The 80's

I did not like the eighties very much at the time because the seventies were so much more fun. It was the apex of the American economy. The Vietnam War was finally over and race relations were on the right track, it seemed that we could finally stop gnashing our teeth over Big Issues. Jobs were plentiful, everything was cheap, tasty international food was available everywhere. Much of the best rock and roll was recorded. The sexual revolution had become institutionalized and other forms of decadence were widespread.

The eighties weren't so much a contrast as a letdown. The economy wasn't so strong, prices rose enough that middle-class people had to stop living like upper-class people. Modest houses sold for $100,000 and you had to pay $15,000 for a Pontiac. Although we were each still able to find a favorite band or two--who made a couple of good albums and then descended into self-parody like Ozzy--the airwaves were taken over by disco, punk, and hair bands. They started inexplicably cracking down on drugs again. Worse, for a whole lot of people, some of the extreme behavior of the sexual revolution brought AIDS into the universe. For many of us the biggest nightmare was the rise of the religious right from its century of slumber and the concomitant demise of rational thought in America.

But in retrospect, the eighties were a paradise compared to the years that followed. We cheered when the Berlin Wall fell, but before we could even catch our breath from that celebration America's leaders had traded the Cold War it won for a Hot one in the Mideast that will be difficult to win and easy to lose spectacularly. Unemployment and inflation became major headaches. Houses in unpretentious neighborhoods sold for $300,000. AIDS, drug-testing, religious evangelism, and ignorance spread like cancer.

Rap and hip-hop dominated music. I know some of you kids grew up with it and relate to it and as a musician I try to see its good points, but if you're looking for someone who was alive in the earlier decades and can provide the perspective you seek, you won't find three of us who would trade the Beatles, Pink Floyd, or Lynyrd Skynyrd for the Black-Eyed Peas. And I see a lot of people your age in the bars I go to, happily dancing and singing along with the old music. College kids who probably have no idea what Governor Wallace or the Watergate Hotel were famous for know every word to "Sweet Home Alabama."

So, here's to the 1980s. To quote a Randy Newman song of the era, "We love it!" Music on MTV. Pee-Wee's Playhouse. Star Trek the Next Generation. The Conan movies. Affordable sushi. Hot rods and motorcycles. Absurdly cheap and safe travel. Most people still had jobs. Computers had not taken over our lives. Neither had the government. Immigrants were just those odd foreigners with the charming accents. The Ayatollah let our people out of the American Embassy in Tehran and we promptly forgot all about Islam.

Each time I hear my favorite bar band play that song "1985" by Bowling For Soup, I find one more reference that I suddenly wax nostalgic for.

A chick in a snakesin miniskirt sitting on the hood of Whitesnake's car. Yeah, that sounds pretty good right about now.

Here's to the 1980s indeed.