Between 1989, my sophomore year of high school, and 1995, my fourth year of college, I put together a nearly 20 volume collection of mix tapes, containing my favorite songs that I had gathered either from the radio, a cassette tape, or (eventually) CD. Three years ago, we looked back at all 20 volumes and which of my “favorite” songs I still listened to. Today, we revisit those mix tapes and see how things have changed in the last 3 years.
Volume 3 picks up in mid-summer 1990 and takes us through late 1990 and into my junior year of high school. Featuring another steady stream of hair metal, with small selections of pop, rap, R&B, and dance thrown in for good measure, volume 3 also overlaps with the start of my relationship with my first “real” girlfriend.
Side A
2 Live Crew – Banned In The USA
The protest anthem from 2 Live Crew, one of the few songs that I taped off of B96, increased slightly over the past 3 years.
2012 iTunes stats: 6 plays
2015 iTunes stats: 8 plays, most recently on 10/23/2014
Poison – Unskinny Bop
The first single from Flesh & Blood managed to double it’s plays since last time we did this check.
2012 iTunes stats: 4 plays
2015 iTunes stats: 8 plays, most recently on 6/21/2014
Poison – Nothin’ But A Good Time
Arguably Poison’s second biggest hit, despite my not having listened to it, at least the studio version, in nearly 4 years.
2012 iTunes stats: 6 plays
2015 iTunes stats: 6 plays, most recently on 5/14/2011
MC Hammer – Have You Seen Her
The strange rap ballad doubled up its number of plays over the past 3 years.
2012 iTunes stats: 2 plays
2015 iTunes stats: 4 plays, most recently on 8/13/2014
Cheap Trick – Can’t Stop Fallin’ Into Love
Cheap Trick’s hit, which turned into “our song” with my first girlfriend, had a healthy increase over the last few years.
2012 iTunes stats: 10 plays
2015 iTunes stats: 14 plays, most recently on 4/2/2015
Nelson – Love and Affection
Matthew and Gunnar’s big hit increased exponentially since 2012.
2012 iTunes stats: 1 play
2015 iTunes stats: 4 plays, most recently on 6/21/2014
Warrant – Cherry Pie
Thanks to prodding from The Adam Carolla Show, Warrant’s strip club anthem increased by 9 listens over the past 3 years.
2012 iTunes stats: 8 plays
2015 iTunes stats: 17 plays, most recently on 9/18/2014
Johnny Gill – Rub You The Right Way
A slight increase for the solo debut from the New Edition alumnus.
2012 iTunes stats: 7 plays
2015 iTunes stats: 10 plays, most recently on 4/24/2014
Side B
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3 years ago, we first counted down the then Top 100 songs in my iTunes library. Since that time, I’ve successfully managed to migrate my music collection to a new PC with the stats intact. So, I figured it was time to take another look, expanding out the field to the top 200 songs, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2016.