It’s 1988 in Da Fief
I’m having coffee dejà vu. I’m drinking Rwanda Coffee of Hope from Second Cup and it tastes like 1988. Seriously, if I close my eyes and sip, I’m a freshman at York sitting in a drafty theatre watching Jennifer take her top off in Performance for the third time this semester to “get into character.” Being a theatre major was like being in the movie Fame: the tears, the late nights, the mean profs, the tights (guys too, it was the rule that you had to wear tights to performance class. Most guys--including Fresh-- had a story about their fathers questioning their masculinity upon finding said tights. Now that I think about it, I don’t remember anyone in theatre being gay. Well, okay Sky Gilbert, but he was about 5 years ahead of me. I was about to say Keith Cole too, but I think he was actually in film, although he was on my dorm floor in 1st year.)

I looked up the top songs from 1988 and whoa, THAT was a real flashback. I listened to the radio a lot back then (I got a car that April). I mean, just LOOK at this. Can’t you just picture what you were wearing? I was really big into animal prints at the time. I had a fake snake skirt and a bunch of zebra accessories. And a sort of mullet-like haircut. In a kind of garnet colour. What did Fresh see in me? Well, he had slicked back hair and a Don Johnson suit, so maybe we were made for each other.

Ear worms, for you. Enjoy:

1. "Need You Tonight," INXS
2. "Look Away," Chicago
3. "Roll With It," Steve Winwood
4. "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," Poison
5. "Got My Mind Set On You," George Harrison
6. "So Emotional," Whitney Houston
7. "Seasons Change," Expose
8. "Baby I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley," Will to Power
9. "Could've Been," Tiffany
10. "Never Gonna Give You Up," Rick Astley
11. "Sweet Child Of Mine," Guns 'n' Roses
12. "Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car," Billy Ocean
13. "The Flame," Cheap Trick
14."Giving You The Best That I Got," Anita Baker
15. "Waiting For A Star To Fall," Boy Meets Girl
16. "Hands To Heaven," Breathe
17. "How Can I Fall?" Breathe
18. "Anything For You," Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine
19. "Wishing Well," Terence Trent D'Arby
20. "Hungry Eyes," Eric Carmen
21. "Wild, Wild West," Escape Club
22. "Hold On To The Nights," Richard Marx
23. "Man In The Mirror," Michael Jackson
24. "Love Bites," Def Leppard
25. "Where Do Broken Hearts Go," Whitney Houston
26. "One More Try," George Michael
27. "Groovy Kind Of Love," Phil Collins
28. "Father Figure," George Michael
29. "Bad Medicine," Bon Jovi
30. "Don't Worry Be Happy," Bobby McFerrin
31. "Devil Inside," INXS
32. "Pour Some Sugar On Me," Def Leppard
33. "Simply Irresistible," Robert Palmer
34. "Hazy Shade Of Winter," Bangles
35. "I'll Always Love You," Taylor Dayne
36. "Endless Summer Nights," Richard Marx
37. "Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)," Samantha Fox
38. "Angel," Aerosmith
39. "The Way You Make Me Feel," Michael Jackson
40. "Foolish Beat," Debbie Gibson
41. "Tell It To My Heart," Taylor Dayne
42. "Red Red Wine," UB40
43. "Together Forever," Rick Astley
44. "Kokomo," Beach Boys
45. "Monkey," George Michael
46. "Shattered Dreams," Johnny Hates Jazz
47. "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That," Elton John
48. "Make Me Lose Control," Eric Carmen
49. "She's Like The Wind," Patrick Swayze & Wendy Fraser
50. "Make It Real," The Jets
51. "The Loco-Motion," Kylie Minogue