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16 Songs From My 16th Year: No Wait, Make That 11 Songs
Once again I fail as a typical teen
The first thing I need to point out is Pierce McIntyre and Paul Combs are old, old men. I am but a babe compared to them. They turned 16 in 1982. My sweet 16 was an entire year later.
I’m close enough that I adored every moment of their top 16 songs from the year they turn 16 stories. You can read Pierce’s here and Paul’s here. These are the songs of my youth. Surely I would rise to similar heights by examining the songs from my 16th only one year later.
I already did this story in fiction form. One of my favorite bits of my own writing imagined a teenager in 1983 and an alien monitoring her from space who communicate, sort of, via the tops of the charts songs from the year. You’ll find Making Mixtapes Might Send Mixed Messages in the vastly underrated excellent publication Fictions.
But I can’t resist this prompt. So I dove in only to quickly realize I listened to very little popular music in 1983 when it first came out. I only wanted to include songs in this list that actually resonated with me at age 16 and not later so there was no way I could honestly get up to a full 16.
Still, self-indulgent rambling about my lost youth mixed with music? Yes, please. I can’t resist.
