Wish I Knew What You Were Searching For

Originally posted 10/1/02

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First day of October. Hope everyone is doing well.

This week's selection was influenced by the ongoing discussion of "Top 10" from last week. As I mentioned, I usually do my list making by decade... so I flipped through some of my old lists, and came across a song I had planned on sending out at some point. I figured this would be a good time.

The following is my selection for the #1 Single of the '80s. Clearly this is my bias more than some other measures like popularity, influence or originality, but likely more of you will have heard this song than some of the past selections.

As you probably notice from many of my choices, it is the emotional response of a song that makes it mean something to me. I'm not a musician and could only be called musically inclined if I leaned on my stereo, but I think that pop/rock music is the popular poetry of our generation. Schmaltzy or surreal, insipid or inspired, pop rock is the common language for coming of age in the last half a century. Past generations may have quoted Shakespeare or Shelly, we have Pete Townsend and Bono and Tracey Thorn...

... or in this case, we have The Church.

"Under The Milky Way" was playing during some of my most pivotal moments. In the soundtrack of my life, the distinctive jangle of the guitar would reprise throughout, and then the whole song would play when the credits roll.

From the amazing album Starfish... this is "Under The Milky Way"