Showing posts with label Generation X. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Generation X. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Sunday, February 28, 2016

POWER POP & SKINNY TIE BAND IPOD PLAYLIST


I noticed, while rereading an older post, that I would do a post and Ipod playlist for power pop or, as they were known in L.A. in the 80s, "skinny tie bands."

This is one of those "Is it a genre or not" forms of rock & roll. The term "power pop" was first coined by The Who's Pete Townsend, who used it to describe the music of The Who and Small Faces. Other bands of that era (The Monkees, The Raiders, The Searchers, The Kinks) could be considered as influences on the Power Pop sound, however the major influence on the sound and look of Power Pop was The Beatles.

Shortly after the 70s began, a group of bands began springing up that hearkened back to that British Invasion sound. One of the first was the British band Badfinger, who were on the Apple label and even recorded a song written by Paul McCartney (He produced it, as well).

Another group that set the pattern for the Power Pop bands to come was the American group The Raspberries, lead by Eric Carmen. Later on, the San Francisco based band The Flaming Groovies switched from a rockabilly sound to a Power Pop sound.

The phrase Power Pop was next used by a music critic in 1978 to categorize this growing trend. The boom years for these bands were from 1978 to around 1986. The most successful of these groups was The Knack, who were from L.A. Club owners in L.A. dubbed the Power Pop bands, with their Beatle-like suits and ties, the "Skinny Tie bands." The glam/heavy metal bands, known for their mounds of sprayed, long hair, were dubbed "Hair bands."  That is where those terms came from.

Of course, the early Power Pop bands didn't dress like The Beatles did in 1964. They looked like other bands of the early 70s. It was The Knack, who started the fashion trend to dress like The Beatles. They also took a ton of flak over it.

While the last year of this trend is 1986, the music continued to be popular at college frat parties for years to come. More recently the sound has hit the charts again by bands such as Fountains of Wayne, Semisonic and The Rembrants.

This is not a countdown. I'm not ranking these songs, it is just for your listening pleasure. It is the order they came up on my Ipod.

"My Sharona" - The Knack
"Shake Some Action" - The Flaming Groovies
"Cruel To Be Kind" - Nick Lowe
"What I Like About You" - The Romantics
"Scream" - Artful Dodger
"A Million Miles Away" - The Plimsouls
"The Hero Takes The Fall " - The Bangles
"You Don't Want Me Anymore" - Steel Breeze
"Yellow Pills" - 20/20
"Someday Someway" - Marshall Crenshaw
"Alex Chilton" - The Replacements
"This Beat Goes On / Switching to Glide" - The Kings
"I Wanna Be Wit You" - The Raspberries
"Every Word Means No" - Let's Active
"Walking On Sunshine" - Katina & the Waves
"There She Goes" - The La's
"Wake Up Boo" - The Boo Radleys
"Love Is For Lovers" - The dBs
"I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" - The Rubinoos
"Blood & Roses" - The Smithereens
"Hazy Shade of Winter" - The Bangles
"I'll Be There For You (Theme from Friends)" - The Rembrandts
"And We Danced" - The Hooters
"Superman" - R.E.M
"That Thing You Do" - The Wonders
"Girl of My Dreams" - Bram Tchaikovsky
"867-5309 / Jenny" - Tommy Tutone
"September Girls" - Big Star
"I Want You To Want Me" (live) - Cheap Trick
"Down On the Boulevard" - The Pop
"Hold On To Something" - Great Buildings
"All Come True" - World Party
"The Good Life" - Fire Town
"No Matter What" - Badfinger
"Talking In Your Sleep" - The Romantics
"Just a Smile" - Pilot
"Baby Its Cold Outside" - Pezband
"I Want To Help You Ann" - The Lyres
"Starry Eyes" - The Records
"Precious To Me" - Phil Seymour
"She Don't Know Why I'm Here" - The Last
"Lay Your Love On Me" - Racey
"Behind the Wall of Sleep" - The Smithereens
"Mary Anne" - Marshal Crenshaw
"Where Have You Been All My Life" - Fotomaker
"Tell That Girl To Shut Up" - Holly & The Italians
"Radio Free Europe" - R.E.M
"Driver's Seat" - Sniff N the Tears



"Tell It To Carrie" - The Romantics
"Magic" - Pilot
"Go All The Way" - The Raspberries
"Your Love" - The Outfield
"Stacey's Mom" - Fountains of Wayne
"Tonight" - The Raspberries
"I'm On Fire" - Dwight Twilley Band
"Ship Of Fools" - World Party
"Baby Blue" - Badfinger
"Too Late" - Shoes
"Good Girls Don't" - The Knack
"Rock & Roll Girl" - The Beat
"This Is Airebeat" - The Squares
"Day By Day" - The Hooters
"Time Won't Let Me" - The Smithereens
"In the Street" - Big Star
"Dreaming Is Easy" - Steel Breeze
"She Goes Out With Everybody" - The Spongetones
"I Will Dare" - The Replacements
"Lisa Anne" - Bill Lloyd
"Nothing From Today" - The Vipers
"Get Over You" - The Undertones
"Places That Are Gone" - Tommy Keane
"Whatever Happened To Fun" - Candy
"Chemistry" - Semisonic
"Girls" - Dwight Twilley Band
"Buried Alive" - The Lyres
"Come On, Come On" - Cheap Trick
"Fall On Me" - R.E.M
"Boy On a Roof" - The Outnumbered
"Honor Among Thieves" - Artful Dodger
"In a Different Light" - The Bangles
"L5" - Fools Face

The last one is a Springfield, MO. band, that had a statewide following in the 80s.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

MARSHMALLOW OVERCOAT "The Mummy"

This was the first rock band I ever saw live. I was so impressed I bought a copy of their LP they were selling. This song was not on that LP. Glad to discover it.




Thursday, October 22, 2015

1977 HALLOWEEN SAFETY FILM SHOWS WHY I BELIEVE SOME PEOPLE MY AGE ARE SCREWED UP

I almost posted this first, but decided to post the 50s Halloween film first, so that watching this will be a jarring example of how attitudes changes toward kids and Halloween in over the course of two decades. The 50s film portrays Halloween as fun and games, while the 70s film portrays it as a dark and sinister world of multiple, suburban death traps.

Another thing to notice is that in the 50s film, the dog causes the problem, but is forgiven in the end. From the very beginning of the 1977 Halloween Safety film, the kids are relentlessly portrayed as the cause of countless problems, for drivers of large, gas guzzling cars, with their little Halloween antics and costumes. Of course, there are people who poison in the treats, so just have your parents throw all your candy away. The basic gist of this film is DON'T HAVE FUN.

This was an attitude that permeated my childhood in Missouri: FUN IS BAD. I mentioned it before, but the elementary school I attended in Lebanon, Missouri, only allowed the kindergartners to dress up or have any fun on Halloween, because "Halloween is a man made holiday" and "mature children don't trick or treat."

This was drilled into us as children, along with "You don't want to be like the previous generation." (Baby Boomers) My thought was "Why? They are having all the fun. I'm stuck here doing this worthless arithmetic junk." That usually got me slapped by the teacher (I'm against discipline and violence to children, but that is a topic for another time). 

What I'm seeing now is some people my age getting in trouble for various crimes and I think, "Wait a minute, these were the 'positive peer pressure - Just Say No' group. They signed contracts that said they would abstain from rock music, drugs and sex. What happened?"

My theory is these people tried to conform to the rigid ideas the adults of the community had about what a "good, responsible, mature kid" was supposed to be, that they eventually just snapped and broke the rules. Cranky adults robbed them of a fun and happy childhood by trying to force them into some idea of a perfect adult at a young age. On the other hand, I thought adults were full of BS, broke all the little rules and I've stayed out of trouble. As I always say, I hate adults, I'm ashamed I grew up to be one.

Another thing this rigid attitude by adults caused others of my generation to have a deep resentment towards today's kids. Every day I see this on Facebook with memes claiming that "In my day, we cured ADHD by beating kids with belts." Not only is advocating child abuse not funny, but the truth was they tried to cure ADHD by not allowing kids to drink any red Kool-Aid. The NO-FUN adult factor strikes again. Facebook has become a constant barrage of "kids are stupid" garbage that should have died out several years ago, but is rearing its ugly head with my "do-gooder" classmates.

Speaking of the previous generation, I have been forced to work with several of the talk radio ilk, who are proud that they were not part of the counter culture or into that rebellious stuff that other Baby Boomers did. These are people are not only bitter, cranky, little people, but they will stab you in the back and leave you for dead. I believe the proper word for that behavior is conniving.

So watch this film and realize that most of this is part of the "cranky adult" attitude that I've been fighting and thumbing my nose at since I was a kid. Following the rules laid out in this film, will make you have a boring Halloween and screw up a generation. Of course, this opinion is why I'm considered the SUPER-VILLAIN OF THE OZARKS! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!


Thursday, May 21, 2015

PHONE YOUR NEIGHBORS AND WAKE THE KIDS: HOW DAVID LETTERMAN INFLUENCED ME


It has been a curse through out my life that the things I like are the things that are frowned upon by Ozarkers. I prefer heavy metal, punk,  urban and psychedelic rock over country music. I'm more interested in horror movies and comic books than hunting or sports (except golf). I also like comedy, whereas Ozarkers have absolutely no sense of humor. One of my favorite comedians has always been David Letterman and, according to several opinion polls taken by our local media outlets, Ozarkers hate David Letterman. My thought has always been, "Tough luck, you dumb rednecks!"

My first recollection of seeing David Letterman on TV was when he substituted for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. I remember he came out and said, "I was watching the monitor backstage and there was a commercial on for Preparation H. At the end of the commercial, the announcer said "Use only as directed." Like you would spread it on crackers."

One of the reasons why I liked David Letterman was he didn't take things too seriously. On his NBC shows, he wore a jacket, dress shirt and tie like other TV show host, except he wore blue jeans and sneakers with it. If a bit went wrong or a prop didn't work he would say, "Screw it!" and move on to something else. Even funnier was when a prop didn't get a laugh, he would throw it in a corner and break it. Dave was always quick to let you in on the fact that, especially in the early days, the segments were probably not going to be great television. In introducing those segments he would say, "Phone the neighbors and wake the kids! It is time for Stupid Pet Tricks!" and then midway through, he would look into the camera and say, "We are having more fun now than humans should be allowed."

Dave did strange things like drop light bulbs and bags of jello off of a building or let the audience give nicknames to former presidents like "Old Beanie Weenies" and "Old Scratch N Sniff." The first show gave aging monster kids a thrill with Larry Bud Mellman/Calvert DeForrest giving a introductory warning like Edward Van Sloan at the beginning of Frankenstein on the first show and ending the first show with a guy reciting dialog from a Bela Lugosi movie called Bowery After Midnight. He interrupted a live Today Show broadcast by yelling out a widow with a bullhorn that he was a major NBC executive and he wasn't wearing pants.
  
Like Ernie Kovacs before him, David Letterman knew that the medium of television itself could be part of the joke. In the early days of his show, NBC ran reruns of the show on Monday night (just like they did with The Tonight Show). At the time, I was a media major at Missouri State University (then it was Southwest Missouri State University) and most of my media classmates would watch these reruns because you never knew what was going to happen. One week they would be dubbed into French or Spanish or re-dubbed in a phony voice over like a Giallo film or Japanese monster movie. Once the voices were sped up. During one show Dave kept popping in and making comments like, "Don't worry folks, Bob Hope (the guest) will eventually talk about someone who is still living."

He used transitional wipes as windshield wipers to "wipe away the snow." Flashback sequences were introduced, as on many shows, with a wavy screen effect and Dave saying, "It is coming back to me like a flashback sequence we filmed yesterday." Of course, we can never forget The Late Night Monkey Cam, which was a camera mounted on the back of a roller skating chimpanzee. One of the trademarks of his show was the breaking glass sound effect as he threw a pencil or an index card through the window.

I was hoping to get to do some of the same kind of things David Letterman did, but unfortunately, as I stated above, I live in the most humorless state in the union. However, Letterman's influence is in this blog with every post. Something that, as a nation, we should be thankful for.


That is why I'm closing this post with a cover of an LP by a Scottish guy, who looks like David Letterman. Dave would want it that way.

 




 

Saturday, May 16, 2015

I'M ASHAMED I WATCHED THE DUKES OF HAZZARD


We've all done it. We watched a TV show we enjoyed as a child or teenager after we became an adult and thought, "Why did I like this as a kid? This is horrible." For me that TV show is The Dukes of Hazzard.


You have to understand that this was the era when most people only received four networks. You also didn't have a VCR or DVD player or PC to stream movies. The Dukes of Hazzard was also THE TV SHOW to watch among the sixth graders in Lebanon, Missouri. If you weren't watching The Dukes of Hazzard, you would be considered a worthless, piece of human garbage. Many of my former classmates are constantly posting and re-posting a meme on Facebook, which asserts that people who watched The Dukes of Hazzard and Hee Haw as kids are superior to others. I don't think there is any scientific facts to back this belief up.

Watching the show now on DVD or in reruns, it becomes obvious that after the first season, they basically did the same script over and over. As a matter of fact, most of the cast nearly quit between season four and five over this. This was part of the reason Tom Wopat and John Schneider walked off the show. According to a TV Guide article (Dec. 25 -31 1982), everyone else on the show wanted out.

Now, with that aside, the reason I can't stand watching the The Dukes of Hazzard now: The use of the phrase "good ole boys."  Bo and Luke, in the theme song by Waylon Jennings, are referred to as "good ole boys." At the time this show aired, when I was in sixth grade, I took it the "good ole boys" actually meant "a force of good in the universe" (my comic book geekiness showing).

After becoming an adult and getting out in the "real world," I noticed the term "good ole boy" used not for people doing good, but for people like Boss Hogg and Roscoe P. Coltrane. To be honest, Boss Hogg and Roscoe are Presidential Medal of Honor Winners compared to many of the "good ole boys" I've met and had to deal with in my adult life.

The phrase "good ole boy" tends to be a euphemism or secret code word for "my loud-mouthed, sleazy, unethical, racist, sexist, homophobic, smelly, alcoholic, redneck friend, that abuses his wife and kids, but I like better him than you." Every business or work place in this part of the country has, at least, one of these type of individuals under their roof.

This "good ole boy" doesn't have a college degree and just barely has a high school diploma, but somehow has ascended to a cushy management position and receives a huge paycheck. Of course, the reason is this guy kisses the butt of the boss by doing the dirty work he wants done. Usually, he is the cousin, brother-in-law, or high school drinking buddy of the boss. This guy usually bullies everyone, talks dirty to female employees, repeats dumb stuff he heard on talk radio (or sings along with a country radio station), brings Jim Beam in his thermos, reads back issues of Guns & Ammo and spits his tobacco juice in every adjacent waste basket, while everyone else does the hard work.

However, if the boss wants the tires of the employees trying to unionize slashed or a competitor's business burned to the ground or needs someone to stalk the nerdy boy sending flowers to his hot, smoking daughter, the "good ole boy" is ready to earn that paycheck he receives that is bigger than the other employees. He also is quick to run and tattle to the boss on the employees breaking a stupid company policy or talking about how they think he is a crooked tyrant. Of course, if you question this guy's unethical and downright bad behavior, you will get the response, "But he is a good ole boy." That absolves this guy of any wrong doing in the eyes of his small community.

The bad part about these "good ole boys" is that in many small communities they get elected to city council, county commission or the school board, where they usually vote against anything that would be good for the community. They always say they want to keep the community "just like Mayberry," but what they real want is for it to be just like Hazzard County. Sad part some of them go on to the state legislature and then...well, this explains most of the makeup of our current U.S. Congress. Yes folks, Boss Hogg and Roscoe P. Coltrane are running Washington, D.C. As Waylon Jennings would say, in his narration of the show, "Folks, this don't look good."

Maybe this version of the "good ole boy" is only a phenomenon of southwest Missouri, but I some how feel that it isn't the case. Every small community has a group of  "good ole boys" that do horrible things, but people just slaps them on the back and laugh about it.

After reading this, some will say, "So, Desdinova, are you saying that we shouldn't watch reruns of The Dukes of Hazzard. No, I'm just saying I don't enjoy it because of my experience with the "good ole boy" mentality.


However, there is one thing that I like about this show that I wish would become a common practice. I wish more women would wear pantyhose with their shorts like Daisy did. NOW THAT IS A GOOD THING! Of course, these opinions are why I'm considered the SUPER VILLAIN OF THE OZARKS!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

THE END

Thursday, February 5, 2015

#tbt: DID YOU KNOW WHO THIS GUY WAS BACK IN THE 80s?


Earlier this year, there was quite a bit of over-exaggerated anger aimed at the younger generation, especially fans of Kanye West, because they supposedly did know who Paul McCartney was. West and McCartney recorded a song together called "Only One." If you are to believe articles circulating on social media, Kanye West fans thought McCartney was a unknown artist that Kanye discovered. There have even been "screen captures" showing "trending Tweets" by Kanye's fans circulating on Facebook, usually accompanied by condescending, head-shaking, hand-ringing comments from Generation X/Generation Jones people, who believe that the younger generation is screwed up and not wonderful, model teenagers "like we were." Several of my former classmates were among the "horrified" adults critical the "modern youth."

First off, I call BS on "screen captures" of those "trending Tweets." Any time I see a post of a screen capture of Tweets or Facebook post I'm a little suspect. Also these "Tweets" didn't sound like or look like a young persons Tweets or text. Young people know how to text and Tweet in a language older people don't know. Second, my classmates have no business slamming Kanye West fans, who were willing to greet Sir Paul with open arms, because they harassed and ridiculed me for like Paul McCartney and the Beatles in junior high. At my school, the guys liked Hank Jr. and the girls liked Barry Manilow. Because of my choice of music, I was bullied by the guys and refused romantic relationships with the girls. Now, they are acting like Paul McCartney was one of their favorite performers. Thy name is hypocrisy.

Let me give a shout out to Pam at Go Retro! She took the high road on this subject in a fun post filled with facts about Paul McCartney. She observed that every generation is oblivious to the previous generations music.
  
Of course, it is up to me, Desdinova to throw this back in my generation's face. Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Okay, 80s kids, tell me, who is the guy in these photos?



DID YOU KNOW WHO HE WAS WHEN YOU HEARD HIS NAME DROPPED IN 80S SONGS BY VAN MORRISON, BILLY JOEL, BILLY IDOL AND DEXY'S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS? Did you recognize him, when he appeared in the videos of Billy Idol and Dexy's Midnight Runners? WELL, DID YOU, YA LITTLE 80's PUNKS?





I may give you the answer or I might not. I may let you live with the fact that you chastised and criticized the young Kanye West fans because they didn't Paul McCartney, yet you did know who this man with a hearing aid was when you were in junior high and high school?  You are just like Principal Dick Vernon in The Breakfast Club. How do you live with yourself?

BTW: For the answer to the identity of this singer is, click on this link.

Monday, December 23, 2013

MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS GIFTS

1. Mighty Men and Monster Maker
2. Merlin
3. Quiz Wiz (Spawned my life long fascination with trivia)
4. Playskool McDonalds
5. A Hot Wheels Loop to Loop track (I think that is what was called)
6. Speak and Spell
7. Playskool Bristle Blocks
8. Pocket Flix (with Scooby Doo, Spiderman and Star Trek cartridges) and the GAF knock off (Can't remember what it was called - can't remember the cartridges)
9. A bicycle
10. 12 inch Cornelius figure from Planet of the Apes

Thursday, October 10, 2013

"DR. SHRINKER" ACTOR JAY ROBINSON DEAD AT 83


I just learned of the death of actor Jay Robinson, who played Caligula in The Robe and Demetrius and the Gladiators and the 70s Saturday morning kids adventure show, Dr. Shrinker. Even worse was finding a good mainstream news story about his death. It is a shame because not only would many Generation X people remember him, but the story of his career is really interesting. Here is the best article I found, it is this excellent post from The Scott Rollins Film and TV Trivia Blog.

He was busted for drugs at the height of his career, followed by years of not being able to work and legal problems. Bette Davis helped him get back to work. Here is a portion of the Better Davis episode of This Is Your Life, where Jay Robinson thanks Bette for being his friend (Robinson is after Victor Bueno and comedienne who does an impression of Davis).

Dr. Shrinker is one of the pop culture villains that I used as a model for my writing voice on the original blog. Here is a bit of Dr. Shinker.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

"DO THE FREDDY" - FROM BRITISH INVASION DANCE CRAZE TO 80s HALLOWEEN SONG

Last week, I posted a list of my favorite British Invasion hits of the 60s. My sister, Villanova, who was in elementary school when the British Invasion started, ask why I left off Freddie and the Dreamers. My first thought was to say "Because they suck," then I thought I would be fair to the group and bring up a forgotten Halloween song of the past.


Freddie and the Dreamers had about five charted hit singles in America. Their biggest was the number one hit "I'm Telling You Now" in 1964. Their last record issued in this country was 1966, which made them a short lived phenomenon in the United States. Part of their problem was the novelty of their act. Other bands simply played songs and either made it by being cute and nice (The Beatles, Herman's Hermits, Dave Clark Five) or bad boys (The Animals, the Stones). Freddie and the Dreamers not only looked like nerds, but they hopped from leg to leg when they sang. Lead singer Freddie Garrity wave his arms like a skinny, bespectacled bird trying to take off for the clouds. Freddy also had a wacky, goofy laugh like a drunken witch that he worked into songs.

The group's second big hit was a 1965 dance number, based on the group's unusual stage movements, called "Do the Freddie." Here is video of them performing the song on TV in 1965.




Flash forward to Halloween of 1987. Some mad genius somewhere decides to create an LP to cash in on Hollywood's hottest monster, Freddy Krueger of the Nightmare on Elm Street movie series. The LP, entitled Freddy's Greatest Hits, featured a studio group, referred to on the cover of the LP as the Elm Street Group, recorded covers of several oldies ("In the Midnight Hour", "All I Have to Do is Dream") and some original songs inspired by the Nightmare on Elm Street films. On each track, Robert Englund, the actor who played Freddy Krueger, would growl or make some of Freddy's trademark bad puns or threats.

The song that was released as a single from this LP was "Do The Freddy." The spelling of the name was changed, but it was the same song. I might be wrong about this, but I don't believe the LP was ever issued on CD, because, at the time, CD's were new and this was a Halloween novelty LP aimed at kids. Here is the Elm Street Group version of "Do the Freddy."



This has to be one of the oddest covers of a hit song ever, but I'm sure child of the 80s played this at a Halloween party. Nothing like going from Freddie and the Dreamers to Freddy's nightmares. 

 

Sunday, September 29, 2013

I'M STILL A GENERATION X SLACKER AND PROUD OF IT!

In recent weeks, I've starting seeing articles about "What happened to the Generation X slackers?" Most of these articles surmised that they "grew up to be responsible, hard working adults." Whatever!

First off, I'm probably the only person who wasn't offended by either the term "Generation X" or "slacker." As a matter of fact, I liked because being a "slacker" kind of sounded like being a "hippie." We dressed kind of like hippies and had our own music and culture like the hippies. I, myself, had a soul patch, wore Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers and Bart Simpson T-shirt, usually carried a copy of both Rolling Stone and Spin with me, and listened to Nirvana, Blind Mellon and REM on my Walkman. I even read Generation X: Tales of an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland, because I considered it a kind of Bible of the subculture I in which belonged.

Also, like the hippies, we were hated by a certain segment of the older generation. We were hated by Baby Boomers. According to them, we were lazy, stupid, arrogant and had no taste in music. Whatever!

I first realized how bad this bigotry and hatred was at the first job I had out of college.  I worked at one of the local newspapers. Among the career goals I had considered was to have my own syndicated newspaper column, sort of like Dave Barry, Joe Queenan, Art Buchwald and Ron Davis' Chatter in the News Leader. I had researched how to land a syndicated newspaper column and I knew I had to have tare sheets or clippings of an actual column to submit to a syndicate. My supervisor and managing editor was a Baby Boomer. When I told him that I wanted to write a column from a liberal Generation X perspective, he flew into a rage and snarled, "Absolutely not! Nobody cares what people of your generation's opinions."  Whatever! (I guess he would rather read Bill O'Rielly, or a column by his wife or a real estate guy, who thinks it is cool to use the word "cattywompus" in his radio commercials).

Another Baby Boomer that I've had the displeasure of working with, enjoyed making jokes on the radio about Generation Xer's "who get them thar big college degrees and wind up asking ya if ya want fries with yer burger." I should note that this guy DOESN'T HAVE A COLLEGE DEGREE (but I've noticed several people people on Facebook, who are not college graduates, make this same stupid joke). He also didn't like that I had worked at the college radio station playing rock music. He didn't think that should be allowed on a radio station that received money from taxpayers. Whatever! (I didn't have the money to bribe a radio station to give me a radio show).

Most of these articles about "what happen to Generation X slackers" point out what we Generation X members already knew, we really weren't lazy or stupid. We quietly went to work, many times multi-tasking, doing things that we wanted to do and doing them our way. Granted, that has been hard for me to a degree, but I guess you could say this blog and my previous one is an example of me making the best of a bad situation and getting personal satisfaction from it, even if there isn't any pay. It is more for us personal rewards and goals than a huge house, fancy cars, stocks and bonds.


I discovered this video on You Tube about Millennials. Yes, every thing the actors playing Millennials in this video say Baby Boomers accuse them of are the same things they accused us Generation Xer's of. The only difference is you could substitute Brady Bunch for Full House and it is exactly the same thing I was hear nearly twenty years ago.

I should point out that the Baby Boomers who gave me grief about being a Generation X slacker were Republicans. They were not the cool Baby Boomers who would have cool stories about hitchhiking to a Grateful Dead concert in Laurel Canyon and seeing Tom Smothers and Peter Fonda in the crowd. These were the Baby Boomers have been wearing a suit and tie since they were 10 years old. They seem to be upset that I wasn't more concerned about "welfare queens" or "the drug epidemic." Whatever!

Those two Baby Boomers I mentioned above have probably come around to the fact that they like some Generation Xers. I know for a fact these two still hate my guts (And yes, they know each other because second one brags that his sister dated the first guy), so I know I'm not their ideal Gen Xer. Their ideal Generation Xer is this guy:

And this guy:


Whatever!

I'm know I'm way cooler than those two Preppies. You see, even though I have had to shave off the soul patch and wear dress clothes to work, I'm still the slacker in the Bart Simpson t-shirt, who reads Rolling Stone, watches MST3K and Beavis and Butthead, and can't decide whether his personal theme song should be "No Rain" or "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

Opinions, like these, are why I'm considered the Super-Villain of the Ozarks!!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!    


Wednesday, August 21, 2013

MY TWO FAVORITE HIGH SCHOOL MOVIES

It is back to school time, so I decided to look at my two favorite movies about high school: 1955's Rebel Without a Cause and 1986's Ferris Bueller's Day Off. There are basically two kinds of high school movies: 50s "juvenile delinquent" films and 80s teen comedies. When it comes to the later, John Hughes (Director and writer of FBDO) was to teen comedies, what John Ford was to the Western.

These two movies are the best examples of both of those kinds of high school movies and polar opposites of each other. One is a heavy drama, inspired by a non-fiction book by a psychologist and the other is a comical farce about a kid, with a habit of skipping school, being pursued by an obsessive principal.

These movies have staying power because they have managed to stay current through the next generations.
Rebel was far ahead of its time. It deals with problems, such as the "new kids in school," underage drinking, bullying, gangs, sexual orientation, animal abuse, abusive parents, abusive relationships, reckless driving, gun violence, cranky adults, school brown-nosers and over-zealous cops. Ferris Bueller is a brighter world, but every generation encounters boring teachers, school rules, gossip, loquacious stoners, mean principals, jealous siblings, snooty waiters and borrowing a parents car without permission.

One thing that makes these films transcend generations and universal is the fact that they are average kids. Not popular preppies or jocks, just kids. Not a caricature of what an adult believes a kid is like or something to be ridiculed, but the kids in both films are humans with dignity.

However, it is the overall theme that connects these two movies and have made them popular after the number of years since first released (Rebel will soon be 60 years old, Ferris is over 20 years old) is the theme of freedom, something all teenagers long for. The freedom to be yourself and escape a structured environment. Ferris, Cameron and Sloane skip school and go into the city, whereas Jim, Judy and Plato take refuge in an abandoned mansion.  

What I identify with in these films is Jim Stark's need to find friends and a sense of comfort away from bullies and his bickering parents. I identify with Ferris on an intellectual level. He seems to be smarter than the adults in his world and I have always thought I was smarter than most of the people I encounter. His philosophy on life is similar to mine.
 
It is unusual that two movies, made 30 years apart, could become iconic rites of passage for young people.

"If I had one day when I didn't have to be all confused and I didn't have to feel that I was ashamed of everything. If I felt that I belonged someplace. You know?" Jim Stark - Rebel Without a Cause.

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Ferris Bueller - Ferris Bueller's Day Off.


 

Sunday, August 18, 2013

COLLEGE RADIO IPOD PLAYLIST

I loved college and have written about it on the old blog. When I entered college at Southwest Missouri State University, the buzz word in Billboard and Rolling Stone was "college radio was going to be the next big trend in radio." Eventually, the industry changed the name of it to alternative radio and made the stupid mistake of putting emphasis on country and talk radio, which about killed the industry by driving away the young listeners.

Let me take you back to my college days with the great music of that time (in no particular order). Some of these were around since junior high and elementary school, but they weren't considered cool until we were in college. Along the way, I may throw in some mainstays of the college party culture.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what the college freshman are listening to this year. It may blow what we liked out of the water. I probably should check it out. I'm not one of those old curmudgeons who complain about modern music and believe young people are stupid.

"Like the Weather" - 10,000 Maniacs
"The One I Love" - REM
"Love Will Tear Us Apart" - Joy Division
"I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" - The Proclaimers
"Talk To Ya Later" - The Tubes
"Pretty In Pink" - Psychedelic Furs
"Talk Talk" - Talk Talk
"25 O'clock" - The Dukes of the Stratosphere
"Just Like Heaven" - The Cure
"Loaded" - Primal Scream
"Eye of Fatima" - Camper Van Beethoven
"Musique Non Stop" - Kwaftwerk
"Cool Places" - Sparks with Jane Wielden
"Epic" - Faith No More
"I Melt With You" - Modern English
"Can Your Pussy Do The Dog?" - The Cramps
"Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" - The Ramones
"Victoria" - The Fall
"Tower of Strength" - The Mission
"Under the Milky Way" - The Church
"I Wanna Be Sedated" - The Ramones
"Hey Jealousy" - The Gin Blossoms
"Knock Me Down" - Red Hot Chili Peppers
"I Don't Like Mondays" - The Boomtown Rats
"A Girl In Trouble" - Romeo Void
"Love Buzz" - Nirvana
"Anarchy in the UK" - The Sex Pistols
"About a Girl" - Nirvana
"Eloise" - The Damned
"Ship of Fools" - World Party
"Indian Giver" - The Ramones
"That Is Why" - Jellyfish
"Balloon Man" - Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians
"Orange Crush" - REM
"Bela Lugosi's Dead" - Bauhaus
"World Shut You Mouth" - Julian Cope
"Greenback Dollar" - Washington Squares
"I Wanna Be Adored" - The Stone Roses
"Rock and Roll" - Velvet Underground
"1976" - Redd Kross
"Baby Baby" - The Vibrators
"I Want to Help You Ann" - The Lyres
"Goo Goo Muck" - The Cramps
"Hey St. Peter" - Flash & the Pan
"What's Inside a Girl" - The Cramps
"Buried Alive" - The Lyres
"Happy Hour" - The Housemartins
"Euro-Trash Girl" - Cracker
"All Come True" - World Party
"Strangelove"- Depeche Mode
"Blister In the Sun" - Violent Femmes
"I'm Not Your Stepping Stone" - The Sex Pistols
"So Alive" - Love & Rockets
"This Beat Goes On/Switching To Glide" - the Kings
"Gone Daddy Gone" - Violent Femmes
"Birdhouse in Your Soul" - They Might Be Giants
"Echo Beach" - Martha & the Muffins
"What Girls Want" - Material Issue
"Private Idaho" - The B-52s
"Personal Jesus" - Depeche Mode
"No Rain" - Blind Melon
"Someday Someway" - Marshal Crenshaw
"What I Am" - Edie Brickle & the New Bohemians
"Rough Night In Jericho" - Dreams So Real
"Girl of My Dreams" - Bram Tchaikovsky
"No Fun" - The Stooges
"Charlotte's Remains" - The Fuzztones
"The Good Life" - Fire Town
"Cuts You Up" - Peter Murphy
"Blood & Roses" - The Smithereens
"Ashes To Ashes" - David Bowie
"Istanbul (Not Constadinople)" - They Might Be Giants
"It's the End of the World (As We Known It)" - REM
"TV Eye" - The Stooges
"Behind the Wall of Sleep" - The Smithereens
"Walk On By" - The Stranglers
"Step On You" - The Happy Mondays
"I Can't Stand It Anymore" - Velvet Underground
"Mayor of Simpleton" - XTC
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Nivana
"Low" - Cracker
"Hazy Shade of Winter" - The Bangles



And for the Animal House fans:

"Fight For You Right" - The Beatsie Boys
"Funky Cold Medina" - Tone Loc
"Bust a Move" - Young MC
"Me So Horny" - 2 Live Crew
"Mony Mony" Billy Idol
 "What I Like About You" - The Romantics
"Shout" - Isley Brothers
"Louie Louie" - The Kingsmen

  

Saturday, July 20, 2013

The Electric Company - The Plumber and the Parrot Cartoon



I recently purchased a DVD of The Electric Company to show my three year old great-nephew. He didn't pay much attention to it, but it was a trip back to my childhood for me. One of the things that I had sort of forgotten about was the catchphrase "It's the plumber. He's come to fix the sink." This cartoon appeared in the pilot and this is what started it all with that line.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

DESDINOVA'S FAVORITE SONGS BY THE DOORS

As promised, a list of my favorite songs by the Doors. I'm part of that second wave of Doors fans that discovered them in the early 80s. NOTE: While the Doors rank as one of my all time favorite bands, I'm not one of those annoying fans that pick their most obscure songs as my favorite songs.

1. "Light My Fire"
2. "Love Her Madly"
3. "Touch Me"
4. "Hello I Love You"
5. "Riders On the Storm"
6. "Love Me Two Times"
7. "Moonlight Drive"
8. "Five To One"
9. "Peace Frog"
10. "Break On Through (To The Other Side)"
11. "Strange Days"
12. "Soul Kitchen"
13. "The End"
14. "Wild Child"
15. "Unhappy Girl"
16. "My Eyes Have Seen You"
17. "L.A. Woman"
18. "When The Music's Over"
19. "Crystal Ship"
20. "Roadhouse Blues"




 

Sunday, April 21, 2013

I'M THE ONLY SPITTING IMAGE FAN IN AMERICA

As a retro blogger, I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I feel I have neglected posting about the decade of my teen years - the Eighties. Part of this may be due to the fact that I had rough time during my junior high and high school years. I have some bad memories of that era.

Don't get me wrong, I love quite a bit of the pop culture of the Eighties. The problem is those who felt it necessary to push me around and make my life a living Hell wanted to denigrate what music, movies, TV and clothes made me happy. They wanted me to change and like things they found acceptable.

I've noticed that the Facebook poster/banner machine has begun romanticizing certain elements of the Eighties which didn't interest me in my teen years. It is a view that the world was a happy place in the Eighties. I was getting beat up by Donny Dickweed and turned down by Eunice Moneymaker, so I didn't find the Eighties to be a great time. Also anyone watching an old TV newscast or reading a newspaper would see that there was trouble then as there is today.

If you want a funny and rather accurate look back at the Eighties, go to You Tube and look up Spitting Image. This was a satirical puppet show (Yes, I said puppet show) that ran on British television from the mid-80s to the mid-90s. No world leader nor entertainment personality was safe from being transformed into a hideous puppet with a giant head.

If the puppet's looks weren't enough to garner a laugh, the writers twisted the personalities to an extreme. Mikael Gorbachev birthmark was replaced by a red hammer and sickle. Margret Thatcher was a cigar chomping boss-from-Hell with Norman Tebitts as her leather-wearing Teddy Boy henchman. Ronald Reagan was a scatterbrained goofball with square-headed Ed Meece and vampirish (Think Nosferatu/London After Midnight) Casper Weinberger at his side. Princess Di was a Valley Girl (The Brits call them Sloan Rangers) and Prince Charles was a boring doofus, with Prince William having a voice and personality like Martin Stephens in Village of the Damned, constantly plotting against the family. Queen Elizabeth was hopelessly out of touch with reality, while her mother was a feisty grandma who drank gin and bet on horses.

Celebrities got it too. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch was constantly passing gas. Micheal Jackson wore a space helmet and got whiter (Once he turned into Diana Ross). Madonna not only changed clothes and hairstyles during songs, her nipples gave interviews. Bob Dylan was a middle aged guy writing protest songs about things that annoyed him (Losing his undershorts, cheese molding etc).

British rock icon were picked on as well. Cliff Richard was a sainted virgin. Paul McCartney was recycling the same songs over and over. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were always stoned. Ozzy Osbourne was shown to secretly be a "nice boy from Sheffield" and Boy George was catty.

According to the Spitting Image milieu, Ed McMahon and Bill Cosby were secretly running America, Sly Stallone was an idiot, Jack Nicholson never stopped smiling, tennis champ Evan Lyndel was a corpse, Richard Chamberlin's face was pulled tight with clamps, Cher was all plastic and Al Pachino, Robert DeNiro and Dustin Hoffman couldn't tell each other apart.

The show was huge in England, but the success couldn't transfer over to America. NBC tried a few hour long TV specials. While critics loved the show, ratings were not very good. Supposedly, the "humor was too rough for Americans." Americans frequently trash the clips on You Tube, but of course, these are probably Tea Party idiots, whose idea of humor is to Photoshop President Obama's face to look like the Joker from The Dark Knight or Photoshop Rosie O'Donnell's head on to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's body. In other words, the American who don't like Spitting Image wouldn't know comedy if it bit them in the ass.

However, the place most American's became familiar with the Spitting Image puppets were through the video to the Genesis hit "Land of Confusion." There are people trashing it on You Tube and, locally, when KYTV's Ethan Forhetz featured it in a countdown of 80s music videos on KY3.com, Ozarkers were complaining about how they hated it.

Which leads me to believe, I'm the only person in America that liked Spitting Image. It's satirical comedy was an influence on the old blog. I concur with many of the British comments on You Tube, that it would be great to see a show like this on TV again. What killed Spitting Image was the cost of making the puppets. It was very expensive.

I should note that within the last two weeks, there has been a surge of hits on old Spitting Image clips on You Tube among Brits. The clips they are watching are all of the Margret Thatcher character, especially this one, with characters singing the Moody Blues hit "Go Now." Since it is spring, I'm going to throw in Spitting Image's parody of the bubble gummy dance hits of the British duo Black Label. Who could really hate that?
  
   

         
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...