All Cried Out.

Alright, admit it. All you gay men older than a minute, you who were teens or later in the 80s, remember this song, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam's All Cried Out? Don't play dumb! You know you was right there, transfixed by the radio at night, sangin' the hell outta this song at some point. Every body had their urban contemporary slow jam hour back in the day. For Philadelphia, we had Power 99 FM's Quiet Storm Hour, airing about 9 o'clock.

Come on, admit it! Didja sing Lisa's lyrics or dude's part in the song? My cousin Rica and I usually would be over one or the others' house every night, doing our homework all late, listenin, doing more singing than completing our lessons. Rica and her brother, my cousin Stephan (blogged about him before) were my closest allies in high school, so we were pretty tight. I miss them so much some days (In case you forgot Steph died, and Rica decided to move to California. haven't seen her in years.)

Shoot. Are you like me? Do all those lyrics come rushing back whenever you hear 'em? They sure do pour moi. Remember all them sappy love melodies? Each one takes me on the Amtrak back to the the "Me Decade." Right on back to high school all over again. Yeah. Songs like Me'lissa Morgan's Do me Baby, Shirley Murdock's As We Lay, Dianne Reeves' Better Days, Gregory Abbott's Shake You Down, and who could forget The Force MD's Love Is A House? Damn. Takes me so back...

I'm not overly fond of today's music, although I do have some favored artists like Mary J., Mariah, Alicia, and Keyshia. But for me, most music today is trashy, tasteless, trite, sleazy, and skanky. It has no depth, no meaning. Just glorified porn in music form. Folks have lost their edge. The songs in the 80s, while not the best lyrically, were romantic, deep. Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just that much closer to 40 after all...

Ian's Inquiry: What song or songs take you back to those so-called "glorious" days of high school?