A response to the previous post; written quickly and half-hazardly in the style of Chuck Kloosterman.
When I look back at the decade of my birth I realize quickly that a) The Breakfast Club was a good movie, b) Thriller was a great album, c) the ’85 Chicago Bears are the best team that ever stepped onto a football field and d) none of those things could save me from living through the gayest decade since ancient Rome.
If it is true what they say; that art imitates life, then looking at the art 80s culture produced would give us an idea of what life was like in Reagan-Era USA. A new art form exploded onto the scene in the 1980s: the music video. I don’t think that anyone was ready for it then, and truthfully I am still recovering from A HA’s “Take on Me” video. But to get to my point lets take another look at “Hello” by Lionel Richie. This music video would lead us to believe that a) It is OK to date your students b) stalking people gets results, and c) you can melt any woman’s heart with a passionate “hello”, even over the phone.
Sidenote: why was she blind? And also, I think that blind people either have to be the best or worst sculptors in the world, depending on how good their memory is.
But back to art imitating life. If low budget piece of shit videos like this one are a reflection of how our society acted back twenty some years ago, then we have come a long way indeed.
I remember talking to T about this at the bar one night. I told him that I liked 80s music and he could not figure out why. I described it as kitsch. Something so bad that its good in an ironic way. Examples include: a) mullets, b) trucker hats, and c) precious memories figurines. Sure, "as a musician" I would have to say almost every band from the 80s sucked hard. But if I want to get hammered and jump around to "Come on Eileen" who are you to judge? Also, as I mentioned earlier, THRILLER.
I remember talking to T about this at the bar one night. I told him that I liked 80s music and he could not figure out why. I described it as kitsch. Something so bad that its good in an ironic way. Examples include: a) mullets, b) trucker hats, and c) precious memories figurines. Sure, "as a musician" I would have to say almost every band from the 80s sucked hard. But if I want to get hammered and jump around to "Come on Eileen" who are you to judge? Also, as I mentioned earlier, THRILLER.
In conclusion, wearing Zubaz pants, buzzing nike swooshes into the back of my vanilla ice hairstyle, and munching on Koala Yummies while doing the super bowl shuffle might not look cool now, but for some reason it was hot shit back then. I don't claim that I really get it, and probably never will, but I was only 6 when it ended.
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