Ok, I would be remiss if I didn’t at least acknowledge the so-called “big news” of the day, that the evil pedophile has been exonerated. That said, before any of you begin defending the bleached-out psycho, let me first acknowledge that I will accept the fact that mommie dearest was definitely looking to get rich quick. BUT, that does not justify liquoring up little boys and playing doctor. No matter who you are. In my humble opinion, there were so many people doing wrong in this scenario, it is actually pretty hard to keep track. Bottom line though: that little boy and probably dozens and dozens of others are going to grow up to be completely fucked up adults, because they were molested by an “icon” and society refused to acknowledge it. That said, I will now use this topic to lead in to my REAL topic for today – music.
When I heard the verdict, I was almost inclined to incinerate my Thriller CD, just on principle. But then I realized that I could hate the man (or more realistically, pity the asshole for who he has become) but I still liked his music. You must admit, when you hear those gongs in the intro to Beat It, a little smile crosses your face and you are instantly brought back to whatever you were doing back in the glory days we call the 80’s. (Unless of course you are one of those young kids who was born in the 80’s. If that is the case, bear with me during my moment of nostaligia – maybe you will learn a little something about real music.) For whatever reason, the 80’s always seems to get a bad rap. This is just so wrong on so many levels, and not only because those were my teen years which I will always remember fondly. I truly believe that a lot of good came out of the 80’s, and for whatever reason, people tend to forget this.
Reverting back to my blog on singing (yes, dig deep into the archives, you will find it), I feel pretty confident that I can sing along (accurately) with any song that came out of that decade. Back then, music was fun. You had several different genres of music, but you didn’t really have to listen to only one. Music then all depended on your mood, not your style. There was the bubble gum pop like Tiffany and Debbie Gibson and even early Madonna, then there was the synthesizer sounds of the Thompson Twins (of which there were actually three, so they weren’t really twins at all) and Howard Jones. You had tons of Michael Jackson, and his biggest competition was Prince (by the way – to all those people in my youth who mocked my preference of Prince over Michael – HA!!! Look at them now, Prince is still playing sold out shows while Michael is into kiddie porn!!). Morris Day and the Time taught us about Jungle Love and the Bird, and we also had the awesome dance anthems such as AEIOU, Jam On It, and Freakazoid. Then we had the hair bands like Poison, Ratt and Guns N Roses (Well, Axl’s hair was actually pretty greasy and gross, so he wasn’t glam rock like the others). I could just devote this entire blog to naming 80’s bands, which would delight some readers, but probably annoy the hell out of some too (like my brother – not real big on remembering the 80’s, I think he had a traumatic hair experience or something…) so I won’t do that. What I WILL do is point out that there are several mainstays from the 80’s, such as Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen (alright, he is actually from the 70’s, but Born to Run brought him into the mainstream), Madonna, Prince… and everywhere you look there are reunion tours from the bands of my youth. I am actually going to see Def Leppard for the second time this summer, and I am hoping their pyrotechnics are as awesome as they were back in the 80’s.
What today’s kids fail to realize is that Will Smith isn’t only Hitch, and although Switch is a good song, he set the mood when he voiced a generation’s chant: Parents Just Don’t Understand. That Eminem is NOT the first white rapper in the world, that way before his sullen style came Vanilla Ice, who didn’t need to drop the f-bomb every other lyric or talk about killing people to make it big (if only temporarily). That sex in music was usually made pretty obvious (case in point: Prince’s “Lets’ Pretend We’re Married”) and we only listened to it when our parent’s weren’t around, for fear that they would KILL us, not like today’s subtleties that play on mainstream radio like “My Goodies” and “Candy Shop.” (Gives me chills seeing little kids singing these songs – Michael Jackson probably got off hearing them too) And that a vast number (which seems to rise everyday) of “today’s” music is “sampling” (i.e. STEALING) a lot of the classic lyrics and music that my generation grew up with. Apparently there IS something to be said for 80’s music after all, at least according to the Black Eyed Peas, Eminem, and several others.
Anyway, I know I barely scratched the surface on many of my favorite bands, so if any of you want to play the Memory Game and send comments complaining that I forgot “So-and-So” feel free, although I NEVER forget, and any omission was due to time constraints and not favoritism. All I really wanted to get across today is that no matter what music comes along, I will always be partial to the good old days’ happy fun music. And headbanger music. And punk music. And bubble gum music. Even when I’m old and grey. So, no, Bob, I won’t stop buying those old CD’s or “wasting” my money on “those” concerts. You may think I live in the past, but that’s not true. I’m definitely solid in the present, but still enjoy taking my trips down memory lane…
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