Mar. 15th, 2007 08:34 pm
Life Soundtrack meme part 3
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textualdevianceTaking a break from studying for my jazz final, and had to continue this meme, since it's been dogging my head. And really, while I enjoy listening to Art Tatum and Louis Armstrong, I need to hear something else for a little while.
1986
I spent most of this year working and going to school. I also spent the summer working downtown, which meant taking the bus (wearing my Walkman, of course) and also being within walking distance of the mall that had the cool record store. So perhaps it's not a surprise that I devoured some great tunes this year. I was also still a little nuts, and managed to spend 8 months bulimic. The pic of me in the icon on this post is from this time. I was close to my "goal weight" at that time, but I was also constantly drowning in anxiety from the lack of proper nutrition and the stress of work and school, and some bad... ehm... social stuff.
Keeping my head above water this year mostly focused on my discovery of The Cure and Depeche Mode. There was a cool chick I went to school with who started getting me into hipper stuff toward the end of the year, and she constantly listened to them, plus the original Broadway cast recording of Hair. (Incongruous, perhaps, but she was cool, so I didn't question it.)
And of course, I loved the Pretty in Pink soundtrack.
There was also a guy I worked with who gave me a badly dubbed copy of a sampler album from Enigma Records. There was some truly wonderful, spectacular stuff on there including The Dead Milkmen's Bitchin Camaro. I really wish I could find a copy of it again, because most of the bands on it were really obscure and disappeared quickly.
One band on it that had a little more exposure, though, was Game Theory, and I got into some of their stuff:
Erica's Word
I highly recommend getting their Big Shot Chronicles album if you can find it somewhere. They sound a lot like The Shins.
I also had a brief interest in The Smithereens, and still think Behind the Wall of Sleep is one of the best songs ever written.
My largest obsession, though, was seeing how far up the charts this song would go:
I think I still have a copy of the Billboard chart that showed it at #1.
1987
This was a big year for me, socially. I got my first, second and third boyfriends (the latter of whom I eventually married) and also had some truly amazing makeout sessions with some other very hot people, from a guy who looked like Andrew McCarthy (!) to a curvy blond whose kisses I still remember. Most of this was the result of my hip friend and her acid-dropping punk buddy dragging me to RHPS early this year. I was a bit of a dork with it all early on, but I soon got into the groove and could dress with the best of them.
I also spent a summer working the evening shift for the big top 40 station in town. I was utterly bombarded with truly shitty pop music--Tiffany, Atlantic Starr, Miami Sound Machine--but I also managed to get some good stuff, too. The program director at the station liked to give me all the promo singles that were too "weird" for the station to play, so as a result, I got some really amazing stuff like Feargal Sharkey, Jane Siberry, The Housemartins, Hipsway, etc.
Oddly enough, on constant rotation, I had Men Without Hats' second album, Pop Goes the World. I also discovered Suzanne Vega (thanks in part to her appearance on the Pretty in Pink soundtrack.)
This song has stuck with me for a long time, though:
Also, though the album came out the year before, I was heavily involved with til tuesday's Welcome Home.
Coming Up Close is probably one of the best-written songs ever.
I also was very fond of David Denies and On Sunday.
And of course, the very influential Dear God - XTC
I also had Pseudo Echo's album (referenced earlier) and have a distinct memory of that playing in the background as I fooled around with my boyfriend's best friend in the front seat of his truck. We got busted by an off-duty cop. Ack.
This was also John Hughes' swansong year, with Some Kind of Wonderful. More than the soundtrack--which I had--I was heavily into Mary Stuart Masterson. Or, technically, Watts, her character in the film. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to sleep with her or be her (or both) but I did end up copying her look.
I think this was the year that people started regretting the excesses of the early part of the decade. We went from Hughes' angsty, but happy-ending oeuvre to "ugly side" stuff like Less Than Zero, and things started going downhill from there.
1988
Utterly smitten with the guy I'd marry three years later, being with him and finishing up school took up the majority of my time. I graduated that year, as a junior, and to keep myself busy between when I'd finished my required credits (February) and graduation, I hung out at the boyfriend's school, where I sort of blended in. People thought I was a student, even though I didn't go to any classes. I managed to join the choir and participate in three of their theater department productions, plus work on their lit mag. Kind of funny, really. I doubt school security would ever allow that sort of thing to happen these days.
I started college that fall, and promptly failed half my classes, wasting the scholarships I'd gotten. I honestly don't remember how I paid for school after that, though I assume financial aid of some sort was involved.
This was also the year we produced Vague, our pop culture zine.
Musically, the boyfriend and I discovered The Bobs, and spent many an hour listening to their stuff. He was also into The Beatles and Billy Joel, for some strange reason. There really wasn't much else out there worth listening to, I'm afraid. Pop music had started its slide into bubblegum and hair bands, and the last bits of alternative really weren't all that great.
Some of the few highlights:
What's on Your Mind - Information Society (A vaguely Human League sound attracted me to this.)
Under the Milky Way - The Church
Shattered Dreams - Johnny Hates Jazz
1989
This was the year I moved out and got my first apartment. Didn't happen til October, but I loved it. I was kind of struggling with personal direction, though. I was still taking classes at the university, and hanging out at the boyfriend's school (he graduated that year) but our personal circle of friends started drifting. Shortly after his graduation, when his best friend (a guy I was also kind of in love with) up and joined the Navy, it soon became just the two of us.
Music was still kind of pathetic, I'm afraid, with one glaring exception: Cosmic Thing. I'd been vaguely into the B-52s for a while, but this one really owned.
Favorite track: Deadbeat Club
I was also into Cyndi Lauper's Night to Remember album.
A couple more highlights:
So Alive - Love and Rockets
The Look - Roxette
What I Am - Edie Brickell and New Bohemians
Okay, that's it for now. 1990s coming up this weekend.
I'll also probably add more stuff to these entries once I get home next week and dig through my singles (which I really need to digitize at some point; some of them are out of print and damned hard to find.)
1986
I spent most of this year working and going to school. I also spent the summer working downtown, which meant taking the bus (wearing my Walkman, of course) and also being within walking distance of the mall that had the cool record store. So perhaps it's not a surprise that I devoured some great tunes this year. I was also still a little nuts, and managed to spend 8 months bulimic. The pic of me in the icon on this post is from this time. I was close to my "goal weight" at that time, but I was also constantly drowning in anxiety from the lack of proper nutrition and the stress of work and school, and some bad... ehm... social stuff.
Keeping my head above water this year mostly focused on my discovery of The Cure and Depeche Mode. There was a cool chick I went to school with who started getting me into hipper stuff toward the end of the year, and she constantly listened to them, plus the original Broadway cast recording of Hair. (Incongruous, perhaps, but she was cool, so I didn't question it.)
And of course, I loved the Pretty in Pink soundtrack.
There was also a guy I worked with who gave me a badly dubbed copy of a sampler album from Enigma Records. There was some truly wonderful, spectacular stuff on there including The Dead Milkmen's Bitchin Camaro. I really wish I could find a copy of it again, because most of the bands on it were really obscure and disappeared quickly.
One band on it that had a little more exposure, though, was Game Theory, and I got into some of their stuff:
Erica's Word
I highly recommend getting their Big Shot Chronicles album if you can find it somewhere. They sound a lot like The Shins.
I also had a brief interest in The Smithereens, and still think Behind the Wall of Sleep is one of the best songs ever written.
My largest obsession, though, was seeing how far up the charts this song would go:
I think I still have a copy of the Billboard chart that showed it at #1.
1987
This was a big year for me, socially. I got my first, second and third boyfriends (the latter of whom I eventually married) and also had some truly amazing makeout sessions with some other very hot people, from a guy who looked like Andrew McCarthy (!) to a curvy blond whose kisses I still remember. Most of this was the result of my hip friend and her acid-dropping punk buddy dragging me to RHPS early this year. I was a bit of a dork with it all early on, but I soon got into the groove and could dress with the best of them.
I also spent a summer working the evening shift for the big top 40 station in town. I was utterly bombarded with truly shitty pop music--Tiffany, Atlantic Starr, Miami Sound Machine--but I also managed to get some good stuff, too. The program director at the station liked to give me all the promo singles that were too "weird" for the station to play, so as a result, I got some really amazing stuff like Feargal Sharkey, Jane Siberry, The Housemartins, Hipsway, etc.
Oddly enough, on constant rotation, I had Men Without Hats' second album, Pop Goes the World. I also discovered Suzanne Vega (thanks in part to her appearance on the Pretty in Pink soundtrack.)
This song has stuck with me for a long time, though:
Also, though the album came out the year before, I was heavily involved with til tuesday's Welcome Home.
Coming Up Close is probably one of the best-written songs ever.
I also was very fond of David Denies and On Sunday.
And of course, the very influential Dear God - XTC
I also had Pseudo Echo's album (referenced earlier) and have a distinct memory of that playing in the background as I fooled around with my boyfriend's best friend in the front seat of his truck. We got busted by an off-duty cop. Ack.
This was also John Hughes' swansong year, with Some Kind of Wonderful. More than the soundtrack--which I had--I was heavily into Mary Stuart Masterson. Or, technically, Watts, her character in the film. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to sleep with her or be her (or both) but I did end up copying her look.
I think this was the year that people started regretting the excesses of the early part of the decade. We went from Hughes' angsty, but happy-ending oeuvre to "ugly side" stuff like Less Than Zero, and things started going downhill from there.
1988
Utterly smitten with the guy I'd marry three years later, being with him and finishing up school took up the majority of my time. I graduated that year, as a junior, and to keep myself busy between when I'd finished my required credits (February) and graduation, I hung out at the boyfriend's school, where I sort of blended in. People thought I was a student, even though I didn't go to any classes. I managed to join the choir and participate in three of their theater department productions, plus work on their lit mag. Kind of funny, really. I doubt school security would ever allow that sort of thing to happen these days.
I started college that fall, and promptly failed half my classes, wasting the scholarships I'd gotten. I honestly don't remember how I paid for school after that, though I assume financial aid of some sort was involved.
This was also the year we produced Vague, our pop culture zine.
Musically, the boyfriend and I discovered The Bobs, and spent many an hour listening to their stuff. He was also into The Beatles and Billy Joel, for some strange reason. There really wasn't much else out there worth listening to, I'm afraid. Pop music had started its slide into bubblegum and hair bands, and the last bits of alternative really weren't all that great.
Some of the few highlights:
What's on Your Mind - Information Society (A vaguely Human League sound attracted me to this.)
Under the Milky Way - The Church
Shattered Dreams - Johnny Hates Jazz
1989
This was the year I moved out and got my first apartment. Didn't happen til October, but I loved it. I was kind of struggling with personal direction, though. I was still taking classes at the university, and hanging out at the boyfriend's school (he graduated that year) but our personal circle of friends started drifting. Shortly after his graduation, when his best friend (a guy I was also kind of in love with) up and joined the Navy, it soon became just the two of us.
Music was still kind of pathetic, I'm afraid, with one glaring exception: Cosmic Thing. I'd been vaguely into the B-52s for a while, but this one really owned.
Favorite track: Deadbeat Club
I was also into Cyndi Lauper's Night to Remember album.
A couple more highlights:
So Alive - Love and Rockets
The Look - Roxette
What I Am - Edie Brickell and New Bohemians
Okay, that's it for now. 1990s coming up this weekend.
I'll also probably add more stuff to these entries once I get home next week and dig through my singles (which I really need to digitize at some point; some of them are out of print and damned hard to find.)
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Did he? Shame, they were lots of fun!
My husband says "Punk Rock Girl" is simply the best Dead Milkmen song ever - we agree to disagree on it as "Instant Club Hit" will always hold a special place in my heart!