Since a bunch of people did play along with the "guess the song from the first line" game yesterday, I should give the full answer key:
1. "My shoes went out with a pair of red hot high heels last night" --
My Shoes, the Bobs [One of those fun, catchy, weird songs that the Bobs are so good at.]
2. "Tonight's the night we'll make history, as sure as dogs can fly" --
AD 1928/Paradise Theater, Styx 3. "Who are you" --
Who Are You, the Who [The gimmiest of the gimmies: arguably ambiguous, but the obvious answer was correct in this case.]
4. "Now I dialed 911 a long time ago" --
911 is a Joke, Duran Duran [
jadasc got the song, but as it happens my iTunes was weirdly stuck on Duran Duran yesterday, so it was their version.]
5. "Captain's on a holiday, first mate has gone away" --
Mr. W, Ookla the Mok [The song I think of as the "Mister Worf rap".
ladysprite was the only person to get this, as I'd figured she would be: she's the one who originally turned me on to Ookla, the world's best SF-geek rock band.]
6. "Don't let's start, this is the worst part" --
Don't Let's Start, TMBG7. "Movin' on the floor now babe, you're a bird of paradise" --
Rio, Duran Duran 8. "Put down your remote control, throw out your TV Guide" --
UHF, Weird Al [A favorite of mine: while I'm fond of much of Weird Al's music, his original stuff is often my preference.]
9. "Six o'clock in the morning, I feel pretty good" --
Cathedral, CSN [Caught by
oakleaf_mirror. This is one of my really old favorites, a song I still find particularly haunting.]
10. "How's everybody doing tonight -- you, you, and you (way in the back)?" --
Kooza Dance, Cirque du Soleil [A bit obscure simply because it's so new, but
keshwyn caught it. This is the beginning of Act II, the big Las Vegas Day of the Dead number.]
11. "Any dolt with half a brain can see that humankind has gone insane" --
My Eyes, Dr. Horrible [Lots of people got this one, which is pretty much what I would have expected from my flist.]
12. "Ecce gratum et optatum ver reducit gaudia" --
Ecce Gratum (club version), Qntal [
shalmestere made the entirely reasonable guess that this was from the
Carmina Burana, but in fact it is a brilliant piece of electronic club music from the album
Illuminate. I blow hot and cold on Qntal, but this one is fabulous.]
13. "I'd drive a million miles to be with you tonight" --
Everybody Have Fun Tonight, Wang Chung [The song whose epilepsy-risking video exemplified 80s MTV.]
14. "At first I was afraid, I was petrified, kept thinking I could never live without you by my side" --
I Will Survive, Gloria Gaynor [I hadn't even realized until the discussion on this one that it was a cover, and there are several versions of it. A couple of people were surprised to find disco on the list, but
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a favorite movie of mine, and much of the soundtrack is in my "Better" playlist.]
15. "I'm never relaxed, even when I say I am" --
Hell Above Water, Curve [Perhaps not surprisingly, the heavy metal parts of the playlist were the bits that nobody guessed. Of course, this may have to do with the fact that the lyrics are almost incomprehensible: I had to double-check this one online to decipher the line.]
16. "Sometimes I feel I've got to (BAMP BAMP) run away" --
Tainted Love, Soft Cell [Now with annotation from
new_man.]
17. "Shake, shake, shake, signora, shake your body line" --
Jump in the Line, Da Vinci's Notebook [Lots of people knew the song, but
asdr83 gets the extra point for correctly guessing that I'd have the DVN cover on my playlist.]
18. "Well, come on darlin', the stars are burnin' bright" --
The King and Queen of America, Eurythmics [I will admit surprise that nobody guessed this one: I consider it a classic, but I'm a big Eurythmics fan.]
19. "The Breakfast Creek hotel is up for sale" --
Dream World, Midnight Oil20. "When they all come crashing down, midflight" --
The Only One, Evanescence [See previous comment about heavy metal.]
Putting that all together, it's a pretty good encapsulation of my musical tastes: a deeply mixed bag of geekiness, metal, 80s and 90s classics, some humor and some angst, all tied together by a strong beat...