Category: 1990s

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My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1990

Every 2ND, 3RD, and 4TH Friday of the month I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 20, or 30 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 4TH Friday of the month, so I go back 30 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday August 26TH 1990:

  1. “(I Can’t Live Without Your) Love And Affection” – Nelson
  2. “Unskinny Bop” – Poison
  3. “Can’t Stop Falling Into Love” – Cheap Trick
  4. “Epic” – Faith No More
  5. “My Kinda Girl” – Babyface

What an amazing Top 5 chart. I consider all 5 of those songs to be 5 of the greatest songs of my 53-year lifetime. They (among others) made-up the soundtrack of the greatest summer that ever existed for me prior to salvation in 2006.

My chart flipped that summer from Top 40 to Rock 40. You may remember Rock 40 as a late-’80s / early-’90s hybrid format of mainstream pop music and hard rock music – with a heavy concentration of the rock hits that crossed-over onto the pop chart. It was an awesome sound. Of course even during my Rock 40 chart era there were R & B, Hip Hop, and Dance hits sprinkled-in. That Babyface song was poppin’ back then !

I was a young and wild 23-year-old USAF SGT (E-4) back then living and working here in Homestead Florida – where I remain today. If this 53-year-old could go back in time and talk to that 23-year-old – first-of-all the conversation would be crazy. We would have a long talk. I would ultimately tell 23-year-old me to enjoy that great season while it lasts, for it will eventually end, and no other season will ever come close to it. As great as that season was – you will mourn parts of it. 16 summers from now you will have a supernatural experience that will change your life forever – and save it from certain death.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with 2 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going RETRO with me !

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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1990s Bible Career Christian Driving God Life Military Ministry Music Radio Scripture Travel Weather

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1990

Every 2ND, 3RD, and 4TH Friday of the month I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 20, or 30 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 4TH Friday of the month, so I go back 30 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday July 22ND 1990:

  1. “Don’t Go Away Mad … Just Go Away” – Motley Crue
  2. “The Cradle Of Love” – Billy Idol
  3. “Possession” – Bad English
  4. “She Ain’t Worth It” – Glenn Medeiros With Bobby Brown
  5. “King Of Wishful Thinking” – Go West

30 years ago this past week I completed a 2-week TDY. In military lingo a TDY is a temporary duty assignment that’s physically located somewhere away from your home station – usually for the purpose of training or deployment. I spent 2 weeks at Tyndall AFB near Panama City Florida. It was the wildest and craziest 2 weeks of the active duty portion of my military career.

I arrived on Saturday July 07TH 1990. 2 weeks / 10 days of training (related to my job) began on Monday July 09TH 1990 and ended on Friday July 20TH 1990. I returned home on Saturday July 21ST 1990. I drove a total of 1,687 miles from start to finish in my red 1989 Geo Spectrum. (Even back then I kept track of road-trip mileage.)

Me and one of my classmates (same age) discovered and explored (for the first time) Panama City Beach during the weekend break. We partied hard like it was 1990 and we were 23 years young. We hit up Spinnaker and Club La Vela. They were the hottest nightclubs on the beach for many years – located right next to each other. We went there both days / nights that weekend.

It was a rockin’ and rowdy weekend that I looked back at fondly for many years – until salvation began 16 summers later in 2006. That’s when I stopped celebrating it. That’s when I started repenting it.

But that wasn’t enough. I returned to Panama City Beach for 2 days and 2 nights leading up to Christmas Eve in 2010. The beach was cold and deserted. I was bundled up. I was back at the scene of the crimes. I walked the beach alone. I admired God’s beauty. I repented of my sins and I asked for forgiveness as I paced back-and-forth. I listened for God’s voice. Once I departed the beach on the morning of Christmas Eve I felt that I had finally closed that chapter of my life.

Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and He will again send you Jesus – your appointed Messiah. For He must remain in Heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through His holy prophets. (Acts 3:19-21 NLT)

I observe that weekend in July of 1990, but I don’t celebrate it anymore. I thank God for rescuing and saving me from destruction some 16 years later. That’s what I celebrate nowadays – especially each summertime. Next month I’ll celebrate 14 years of salvation. 

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with 2 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going RETRO with me !

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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1990s Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1990

Every 2ND, 3RD, and 4TH Friday of the month I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 20, or 30 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 4TH Friday of the month, so I go back 30 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday May 20TH 1990:

  1. “Room At The Top” – Adam Ant
  2. “The Price Of Love” – Bad English
  3. “Peace In Our Time” – Eddie Money
  4. “This Old Heart Of Mine” – Rod Stewart & Ronald Isley
  5. “Club At The End Of The Street” – Elton John

30 years ago – back when I had more spare time on my hands – I compiled and published a Top 40 hit music chart every week. As a special treat this week I present to you a list of the artists that appeared from chart positions 6 to 40 in alphabetical order:

Aaron Neville
Aerosmith
Alannah Myles
The B-52s
Babyface
Belinda Carlisle
Bell Biv Devoe
Billy Joel
Calloway
Deborah Harry
Don Henley
Expose
Gloria Estefan And The Miami Sound Machine
Heart
Jane Child
Linda Ronstadt
Luther Vandross
Madonna
Marcia Griffiths
M.C. Hammer
Michael Bolton
Motley Crue
Phil Collins
Poco
Richard Marx
Roxette
Sinead O’Connor
Sydney Youngblood
Taylor Dayne
Warrant
Wilson Phillips

WOW !  What a line-up. It’s a who’s who list of the biggest pop stars in the U.S.A. as the Summer of 1990 was just getting started. It’s what I was listening to in my dorm room, at the workplace, and on the road in my 1989 red Geo Spectrum.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday with 3 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going RETRO with me !

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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1990s Career Computers Home Military Travel

My Last 2 Years On Active Duty Air Force

National Military Appreciation Month continues on this 3RD Thursday of the month with my own appreciation of my 35-year career with the United States Air Force. It’s no secret that I’m currently in the greatest 13-year era of my career. It started at the end of July of 2007, and it continues to this day. But there’s a runner-up to this great era, and that’s January 1991 to February 1993.

I was sent to war (Operation Desert Shield / Storm) as 1991 began. I didn’t volunteer for it. I’m actually quite antiwar. I was sent as punishment by my supervisors at the time. They didn’t like me, and they made life miserable for me. I threatened to report them for harassment. Before I could take action on that they sent me away to Saudi Arabia.

As it turns out my deployment overseas into the war zone turned out to be the turning point of my career back then. I was scared over there due to an uncertain future, but I also made new friends with fellow airmen from other bases, and I matured quite a bit in “Tent City” in the desert. I flopped at building fuel tanks, but I exceled at building bombs.

When I returned home to Homestead AFB after the war I was immediately sent home to my family near Washington D.C. for up to 30 days of uncharged “rest and recuperation” leave. When I returned to the base I met my brand new supervisor. You see my previous supervisor, and a few others as well – were relieved of their duties and sent away while I was away. I wasn’t informed of the specifics, but the outcome was great. There was even a reorganization of our squadron and flight structure. We even moved to a different building down towards the other end of the airfield. It continued the peak of my career at that time that started at wartime.

And then Hurricane Andrew destroyed the base. I became a “refugee” at Andrews AFB Maryland. I picked that base because it was my hometown base at the time – closest to my family. I really liked my supervisor and coworkers at my new base. They treated me nice. They respected me. I respected them. I informed them quite early on that I would not be reenlisting for a 3RD 4-year term in early-1993, so they had me for about 6 months to do what they wanted with me. They had me teach them everything I knew about the computer system and database that we managed and utilized in my career field at that time. They were so impressed that they had me teach the rest of the base as well. I was essentially a teacher for my 6 months there. They gave me a bunch of awards for my work during my short stay there – the most prominent of which hangs on my wall just above my computer workstation here.

My last duty day was the same day that the World Trade Center in New York City was bombed the first time around (Friday February 26TH 1993). We found out about the bombing via overhead TV sets at Pizza Hut where we had my farewell luncheon. I went on “terminal leave” for a month after that, and at the end of March I was officially out of the Air Force after nearly 8 years, or so I thought …

gray plane inside hangar
Photo by Kelly Lacy on Pexels.com

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries