Friday · August 04 2006
VH1's 40 Most Awesomely Bad Love Songs
I'm a sucker for bad late night television, particularly VH1's series of silly retro “Awesomely Bad” snarkfests. Stacy and I stayed up too late watching these.
Lionel Ritchie made #1 and that's all that matters to me. Because Lionel Ritchie sucks. I take no responsibility if you look at this list and have “You're the Inspiration” stuck in your head all morning.
I couldn't fall asleep because "You're the Inspiration" was playing in my head. I did at least make Jason turn it off after we saw the Meatloaf segment (couldn't miss Meatloaf!).
I recall having a sudden loss-of-innoncene moment as a kid (probably around 1986 or 87) with that Whitesnake song. Because when I saw that video I suddenly realized that MTV wasn't on "our" side anymore - if it ever was - and should never again be trusted with the immense taste-making power that it had.
I guess I wasn't the only one, because MTV doesn't actually have anything to do with music anymore and its become pretty marginal to pop culture in general. It's hard for kids today to understand what an unbelievably big deal it seemed to be in the early 1980s.
That list also reminds me of a legendary bit of graphitti carved into one of the study-desk thingies at the libray at William & Mary. All it said was "KILL LIONEL RICHIE" but it was so clearly carved into the table in anger, perhaps anguish, even.