Top 40 at 40: An evolving list of rules for the 40@40

Since I'm here, and since I actually found the neon yellow notecards I've started dashing my list out on, let's go over the rules.
The 40 songs must have been recorded/released at some point during 1977-2017.
I am going to break the 40 songs into the 4 decades.

The factors (to be weighted in annoyingly varying and internally inconsistent manners) that go into selecting a song include:

1) Historical importance/affection for the song*
This one is easy. A big part of this is nostalgia, and so reflecting my "original" love for the songs matters. BUT, this can't be the only factor, and it can't always count the same every time---otherwise "Walking Like an Egyptian" would make the cut, and SPOILER ALERT, it doesn't.
I say historical importance for the "song*" because it could also be read as "song/band/event" depending on WHY I feel compelled to weigh this factor more heavily.

2) Current attitude/enthusiasm for the song
This is an interesting one.
When I am picking among my "classics" -- New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode -- how do I choose the right songs?
The ones that I've loved the longest or the strongest, or the ones that I love the most, RIGHT NOW?
This will also be an important factor for the last decade----which SPOILER ALERT, will look/sound different from the first 3.
(Reflecting the fact that we consume music differently, that trends/genres are meaningless and, oh yeah, I'm old and lazy and don't "discover" bands anymore, so I'm stuck with the stuff I've heard).

3) Appropriateness of the song for the function (party/public consumption)
I want people to come to the party, and I want them to have a good time.
This means that no matter how important "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Angel" (by Eurythmics) were to my survival of Middle School, they SPOILER ALERT aren't making the cut.
This means that for artists like Everything But The Girl, even if factors 1 and 2 lead me to "The Heart Remains A Child" or "Walking to You" I am still going to end up picking "Missing" or "Wrong" or "Lullaby of Clubland"
--- unless things go CRAZY SOUTH over the next year and I say "screw it, we'll all be sad together!" ---
--- in which case, I'll at least probably save on the bar tab, because who is going to stick around for THAT? ---

4) We are servants of time, true, but we aren't exactly model slaves
There is tension in the structure of this construct.
Just on my slapdash notecards, I can already tell that 97-06 (my Twenties!!!)*** will be the hardest to pick just 10 from.
So, I may develop exceptions to the rule and factors (all reasonable, of course) to allow me, to say, sneak an older song later, or vice versa.
It can't be a free for all, because, some of the fun/interest is the tension/problem of winnowing it down.
This means I'm still stuck filling out a "Thirties" list----so if I have to take a lesser PSB song from a recent album and sacrifice something from a more critically successful period, then so be it. Every song will have some sort of story/explanation---especially the close calls and the rule benders.

Okay, I think that's enough on the RULES for now. More to follow and much to change around them all.
F
***I've been thinking about this as strictly dates (77-86, etc.) until the moment of that "***" when I made the connection to my life. That "my Twenties" exclamation was a real-time realization of how the time frames also match up to my own decades. (Likely obvious for everyone else, but hey, YOU AREN'T THE ONE WRITIG THIS, so BACK OFF!)

TOP 40 at 40. An experiment. A life. (Too much?)

I've got an idea. It must be a good one because I keep coming back to it.
You know I'm serious about it because I've started writing things down.
I'm going to throw a dance party for my 40th birthday.
That dance party will feature my top 40 songs from my first 40 years.
There will be challenges:

-->WHERE to have it?
---->WHO will come to Ohio?
-------->HOW do I pick just 1 Kasabian song?
----------->WHAT do I do about the last 10 years of music, a veritable desert when compared with the first 30 years?

I'll come up with solutions to these all, and probably tell a few stores along the way.

Here we go.

F