So last night the family was getting ready to head to the store when I was pulled into the living room by the opening cords of Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi.
I hadn’t seen this video in a ages and for some reason the music sounded perfect, almost brand new. Jules and I danced around the living room with the boys laughing at us and our mommy and daddy grooviness or rather goofiness.
As asked Jules why they were playing this song instead of all the crap they usually play. What she said removed the wind from my sail. It was a preview of VH-1 Classics. When I was a kid there were old songs I remember that are now classics but Bon Freaking Jovi?! Jules reminded me that the album came out in 1986 and being twenty years old it’s now a classic.
I can see myself standing in the Woolworths on a bright beautiful day when the world was pure and warm breezes blew through my poorly cut hair without worry. I was holding this brand new album as it existed in vinyl. The notion of a CD was a fantasy and I dreamed of being able to afford a walkman. My Casio watch and it's plastic band was loose on my wrist. A Pac-Man T-shirt, the original not the faddish replicates of today, stretched too tightly over my pudgy stomach and my muscle socks reached frightenly too high. My Kangaroo's held the miniscule amount of money that could ever fit into a pocket that size and I knew that I could not stay this cool forever, times were changing and music like Bon Jovi was going to lead the way.
As they played Culture Clubs Karma Chameleon I regained the composure to dance to what I realized was a classic feel good song. Somehow this time my knees hurt and I felt I should move a bit slower.
My youth is now classic. Where’s my walker?
7 comments:
HAHA! Made me laugh, Mullins.
I know you all know this, but I didn't get into the popular music scene very much back in the 80s. But, it was all around me and I remember some of it.
My little brother liked Bon Jovi and listened to him for a while, but that was later in the 90s.
I didn't really think about this until now, but I think one of the reasons I was sheilded from the preternaturally tacky decade we call the 80s was because we were poor.
We had a roof over our heads, plenty of food, a TV, and stuff like that, but we always wore second-hand clothes, didn't have cable, and rarely were able to buy records/tapes. So, we'd catch snippets of music on the radio and sometimes we'd see "Friday Night Videos".
But, overall, we just didn't "get" the 80s. It didn't reach us as it did so many other folks my age. Am I better or worse for it? I don't think I either. I'm just not too affected by it. But, it seemed fun. It was interesting to see the other kids wearing Kangaroos, parachute pants, and jams. Somehow, I feel as if I experienced the 80s vicariously.
Weird.
Keep dancing, Mullins! Just don't throw out your back...
I like that song... "She's a little runaway" is better, but more obscure...
A schoolyard joke about the livin on a prayer song always made me feel dirty when me and my 3rd grade friends would sing it, but it went like this:
"Whoa, livin' on a butt...
take my hand, and we'll stick it up...
whoa oh! living on a butt!"
Friday night videos, classic!
Whatever happened to Martha Quinn and "Classic MTV?"
How is MTV doing anyway? I havent spoken to him since he stopped playing videos...
What, were y'all proctologists in training or something, Jamison?
Ew!
30. How can I be 30 years old today? I spent yesterday quizzing my whipersnapper employees on 80s music and movies. Nobody knows nothing, and I'm feeling old.
Friday Night Videos were classic. Amy's so funny b/c her folks didn't have cable either, and I guess she missed FNV because I'm always asking her about some 80's video and she just doesn't have a clue.
Heck, I felt old at some jamboree back when I was 24 or 25... i was doing a "Billy Jean" routine. Everywhere I stepped, I shined my flashlight.
I looked at this girl who had to be 19 or 20 and she wasnt laughing.. i said "Billy Jean? Michael Jackson???" she shook her head. "Never heard of it"
I used to think the words were "Billy Jean is at my door". One of many songs that I misunderstood the lyrics to when I was a child.
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