Reply #33: Parallels are cool

[dutchdemocrat]

Children of the year of love. 1967.

Watching much of the old anti-establishment (Horowitz, Miller, etc) bend over for the enemy now aren't we?

It is weird - I had hippy liberal parents... we had the VW Van, the token Beetle, no TV, lots of books. Then came the seventies (Altmont Speedway) and the locks were chopped, and everything suddenly got tacky.

Lucky I was young enough to miss the full brunt of the era of polyester and full-on Disco, no I was still a kid. Got a little on the fringe when I turned 12 and made dad buy me a burgundy three piece cordoroy suit with platform coca cola shoes for the big finale prom from elementary to high school. He cringed then. I cringe now.

The 80's... things started to change in little ways. The van got sold and they bought a Rabbit convertible. The bug was passed on to me. A TV appeared in our house and all the cool fish tanks migrated down to the basement. The ethno tie-dye stuff was replace by leather and steel, my parents became worried about image and taxes and money, and making money, and making more money.

Dad and I stopped playing chess, othello, cribbage, and quit sharing the newspaper - some the nice things that families do when they don't have a 'home enertainment system'. Our nuclear family built on strong and fair liberal values was shifting.

We did not have the Internet. We had Pong. And Donkey Kong and Pac Man and those little handheld football games with blinking red lights.

Punk was still pretty cool in the eighties but that's what happens when you grow up in the wild west. Mullets were all the rage in terms of hair styles. Velour came in and out quick thank god. And remember all the shiny stuff? The silvery space suit like jackets?

Or how about hanging around 7-11? And bumming around the liquor store on the weekend trying to get somebody to buy some beers for you? Thank god we did not grow up with this new abstinance, Patriot act influenced no sex thingy. No aids in those days either. Being a teen in lust and love was fun in those days. We weren't looking at women and donkeys on the net. It was all good clean fun.

We had the Violent Femmes, Phil Collins, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Billy Idol, John Cougar Mellencamp, Pink Floyd, Police, Alan Parsons Project, the Rolling Stones, Soft Cell, Rod Stewart, and the Thompson Twins... to name a few.

It is 5 am in Holland. What am I doing up? Man, its time for the sack!

Peace Bro.