In Memoriam: Chris Stufflestreet

Before diving into the top 100, I have something much more important to write about.  On September 19th of last year, the music and baseball card blogging communities lost one of their finest contributors, as Chris Stufflestreet passed away at the age of 39.  I should have acknowledged his death on the 1985 blog, but I was a little slow in getting the news.

Chris was the author of four terrific blogs.  Among them were two decade-themed music blogs, 80s Music Mayhem and 70s Music Mayhem.  He also wrote two baseball card-themed blogs (another favorite hobby of mine), 1973 Topps Photography and Vintage Sports Cards.

Chris was one of the greatest early supporters of my 1985 music videos blog.  As I was just starting out and trying to build an audience, he was the first person to post feedback and did so regularly.  I was always excited to get a comment from him when I would post about videos, as he would share his personal recollections and feelings.  His encouragement was a major factor in my enthusiasm to keep the blog going.

He also inspired me to be a better and more accurate writer.  In his first-ever comment on my blog, he responsed to my assertion that Katrina & The Waves was a one-hit wonder by correctly pointing out that the band actually had two other top 40 hits, one that peaked all the way up at #37.  I loved that he would dive deep into the charts to profile minor songs and give them respect.  He would also diplomatically correct me when I screwed up on reporting where a song ranked on the charts.

Since Chris scheduled blog posts for the future, his writings continued to appear after his death. 
It is fitting that his final blog post on 80s Music Mayhem turned out to be Jimmy Buffett's "Juicy Fruit", a novelty song that peaked at #45 in 1983.  The lyrics include: "Chew a little juicy fruit....it's good for the soul". 

Similarly, Chris's passionate and knowledgeable writing style was also good for the soul.  Rest in peace, sir.