video of "Thriller". No doubt about it Michael Jackson was a genius.

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Things I'm Not Writing About Today, October 6th, 2014: "Castle" crumbles

Hello,

The first thing I need to get off my chest is the travesty occurring on the usually very good "Castle". This is by far one of my favorite TV shows, it features a great cast highlighted by Nathan Fillion and the gorgeous Stana Katic. Castle and Beckett, or Caskett as some fans call them, have a great chemistry that brings so much to the show.

However at the end of last season, after the producers took 6 long seasons, Castle and Beckett were finally going to get married. However Castle was forced off the road by an unknown assailant on the way to their wedding. I have no idea what the hell the producers were thinking, there was no suspense whether Castle would survive. THE SHOW IS NAMED AFTER HIM! Not only that but the thought of the audience going through all the wedding prep again is obnoxious (unless they'll be breaking up later this season).

As if that wasn't bad enough now Season 7 has started, we find out Castle has been missing for two months and has no recollection of where he's been. At least that's what he's saying. It's not a surprise that no one believes him, but Beckett continues to stand by his side. There were a few suspicious sightings of Castle while he was missing. Please "Castle" producers tell me that you will resolve where he's been quickly. All this back story is more fitting for "Lost" than "Castle".

"The Walking Dead" essentially used the same story line twice for The Governor and it was a massive fail. A terrible actor, a lame character and an incredibly boring storyline times two is a recipe for disaster. Having Castle and Beckett go through all the marriage prep again would be a disastrous idea. If they do get married, let it be very quickly.

The second episode of Season 7 of "Castle" is tonight, I hope for a quick resolution for this "Lostian" mystery. I'm hoping the producers will go back to the formula that makes "Castle" great, a great cast, great stories and that cheeky sense-of-humor.

Music: Tomorrow Weezer will be releasing their new CD, "Everything Will Be Alright In The End", after hearing two songs off the CD I'm cautiously optimistic. These are those two songs "Cleopatra":

and "Back To The Shack":

Sports: I had the misfortune of going to watch the BYU-USU game this past Friday night, easily one of the most devastatingly and humiliating losses in BYU history. USU won 35-20, completely exposing the apparently slow BYU cornerbacks. Virginia gave everyone the blueprint how to beat BYU, target the cornerbacks, although Virginia wasn't fully able to take advantage of that. However USU was and I'm sure Central Florida will be trying to exploit this very apparent weakness Thursday night. This loss was even more devastating than losing quarterback Taysom Hill for the season. 

My former favorite pro team, the Dallas Cowboys, somehow are 4-1. How did this happen, I have no idea. But it's disappointing to me as this only makes Jerry Jones think he knows what he's doing. He will pay no attention to the previous 18 years where the Cowboys lost relevance and were only a shadow of what they used to be before then. However unbelievably all those bad decisions seem to be working in the Cowboys favor now.

One playoff win Tony Romo has been utilized in the game manager role, which is the best thing for him and the Cowboys. He's just not a winner, but if not too much is put on his shoulders he can be an effective quarterback. Someone, Scott Linehan?, has finally figured out that the Cowboys should rely on their young studly offensive line and injury prone DeMarco Murray. That has been a unqualified success, that is until Murray gets injured as he does every season. It also doesn't help that he has lost 4 fumbles in only 5 games. But so far that's working with the Cowboys winning and Murray leading the NFL in rushing.

Thankfully someone is in Jerruh's ear about drafting solid picks, not flashy Johnny Manziel type picks. Zach Martin was a much better pick than Manziel, adding to that very tough and solid offensive line. Also elevating Rod Marinelli to the defensive coordinator was one of the best moves the Cowboys have made the last several seasons, which honestly didn't take much. But the fact this talent deprived, injury prone defense has been respectable is because of Marinelli's magic. I was 100% wrong about how bad this defense was going to be.

Although I still follow the Cowboys, I just can't cheer for them any more. The damage that Jerruh has done them is just too much. I look forward to cheering on the Cowboys again when the Jones family no longer owns the Cowboys, Romo is no longer the quarterback and horrible head coach Jason Garrett is finally sent on his way. None of those three things can come soon enough. Until then I'll continue to cheer for the 49ers and Buccaneers!

With the Cowboys finding a way to win 4 of 5 games, I'm going to stop predicting they are going to lose. However it will be rough sledding for Dallas to defeat the defending Super Bowl champs Seahawks in Seattle on Sunday.

Lastly congrats to the Royals and Orioles for sweeping their ALDS series, very impressive.

Tonight is game 3 of the LA- St. Louis NLDS. The Dodgers have to win tonight in St. Louis or this series is essentially over. Hyun Jin-Ryu and their offense has to come up big tonight. Then can the under performing in the playoffs Clayton Kershaw finally come through in Game 4 on Tuesday night? He's an amazing regular season picture sadly he hasn't brought that to the playoffs enough as of yet. Orel Hershisher can you please work with Kershaw? Maybe your playoff magic can rub off on him? Go Dodgers!

themusicaddict

themusicaddict's Top 100 Songs of 1984, Part 5 #'s 55-47 (Updated October 5th, 2014)

Hello,

As I've been transitioning from one job to being unemployed and now back to being employed again, a lot of my time went towards job hunting. I have a more active job now than I did previously, so I have less time to blog. With my current job I'll only be working about 25 hours a week and I'll write when I can. My goal is to write two to three times a week. Although I do have a job now, I'm looking for a better paying job. Once I get that higher paying job, and the more hours I'll be working, I'll have even less time to write. However I'll still write when I have time. Thanks for reading.

My thanks to my former employer, Ambassador Education Solutions, for giving those of us they had to lay off a severance package. It has been a lifesaver as I've gone through the job hunting process again.

As I mentioned previously, my thanks to Rolling Stone magazine and bobborst.com for inspiring this list. Rolling Stone released their list on September 17th, 2014, I took their list and created my own list. Nineteen songs from Rolling Stone's list didn't make it on my personal Top 100, those 19 songs are mentioned in the first blog in this series of blogs. Thanks to the bobborst.com website for reminding me about the rest of these songs. That is except for Julie Brown's "Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun". I thought it came out in 1984 and I Googled it and sure enough it did. The number/letters in parenthesis indicate where the song ranks on Rolling Stone's Top 100 list. NR = not rated

55) Yes' "Owner Of A Lonely Heart": (61) The CD this song comes from "90125" is quite good, I highly recommend you check it out. 

54) Nena's "99 Luftballoons": (15) 

53) Sheila E's "The Glamorous Life": (10)

52) Laura Branigan's "Self Control": (65) Yes, she sang more songs than just "Gloria", this is an under appreciated song but very cool.

51) John Waite's "Missing You" (14) Where I currently work the radio is played at night and I've been quite surprised how many 80's songs are still being played on this station. It's a "rock" station. From "Stairway To Heaven" (yeah I know it's a 70's song) to "You Give Love A Bad Name" to "Missing You" along with many other 80's songs are being played. Honestly many of these songs sound just as good as they did back in the day.

50) Depeche Mode's "People Are People": (95)

49) Cyndi Lauper's "She Bop": (36)

48) Cherrelle's "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On": (52) A forgotten classic and one of the least appreciated songs of the 80s.

47) The Police's "Wrapped Around Your Finger": (86)

themusicaddict