Now folks....that's a good piece of thinkin' and then writin'.
Jake, thanks for expressing some of the thoughts, much more eloquently
than I can, regarding my love of old pop music. I couch my deep
appreciation in terms of being eclectic, but sometimes I hate feeling
that my tastes need to be defended. Now, we are mostly among friends
here, but do you get a squeamish feeling when asked about a guilty
pleasure or you hold a KC & the Sunshine disc in your hand while heading
to the check-out counter? Do you run around and hide the Jackson 5
reissues when your date shows up at the door for your first encounter?
I don't but sometimes, I feel like I want to.
Indeed, the introduction of ironic distance does allow us to embrace
nostalgia from a safe and thus, relatively unassailable position. A good
pop sound has, did, does, and will always touch me at a deep level. Even
a current gem like "Mmmmbop" transforms me back to the days Mr. Benz
alluded to in his recent most. That is, listening to my transistor AM
radio via my earphone long after I was ordered to bed. These songs take
me back to a particular place, or remind me of a particular memory.
Those emotions and remembrances are exclusively mine and no amount of
external subjectivism or conforming aloofness can cause me to lose them.
No amount of externally or internally introduced ironic distance will dull
my memory. Course I ain't about to dust off and begin wearing my
prismatic KISS belt buckle. I meand decorum rules and one must draw the
line somewhere. <g>
Great point about forgetting what it's like to be young or becoming to
insecure to embrace your past likes. God damn it, I love Emerson, Lake &
Palmer and I'll admit that until the day I die. Threeothings pop into my
mind here: (1) the boys in the car in Wayne's World absolutely jamming to
Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" (how refreshing that was), (2) during a thread
on "Guilty Pleasures" someone groaning about the use of that term and
admitting there was no such a thing and (3) something Robbie Fulks
mentioned during his Fresh Air interview. He said Abba's "Dancing Queen"
is essentially a good damn pop song. The words are tossible, but the
hooks and music is great. He learned it and now plays it live just to
prove that point. Gosh, I loved hearing it and so did the
other 500 people in the theater that not. I detected nary a trace of
irony in the house and I sure saw about 500 sets of pearly whites
gleaming. A beautiful moment......and a point well proved.
Thanks Jake......
Best,
Jerry
On Tue, 2 Mar 1999, Jacob
London wrote:
> not be a shield Fulks himself needs anymore). A good pop song has the
> power to touch us at the deepest emotional level, especially one from our
> childhood before we knew all about hipness, etc. Unfortunately, many of us
> from the post baby-boom generation forgot or have been too insecure to
> admit this truth, especially in our late teens and twenties. So irony
> helps create a space for us to safely be nostalgic about some rather
> absurd times.
