Don't Give Yourself Away

I, like many people I have met, feel a little bit like I was born in the wrong era. I feel as though I was mean to be a teenager in the 1980's. Maybe because it's I because I watched a lot of John Hughes movies. Maybe it's because that is my favourite era of skateboarding. Maybe it's because Fast Times at Ridgemont High has both the character of Jeff Spicoli, a bit of an idol of mine, and Phoebe Cates' pool-exiting scene. Romanticizing the past is a very common thing among people and I know people think it's awful, but I just really love the aesthetic of the decade and a lot of my favourite things happen to come from it.

So yes, I feel like I was meant to be Spicoli or Stiles type. Maybe I just like wearing short shorts and Hawaiian shirts? Who knows. A result of this mindset is that I really late 70's and 80's pop rock because I associate that music with these types of characters. It seems like the perfect music to accompany those characters, with just enough rebellion to give it an edge while still being poppy as hell. The Outfield, The Raspberries, The Knack, I eat them all up . Well, maybe not The Outfield. They're pretty corny, but I love them just the same. The biggest one by far though, is Cheap Trick.

This article is what got me thinking about all of this: The AV Club on Cheap Trick's "Surrender".

It's a great read and sums up a lot of my thoughts on Cheap Trick. And man, "Surrender" is a fucking jam, lordy. Of all the bands in today's revered pantheon of "classic rock" my favourite is Cheap Trick by a fucking mile. It all comes from one place: The use of "Gonna Raise Hell" in episode 3 of Freaks and Geeks, "Tricks and Treats" in the "Freaks" play it in their car and then the song plays while the "Geeks" get their costumes ready:




The band was something that just "existed" before this, but for some reason this song really struck a chord with me when I heard it in this context and suddenly the band became this symbol for teenage delinquency in the 70's and 80's and drinking beer underage and going to bush parties and smoking poorly-rolled, dirt weed joints and staying out late for the first time and trying to impress girls for the first time and it all made perfect sense to me. I love all things "coming-of-age" to death and to me Cheap Trick is a "coming-of-age" band.

Also, there's also all the guitar solos. That helps too.

Like I said, I tend to romanticize the past a lil' bit, so whenever I hear "Dream Police" I picture cruising around in something that resembles this with the radio turned up and it seems like a perfect situation.