I have to admit, I usually write these posts in bulk and in advance, but here it is Sunday night and I’m still not quite ready. But I promised you a new music related post every Monday, so I’ll try to whip out something for you.

I’m sitting here watching VH-1 Classic, and Bon Jovi Unplugged is on. Bon Jovi hit it big when I was in 7th grade, and Slippery When Wet was the album to get. Everyone had it, and in a rare showing of letting us be like the popular kids, my stepmother actually got us that record for Christmas. My sister and I played it incessantly, even though we were probably a bit too young to understand a lot of it. Even my cool bus driver was in on it. She had a tape player and played Bon Jovi (among other stuff) on the bus in the afternoons. That was probably the only time I could tolerate riding the bus. I still have a bit of a soft spot for their stuff – they’re still making good music.

Madonna hit the scene when I was in 5th grade. That was the year that everyone had lace gloves, fingerless and with fingers, and armfuls of the plastic bangles, preferably black but we had the fluorescent colors too. Being in grade school still, we didn’t have the rest of her look down, but we were able to get away with the accessories. Like a Virgin was in heavy rotation on our record player, and this one was even more inappropriate for a 10 year old than the above mentioned album was for a 12 year old. But we loved it, and sang it all the time. Same thing for when True Blue came out. After that her stuff was a bit of hit or miss, so I’ll evaluate each song on an individual basis.

Hearing the earlier stuff from both these artists brings me back to a time when I didn’t have as many worries, laughed in the face of danger, and had fun no matter what, so even though this music is older, it still brings a smile to my face.