Plannine's Classic Top 30

One of my favorite web chart sites that I go to every week is Plannine's Classic Top 30 page. It is one of the few if not only weekly oldies chart site on the internet. People who visit the site can view the current weekly chart, listen to the chart's song list and vote for their favorite oldies either once in a while or every week.

The weekly list is singles oriented and leans toward popular songs that were on the radio and top 40 charts during the 1950s to the early 1980s.

I usually send a weekly vote of my top 10 oldies and 3 top albums. Here is the most recent list that I sent in:

Top 10 Oldies 2-14-09

1. The Lord's Prayer - Sister Janet Mead
2. New Year's Day - U2
3. Boys - The Beatles
4. Beyond the Clouds - The Poppy Family
5. All the Tea in China - Susan Jacks
6. Jennifer Eccles - The Hollies
7. My Hawaii - The Rascals
8. You're Only Lonely - J.D. Souther
9. Only the Lonely - Roy Orbison
10. The Name Game - Shirley Ellis

3 Top Albums

1. Ram - Paul & Linda McCartney
2. Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
3. Abraxus - Santana

I grew up on top 40 radio of the 1960s and 70s, and most of the songs I send in to Plannine are from that era. I'll be writing more about oldies and top 40 radio on this site in the weeks to come.

In the meantime I'll also post Plannine's Finetune player, where you can listen to many of the songs that are posted to his chart. Give it a listen. There are a lot of obscure oldies that you may not have heard in a long time.

Finetune is a music service that I will also be writing about in the near future. You can listen to my finetune player featuring current hits on the right hand column adjacent to this blog post.

New Finds of the Day from The Sixty-One

Here are some new tracks that I added to my growing roster of Sixty-One favorites:










Enjoy!

Playing on The Sixty-One

The Sixty-One is a fairly popular new music website where many unsigned artists publish independent music for people to listen to and vote on. Every song posted to the site is a full length version. All genres are available at The Sixty-One including rock, pop, alternative, jazz, hip-hop, classical, instrumental, country and more.

While there are some very well known songs and artists on The Sixty-One website, most of them are people and groups that you never heard of. Some are very good, others are not. If you are adventurous and want to listen to fresh new music, this is the place to be. Some of my favorite undiscovered artists at the Sixty-One site include The NuRu, Meiko, Chairlift, Joe Sibol, Tegan & Sara, Rebecca Ann and The Nobodies to name a few.

Lastly songs that you discover, listen to, favorite and share are compiled into a point system that are part of a "game" that I really don't keep up with. Some people like the game aspect of The Sixty-One where the only aspect of the game is to pile up points and achieve certain levels of coolness and possibly respect among your peers at the site. I don't go to the site often enough to make my measly collection of points matter.

Besides listening to free streaming music, the features that I like about the Sixty-One are free downloads of some tracks. links to Amazon.com to purchase other tracks, favorite lists and the ability to share tracks on other websites and blogs. I have my own page at The Sixty-One.com as well as a Sixty-One Jukebox page at my music charts page. There is also a Hawaii Ning site where people can go to discuss The Sixty-One and share tracks there too.

Here are a few tracks that you can listen to right now by clicking on the song links below:











I will be featuring more songs on this blog from The Sixty-One.com in the weeks and months ahead. Stop by my Sixty-One page and jukebox to listen to more music.

The Top 100 Hits of 2008

MEL'S WEEKLY TOP 20 - THE TOP 100 HITS OF 2008

Here is a re-cap and review of some of my favorite songs and albums that were released in 2008. All of the songs listed on my chart below initially appeared on my Weekly Top 20 list that I maintain throughout the year. I'm largely a singles kind of guy, and even though I buy a lot of albums, I tend to listen to a mixed assortment of tracks whenever I have a music device playing. This is made easier with a combination of Apple's iTunes, iPod and other media players.

Kid Rock's "All Summer Long" which is a derivative of 2 classic rock tracks, "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynard and"Werewolves of London" by Warren Zevon stood out as one of my favorites for 2008. Rock cleverly combined elements of both to craft an almost entirely new song that borrows a lot from both. This is probably the first hybrid song of its kind that I truly liked. Surprisingly, it only made it to #7 in my year-end wrap, largely because it held on to #1 for only 3 weeks and did not spend that much time on my weekly chart.

For geek rock, nothing came close to Weezer whose red album echos songs from their green, black and blue albums of years past. If you like tracks such as "Buddy Holly," "Say It Isn't So", "Island in the Sun" and "Beverly Hills," you certainly bought and enjoyed Weezer's red album. The leading tracks for me were "Pork and Beans," "Troublemaker" and "Heart Songs". Weezer took the pork straight to #1 on my personal chart and ended up with my song of the year. "Heart Songs" is the band's recollection of artists and hits from years gone by. A brilliant album track that never made it to my weekly chart.

I liked R.E.M.'s album Accelerate. It was a return to their rock style of the past. It proved a winner on my chart as "Supernatural Superserious" burned its way to the #1 position and stayed there for 4 weeks. Other good tracks include the title tune, "Man Sized Wreath" and "Hollow Man".

A lot of young ladies burned up my chart with an assortment of tracks. Marie Digby was a fave with "Fool", "Say It Again" and "Umbrella" the latter being a hit for Rihanna in 2007. I also grew to like a lot of Rihanna's tracks. She can sing soul, R&B and even rock n roll. Favorites this year included "Disturbia," "Take a Bow" and "If I Never See Your Face Again" in which pairs her with the band Maroon 5.

My favorite albums of the year include those listed above as well as Sheryl Crow's Detours which produced the hits "Love is Free," "Gasoline," and "Out of Our Heads", Coldplay's Viva La Vida, Ringo Starr's Liverpool 8, Metallica's Death Magnetic, and the debut album from Lenka which yielded the tracks "Trouble is a Friend" and "The Show".

I heard some of my favorite tracks on TV commercials before they became hits. These included Apple iPod promotional tunes that became hits: "Music is My Hot, Hot Sex" by CSS from late 2007, "Bruises" from Chairlift that promoted the iPod Touch, "Shut Up & Let Me Go" by the Ting Tings and "Around the Bend" by The Asteroids Galaxy Tour which went to #1 on my Weekly Top 20. Noah and the Whale hit #1 in 2008 with "5 Years Time," a track used in a Saturn car commercial.

Without further fanfare, here is a list of my 100 top hits from 2008. A comprehensive version of this same list can be found on my Top 100 Hits of 2008 page.

THE TOP 100 HITS OF 2008

1 - Pork and Beans - Weezer
2 - Supernatural Superserious - R.E.M.
3 - Viva la Vida - Coldplay
4 - Mercy - Duffy
5 - Tattoo - Jordin Sparks
6 - Apologize - OneRepublic
7 - All Summer Long - Kid Rock
8 - Around the Bend (Radio Edit) - The Asteroids Galaxy Tour
9 - Disturbia - Rihanna
10 - Funplex - The B-52s
11 - Give It 2 Me - Madonna
12 - 5 Years Time - Noah And The Whale
13 - I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
14 - Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex - CSS
15 - Shut Up & Let Me Go - The Ting Tings
16 - 4 Minutes - Madonna & Justin
17 - Boys With Girlfriends - Meiko
18 - Womanizer - Britney Spears
19 - If I Were A Boy - Beyonce
20 - Won't Go Home Without You - Maroon 5
21 - Human - The Killers
22 - Stop And Stare - OneRepublic
23 - Realize - Colbie Caillat
24 - Paradise - Ana Laan
25 - Busy Being Fabulous - The Eagles
26 - Be The One - The Ting Tings
27 - Troublemaker - Weezer
28 - That's Not My Name - The Ting Tings
29 - Bruises - Chairlift
30 - If I Had Eyes - Jack Johnson
31 - New Soul - Yael Naïm
32 - Surrender - Lunascape
33 - So What (Main Version) - P!nk
34 - Paper Planes - M.I.A.
35 - Trouble Is A Friend - Lenka
36 - The Day That Never Comes - Metallica
37 - Clumsy - Fergie
38 - Saving My Face - KT Tunstall
39 - I Kissed a Girl - Katy Perry
40 - You Don't Know Me - Ben Folds featuring Regina Spektor
41 - Say It Again - Marié Digby
42 - Pocketful of Sunshine - Natasha Bedingfield
43 - No One - Alicia Keys
44 - Only Fooling Myself - Kate Voegele
45 - No Air (Main Version) - Jordin Sparks featuring Chris Brown
46 - Take A Bow - Rihanna
47 - Tailor Made - Colbie Caillat
48 - Over You - Daughtry
49 - Warwick Avenue - Duffy
50 - Love Is Free - Sheryl Crow
51 - Pump - The B-52's
52 - Seven Days of Lonely (Radio Edit) - I Nine
53 - Don't Think I Don't Think About It - Darius Rucker
54 - Hot N Cold - Katy Perry
55 - Be OK - Ingrid Michaelson
56 - Just A Dream - Carrie Underwood
57 - Sugarbaby - Morningwood
58 - My Moon My Man - Feist
59 - Shake It - Metro Station
60 - Jigsaw Falling Into Place - Radiohead
61 - Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis
62 - Don't Stop The Music - Rihanna
63 - Take Back The City - Snow Patrol
64 - Out Of Our Heads - Sheryl Crow
65 - You Know I'm No Good - Amy Winehouse
66 - If I Never See Your Face Again - Maroon 5 & Rihanna
67 - Say Hey (I Love You) - Michael Franti & Spearhead featuring Cherine Anderson
68 - Violet Hill - Coldplay
69 - Lost! - Coldplay
70 - I Better Run - The Rosebuds
71 - Chicken Fried - Zac Brown Band
72 - Whatever It Takes - Lifehouse
73 - In Love With a Girl - Gavin DeGraw
74 - Never Miss A Beat - Kaiser Chiefs
75 - Requiem for a Dying Song - Flogging Molly
76 - If This Is Love - The Saturdays
77 - Rockstar - Nickelback
76 - Addicted - Saving Abel
77 - Her Hairagami Set - The Brunettes
78 - L.E.S. Artistes - Santogold
79 - Shattered [Turn The Car Around] - O.A.R.
80 - Come On Get Higher - Matt Nathanson
81 - All-American Girl - Carrie Underwood
82 - Liverpool 8 - Ringo Starr
83 - I'd Rather Be With You - Joshua Radin
84 - After All These Years - Journey
85 - It's Not My Time - 3 Doors Down
86 - Gasoline - Sheryl Crow
87 - Sleeping Lessons - The Shins
88 - Le Disko - Shiny Toy Guns
89 - You Can't Count On Me - Counting Crows
90 - Never Walk Away - Journey
91 - The Weight Of Her - Butch Walker
92 - Stronger Woman - Jewel
93 - If It's Love That You Want - Ringo Starr
94 - Life In A Northern Town [Live] - Sugarland
95 - Say - Ryan Cabrera
96 - All I Want To Do - Sugarland
97 - Check Yes Juliet - We the Kings
98 - Valerie Plame - The Decemberists
99 - Same Mistake - James Blunt
100 - Dead Sound - The Raveonettes

Super Golden Oldies

Many of my favorite songs come from my growing up years in late elementary and early junior high school. Songs made famous by The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Three Dog Night, Dusty Springfield and countless others flooded the airwaves in the late 1960s to early 1970. From my 8tracks.com webpage I present for your listening pleasure "Super Golden Oldies",  a collection of 26 big and not so big hits of the time. Listen to this mix with your flash based, high speed internet connection.

Track List:

1. Here Comes the Sun - The Beatles
2. My Hawaii - The Rascals
3. My Little Japanese Boy - Linda Green & the Tempos
4. Guilty of Loving You - Jerry Fuller (1961)
5. Fool #1 - Brenda Lee (1961)
6. Someone, Someone - Brian Poole & the Temeloes (1965)
7. Sugar Town - Nancy Sinatra
8. Just A Little - Beau Brummels
9. Wishin' and Hopin' - Dusty Springfield
10. Can't Find The Time - Orpheus
11. Love Can Make You - Happy Mercy
12. I Love you - People
13. No Time - Guess Who
14. Hawaii Five-0 -The Ventures
15. Vehicle - Ides of March
16. Ride Captain Ride - Blues Image
17. Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell
18. For You Blue - The Beatles
19. Groovin (Out on Life) - The Newbeats
20. One Day of Your Life - Alex Keenan
21. Forevermore - Tokyo Happy Coats
22. Cheryl Moana Marie - John Rowles
23. Come And Get It - Badfinger
24. That's Where I Went Wrong - The Poppy Family
25. Spirit in the Sky - Norman Greenbaum
26. Remember Mary - The Sweet Marie

The songs are hosted at 8tracks.com, a streaming service that is similar to the old Muxtape.com, which means this player and mix could disappear at any time. Listen now and enjoy.