My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1999

Every Friday night I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 10, 20, or 30 years ago this weekend (rotating each week). Here it is – for the week ending Sunday May 16TH 1999:

“The Hardest Thing” – 98°
“I Want It That Way” – The Backstreet Boys
“Livin’ La Vida Loca” – Ricky Martin
“Special” – Garbage
“That Don’t Impress Me Much” – Shania Twain

Good solid pop music back then – with Garbage being the anomaly.

I like to do this from time to time. Looking back at my checkbook register is a lot of fun. Back then I wrote a whole lot more checks than I do today. (The only checks I typically write today are my weekly tithes to my church.)

So 20 years ago this week I got paid. I got paid today too. My net pay back then was about 58.6% of what it was today. That’s good progress.

My telephone bill for a month of service 20 years ago was $52.85. Last weekend I paid $78.99. You may be thinking, “Why do you even have a telephone bill ? It’s 2019 !” There are many logical reasons why I still have an “old-school” land-line telephone. I get very few telemarketing calls on my cell phone – because I rarely give out my cell phone number. I give out my longtime land-line number instead. The telemarketers call that number. I also live deep in the heart of hurricane country. During bad storms cell phone towers lose power, get damaged, or topple over. Most of our standard telephone lines are underground and operate continuously during and after hurricanes.

I paid my Chevron bill during this week 20 years ago. Gas was cheap back then – about $1.25 per gallon. It’s more than twice that amount today, but I’m not complaining about $2.70 per gallon. I remember when it was approaching $5 per gallon. I’m planning a road-trip in about 4 months from South Florida to North Texas and back. That’s about 3,000 miles. At $2.70 per gallon and about 42 miles per gallon with my car that’s a little less than $200 in gas. I got this !

You know 1999 was not that good of a year for me – privately and professionally. It was a rather forgettable year, or I’ve just chosen to forget about that year over time. The music of yesteryear brings back those memories – good and bad. As Shania said, “That Don’t Impress Me Much”. I feel the same about 1999.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday afternoon and Monday night with two more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Go make some good memories that you’ll cherish for years to come.