I prefer Mandy Moore's version of "Senses Working Overtime" to XTC's.

Heh. And I prefer Mandy Moore's version of "God Only Knows" to the Beach Boys'. t /heretic

More Perfect Pop: "Mendocino" by the Sir Douglas Quintet.

This song reminds me of our 2003 California vacation, where Susan finally had an In-N-Out burger and we both first visited the Bay Area and drove up the NoCal coast.

High school (1985-1989): lotsa showtunes, actually -- particularly Brigadoon, the soundtrack to Beaches, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables; Violent Femmes for driving around after getting my license, the Rave-Ups, Nik Kershaw, lots and lots of Sting, Prince (mostly Purple Rain), everything INXS ever recorded, Simple Minds, U2, the Beatles, Talking Heads, and a lotta jazz....man, this is serious PTSD here.

College (1989-1993): Milli Vanilli (shut up), TMBG (specifically Flood), REM....man, if WOXY played it, we listened to it; Sinead O'Connor, Squeeze, Stone Roses, Cocteau Twins, Elvis Costello in every possible permutation, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Jane's Addiction, the Cure, 10,000 Maniacs, for some reason the Grateful Dead, Harry Connick Jr., Lyle Lovett, Lou Reed, Peter Murphy, Laurie Anderson, Kate Bush, Midnight Oil, Robyn Hitchcock, the Housemartins, Paul Simon, the Sundays, Cowboy Junkies....

You know, I had a much much broader musical palette 15 years ago than I do now. That's sad.

Wow, crazy Mandy Moore love.

Oh well, I prefer The Records cover of "Darling."

Beach Boys songs that make me singalong: "Farmer's Daughter" (again, there's a great cover by Double Date which was Peter Holsapple, Susan Cowsill and Vicki Peterson from the Bangles); "Let Him Run Wild" (which we've discussed here before); "Don't Worry Baby," and "Hang On To Your Ego." (aka, "I Know There's An Answer").

Favorite Archies Song: "Jingle Jangle" - pure pop bliss. Toni Wine's best vocal.

Favorite Abba: "Dancing Queen" - probably for the association of it with Gary and Dancer!Nicole's wedding. "Knowing Me Knowing You" might be their best song though. "Waterloo" gets me bouncy.

Favorite Beatles Pop: "And Your Bird Can Sing," "It Won't Be Long," "8 Days A Week," "Daytripper."

Motown Pop: "My Girl," "Hitch Hike" - Marvin Gaye; "You Can't Hurry Love."

New Wave Days: "Is She Really Going Out With Him" - Joe Jackson, (also "I'm the Man" by Joe), "I Love The Sound of Breaking Glass" - Nick Lowe, "I've Got Your Number (Written On The Back Of My Hand)" - The Jags, "Whole Wide World" - Wreckless Eric, "Another Girl Another Planet" - The Only Ones, "This Town" - The GoGos.

Power Pop: "Survival Car" - Fountains of Wayne; "Baby's Coming Back" - Jellyfish"; "Surrender" - Cheap Trick; "Beach State Rocking" - Game Theory; "Bittersweet" - Hoodoo Gurus; "There She Goes" - The Las...and so many more.

Jackson Pop: "Together Again" - Janet; "I Want To Rock With You" - Michael.

Unlikely Pop: "Here Comes Your Man" - Pixies; "There She Goes" - Velvet Underground.

Perfect Beach Boys song -- "I Can Hear Music."

Perfect Beach Boys song -- "I Can Hear Music."

A Barry/Greenwich song too. One of the last things they wrote together, I think.

I made a Power Pop mix CD last year that had a lot of great stuff on it. I'll have to dig it out and see what's on there.

Right now I've been into goofy British pop, like Rachel Stevens, Amy Studt, Girls Aloud, and even the new Charlotte Church.

Wow. The college-aged music snob version of me would be so appalled!

Ah, this trip down amnesia lane made me wonder what's up with my college radio station, which went internet-only a year or two ago.

They're still going strong, and have a new streaming show: WOXY Vintage -- "Welcome to WOXY Vintage, the first new 24/7 streaming channel from WOXY.com dedicated to the history of Modern Rock, Alternative and Punk music. You'll hear nearly 30 years of adventurous, innovative and influential music from The Velvet Underground, The Clash, Talking Heads, The Smiths, Depeche Mode and much more. Consider it your Modern Rock primer."

Damn, I loved that station.

Ooh, that sounds great! A friend of mine at work listens to WOXY online almost every day. This one sounds like it's right up my alley.

I worked for my college station. I miss KWRS.