I'm just full of the nostalgia today. Heard this classic from 1978 on the way to an appointment today.
Ah youth.
Somehow, I'm thinking if my love of Twin Peaks put me on the fringe...
All these YouTube videos and discussions about TV shows may appear to have no relevance to writing, but I think they do. The shows and movies we watched, the music we listened to and the books we read all shaped our ideas, attitudes and opinions, which therefore, heavily influence what we write about. I think the exploration is critical.
Up soon: How I came to the conclusion that Larry David is one of the most brilliant storytellers of our time.
10 comments:
Had I not been a child of the seventies and eighties my writing would be very different now.
Come on! Listen to Alice Cooper's original; I want to be elected. Really the Ramones are great, but Alice Cooper..... Look at his youtube -i'm 18 - he looks just like you did when you were 18! Well he used a little more make-up.
Ah, The Ramones, how CBGB of you. Music from back in the day when 'punk' didn't imply a lack of skilled musicianship, as it does now. I wish all these three-chord bands and their fans would just... go away.
I agree that the modern media has an effect on writing. In a sense, everyone is (at least partly) a composite of their experiences. As such, everything affects everything else.
can you believe i never saw one episode of twin peaks?
and i so want to go motg shopping with you. i think we would laugh our asses off at me. just saying...
Aha, so you've found The Filter, too! *BG*
Rachel, It's funny because it's so obvious that of course the era in which we grow up and then the things we gravitate toward during that era inform everything about us, but it's all very specific really and when I think about how what I write is perceived by other people, I realize that those who see the world through a similar lens to me are a teeny tiny group.
Denis, I only chose this song because I'd heard it earlier yesterday. I agree with you that Alice is much better. As a matter of fact, here's a small bit of trivia. In 1976 I went to my first concert to see....drum roll...Alice Cooper at the Providence Civic Center. It was pretty awesome :)
Orchid Hunter, "I wish all these three-chord bands and their fans would just... go away."
Your comment really made me laugh. It also made me realize that when it comes to groups like The Ramones and those early New York and London punks, I have more of a sentiment of nostalgic affection for them than any real admiration for anything they did musically (which wasn't much). I think back in the late 70's, the big appeal of the punks was half musical/half fashion statement and entirely a statement about a feeling of alienation. Yes, The Ramones were VERY CBGB! The movie, "Summer of Sam", has some sequences depicting the early punk scene in CBGB and pits the weird, outsider nature of punk against the mainstream disco fans of the era. One thing Spike Lee did/said that I thought was interesting and accurate, was to credit The Who with the genesis of punk.
So it had me pondering the issue of context when it comes to any art form and the importance of putting the work into context. Some things don't require that, although I think primarily it's fine art that doesn't require it. But when music or a book were written or when a painting was rendered does turn out to be significant most of the time, in order to put it into its proper context. When I hear a song that was popular when I was 16, there is a whole set of associations that come with that listening experience that make it impossible for me to objectively hear it. I find it interesting that my stepson, who is 27 has "discovered" Rush and Boston and Journey and thinks they're brilliant.
I'm always a little baffled when I realize that "punk" is still sort of alive and out there. It seems to me that there are certain cultural phenomena that aren't meant to go on. They're meant to benchmark an era and then evolve. I think music has done marginally better than literature has in terms of evolving and exploring new forms, but everything feels very recycled to me these days.
Lana, I don't think we can help but be a composite of our experiences. I was thinking about this all day today and realized that the reason I don't like romance or stories with happy endings is that my early life experience didn't show me that kind of world. I'm not disillusioned, I never had any illusions in the first place, which is different than being bitter and angry because I'm not those things either. I just relate to what I learned early on.
Patti, I totally believe it. Most people never did. I think we would have a blast. Unfortunately, I have sucked at picking out clothes ever since I got past 40. There's very little I can typically find that I like and that I feel comfortable in. I don't want to dress like a teenager, but I also don't want to dress like Mrs. Cunningham from "Happy Days" either. Magazines always show beautiful women over 40 dressed in great clothes, but whatever they're wearing never seems to be hanging on the racks when I'm shopping!
Larramie, Yeah, yeah...I've been thinking about how the filter meshes with other people's filters all day today. It's fascinating!
I used to have a Ramones t-shirt. I wonder what happened to it?
Barrie, You need to find it! I found that the old concert t-shirts were essential for parent/teacher conferences ;)
Ah, Twin Peaks - I used to watch it religiously... :-)
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