Rock On... Discerning Genuine Love

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, or Single Awareness Day for some people, and it's always an interesting time of year. Couples either strengthen, or they crash and burn. Two people may commit themselves to marriage, or one (or both) may tell the other to get mentally committed. Whichever way the pointer swings, one thing is for sure: relationships make or break based on love. But what is love? It's a question asked for millennia, from philosophers to novelists to contemporary musicians. It's an even bigger kettle of fish when people mistake "love", or infatuation, for love. Almost everyone wants to be in a fulfilling, lifelong relationship, and the only way to achieve that is for both people to accept each other unconditionally as possible. But how do you know if a relationship is true or not? Below, I give you my six points defining what love is and isn't. Please use these tidbits to better yourself, your significant other, or anyone else who wants to know if your/their relationship is built upon a steady rock or shifting sand. Godspeed.

Valentine's Day Playlists Inspired by the 1980s

I'll say it once, and I'll say several times over on this blog. I love the music of the 1980s. I grew up on the music from the 1980s. And I wholeheartedly believe there has never been a more revolutionary decade in the way we see and hear music today. Part of that reason is the pure raw emotion you can hear from those vocalists, putting their heart and soul into their records – something that is profoundly missing from contemporary musicians of the 21st century. There is no other holiday celebrating a wide array of emotions like Valentine's Day, or Single's Awareness Day as some put it. Whether you're celebrating love, suffering from heartache, or holding out hope for that special someone, there's a vast number of songs to fit your mood. As a 1980s music connoisseur, I give you my personal 11-track playlists for the secure, for the scorned, and for the seekers to commemorate February 14. Enjoy.


For the Secure
*"The Way You Make Me Feel" by Michael Jackson, Bad
*"Hypnotize Me" by Wang Chung, Mosaic
*"Girl You Know It's True" by Milli Vanilli, Girl You Know It's True
*"Crazy for You" by Madonna, Vision Quest (soundtrack)
*"Together Forever" by Rick Astley, Whenever You Need Somebody
*"Keep On Loving You" by REO Speedwagon, Hi Infidelity
*"Shake You Down" by Gregory Abbott, Shake You Down
*"Hands to Heaven" by Breathe, All That Jazz
*"Endless Love" by Lionel Riche & Diana Ross, Endless Love (soundtrack)
*"Right Here Waiting" by Richard Marx, Repeat Offender
*"Faithfully" by Journey, Frontiers


For the Sullen
*"Love Stinks" by The J. Geils Band, Love Stinks
*"Shattered Dreams" by Johnny Hates Jazz, Turn Back the Clock
*"Everything She Wants" by Wham!, Make It Big
*"Wot's It to Ya" by Robbie Nevil, Robbie Nevil
*"Don't Wanna Fall in Love" by Jane Child, Jane Child
*"If You Leave" by OMD, Pretty In Pink (soundtrack)
*"You Keep Me Hangin' On" by Kim Wilde, Another Step
*"Tainted Love" by Soft Cell, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
*"What Have You Done For Me Lately" by Janet Jackson, Control
*"Heaven Help Me" by Deon Estus, Spell
*"Missing You" by John Waite, No Brakes


For the Seekers
*"Lost In Love" by Air Supply, Lost In Love
*"Addicted To Love" by Robert Palmer, Riptide
*"The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis & the News, Back to the Future (soundtrack)
*"Everlasting Love" by Howard Jones, Cross That Line
*"I Want to Know What Love Is" by Foreigner, Agent Provocateur
*"One More Try" by George Michael, Faith
*"Looking For a New Love" by Jody Watley, Jody Watley
*"Someday" by Glass Tiger, The Thin Red Line
*"What About Love" by Heart, Heart
*"Love Changes (Everything)" by Climie Fisher, Everything
*"When I'm Back On My Feet Again" by Michael Bolton, Soul Provider

Rock On... Contemporary Relationships

With about 3 1/2 weeks to go until Valentine's Day, it comes that time in the year where I reflect on the importance of intimacy and the lessons I’ve learned about women from my past relationships... until I realize that I've had none (so far).

Zero. Zilch. Nada.

What few encounters I've had were DOA, either because the girl of my interest already had a boyfriend (and kept it incognito) or thought I was too much of a friend to be taken seriously.

Swing and a miss, every time. As a result, my lifetime batting average with the opposite sex is 0.000. Even Mario Mendoza thinks I've got no game.

But before you write me off as yet another male spurned by the nuances of females taking to the Internet to blow off some steam, allow me to share with y'all the method behind my madness.

In the time I have spent musing on my singleness and observing countless couples dating around my age and older, I've noticed one common thread amongst the majority that weave the fabric of contemporary relationships: they don't know what they want from each other.

You heard me right. People fall in love for all the wrong reasons nowadays and pervert the right ones, to boot. And here's the way I see it.