Where's my umbrella? Gonna shoot that static down the drain. Gonna put that static out of my brain. Gonna put up my antennae. FREE!
Ah, the B-52's. Still quite possibly one of the best bands of all time for many reasons. That lyric was from their brilliant song "Channel Z" (find it here) which provides me with a general stimulus for this here blog entry. Yes this one, the one you are reading now!
Basically I've always been one of those little whiny kids who desperately wishes they lived in the pop cultural epicentre of another decade or time. I guess I think more about living in the 60's-70's-80's rather than a medieval period...I still think about that too but for the purpose of this entry (yes this one!) let's stick with the fact I wish I was a kid in the 60's, teenager in the 70's and young adult in the 80s. Or even a teenager in the 80's and a kid in the 70's...either would be good.
Many reasons why I wish this...I guess I feel as though I would fit in better. My tastes in clothing and musically sometimes looked harshly upon and constantly labelled "weird" or worse "crap". That is of course until the recyclable nature of all things retro thrusts a random interest into the laps of hipsters. Like a song that a lot of kids would mostly disregard suddenly gets played in a sewper kewl indie movie of sorts and suddenly they've "always loved it. Duh". Even when those things are cool again - I'm still not cool for liking them to begin with.
I guess it's just how I was brought up. My mother raised me with records and cassettes because I think she herself was stuck in a bit of a time warp. So The Smiths, New Order/Joy Division, Echo & The Bunnymen and The Cure all came completely naturally to me when I was five and realised there was more to music than the sailor who went to sea sea sea. I've always loved them (always) so you could possibly imagine how much it shits me that a lot of people know Joy Division because of a dumbass "Wombats" song and try to say they've always loved them, duh.
I also grew up, as all children should, watching those ever so important John Hughes films. I have absolutely no shame in admitting I love every single one of his better films (and by this I omit the Beethoven series) and oftentimes mouth every line of the Breakfast Club/Sixteen Candles/Weird Science/Ferris Bueller's Day Off/Pretty in Pink just to see if I can - and yes, I can. I honestly would credit so much of my growing up to the amazing John Hughes and I often wonder how teenagers can come of age with out him. My answer would be that they don't. Not very well anyway. Society these days is like a crap poison that tastes like shit and doesn't kill you quickly enough for anyone to realise that's the poison.
Movies are terrible and not even in a kitsch way. Peace and love is for hippies and hipsters. Supre dominates the fashion industry. Kids only listen to decent music when it's shoved into their faces in a typical hipster manner.
Of course it would be pretentious of myself to think I'm the only person my age with such interests. Of course I have friends (the cooler ones anyway :P) who find such movies and music and fashion tolerable and even enjoyable! When I find a John Hughes fan I can't help but hug them.
Where am I really going with this?
I wish I could say back in my day, things were better. Unfortunately my day is much the same as your day. I can't bring myself to enjoy it because it's just not the same. I want to be Molly Ringwald. I want to be a character in a John Hughes film. I want the same records as Ira Newborn. I want more than I can bare.
I want to like these things in the time it was all happening - in a time where it was all appreciated for what it was and not some hipster-thing.
I don't want to be an eighties kid for the hyped up shit. The glorified retro trash. I want a bit better than that. And what do I have to say about that?
Where's my umbrella? Gonna shoot that static down the drain. Gonna put that static out of my brain. Gonna put up my antennae. FREE!
