Gettin' jiggy with memories of parachute pants and my crush on Lisa Loeb.

You take the good with the bad when it comes to VH1. And this week features two separate, music-based programs (shocking for a music channel ... I know!) with enough nostalgia-based substance to be considered more than a brain melting time-waster of the "I Love New York" variety.

Starting tonight at 9 p.m., VH1 is counting down the 100 Greatest Songs of the '90s. Judging by previous lists the channel has run, the appropriate title would be Most Incessantly Played, Commercially Approved, Annoyingly Redundant Songs of (fill-in-the decade), but that's just a minor quibble from yours truly. The show airs in five installments starting tonight with songs 100-81. You can spoil your fun and read the full list if you'd like -- though we'll only reveal here than the No. 1 song is by one of the following 10 artists who made the tally: Backstreet Boys, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Nirvana, Hootie and the Blowfish, MC Hammer, TLC, Hanson, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ricky Martin or U2.

Not like it matters. I mean, where else are you going to find a list that features Radiohead sandwiched between 'N Sync and freakin' Blackstreet of "No Diggity" fame? Weezer between Bell Biv Devoe and Sophie B. Hawkins? And c'mon, Coolio and Ace of Base totally got robbed! Regardless, VH1 is hardly an authority on music-related matters -- even for something this arbitrary -- but I think we can all agree that it's in our best interest to see that "Informer" by Snow lands on the highest possible ground.

For more serious music enthusiasts, premium cable's VH1 Classic rolls out its own weeklong series, "Seven Ages of Rock," tonight at 8 p.m. The seven-parter, narrated by Dennis Hopper, is meant to provide a fresher look at several eras of rock, starting tonight in the '60s with the likes of Cream, The Who and the Rolling Stones. Subsequent episodes deal with art-rock (Bowie, Velvet Underground), punk (Sex Pistols, The Clash), metal (Judas Priest, Black Sabbath), stadium rock (Queen, Springsteen), American alternative (Sonic Youth, R.E.M.), and British indie (the Smiths, Stone Roses.) Sadly, Snow will not be featured in any of these segments.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to wistfully listen to "Stay" while thinking of Lisa Loeb and her cat-eye glasses ...

-- Thomas Rozwadowski, trozwado@greenbaypressgazette.com