As I've frequently mentioned here, I've been spending an inappropriate amount of my free time on Facebook. While sitting on Facebook you see little notes about what the people on your friends list have been doing, like taking online quizzes. I followed the lead of a lady on my list and took two quizzes, "Test Your `80's Knowledge" (I scored a 60%, same as her), and "What `80's Movie Are You?" (apparently I'm "Say Anything," which I've never seen. I always thought I was the real-life Anthony Michael Hall from "Sixteen Candles").
Also through Facebook I learned that there was an informal meeting of my high school class happening at a local pub. I went, and Def Leppard was playing on the P.A. as people thumbed through old year books, the guys commenting on their mullets and the girls commenting on the height of their `80's hair.
Yes, the `80's were fun, and I still enjoy the music and movies of that era. Yes, I've got John Hughes' masterpieces "Sixteen Candles" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" on DVD, as well as all of Eddie Murphy's best and "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." On CD I got David Lee Roth's "Crazy from the Heat" off of E-Bay recently and have listened to it non-stop all week, as well as some Duran Duran tunes.
But though the Facebook reminiscences of decades past are fun, it began to give me an uncomfortable feeling of being antiquated. It's as though we're saying, "Well, I've pretty much done all I'm gonna do. Guess I'll just stand and reflect on yesteryear." It's as though my generation is already sitting in Craftmatic recliners and ordering VHS tapes of old Dean Martin roasts off the TV so they can laugh at Phyllis Diller and Buddy Hackett again.
I enjoy the music and movies of the `80's not only for their entertainment value, but because they bring to mind the time when I thought I would easily take on the world and create things that would inspire others as these entertainers inspired me. So listening to and watching things of that decade reignites those nerve centers in my mind and moves me in the present day.
I do not, however, have some misty-eyed reverence for my youth. Why would anyone have a nostalgia for a time when they were powerless? The 1980's happened
to our generation, we didn't create it. Motley Crue was advertised to us and we bought their products, but at 15 we didn't have the option to BE Motley Crue. Now, in our late 30's, we have BE "Motley Crue." We have the opportunity and DUTY to create the `00's and beyond. We should be thinking about, talking about, musing over and inventing our world now, not celebrating the circumstances of our existence 25 years ago, and I don't think this is happening often enough.
That said, I will now resume listening to the compilation I'm listening to of The Smiths, an `80's band. This music was recorded 20 years ago, but it's new to me. And it gives me a reference point to build tomorrow. How are you building tomorrow?
