The Mecca 100 - #75-71

[littlebeast13]

<<< #80-76


#75. "Spam" - "Weird Al" Yankovic (1989)

Hard to believe there was once a time when legendary parodist Weird Al Yankovic seemed destined to go down as just a fun and quirky footnote of the 80's. Two of the three albums he released in the late 80's bombed, and the soundtrack to his 1989 movie UHF laid the biggest egg of them all. This parody of the REM song "Stand" (funny how Michael Stipe kept "intentionally writing" insipid bubblegum songs to mock the pop genre only to have them turn into big hits that made him rich and famous) is a definite diamond in the rough from that album, and without Mecca Radio including a few not-on-the-charts Weird Al songs on its playlist in the mid 2000's, I may have never encountered this one. And yes, we will be seeing Weird Al again much, much higher in this countdown...





#74. "My Favorite Things" - Johnny Mathis (1969)

This is my 28th Christmas at Mecca, and yes, I have been dangerously overexposed to holiday music in that time. Though it used to be much worse than it was now. Like during the Mecca CD years of 2013 and 2014 when it was all Xmas all the damn time. However, despite my strong dislike for the holiday genre, those CD's managed to put three songs in this countdown, including the unbelievable feat of getting Johnny Effing Mathis on the list! Yes, I love this version. "My Favorite Things" isn't a Christmas song any more than Die Hard is a Christmas movie, so it has that going for it. And I was shocked to discover after much digging through YouTube that Mr. Mathis, who recorded it on his 1969 holiday album Give Me Your Love For Christmas, was the one singing the Mecca version!





#73. "Perfect Day" - Hoku (2001)

Two Weird Al songs, three Christmas songs.... here another theme you can count on in this countdown, singers from Hawaii! Hoku is the first of three artists hailing from our 50th state that will be featured, and her contribution just happened to be the theme song to the 2001 film Legally Blonde. "Perfect Day" is a fun, jamming power pop rocker that really does sound like it would come out of a Barbie-like movie. Too bad that being featured in such a big movie didn't get it on the charts, but at least you could hear it at Mecca during the 5 AM hour quite a bit during 2024...





#72. "Grace Kelly" - Mika (2007)

"Grace Kelly" was a #1 hit in the UK, but in the US only managed to reach #57 and the ears of Mecca shoppers last decade. Written out of frustration over being told by record executives he needed to emulate another pop star of the time, Craig David (who!?!?), Mika chooses two different dead celebs to emulate in this song. One is Freddie Mercury, whom Mika already bears a vocal resemblance to. The other, movie star and princess Grace Kelly. Clips from her 1954 film The Country Girl can be heard throughout. And yes, this is the second of three songs in this countdown whose title is the name of a real person...





#71. "Remember the Name" - Fort Minor, featuring Styles of Beyond (2005)

This is the only true hip hop song in the countdown, and I honestly never liked it when it was getting played over and over in the early 2020's. Apparently, absence really does make the heart grow fonder, and I found myself nostalgically attached to "Remember the Name" when I looked it up not too long ago. Fort Minor is a side project of Mike Shinoda, whose much better known band is Linkin Park. While Fort Minor got a Top 5 hit out of its lone 2005 album, this wasn't it, as it only reached #66. Even censored, this is a pretty badass song to be playing in Mecca stores, even if probably only was at night once 24 hour stores became a thing of the past in 2021, but it gave us overnighters a good dose of nightly concentrated power of will...




#70-66 >>>

[BackInTex]

#73. "Perfect Day" - Hoku (2001)

Two Weird Al songs, three Christmas songs.... here another theme you can count on in this countdown, singers from Hawaii! Hoku is the first of three artists hailing from our 50th state that will be featured, and her contribution just happened to be the theme song to the 2001 film Legally Blonde. "Perfect Day" is a fun, jamming power pop rocker that really does sound like it would come out of a Barbie-like movie. Too bad that being featured in such a big movie didn't get it on the charts, but at least you could hear it at Mecca during the 5 AM hour quite a bit during 2024...

This became one of my favorite songs to play first thing as swm meets when the swimmers were warming up (as Head Ref I had a little sway on what the DJ played, very little, but this one always made it).

My oldest daughter played this as their wedding recessional song after they were pronounced husband and wife. And it was a perfect day, outdoor wedding at dusk, clear blue sky, no wind or breeze, 50ish temp (it as late December).