Being born on the wrong side of the 70s meant that you missed out on the golden era of rock 'n' roll and subversive movies, and grew up on 80s pop (and cheesy movies). Means you missed everything of consequence. More so if you grew up alone and your folks idea of music was limited to vinyl records of Boney M and Abba, and Ira Sankey hymns.
Still, it
was the glory days of analog recorded magnetic cassette tapes... the TDKs and Maxwell tapes in C60, C90 formats. And being born in the 80s meant you had fingers small enough to untangle them when they got screwed up from repeated rewindings and forwards.
You're only hope for musical salvation was the radio, with dear old (!) Richard Coram on Dubai FM 92 playing the then golden pop hits - Feargal Sharkey with a Good Heart, A-Ha (Take On Me, Cry Wolf), Madonna (redemption came with Like a Prayer, understanding what/ why she was so peppy in Like a Virgin came much later). As it turns out, my musical education persists to continue in this reverse trend.
(In retrospect, I would now like to thank Mr. Coram for contributing to my musical sensibilities - after all he/ Dubai FM did provide slots for Kasey Kasim's American Top 40.)
So while George Michael pranced to Monkey, and Tiffany wondered if she were alone now (or then), and Belinda avowed that heaven
is a place on earth (seriously?), a few gems crackled on the speakers with Queen's I Want it All being the (re)quest for the rest of my life. Of course, all this was not strictly linear, after all, at that age, you're bound by the fact that you had only two choices - FM 92, FM 93.5, and all music listening was limited to parental whims, sibling rivalry/ adoration, and whatever was offered by the DJ on shift. And the DJs, were they on drugs... Why else do you think they played Power of Love, Part-Time Lover, Would I Lie to You, Let's Make Lots of Money, I Should be So Lucky, Walk Like an Egyptian, and Help at 12am and then reverse the order at 3am? And I was deluded into believing this was MAGIC.
By the way, having an older sibling did not help much other than to tune the radio to the right channel. Georgie, Madonna, Kylie and Jason, BROS (what happened to them?), A-ha was all her, I just absorbed large quantities of da-da-da -da data by default.
But again, I would like to thank my sis for teaching me three chords and S&G's Boxer and Mrs Robinson. No thank you for the Carpenters. And I don't know whether gratefulness is required for Jefferson Starship's Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now.
And as much as most people relate the 80s with pop, there were awesome rock bands - Firehouse, Queensryche, Skid Row, Motley Crue, and the other bands with / without umlauts, and all with tremendous hairdos.
As the 80's synthesized its way into the 90s, the pop scene burst at the seams with the introduction of the boy band - New Kids on the Block. So shoot me, but I was 9 or 10ish when Right Stuff and Hangin' Tough were out... and this was something
I discovered with no help. And I was young, and they were cute
and young.. and though today it makes my skin crawl, it was one of those things. I did prefer Pet Shop Boys' music, but I don't think Neil Tennant stopped any girl's heart even when he sang about it. And to make this clear, I know all the lyrics to PSBs If and Actually albums, and not just NKOTB's 5 step program. And how can I forget UKs Take That and East 17. Or Chicago. Aah the 90s. Move over Richard Coram, MTV is here to take you on a joyride. And video did kill the radio star. (Apparently this was the first video aired on MTV in 1981, we in the Emirates got it in 89 I think. And it was the time when MTV actually played music).
All this very belated arrival of media contributed to late exposure to everything that is great - and time came when Roxette tapes were moved to make way for Def Leppard, Dire Straits, Bon Jovi, and many jagged little pills. CDs were still expensive, though the cassettes now had fancy hardcovers to prevent heat damage and that insidious whitish substance that grew on the tapes.
It is a rite of passage, taking apart the tape, spraying ear buds in your mom's Chanel #5, or dad's Old Spice, and carefully clean the tapes, then wind them correctly, and put it all back together... parents, note - this is a form of discipline all 10 year olds should be subjected to, cleaning tapes, tape deck heads - what better way to teach patience, diligence, motor coordination and other stellar qualities to a hyperactive kid, no?
Why all this useless meandering you don't ask? Don't.
But there is a pecking order.
And it goes like this the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift.... there should be a moratorium on all versions of that song (excluding Jeff Buckley's). Never mind. So a lame attempt at a correlation graph - song / album release year versus my knowledge of it's existence. Of course this trend would hold true for those born after 1971. I say 71, cuz that I believe was the golden year of music - after all Stairway to Heaven was released then - it's the 40th anniversary on November 8th. 1971 was charmed - consider the songs released that year:
Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
Imagine - John Lennon
LA Woman - The Doors
Behind Blue Eyes - The Who
A Horse With No Name - America
You've Got a Friend - James Taylor
Aqualung - Jethro Tull
Me and Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin
American Pie - Don McLean
I Feel The Earth Move - Carole King
Morning Has Broken - (Artist formerly known as) Cat Stevens (I just
had to include this for the paranthesis)
Must I go on? Yes. I have been told that I have approval need issues. Whatever. Just check out the movies of 1971.
A Clockwork Orange
The French Connection
Dirty Harry
Love Story
Fiddler on the Roof
Panic in Needle Park
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
All this from the top of my head, no googling, god promise.
And you see I have a pretty eclectic taste in things, no biasing between rock and ballad, chase movies, musicals and chocolate drownings. See, no judging. So proud.
See what I mean about the 70s? And this was the beginning of the bang that sang the end. To think I was not even a possibility at that time is so... upsetting.
Dude, where is my graph? Okay, let me describe it to you. x-axis: Year/Band, y- axis: Year/Heard. Ok, this is not working. I am still upsetting about skipping a generation, living it 10 years too late, including all that free love and drugs, not so free but well-wrapped, textured, and whatever now. And despite this being the great digital age,
because this is the digital age, I miss not having my tape deck, and really upset about not needing a modernistic shelf for records, cassettes, even CDs. So bloody upset. UPSET. And bored. Of Beiber on my radio, and other 2 second inane songs they seem to churn out by the minute these days.
Off.
