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Nov. 28th, 2004 09:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickMy radio station, bless its little black heart, plays the song 1985 by Bowling for Soup at least once a day. I think they're trying to make me feel old. We all realize that was nearly twenty years ago, right? Hell of a lot of weight in twenty years, more than I thought there was. I was fifteen in 1985, so I have something of a feel for what it was like to be a young person back then. Certain aspects of that era were, shall we say, tailored for me, though not the Dolman sleeves. (For the fashion-impaired, these were the 'batwing' shirts, with sleeves that started at the waistline.) They weren't tailored for anyone, but we wore them anyway.
Here's the song, and my analysis of how accurately it hits the spot.
I didn't think 1985 was much of a red-letter year. I didn't start doing anything *interesting* that year. 1983 was a red letter year with three interesting milestones. Hrm. The next interesting year in my own personal chronicles was 1986.
Debbie just hit the wall
She never had it all
One Prozac a day
Husbands a CPA
This is someone who's clearly an adult. Non-adults are not married to CPAs.
Her dreams went out the door
When she turned twenty four
Only been with one man
What happen to her plan?
If she was 24 in 1985, these would not have been her things. She would have been too old for some of them. No self-respecting mid-twenties person would be busy watching Pretty in Pink or The Breakfast Club. And the only-been-with-one-man thing is her own damn fault, not to put too fine a point on it.
She was gonna be an actress
She was gonna be a star
She was gonna shake her ass
On the hood of Whitesnake’s car
Her yellow SUV is now the enemy
Looks at her average life
And nothing has been alright since
Yes, well, midlife crisis. It hits us all. You don't ever get the life you thought you were gonna get, but (resolution) the life you got isn't all that sucky. Get over it.
Bruce Springsteen, Madonna
Way before Nirvana
There was U2 and Blondie
And music still on MTV
You people want to know what's really, really scary? I remember when there wasn't any fucking MTV at all. I remember before there was MTV, okay? Put that in your youthful pipes and smoke it.
Her two kids in high school
They tell her that she’s uncool
Cuz she's still preoccupied
With 19, 19, 1985
How the hell is she having two kids in high school? High school starts in ninth grade, when one is fifteen or so. I am just barely old enough to have kids in ninth grade, and that's assuming I was out getting pregnant before I was out of high school. My friend La, who got pregnant her junior year in high school, has a sixteen year old son. If she was twenty four in 1985, she's too old for some of the stuff in this song, but it would explain how she could have two kids in high school.
She’s seen all the classics
She knows every line
Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink
Even Saint Elmo’s Fire
These were kid movies, movies that people like me worshipped when we were in high school. Okay, I never understood St. Elmo's Fire, but the other two made complete sense to me at the time. I am still fond of The Breakfast Club and still, occasionally, quote the fucking thing. Screws fall out all the time, the world's an imperfect place... Yes, I know I'm lame. I've come to terms with my lame-i-tude, which is what you're supposed to do when you're in your mid-thirties.
She rocked out to Wham
Not a big Limp Bizkit fan
Thought she’d get a hand
On a member of Duran Duran
I never thought Duran Duran was straight. Nor Wham, neither, not that it matters at this late date.
Where’s the mini-skirt made of snake skin
There was no excuse for miniskirts in faux snakeskin.
And who’s the other guy that's singing in Van Halen
We know who the other guy singing in Van Halen is. That wasn't *after* us. We got the whole Sammy Hagar thing. Honest. And a lot of us thought DLR was quite the hottie, back in the day, and hence were sad to see him go.
When did reality become T.V.
What ever happen to sitcoms, game shows
(on the radio was)
I've solved this by not owning a TV... and just so you know, a great deal of Sex in the City was ruined for me because I remembered Sarah Jessica Parker from a horrible, short-run television show called Square Pegs in which she was so entirely, painfully uncool that it almost hurt to watch her.
She hates time make it stop
When did Motley Crew become classic rock?
And when did Ozzy become an actor?
Please make this stop
Stop!
And bring back
I wonder where the "oldies" stations went, personally. Didn't there used to be a lot more of them around, in the early nineties, playing the greatest hits of the fifties, sixties, and seventies?
Everything I like on the radio is "classic rock" and "rock without the hard edge". I can't tolerate most of the crap that the kids today listen to. There are vast swaths of popular culture that take place without me ever becoming aware of them. My slang, some of it, is twenty years old. I have never worn pants with cuffs that are bigger than my feet or that are long enough to drag the ground. I have never worn (and never will wear) platform shoes of any kind. I do not own low-rise pants and this is despite the fact that I'm skinnier than some of the people I see wearing them.
Holy fuck, kids today are fat. I'm just sayin'.
On getting older: What is with the annoying dark hairs on my chin? Did I order these? Do I LOOK like I want an intimate relationship with my tweezers? I can live with the silver hair on my head, which is coming in at a hell of a clip. At least I'm not going bald like my younger brother and it's a pretty gray.
I'll be less curmudgeonly as soon as this damn cold is gone. I promise. Also, I didn't sleep well because Tine and Tumnah (the cats) woke me up at five in the fucking morning. They'd cornered a mouse. I turned the lights on. TIne dispatched the mouse. I gathered the corpse up in magical protective paper towels as soon as it stopped quivering and tipped it in the dustbin. I fed Tine half a cup of catfood and told him he was a good boy. Much praise. Then I went back to bed where I didn't sleep because, y'know, dead mouse. Ick.
Here's the song, and my analysis of how accurately it hits the spot.
I didn't think 1985 was much of a red-letter year. I didn't start doing anything *interesting* that year. 1983 was a red letter year with three interesting milestones. Hrm. The next interesting year in my own personal chronicles was 1986.
Debbie just hit the wall
She never had it all
One Prozac a day
Husbands a CPA
This is someone who's clearly an adult. Non-adults are not married to CPAs.
Her dreams went out the door
When she turned twenty four
Only been with one man
What happen to her plan?
If she was 24 in 1985, these would not have been her things. She would have been too old for some of them. No self-respecting mid-twenties person would be busy watching Pretty in Pink or The Breakfast Club. And the only-been-with-one-man thing is her own damn fault, not to put too fine a point on it.
She was gonna be an actress
She was gonna be a star
She was gonna shake her ass
On the hood of Whitesnake’s car
Her yellow SUV is now the enemy
Looks at her average life
And nothing has been alright since
Yes, well, midlife crisis. It hits us all. You don't ever get the life you thought you were gonna get, but (resolution) the life you got isn't all that sucky. Get over it.
Bruce Springsteen, Madonna
Way before Nirvana
There was U2 and Blondie
And music still on MTV
You people want to know what's really, really scary? I remember when there wasn't any fucking MTV at all. I remember before there was MTV, okay? Put that in your youthful pipes and smoke it.
Her two kids in high school
They tell her that she’s uncool
Cuz she's still preoccupied
With 19, 19, 1985
How the hell is she having two kids in high school? High school starts in ninth grade, when one is fifteen or so. I am just barely old enough to have kids in ninth grade, and that's assuming I was out getting pregnant before I was out of high school. My friend La, who got pregnant her junior year in high school, has a sixteen year old son. If she was twenty four in 1985, she's too old for some of the stuff in this song, but it would explain how she could have two kids in high school.
She’s seen all the classics
She knows every line
Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink
Even Saint Elmo’s Fire
These were kid movies, movies that people like me worshipped when we were in high school. Okay, I never understood St. Elmo's Fire, but the other two made complete sense to me at the time. I am still fond of The Breakfast Club and still, occasionally, quote the fucking thing. Screws fall out all the time, the world's an imperfect place... Yes, I know I'm lame. I've come to terms with my lame-i-tude, which is what you're supposed to do when you're in your mid-thirties.
She rocked out to Wham
Not a big Limp Bizkit fan
Thought she’d get a hand
On a member of Duran Duran
I never thought Duran Duran was straight. Nor Wham, neither, not that it matters at this late date.
Where’s the mini-skirt made of snake skin
There was no excuse for miniskirts in faux snakeskin.
And who’s the other guy that's singing in Van Halen
We know who the other guy singing in Van Halen is. That wasn't *after* us. We got the whole Sammy Hagar thing. Honest. And a lot of us thought DLR was quite the hottie, back in the day, and hence were sad to see him go.
When did reality become T.V.
What ever happen to sitcoms, game shows
(on the radio was)
I've solved this by not owning a TV... and just so you know, a great deal of Sex in the City was ruined for me because I remembered Sarah Jessica Parker from a horrible, short-run television show called Square Pegs in which she was so entirely, painfully uncool that it almost hurt to watch her.
She hates time make it stop
When did Motley Crew become classic rock?
And when did Ozzy become an actor?
Please make this stop
Stop!
And bring back
I wonder where the "oldies" stations went, personally. Didn't there used to be a lot more of them around, in the early nineties, playing the greatest hits of the fifties, sixties, and seventies?
Everything I like on the radio is "classic rock" and "rock without the hard edge". I can't tolerate most of the crap that the kids today listen to. There are vast swaths of popular culture that take place without me ever becoming aware of them. My slang, some of it, is twenty years old. I have never worn pants with cuffs that are bigger than my feet or that are long enough to drag the ground. I have never worn (and never will wear) platform shoes of any kind. I do not own low-rise pants and this is despite the fact that I'm skinnier than some of the people I see wearing them.
Holy fuck, kids today are fat. I'm just sayin'.
On getting older: What is with the annoying dark hairs on my chin? Did I order these? Do I LOOK like I want an intimate relationship with my tweezers? I can live with the silver hair on my head, which is coming in at a hell of a clip. At least I'm not going bald like my younger brother and it's a pretty gray.
I'll be less curmudgeonly as soon as this damn cold is gone. I promise. Also, I didn't sleep well because Tine and Tumnah (the cats) woke me up at five in the fucking morning. They'd cornered a mouse. I turned the lights on. TIne dispatched the mouse. I gathered the corpse up in magical protective paper towels as soon as it stopped quivering and tipped it in the dustbin. I fed Tine half a cup of catfood and told him he was a good boy. Much praise. Then I went back to bed where I didn't sleep because, y'know, dead mouse. Ick.
