Random Shuffle - Frank Sinatra, John Mellencamp, Eric Clapton, and Wilco

“Love and Marriage” - Frank Sinatra
From Sinatra Reprise: The Very Good Years
Download the MP3

Am I the only one who thinks of the old TV show Married...With Children, when I hear this song? That show, trashy as it was, became my introduction to Sinatra. I suspect I'm not the only one who found old blue eyes through it. For that alone, you've got to give it some props.

I'm old enough to remember how Fox went from being a small, almost independent television station to being one of the largest networks around. They started as a weekend network running on Saturday and Sunday nights on my local station KOKI channel 23 in Oklahoma. Me and my brother loved both the New Adventures of Beans Baxter and the scandalous Women in Prison. Then there was the Tracy Ullman show (birthing the hugely successful Simpsons cartoon) and Married...With Children. Mom never let us watch that one what with the bad moral values, ugly language, and all the sex jokes. Me and my brother though would often sneak off into the bedroom and watch it.

I knew it was a rather dumb show even back then, but there was a certain dumb charm to it, and it starred Christina Applegate in a selection of tight, tiny skirts and that was more then enough to keep me watching each week. It was kind of thrilling to slip into the bedroom and turn on the Bundy's while mom was oblivious in the living room. Seems pretty tame now, and I suppose it is, but at the time it was illicit and exciting.

“R.O.C.K. in the USA” - John Mellencamp
From Scarecrow
Download the MP3

For a time I lived in Montgomery Alabama. That's nearly 800 miles from where I grew up in Oklahoma and that makes for a very long drive. I'd usually make it home about twice a year, once for Christmas and usually another time during the summer. I always made it in a day, and prided myself on best times. Once I made the trip making only one stop – just outside Memphis where I got gas, took a long leak, and bought some chicken from the gas station attendant. It took me a few years to realize that extending the trip just a little bit with rest stops every couple of hours actually made the trips seem shorter. The follies of youth I guess.

Article Author: Mat Brewster

Mat Brewster is a periodic ex-pat wondering if he'll ever find a home. You can find him musing on pop culture, and obsessing over concert bootlegs at The Midnight Cafe.

Visit Mat Brewster's author page — Mat Brewster's Blog