When did you get old?

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From J-Walk Blog:

This is from Eric Zorn: Take the musical test — when did you get old?

Reader Mike Carniello sent me a list several years ago of top summer songs of each year going back. He maintained that by “using this list, you can pinpoint exactly when middle age kicked in” by identifying the first song on the list for which you can’t kind of hum the melody.

Here’s the list, starting from 1964:

  • August 1964 “A Hard Day’s Night” The Beatles
  • August 1965 “I Got You Babe” Sonny & Cher
  • August 1966 “Summer in the City” The Lovin’ Spoonful
  • August 1967 “Light My Fire” The Doors
  • August 1968 “People Got to Be Free” The Rascals
  • August 1969 “In the Year 2525” Zager and Evans
  • August 1970 “(They Long to Be) Close to You” The Carpenters
  • August 1971 “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?” Bee Gees
  • August 1972 “Alone Again (Naturally)” Gilbert O’ Sullivan
  • August 1973 “The Morning After” Maureen McGovern
  • August 1974 “(You’re) Having My Baby” Paul Anka with Odia Coates
  • August 1975 “Jive Talkin'” the Bee Gees
  • August 1976 “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” Elton John & Kiki Dee
  • August 1977 “I Just Want to Be Your Everything” Andy Gibb
  • August 1978 “Miss You” Rolling Stones
  • August 1979 “My Sharona” the Knack
  • August 1980 “Magic” Olivia Newton-John
  • August 1981 “Jessie’s Girl” Rick Springfield
  • August 1982 “Eye Of The Tiger” Survivor
  • August 1983 “Every Breath You Take” the Police
  • August 1984 “Ghostbusters” Ray Parker Jr.
  • August 1985 “The Power of Love” Huey Lewis & the News
  • August 1986 “Papa Don’t Preach” Madonna
  • August 1987 “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” U2
  • August 1988 “Roll With It” Steve Winwood
  • August 1989 “Right Here Waiting” Richard Marx
  • August 1990 “Vision of Love” Mariah Carey
  • August 1991 “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” Bryan Adams
  • August 1992 “Baby Got Back” Sir Mix-A-Lot
  • August 1993 “(I Can’t Help) Falling in Love With You UB40
  • August 1994 “Stay (I Missed You)” Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories
  • August 1995 “Waterfalls” TLC
  • August 1996 “Macarena” Los Del Rio
  • August 1997 “I’ll Be Missing You” Puff Daddy & Faith Evans
  • August 1998 “The Boy Is Mine” Brandy & Monica
  • August 1999 “Genie in a Bottle” Christina Aguilera
  • August 2000 “It’s Gonna Be Me” ‘N Sync
  • August 2001 “Bootylicious” Destiny’s Child
  • August 2002 “Hot In Herre” Nelly
  • August 2003 “Crazy In Love Beyonce featuring Jay-Z
  • August 2004 “Confessions Part II” Usher
  • August 2005 “We Belong Together” Mariah Carey
  • August 2006 “Promiscuous” Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland
  • August 2007 “Big Girls Don’t Cry” Fergie
  • August 2008 “Leavin'” Jesse McCartney

I think I hit the wall in 1986.  I was 38.  When did you get old?

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35 thoughts on “When did you get old?”

  3. Born in ’72 and I can still hum a few of the tunes from ’00s. Others, I wouldn’t even know the song if it it was playing right now. So I guess I’m on the borderline of old.

  5. I was born in 1989 and i could hum 10 of the ones from before I was born, but only 1 from after.

  6. Thinking about it…how’d they determine the songs in the 90s? Hello? Nirvana? Pearl Jam? Even Hootie??? Who the hell was listening to Lisa Loeb?

  9. Hey KLAW how about a plug for radioparadise.com? It’s pretty good, went there a while ago on your recommendation.

  11. up from 1985, i only know the 5 songs from 1999 to 2003 and macarena. hm, i guess it was also the only time in my life i had a tv set and radio…

  12. I agree, Derek. Where’s Bach, Beethoven…Hank, Jr? It has to be bogus if Peter Framton didn’t make it in 76. Everyone knows his big hit – waaaaaa…waa, waa, waa, waa, waaaa…wa waa waa waa wa wa wa waaaa (I wasn’t positive I’d remember all the words, but I nailed it).

  13. Yeah – I don’t think you can count this list as official – I got old at age 21, then regained my youth and lost it several times after!!! Finally lost it totally in 1996. And you can’t count remakes – those shouldn’t count as #1 (even when they are better than the original!) And with some of those songs, I might know the song, just not by the title.

  15. i got old at a year old, i must be ancient by now. i agree this is a rather stupid selection of music, i think i know more from before i was born than after.

  17. 1997 for me. I only recognized 4 songs after that year. I was 36. Does this mean I’m now in my “golden years”?

  18. So, when did they start doing this, “…by (so and so) featuring (some other dude)” thing? Is it a case of “I’m not good enough to sell CD’s on my own” or is it “I won’t appear on your CD unless you Feature me”? Kinda reminds me of that old song by Willie Nelson Featuring Kris Kristof….never mind.

  19. Derek has an excellent point! in 1976 Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees was the hottest song on the air. You couldn’t get away from it. Don’t go breakin’ my heart on the other hand was a minor hit for Elton John. I was a big EJ fan at the time and even I wasn’t crazy about it. Same thing goes for no Frampton, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, etc. I demand a recount! I am not middle aged yet! I’m still hip! I’m still jiggy with it!

  21. I don’t like this! 1964! I was 9! Of course, I listen to so much music that I can hum or know the lyrics, at least partially, to just about every song on that list. So, in certain instances, such as mine, this DOES NOT determine when I got old. I’m in my mid-50’s now and I don’t consider myself as ‘old’. I must confess one thing: I do not know the melodies or lyrics to most of the songs from about 1990 to present because I don’t care for much modern pop music.

  22. Let’s see…1988…wasn’t that when talk radio took off? See, we didn’t get old, we just got redirected in our listening habits. And are you old if you listened to country? That takes out another huge demographic.

  23. Chris – Right you are! I personally hate pop and hip hop. Even though I am 48, I listen to alternative music. Why am I being penalized just because I think mainstream music is crap? Give me Linkin Park, The Foo Fighters, Green Day or Incubus any day! After all, how much more juvenile can you get than Pink’s “So What”? Na na na na na na na I’m gonna start a fight. Give me a break!

  25. this list seems to be missing alot like Journey, Kiss, not to mention the great Metal bands, what about Queen, Ozzy, where were all the hair bands? Guess I’m old, I’m 40 this year.

  26. Seems that the genre changes in the mid nineties. I don’t know some of the songs from around 2000, but I do know the newer ones. Maybe I got old and started going younger.

  27. My wife and I both took this quiz. We are 5 1/2 years apart in age but we both got old in 1986… the year our first child was born.

  29. Oddly enough I think the most interesting thing about this list was looking up the 2008 hit on youtube and seeing what’s really popular today. You see, i may be 17, but i’ve never fit in with any teen stereotypes and absolutely loath most rap and rock made today…. scratch that, most rock and ALL rap – but anyways, I was reasurred when the 2008 single, Leavin’ was, while extremely simplistic underneath the vocals and required little to no musical skill to play anything that was remotely instrumental, it was much better than I was expecting.

    I’m more familiar with classical pieces than I am with pop hits, but I seem to know the most from the 80s… XD Probably my parents’ fault. I absolutely love bands like Rush and Police. Every Breath You Take is one of my favorite pieces by them, though I think King of Pain is better….

    Imma stop ranting now. I could go on for pages if I let myself. ^_^

  30. On an afternote, I listened to the ’07 and ’06 singles too… the 07 was even better than the 08, in my opinion at least… but the ’06 hit was…. hmm… (-_-)-p

    (just in case anyone doesn’t keep up with smilies, that’s a kirby-ish face giving a thumbs down. If you don’t know kirby… google. I don’t mean the vaccuum.) XD

  32. ~Jim

    It means you’re either really up to speed with music, you’re chronologically more than 50 years old and still young, or you have no life. ^_^

  33. ACK! It seems I hit the wall about 1991. Anyone else remember the lyrics to Country Joe and the Fish “Janis,” The Box Top’s “Letter,” Scott McKenzie’s “San Francisco,” The Troggs’ “Love Is All Around” …? No? Sigh, where DID i put that Geritol …

  35. Well the first song I can’t hum along to on this list is “Summer in the City” by The Lovin’ Spoonful, so I must have hit middle age in 1966, 15 years before I was born.

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