As I was sitting in the cafeteria during lunch hour today, I noticed that the music selection has been veering towards the 80s this week.
“Did you notice the music?” I asked my one co-worker who has transferred to the new office with me. (So yes I am now surrounded by actual people every day at work. More about that later…)
“What about it?”
“It’s music from our youth!”
It was odd because I believe the average age at this office is 25 and the average weight is 125 lbs.
My Co-worker raised his eyebrow with suspicion.
“Come on. I listened to the same music that you listened to! There was this one English-speaking radio station in Taiwan that was a left-over from the American military occupation, and they played all the popular English songs all day long. Top 40. The best!
That was THE radio station that we all listened to when we were in college. Because it was cool.
Remember making mixed tapes? Remember there was no CD and the only way to get any music was to record songs off of the radio? How you had to press RECORD right at the second when the DJ started the song? And then you had to run to the bathroom but before you came back the song was already over and now you’ve got a bunch of talking on your tape at the end of the song? So now you had to press REWIND. STOP. Listen. Rewind some more. Repeat. Oh no. I went back too much. FORWARD FORWARD. Shit. Now I have to go backward again. Oh shit the DJ is now playing my FAVORITE song that I have not been able to get on tape?!
Remember there was no Internet. No Google? And the only way you could figure out the lyrics was by listening to the songs over and over again?
Well, if I had kept all my tapes with the lyric sheets, you could see that I had written down Chinese next to English words that I had to look up in the dictionary. That was how I learned English. How many of us learned English.
Actually till this day I still have no idea what the lyrics to most of my favorite songs are.
I wish I had kept all my mixed tapes. [I did not mention that quite a few were given as gifts by my “male friends”. Remember making mixed tapes for the person you’re interested in hoping that they’d know how you felt simply from listening to the songs?!]
Remember Wicked Game?
Every Time You Go Away?
Last Christmas? [There was eye roll and groan]
The Tide Is High?
Oh my god. Do you remember Take On Me? Do you?
I showed the boys the other day the music video of Take On Me. I told them it was ground-breaking when it first came out. Everybody was wowed because nothing like that had been done before. Of course they went Meh! on it. But oh I still remember how excited I was. We were.”
Just as I was wrapping up my psychotic rambling, complete with hand gestures and bouncing up and down on the chair, I recognized the first few notes of the next song coming from the ceiling.
I paused.
“Could this be?”
“No fucking way!”
But way. It was Take On Me.
If I did not think I am too old to be posting on My Life Is Average (or commonly known as MLIA), I would post:
Today just when I was reminiscing about how awesome it was when we first saw the music video of Take On Me, right on cue, the PA system started playing the song. MLIA.
It was a good day.
AHa – Take On Me from Eian Aldrich on Vimeo.
Coda: As I was finishing up this post, The Husband came to see what I was up to. “Remember this music video?!” I excitedly showed him the A-Ha MTV. Â Turns out he has never ever seen it. Maybe I am a true cougar here. Maybe I have been married to a 20-year-old born after 1980 without realizing it…
You all have a good night now while I go find out whether he has ever seen the music video for Falco’s Rock Me Amadeus…
I was a toss up between the late 70’s and early 80’s music. What rocked my world was weenie love songs from the 70’s and Bruce Springsteen in the 80’s.
I do remember the Ah-A Video and yes it was ground breaking video in 1984. I think Michael Jackson’s Thriller in 1982 would be the first to rock the music video world.
I used to record songs from the radio all the time! I had totally forgotten until you wrote about it in your post.
Velva
Remember the “Black or White” video where the faces change? That was groundbreaking too! (But that was from 1991…)
Yes, yes, yes, yes! (That’s me agreeing to all the “remembers” you had here, not me having an orgasmic reaction to this post). Thanks for taking me back to those good ol’ days. Rewind. Stop. Listen. Write lyrics. Rewind. Stop. Write lyrics. And sometimes we still get it wrong. Like Madonna’s La Isla Bonita’s “Young girls with eyes like the desert” became “Young girls with eyes like potatoes” in my transcript. It wasn’t until years later that I discovered my error.
A-Ha’s video was totally badass for that time and yes, I remember that too. How awesome that we can relate like that. Even when we both grew up in different countries.
I am glad you are still full of joy and life with a newborn. LOL. 😉
(Just kidding!)
And yes the American (and some of them are British and Canadian so we have to be fair) music does bring the whole world together.
OMG. Remember WE ARE THE WORLD???!!!
I recorded Richard Marx’s “Right Here Waiting” for a boy I LOVED! I had it in the car, ready to play when I knew he’e be riding with me, but I wussed out! Lost my nerve.
To this day I can’t hear it and not think of that moment.
PS: I sing the “Dr. Zaius” version from The Simpsons!
Troy McClure: Can I play the piano anymore?
Dr. Zaius: Of course you can.
Troy: Well I couldn’t before!
Ooo…help me Dr. Zaius
OMG. Totally forgot Richard Marx!
Okay, this is way too late and I’m so sorry I can’t go back in time and tell you this, but the secret to a great mix tape is to hit the Pause button first, then Record. You sit there listening with your finger over the pause button. And when the song comes on, especially when the DJ said, “coming this hour, A-ha’s Take On Me,” you gently release Pause. The record head is already on the tape and there’s no crackle. Makes for much smoother transitions.
Just saying.
Anyone who hasn’t seen the Aha video is HIGHLY suspicious. Anyone who did not get really scared for them as they ran has no heart. And anyone who didn’t want that deliciously sweaty lead singer to rescue them from black and white is a cold, cold fish.
AGREED!
(And where were you when I was in high school struggling with the tape deck???!!!)
It WAS groundbreaking and breathtaking and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise! I loved the girl in it.
Me too! All the people inside the coffee shop were pretty good too. The A-Ha singers though they can’t act.
I remember holding the tape deck up to the radio speaker. It’s the only way I can think of Irene Cara.
Now I have an image of you in the same pose as John Cusack. Ha.
Wicked Game is still one of my favorite songs ever. I was 30ish when it came out though. Sigh. The songs of my youth? Little River Band, Styxx, Springsteen, Rod. gulp. Stewart. I loved this post
I saw a picture of Bruce Springteen when he was really really young the other day. I forgot how great looking he was.
Remember when there was no reason to think George Michael was gay? Oh the 80’s. Such an innocent time.
Especially after the choreographed dance numbers of Young Guns and Wham RAP! where he was wrapped in tight leather and keeping perfect rhythm.
LOL. GOLD.
I did not think of it either. It’s the other guy, what’s his name, that I did not care for.
The Take On Mt video was the future, right there on MTV, just for us. Money for nothing and your chicks for free.
YUP!
I remember every single one of these songs and on matter what anyone says “Last Christmas” will remain the best Christmas song ever. Someone dared to remake it. Can you believe that??
Rock Me Amadeus…classic. I forever will love it.
I actually really really like Last Christmas. But it was probably because I was dumped by my first boyfriend near Christmas around the same time. I think. I need to go check the timeline. It is all so fuzzy in my memory now.
OMG YES YES YES!!! I was having total flashbacks! I am ALWAYS talking about this stuff at work and people are ALWAYS looking at me like I’m a total freak from Back to the Future. And omg, Rock Me Amadeus? On my IPOD RIGHT NOW PLAYING!!!
Rock Me Amadeus, I discovered, Is a great song to listen to when you are doing houseworks!
How could I forget OMD, Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode, and the Pet Shop Boys?!
The Pet Shop Boys. Oh yes!
A-Ha, Duran Duran, Power Station, The Outfield, Dream Academy, Crowded House, Paul Young, Robert Palmer, Corey Hart, INXS, U2, Human League, Thompson Twins, WHAM! – oh the memories are streaming back. I completed high school AND college in the 80s. Big curly bleached hair, huge roundish clear plastic glasses, skinny jeans and Reebok aerobic high top sneakers. My girls laugh when they look at my old photos. I was cool when I got a smallish stereo for my dorm room(a JC Penneys special) – it had a record player, dual-cassette AND radio.
That was totally RAD!
🙂
Duran Duran. I think I had a crush on them. All of them. Since I had trouble telling white people apart. No offense guys. ^_^”
the mixed tape was the most alluring gesture of attraction. this girl didn’t want bling. sadly i made way more than i received, but oh how i cherish a music message.
Well, many of tapes I received were copies of tapes of the guys made for other girls. They just took pity on me and made another copy for me. LOL. I loved all my guy friends.
You crack me up! And I do remember the damn Record/Stop/Play/Rewind!
Of course, the other day, I was humming Sky Rockets in Flight… Afternoon De-light…. Maybe a little before your time?
😉
I remember that song! 🙂
It weirds me out that English is your second language, because what you right is better than what a lot of my friends could write in their native language!
-Too young to have really appreciated mixed tapes
LOL. It would be like making a playlist now for someone. 😉
I used to be glued to the radio when they did a top 100 song of the year countdown. There wasn’t a do over if you missed a song. Video killed the radio star, right?
Right. The Immediacy of it was a major part of why it was so exciting and memorable.
I do remember making those tapes : )
I wasn’t very good at it. I always got the dj’s talking at the end.
No boys gave them to me : (
I graduated in 1994 so I had tapes of songs from the 90’s. : )
Then I bet you had that song Everything I do I do it for you on a tape some time??!! 😉
LOVE the Take on Me video! I even saw A-Ha in concert when I was a teenager (and yes, he can really hit that note). You forgot to mention the 80’s GODS though — Duran Duran! I will still crank up the radio for Hungry Like the Wolf. (And, shockingly, their newest album is really good!)
I had so many of those mix tapes! Mine are all gone now too. I wouldn’t have anything to play them on even if I had them. . .
That’s so awesome you saw A-Ha live! The only ones I have seen when I was young were To Toto. And… Tom Jones. Don’t ask…
I can’t believe I forgot to mention Duran Duran either!
I love the Literal Video version of this one! Until you watch it, you don’t realize how silly it is. Kinda like the 80’s. Until you sit down and remember what they were like, you don’t realize how innocent, and silly they were. I mean that in a good way!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HE9OQ4FnkQ
As an American kid, I forget just how spoiled we were. I never knew how much American youth culture was exported around the world until I started traveling for work. As I made friends with guys my age in Japan, Belgium, England, Hong Kong, etc… it was fun to reminisce about all the same music, and cartoons we shared. It’s funny, but meeting someone who “gets” the A-Ha video is a great bridge builder, and does more for inter cultural understanding than anything else can.
OK, one short storyon cultural fusion, then I’ll shut up. I was in a German Brewpub in Wuxi China with a bunch of Hong Kong Chinese guys. The bar had a band of Phillipine women (like every western bar in China) and they were taking requests. So I submitted “99 Luftballoons” because other than ‘Der Kommisar” by Falco, it was the only song with German in the lyrics. When they started playing it, the lead singer came over and made me get out on the dance floor with her to the laughter and delight of my colleagues. Who ever though that cheezy 80’s videos could bring about world peace?
I LOVE THIS STORY! I love all the stories you’ve told. And I love the song “99 Luftballons”.
(I just googled it… I did not know that it was a protest song!)
As I read more about the song, I feel like an idiot… I honestly had no idea what the lyrics were saying! *ashamed*
Okay—let’s be honest here–I don’t know the song! Isn’t that sad! I grew up with a religous fanatic mother who wouldn’t let us listen to the radio, so I might as well have lived on Mars! And you wonder why I’m “crazy!” Hint, hint! Religious fanaticism sucks!
Kathy
Yes, religious fanaticism sucks. Amazing you turned out normal. Seriously.
hmmm. Now I wonder what it means that my husband does not know that song either?! LOL. 😉 His explanation was that his parents were frugal (and still are) so they did not have cable growing up so no MTV.
I love Take On Me and the music video! And it does take me back to my youth, when we were truly excited when we could FINALLY get MTV in our neck of the woods. We would run home from school to watch it. But then we had to hope our favorite videos would be played so we could tape them, just like the mixed tapes . . .
You got a VHS player that could actually RECORD stuff?!