We are programmed by the times we live in, even though we may have done our own programming. As a result, it can be hard to embrace cultural change.
I’ve been listening to a lot of 1980s music (early to mid-80s, actually) lately, the music of my teenage years. In this era of channeled media, it’s not hard to find a stream of themed music or other content to meet many musical tastes.
The 1980s weren’t a particularly happy time for me (or a lot of then-teenagers, I suppose) but there is something about that decade’s music that grips me. ”Haunts” is a better word. My musical tastes were largely formed during those years and they won’t seem to go away. I say formed rather than discovered because I was influenced by the music that my friends were listening, by the singles that got radio airplay, or by the music videos that were starting to proliferate across the airwaves.
For good or bad, the music of a different era transports you away from the present to different times.
I’m also bound to two different musical eras:
- The 1960s, especially the British Bands: the Beatles, the Who, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd; and, the patron saint of rock guitar, Jimi Hendrix. Most of my first exposure to this music came from some mix tapes that a friend made for me.
- The early 1990s, especially the Seattle bands and grunge rockers: Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana … there was something about Smells Like Teen Spirit that actually gave me the chills when I heard it on the radio, even though Kurt Cobain probably came to hate it more than any other song he wrote.
- And then there’s the British band XTC (note: website doesn’t appear to be working at the moment, so here’s the Wikipedia entry), possibly my all-time favorite band, active in at least three decades, but not belonging to any of them.
But, for me, the 1980s still seem to override the other two eras (XTC was at its peak in the 1980s, so I guess that fits). This is funny considering how often the 1980s in general are fodder for jokes.
Attitudes, behaviors, and tendencies are like musical preferences: they tend to stick with you over the years. I always used to say that the only people who can’t change are dead and I still think this is true. I’m certainly not the same person I was back in the 1980s, but the boy that I was still plays an important role in the concerto that is my life. Themes reoccur. Changes can be made temporarily but then old patterns resurface.
A lot of what I do with this blog is to try to change my ways of thinking, expand myself through a digital platform and to exercise my creative muscles. Through this work, I get a clearer picture about what I’m willing (or not willing) to do with my life. It’s funny how this work serves to re-expose the inner core of a person instead of just adding to it. Renewing acquaintance with old favorites and obsessions naturally happens when you look outward.
The question remains: am I still stuck in the 80s? Am I stuck on replay? Not entirely, but more than I might have realized.
How about you?
